September 30, 1922" 



NA TURE 



461 



Heaviside, was personally presented to him by Mr. 

 J. S. Highfield, president of the institution, at 

 Torquay, on September 9. 



The Secretary for Scotland has appointed Dr. 

 James Ritchie to be an additional member of the 

 committee appointed to advise him on matters 

 connected with the administration of the Wild Birds 

 Protection Acts. 



Sir Lawrence Weaver will shortly relinquish the 

 post of second secretary and director-general of land 

 settlement at the Ministry of Agriculture in order to 

 take up the appointment of director of the Art 

 section and of the Agriculture section of the British 

 Empire Exhibition. 



The Model Abattoir Society, the objects of which 

 are the improvement of methods and conditions in 

 slaughter-houses, has organised an annual Benjamin 

 Ward Richardson lecture in memory of its founder. 

 The memorial lecture, on the sanitarian and humani- 

 tarian aspects of Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson's 

 work, will be delivered by Sir William Collins on 

 October 12. Admission is free, and invitations may 

 be obtained from the Rev. George Martin, St. John's 

 Vicarage, Kilburn. 



Mr. W. K. Ford writes to inform us that an un- 

 usually large specimen of the common viper, Viper 

 berus, was caught recently in Epping Forest. The 

 snake, which was a female, is stated to be 29-5 in. in 

 length, the tail measuring 3-12 in. The largest 

 specimen in the British Museum is only a little more 

 than 27 in. in length, though on account of the diffi- 

 culty of measuring a snake's skin without stretching 

 it — it can be stretched to one and a half times its real 

 length — larger specimens have been recorded. Mr. 

 Ford's specimen appears to be unusually large, but 

 the skin should be submitted for examination to the 

 Zoological Society, Regent's Park, or similar authority, 

 before it can be accepted as a record. 



A " Wireless Weather Manual " has been pub- 

 lished by the Meteorological Office of the Air Ministry. 

 It is a guide to the reception and interpretation of 

 weather reports and forecasts distributed by wireless 

 telegraphy in Great Britain. A table is given showing 

 the information issued by wireless, revised to June 1, 

 and the instructions are clear and concise for persons 

 who possess wireless receiving sets. It is not only 

 possible to pick up the messages distributed, to aid 

 which the codes used are interpreted, but a " general 

 inference " is given by the Meteorological Office in 

 plain language twice daily, which with a very little 

 intuition can be understood by those little versed in 

 meteorology. A study of the manual will aid in the 

 general understanding of the subject and will render 

 the charting of the information received quite simple. 

 A short list of elementary text-books is given, a study 

 of which will simplify the interpretation of the charts. 

 A weather chart is given daily in many of the news- 

 papers, but the wireless information gives the details 

 much earlier, for it is possible to draw a weather map 

 within about an hour of the observations being made. 

 In the introduction to the manual, it is stated that 

 those wishing to know can find out " what the weather 

 will be in the next twenty-four hours (sometimes 

 longer)." 



The Automatic and Electric Furnaces, Ltd., 

 informs us that the increasing demand for Wild- 

 Barfield electric hardening furnaces has made 

 necessary the removal of the firm to larger works 

 and offices. The address now is : Automatic and 

 Electric Furnaces, Ltd., Elecfurn Works, 173-175 

 Farringdon Road, London, E.C.i. Demonstration 

 rooms with furnaces in operation will be provided, 

 and suitable arrangements made for hardening large 

 and small parts for firms which desire to compare 

 both the results and costs with those obtained by 

 gas or solid fuel furnaces. Laboratory and industrial 

 electric muffles will also be available for trial purposes. 



Our Astronomical Column. 



The Orbit of Sirius. — This orbit is of peculiar 

 interest from the conspicuous brightness of the 

 primary, from the irregularity in the proper motion 

 having led to a prediction of its duplicity, and from 

 the subsequent verification by the discovery of the 

 companion in 1862. It now presents one of the not 

 very numerous cases in which a complete revolution 

 has been observed. The various determinations of 

 the elements that have recently been published give 

 an index of the degree of accuracy that is attainable. 

 A new determination by Mr. C. P. Howard is given 

 in Pop. Ast. (Aug. -Sept. 1922), and that by Mr. R. 

 Jonckheere (Mon. Not. R.A.S., June 1918) is printed 

 for comparison. Both were made by graphical 

 methods, using every refinement possible : 



An Interesting Algol Variable. — Mr. A. H. Joy 

 gives a discussion of the Algol Variable, RS Canum 

 Venaticum, in Publ. Ast. Soc. Pacific, August 1022. 

 It is possible to study the spectra of both components, 

 since the faint star is the larger, and totallv eclipses 

 the bright star at principal minimum, when the 

 magnitude is 9-0. The two stars are of equal mass, 

 each 1-3 times the sun ; they differ greatly, however, 

 in spectral type, the brighter being F3, the fainter 

 Ko. This wide difference is difficult to explain ' in 

 view of their equal mass. The period is 4-8 days, 

 and the radius of the orbit of each component 

 5,700,000 miles. The absolute magnitude of the 

 brighter star, deduced from its spectrum, is 2-8, 

 giving a parallax of o"-oo8. Three spectrograms 

 have been obtained of the faint star by Mr. Adams ; 

 the star is too faint to give satisfactory spectrograms, 

 but it is stated that, taken by themselves, they would 

 indicate a dwarf star. However, from its large size, 

 indicated by the duration of totality being two or 

 three hours, and consequent low density, there can 

 be little doubt that it is really a giant; "its absolute 

 magnitude, about 4-2, is very low for a K giant. 

 Altogether the star is rather a puzzling one, and 

 merits careful studv. 



NO. 2761, VOL. I io] 



