August 13, igo8 



NA TURE 



351 



will be published in seventeen parts at a price of one 

 shilling net each part. 



Messrs. Rowland Ward, Ltd., announce for publica- 

 tion next month a concise work on British birds, entitled 

 "The Sportsman's British Bird Book," by Mr. R. 

 Lydekker, F.R.S. The volume will be illustrated, and 

 will appeal to the field-naturalist as well as to the sports- 

 man. 



The Yorkshire Weekly Post is publishing an interesting 

 series of articles on " Natural History as a Shakespearean 

 Study." The author is evidently a careful naturalist and 

 a painstaking student of Shakespeare. The admirable 

 natural history notes which occur week by week in our 

 contemporary have been arranged under the present editor 

 for the last fifteen years. 



The Sanitary -Publishing Company, Ltd., has published 

 a second edition of " By-laws as to House Drainage and 

 Sanitary Fittings made by the London County Council," 

 annotated by Mr. Gerard J. G. Jensen and another. The 

 new by-law made under the Metropolis Management .^cts 

 (By-laws) Amendment Act, 1899, which came into force in 

 1903, has been included in the new edition. The work 

 also contains references to the by-laws of various other 

 cities in the United Kingdom. The price of the volume is 

 ;^s. 6d. net. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



SuN-si'OTS Visible to the Naked Eye. — The accompany- 

 ing photograph of the sun, taken at Soutli Kensington at 

 2h. 4Sm. (G.M.T.) on August 6, shows the large groups 

 of sun-spots which have recently been visible to the naked 

 eye. 



A feature of the most recent sun-spot maximum (1905-1)) 

 has been the number of naked-eye groups that has been 



Photograph of the sun's disc, 1908, August 6, 2h. 45m. 



observed, and it is somewhat remarkable that at the present 

 time, two or three years after the epoch of the maximum, 

 there should be two such groups visible at the same time. 

 Both the group in the S.W. quadrant and that near the 

 centre were quite easily seen for several days after 

 August 3, a dark glass being the only equipment necessary. 

 The former first appeared, as a few small spots, at the 

 limb on July 30, and developed until, as the photograph 



NO. 2024, VOL. 78] 



shows, it was more than 100,000 miles long on August 6. 

 The group near the centre was first seen, at the limb, on 

 July 31, whilst the smaller group preceding it apparently 

 formed on the disc and was first seen on August 3. 



A Brilliant Fireball. — Mr. Denning writes : — " While 

 watching the eastern sky for meteors on July 28 at 

 iih. 6m., the north-west region was illuminated by the out- 

 burst of a very fine meteor at a low altitude, and a few 

 days later brought me letters from several of its fortunate 

 spectators. An observer at Brynmawr, South Wales, says 

 he was startled by the sudden illumination, and turning 

 round to N.W. he saw a ball of fire drop there, leaving a 

 bright streak for a short time. The Rev. W. F. A. 

 Ellison, of Fethard, Waterford, describes the meteor as 

 unusually magnificent. The flash was more vivid than 

 lightning, and there was a momentary streak left about 4° 

 to the right of Polaris. Path about 325° + 80° to 115° -I- 65°. 

 l-'light very swift, less than half a second. An observer at 

 Naas, Kildare, wrote a description to the Irish Times, in 

 whicli he says that the brilliancy of the fireball was so 

 strong that it bathed the whole country in daylight for 

 three or four seconds. It left a short streak, like a red' 

 bar, between y and j3 Lyra;, but not quite connecting these 

 stars. The meteor was also seen at Newtownwards, in 

 CO. Down, and by many others in different places. The 

 radiant was at 302° -I- 23°, and the height of the object 

 about eighty-two to forty miles above Tullow and Kildare. 

 The length of visible path extended more than fifty miles, 

 and the velocity was very great and equal to too miles per 

 second according to Mr. Ellison's estimate. The fireball 

 would have fallen to the earth in west Meath could it have 

 withstood' disruption during a further flight of forty-eight 

 miles. It was by far the finest meteor of the July epoch, 

 and this is a period specially noted for the abundance and' 

 brilliancy of its meteoric phenomena. The shower in Vulpe- 

 cula, near Sagitta, has frequently been observed at Bristol. 

 This year, between July 22 and August 3, I recorded 

 twelve meteors from it ; they were swift and generally in- 

 conspicuous objects. Three were seen (one of mag. 3 and 

 two of mag. 5) on the night of the fireball, and this amply 

 proves that meteors great and small are commingled 

 in showers of this character. The swiftness of motion is 

 noteworthy. We should expect slow meteors from a 

 radiant at 302° 4- 23° at the close of July." 



The Large Meteor of June 28. — Other observations 

 having come to his knowledge, Mr. Denning has been able- 

 to compute the path of the supposed bright Scorpiid seen 

 by him on June 28. He finds that the observed path com- 

 menced, at a height of sixty-nine miles, near Mere (Wilt- 

 shire), and ended, at a height of forty-i5ve miles, over 

 Kineton CVVarwickshire), the length of its path being- 

 eighty-four miles and its velocity twelve miles per second. 

 The radiant was at 237°, -18°, about 11;° 'VV. of the usual 

 Scorpiid radiant, so it appears that this object was in 

 reality a member of the neighbouring Librid shower (the 

 Observatory, No. 399, p. 318, August). 



Observations op Encke's Comet. — Encke's comet was 

 photographed by Mr. Woodgate, with the 13-inch astro- 

 graphic telescope at the Cape Observatory, on five nights 

 from May 27 to June 5, and the reduced positions, for 

 icioSo, are published in No. 4266 of the Astronomische 

 Nachrichien (p. 297, August i). The comet is recorded as 

 being very faint, and it 'is stated that the images are 

 diffused and irregular in form, the diameter exceeding i' 

 of arc. 



A Variable Star of Remarkably Short Period. — The 

 examination of the Paris carte du del plates has led 

 M. Baillaud to the discovery of another variable star of 

 which the period of light-variation is a remarkably short 

 one. The star in question is situated in the position (1900) 

 R-A. = i4h. 41m. 3i-8os., 5= +23° 43' 59"-7, and its range 

 of variation is between magnitudes 12-S and 14-3. The 

 change from minimum to maximum takes about o-oyod., 

 or ih. 41m., and the complete period is either 7h. .';4m. 26s. 

 or iih. 51m. 43s. The star is of the 5 Cephei type, and 

 there is a suspicion of a secondary maximum ih. 40m. after 

 the principal maximum (Coinptes reiidus, No. 4, p. 230, 

 July 27). 



