September 26, 1907J 



NA rURE 



trustworthy meters would be considerable ; also the average 

 electricity meter is very unsightly. A new submeter 

 which overcomes a great many of the objections of the 

 existing meters is, however, now obtainable, and should 

 help largely towards the development of the small power 

 load. The meter is of the mercury-electrolytic type, and 

 has been proved to be very accurate ; it fits over the 

 ordinary two-pin wall plug. It is an inexpensive matter 

 to fix this meter in several rooms wherever a consumer 

 may wish to employ a heating appliance, and he is able 

 to read the meter without trouble and know exactly what 

 his radiator or kettle — as the case may be — is costing 

 him. 



Under the title " Probleme der katalytischen 

 Forschung " (Leipzig: Veit and Co., price 1.20 marks) 

 Dr. Gertrud Woker has published in pamphlet form an 

 inaugural address delivered at the University of Bern. A 

 suggestive review is given of such questions as the nature 

 of the catalytic changes occurring in the oxidation of 

 sulphur dioxide by nitrous fumes in the chamber process 

 of making sulphuric acid, the problems of autoxidation, 

 the action of the so-called oxydases within the organism, 

 and the nature of the transformations brought about by 

 enzymes in general ; finally, the relationship between 

 toxins and anti-toxins is discussed as a phenomenon of 

 physical chemistry governed by the law of mass action. 



The first meeting of the new session of the Entomo- 

 logical Society of London will be held on Wednesday next, 

 October 2, when a paper will be read on the butterflies 

 of Mauritius and Bourbon by Lieut. -Colonel N. Manders. 



We have received from Messrs. F. Darton and Co. their 

 illustrated price list of standard meteorological and other 

 instruments. Some useful notes are given for the benefit 

 of students and others, together with a list of text-books 

 recommended ; the latter might be revised with advantage. 

 Before establishing new stations, observers would do well 

 to consult recognised meteorological authorities, especially 

 as regards the installation and proper exposure of the 

 instruments. 



OVR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Astronomical Occurrences in October : — 

 Oct. I. iSh. Jupiter in conjunction with the Moon. 

 (Jupiter 1° li' S ). 

 2. I2h. 58m. Minimum of Algol ((8 Persei). 



4. Saturn apparently without rings. 



5. gh. 47m. Minuiium of Algol {0 Persei). 

 8. 6h. 35m. Minimum of Algol (6 Persei). 



14. I7h. Mars in conjunction with the Moon. (Mars 



l°47'S.). 

 18. 6h. Saturn in conjunction with the Moon. (Saturn 



2°15'N.). 

 18-22. Epoch of October meteors. (Radiant 92°-!- 15°. ) 

 22. 22h. Mercury at greatest elongation, 24° 20' E. 

 26. igh. Venus in conjunction with o LibrtE. (Star 



o'5'S.). 



28. 8h. 18m. Minimum of Algol (/3 Persei). 



29. gh. Jupiter in conjunction with the moon. (Jupiter 



l"4i' S.). 

 Spectrum of Daniel's Comet (1907^). — Photographs of 

 the spectrum of comet igoyd, taken with a Zeiss prismatic 

 camera, vi'cre obtained by Herr H. Rosenberg at the 

 Gottingen Observatory on August 9, 11, and 14, with 

 exposures of twenty-five, twenty-eight, and eighteen 

 minutes respectively. The results of the measurements of 

 the spectrograms are uncertain to about + 10 Angstrom 

 units, but certainly show that the spectrum includes the 

 chief hydrocarbon and cyanogen bands, with a continuous 

 spectrum extending from about 505 fipi. to 370 /iti. The 

 brightest bands are those coinciding with the two heads 



NO. T978, VOL, 76] 



of the third cyanogen band at \\ 3883 and 3872 re- 

 spectively ; the third strongest band of the seven measured 

 coincides with the fourth carbon band at \ 4737- Two 

 bands at X\ 4055 and 4035 are as yet unidentified. The 

 photograph of August 9 showed bands at 473, 438, 423, 

 404, and 388 fifi in the spectrum of the comet's tail, all 

 of which were apparently of equal length and strength. 



A continuation of the ephemeris of this comet, com- 

 puted by Herr J. Franz from Dybeck's elements, appears 

 in the same journal (_Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 4200, 

 p. 401, September 12); the following is abstracted there- 

 from : — 



Ephemeris i2h. (M.T. Berlin). 



1907 a (true) S (true) log r log .i Bright- 



Sept. 25 ...II 4-8 ... +5 47-1 ... 9-8550 ... 0-2085 ... 4-89 



29 ... II 219 ... +4 32-1 

 Oct. 3 .. II 37-7 ... -1-3 20-7 ... 9-9264 ... 0-2453 ... 3-00 ^ 



The Lowell Expedition to the Andes. — .\ second com- 

 munication from Prof. David Todd to Dr. W. J. S. 

 Lockyer gives additional information concerning the work 

 of the Lowell expedition, of which Prof. Todd is in 

 charge. It appears that at the chief station of the ex- 

 pedition, Alianza, more than 7000 photographs of Mars 

 were obtained during the period June 17 to August i.- 

 Prof. Lowell's discussion of these will form a most, 

 important addition to areography, as they show, covering 

 a complete round of the planet, the changing appearances 

 of the two polar caps, a multitude of. "oases," and- 

 hundreds of the " canals," many of which are plainly in 

 the geminate form. 



The photographed images of the planet, as enlarged by 

 the Gaertner camera, are of about three-sixteenths of an 

 inch diameter, and will admit of much further enlarge- 

 ment. Exposures of about two seconds were given on 

 Seed and Cramer plates. 



September Meteors. — The appearance of several bright 

 meteors during the present month is reported from various 

 quarters, but no details of the paths are given. One very 

 fine one was seen at South Kensington by Mr. H. E. 

 Goodson at iih. 20m. on September 9. The meteor itself 

 disappeared behind a house-top, but left a splendid trail 

 which persisted for fully one-quarter of a minute. Judg- 

 ing from this trail, the direction of the meteor's flight 

 was along a line from 3 Ursae Minoris, passing half-way 

 between 9 and t Draconis. The meteor was very brilliant 

 and swift, and was followed almost immediately by a less 

 bright one, which pursued nearly the same path. 



Photographs of Phceee. — Using the 30-inch reflector of 

 the Greenwich Observatory, Mr. Melotte has obtained a 

 series of photographs of Phoebe, Saturn's ninth satellite. 

 The results derived from provisional measurements of the 

 plates show that Dr. Ross's ephemeris, published in the 

 second edition of the American Ephemeris for 1907, is 

 essentially correct (the Observatory, No. 3S7, p. 366, 

 September). 



Solar Activity and Terrestrial Phenomena. — We have 

 received from MM. Cirera and Balcells, of the Tortosa 

 Observatory, Spain, a discussion of the relations observed 

 to exist between the variations of solar activity and of 

 terrestrial magnetism and electricity during the first three 

 months of this year. 



From this discussion the observers arrive at the follow- 

 ing conclusions : — (i) the solar activity increased in 

 January, passed a maximum in February, and decreased 

 during March ; (2) the regions of activity exhibited motions 

 in the opposite direction to the sun's rotation; (3) the 

 variations of activity often commenced in the chromo- 

 sphere. Regarding the correlation of these variations with 

 magnetic and electrical perturbations, the following con- 

 clusions were arrived at : — the perturbations either coin- 

 cided with the appearance of a region of activity on the 

 eastern limb of the sun, with the passage of such a 

 region over the sun's central meridian, or with an extra- 

 ordinary increase of activity near to the central meridian. 



On March 22 an observed strong perturbation coincided, 

 in time, with the central-meridian passage of a region 

 which had been active during the previous rotation of the 

 sun, and on certain dates in January and February the 



