July 25, 1907] 



NATURE 



OVR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 'Comet !(}oyd (Owifi). — The following set of elements 

 and an cphemeris fur comet iqoyd have been computed by 

 Herr H. H. Kritzinger, of Berlin, from places observed 

 on June 15 and 24 and July 4, and are published in 

 Circular No. qc) from the Kiel Centralstelle : — 



Elements. 

 T=I907 Sept. 4 i68(M.T. Berlin) 



00 = 293 49' 16 "I 



n = i4! 2-45 [•1907-0 

 '■= s 56-37 1 



Iog,/ = 97i590 

 An extract from the ephemeris is given below : — 



Ephemeris 12)1. (M.T. Berlin). 

 1907 o (irue) 8 (true) Brightness 



+ 13 37'1 



+ 14 21-5 ... 9 84 



+ '5 2-5 



+ 15 39-4 ... ii-Si 



+ 16 11-3 



+ 16 375 ■ i3'8i 



The brightness at the time of discovery is taken as unity, 

 and it is very probable that the comet will become an easy 

 naked-eye object during August. On July 18 it was easily 

 seen by Dr. VV. J. .S. Lockyer, at South Kensington, with 

 a small telescope of about ij inches aperture and 

 II inches focal length, the brightness on that date, accord- 

 ing to the above ephemeris, being 6'38. 



.According to the ephemeris, the comet on August i will 

 be 47s. east and 18' 8" north of Aldebaran, and will rise 

 four hours before the sun. 



ANOM.4LOUS RiiFRACTioN. — No. i8 of the Miscellaneous 

 Scientific Papers of the Alleghany Observatory contains a 

 note by Messrs. Schlesinger and Blair on the effects of 

 anomalous refraction on meridian-observation results. They 

 show, from a discussion of the results obtained at the 

 international latitude stations, that, at a properly chosen 

 station, the effect is far less than the errors of observation 

 in the best work that can at present be done. Incidentally, 

 their computations indicate very strongly that the Kimura 

 term in the latitude variation is real, and is not due, as 

 has been suggested, to anomalous refraction. 



It.ali.an Observ.vtions of the Total Solar Eclipse of 

 .August, 1905. — The various reports which have from time 

 to time appeared in the Memorie delta Societd degli 

 Spettroscopisti Italiani, dealing with the results of the 

 Italian eclipse expedition to Alcali de Chivert in August, 

 1905, are now collected into one volume as the complete 

 " Rapporto della Commissione Italiana ..." With 

 photographs of the instruments in position, reproductions 

 of the solar photographs obtained, and the full discussion 

 of the astronomical and meteorological results, the volume 

 is a valuable addition to eclipse records. Prof. Ricc6 dis- 

 cusses the colours of the prominences, the heights of the 

 " reversing layer " and of the chromosphere, the white 

 prominences, the corona, the spectra, &c., whilst the dis- 

 cussion of the meteorological results is due to Dr. Chistoni. 



Micrometer Measures of Jovian Fe.atures. — In No. 

 4190 of the Astronomische Nachrichten (p. 225, July 11) 

 Dr. H. K. Lau gives the results of the observations of 

 Jupiter made at the Urania Observatory, Copenhagen, 

 during the opposition of 19013—7. The measurements of the 

 five bands are first given, and are followed by the 

 dimensions and positions of various " spots " in each band, 

 the longitude and the motion of each feature, at a definite 

 epoch, being appended. For the middle of the Great Red 

 Spot Dr. Lau found the value of fi to be -Ho''-o7i. 



July and Augu.st Meteors. — Some valuable hints to 

 meteor observers are given in the July number of Know- 

 ledge and Scientific .Mews (vol. iv.. No. 7, p. 150) by Mr. 

 Denning. The article deals principally with the Aquarid 

 and Perseid showers, both of which should now be active. 

 The former apparently form a fixed radiant point, near to 

 5 Aquarii, from about July 23 to .August 23. but this needs 



NO. 1969, VOL. 76] 



substantiating by further careful observations. Mr. 

 Denning suggests that observers should record, very care- 

 fully, the exact data for each individual object, and after- 

 wards seek to determine the radiant points quite in- 

 dependently. For the Perseids, and for the Aquarids at 

 their maximum during the last few days of July, the 

 radiant should be obtained separately from each night's 

 observations. 



For the minor showers the radiants have never been 

 adequately studied, and many more observations are 

 desirable, whilst even in regard to the Perseids it is 

 probable that a number of important features yet remaui 

 to be detected or confirmed. No moonlight will interfere 

 during the maximum of the present apparition. 



Orbits of Binary Stars. — No. 5, vol. xxv. (June), of 

 the Aslrophysical Journal contains discussions of the orbits 

 of K Cancri and |8 .Arietis by Mr. N. Ichinohe and Herr 

 Ludendorff respectively. 



From the discussion of twenty-five plates taken at the 

 Verkes Observatory, the former observer found the period 

 of K Cancri to be 3-393 days, whilst the eccentricity of 

 the orbit is 0-149, 3"<1 '^e length of its semi-major axis 

 5,Sqo,ooo km. 



Seventv-si.x plates of Arietis were e.xamined by Herr 

 Ludendorff, but only two lines on each, Mg X 4481 and 

 H7, could be employed in the discussion. The duplicity 

 of the Mg line could not be detected on seventy-four plates, 

 although, as mentioned in a previous paper by Dr. Vogel, 

 it certainlv does appear double on the other two. The 

 writer of the present paper suggests that this doubling may 

 be due to special disturbances in the atmosphere of the 

 star. The results of the investigation show that the period 

 of this binarv is 1070 days, the length of the semi-major 

 axis of the orbit is 22,880.000 km., the total mass of the 

 system, assuming that the masses of the components are 

 equal, is 034 that of the sun. and that the eccentricity of 

 the orbit has the extraordinarily large value 0-8S. No 

 other known spectroscopic binary orbit has an eccentricity 

 greater than 0-55, although the values for several visual 

 binaries exceed o-8o, but in these cases the periods are very 

 much greater. 



SCIENTIFIC WORK IN THE SEA-FISHERIES.^ 

 T M the first lecture the earlier history of the pre-scientific 

 period was alluded to, from the third century onward, 

 and even in those early times fears as to the permanence 

 of the sca-fisherics were prevalent, as shown by regula- 

 tions as to meshes of nets, small or immature fishes, and 

 other features. Indeed, ever-recurring fears as to the 

 decline of these fisheries have been conspicuous. Inquiries 

 and commissions were numerous, and in the seventeenth 

 century many protective Acts were passed, and companies 

 floated' to encourage the struggling sea-fisheries, whilst 

 in the eighteenth century the bounty system was insti- 

 tuted and was onlv abolished in 1830.- The Commission 

 of 1833 reported that the fishes of the British Channel 

 had declined since the peace of 1815, and that the fisher- 

 men and their families were dependent on the poor-rates 

 for support. It is clear that at that time the finny wealth 

 of the Channel was unknown. The Commission of 1866, 

 on the other hand, came to the conclusion that the supply 

 of sea-fishes was increasing, and admitted of progressive 

 increase. Then the United States Fish-Commission came 

 into existence, from the complaints as to the diminution 

 of the fishes on the .American fishing-grounds, and artificial 

 hatching of sea-fishes commenced in 1878. In Britain, 

 again, a commission of two reported in 1878 much as 

 that of 1866 had done. 



Lord Dalhousie's Commission of 1883-5 was due to the 

 complaints of the liners against trawling, and it intro- 

 duced scientific investigation into the subject for the first 

 time. This investigation was made by the same eye and 

 the same hand on sea and on land ; a method of dealing 

 with the fishes w-as adopted, and subsequently followed 



1 Abstract of two lecture-; delivered 't the Royal Institution on May 4 

 and II. by Prof. \V. C. Mcintosh, F.R.S. 



S An interesting Ustorical account rf the sea-fisherlef, by T>. Fulion, 

 from which part of the foregoing is taken, was given in the F:s/i Trades 

 Gazette for iSg3. 



