August 22, 1907 J 



NA TURE 



41, 



beginnor in astronomy and to the general reader quite 

 as much as to the astronomer. 



After dealing generally with the apparent move- 

 ments and with the brightest stars, the author pro- 

 ceeds to thirteen chapters containing causeries on 

 particular stars, describing the relative position of each, 

 its seasonal apparitions, its diurnal path, and its 

 colour, &c., adding a few words as to the distance and 

 phvsical conditions of each star. 



Nlore general problems are then discussed, such as 

 the numbers, distances, and light of the stars. A 

 brief chapter on double stars gives an excellent first 

 idea of multiple systems, and is followed by nine chap- 

 ters dealing with the constellations, frequent diagrams 

 illustrating the text. By those who simply wish to 

 recognise the individuals'of the starry host, and to be 

 OH ]aH with sufficient characteristics of each to mark 

 its Individuality, the volume will be found a useful 

 companion. \^ • t- K- 



On the Evolution of Wound-treatment during the Last 

 Forty Years. By .Sir Hector C. Cameron, Professor 

 of Clinical Surgery in the University of Glasgow. 

 Pp. 96. (Glasgow : James MacLehose and Sons, 

 1907.) 

 The appearance of this book at the present time is 

 opportune, for the lectures deal very largely with Lord 

 Lister's lesearches on antiseptic treatment, of which 

 thev form a brief history. Lister's treatment was 

 founded on Pasteur's demonstrations and writings, 

 and no man ever acknowledged an indebtedness more 

 often and more unequivocally. At the commencement 

 of the first lecture the procedure adopted in i860, or 

 thereabouts by Mr. Syme, the period immediately pre- 

 ceding the introduction of antiseptics, is detailed. 

 In 1S6S or so Lister's first method of treating 

 wounds antiseptically was being tested by its author. 

 This consisted in swabbing the wound with undiluted 

 carbolic acid (a crude and impure preparation at that 

 time) and covering it with lint saturated with the same 

 substance, over which a piece of sheet-lead was 

 placed; each dav the lead was removed and the lint 

 painted over with the carbolic. By such treatment, 

 crude and simple as it may now appear, it was abun- 

 dantlv demonstrated that wounds, even the dreaded 

 compound fracture, would heal without suppuration. 

 Subsequently, a putty consisting of whiting and 

 carbolic acid was used, and step by step carbolic 

 gauze, corrosive sublimate, mercuric iodide, and the 

 cyanide gauzes were evolved. The author holds that 

 no mere dressing with dry sterilised wool or gauze, 

 apart from germicidal solutions, will suffice to prevent 

 suppuration in dirty wounds, and with this pronounce- 

 ment many will cordially agree. 



\'ortcx Philosophy: or the Geometry of Science 

 Diagrammatically Illustrated. By C. S Wake. Pp. 

 36. (Chicago : Published by the .\uthor, 1907.) 

 " .\s negation is the expression of energy and posi- 

 tion is the expression of force, the elements of undu- 

 lation, which is the dynamic aspect of the molar 

 energy light, are expansion in the atomic field and 

 ionisation in the molecular field; and the elements of 

 spiralisation, which \> the dynamic aspect of molar 

 force (gravitation), are contraction in the atomic field 

 and convergence in the molecular field " (p. 20). This 

 extract shows that Mr. Wake has an extensive vocabu- 

 lary, and a fund of unconscious humour. His 

 pamphlet has no scientific value, but is amusing in its 

 way as an attempt to classify all human knowledge on 

 principles ostensibly scientific and logical, but really 

 vagu-;- and aesthetic. E^ven from this point of view 

 the coloured diagrams vii. and xii. are unsatisfactory. 



NO. 1973, VOL. 76] 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold liimself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can lie undcrluke 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for litis or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communicalioits.] 



The August Draconids— Pfrseid Fireballs. 



I.MMEDIATELV after coming out to watch the northern 

 skv on August 15 at gh. 23m., I observed a second- 

 magnitude meteor appearing stationary at the point 

 288° + 61°, near o Draconis. Four other meteors were 

 seen directed from precisely the same position during a 

 watch of forty minutes later on the same night, but clouds 

 came over before loh. 30m., and though the sky cleared 

 at a later hour 1 did not look out again. 



This radiant point in Draco is nearly identical with 

 that of a brilliant shower of fifty-six slow-trained meteors 

 which 1 observed on 1879 .\ugust 21 to 25. I also re- 

 corded it in several other years, but it was very feebly 

 represented. It appears to be visible both in July and 

 .August, but though I have often eagerly awaited it, the 

 striking activity it displayed in 1879 has never been 

 repeated. Possibly this year it may have returned more 

 richly than usual, and 1 trust other observers recorded it 

 while watching the later stages of the Perseid shower. 



The following are the positions I have obtained for the 

 Draconic radiant in past years : — 



(1) 1S88, July 8-13 ... 250 + 59 ... 4 Slow. 



(2) 1885, „ 9-13 .. 290 + 60 ... S Slow. 



(3) 1900, ,, 24-30 ... 291+59 ... 6 Rather slow. 



(4) 1899, A'lg. 12-16 ... 293 + 60 ... 8 Meclium. 



(5) 1901, ,, 15 •• 290 + 60 ... ? Rather swift, 



suspected. 



(6) 1900, „ 16-18 ... 291+60 ... 5 Slow. 



(7) 1887, ,, 20-24 ... 289 + 60 ... 5 „ 



(8) 1879, „ 21-2; .. 291 +fo ... 56 ,, 



Of all the meteors seen during the recent Perseid dis- 

 play, one of the hnest appeared on August 12 about 

 lib. 12m. It was recorded at Bristol and at Stockport, 

 and at the latter place -Mr. J. P. Kenyon estimated that 

 it burst out so brilliantly as to give a flash equal to the 

 light of the full moon. 



The object fell from a height of seventy-nine miles over 

 Donington, Lincolnshire, to forty-four miles over Market 

 Harborough. Leicestershire. Its length of visible course 

 was fiftv-two miles, and observed velocity forty-one miles 

 per second. Other observers probably noticed this fine 

 meteor, and I will be glad to receive further descriptions 

 of its apparent path with a view to determine its real 

 course more accurately. 



There was another' magnificent Perseid which gave a 

 flash like lightning as it descended in the Milky Way 

 north of Aquila, on August 13 at I4h. lom., but the only 

 account of this is one from Mr. W. Lucking, of Manuden, 

 near Bishop's .Stortford. W. F. Denning. 



Bishopston, Bristol, .\ugust 19. 



The Heating of a Balloon Wire by Liehtning. 



The following account of the healing of a balloon wire 

 by a lightning discharge is interesting as furnishing 

 approximate limits for the energy of the discharge. 



Keport by Mr. S. F. Cody on .Striking of a Balloon by 

 Lightning on July 22, 1907. 



" .\X about II a.m. on Monday, July 22, a captive 

 balloon, carrying meteorological instruments, was in the 

 air. Some 4500 feet of 19 S.W.G. tin-plated piano wire 

 was between the balloon and the winch. The balloon was 

 probably about 3500 feet high. The winch was exceed- 

 ingly well earthed, standing on a large solid iron plate, 

 which was also buried about ij feet in the earth. 



" I was trying to locate the balloon, which was hidden 

 by clouds at the time, when a flash of lightning came 

 crossing horizontally, and then a quick stroke to the 

 earth. 



" Being unlike anything I had ever seen before, I set 



