September 24, 1908] 



NA TURE 



5>7 



chifflv concerned with the simplification of preijurations, 

 such as the tinctures of iron and opium, in the manner 

 recommended by the recent International Convention which 

 considered the maximum doses of potent drugs. Many 

 preparations which have fallen into disuse, and which had 

 become stereotyped in former editions, have been omitted 

 from the one just published, while a certain number of 

 new drugs are included, such as adrenalin, theobromine, 

 tuberculin, and other agents employed in opsonic, vaccine, 

 and serum therapy. 



The Journal of the Royal Sanitary Institute for 

 September (xxi.x., \o. 8) contains papers read at the 

 congress at Bristol. Dr. Savage deals with the hygienic 

 preparation of sausages, showing that, as ordinarily pre- 

 pared, they always contain Bacillus coU in numbers vary- 

 ing from lo to 120,000 per gram. The presence of this 

 organism in such large numbers is evidence of an 

 undesirable want of cleanliness in some part of the process 

 of manufacture. 



The Rcitdhnnti of the Reale Accademia dei Lincei, 

 part ii., 1908, contain an account, by Dr. C. .'\lessandri, 

 of observations of solar radiation at the Regina Margherita 

 Observatory on Monte Rosa (lat. 45° 56') in . the months 

 of August and September, 1905 and 1906. This study of 

 solar radiation at an altitude of 4560 metres is an 

 important contribution towards the solution of the intricate 

 question of the possible influence of the sun's varying 

 intensity on the weather at the earth's surface. The 

 observations were made with Angstrom's pyrheliometer, 

 to which are added the readings of Arago's aclinometer, 

 air pressure, temperature, and other data. At the time of 

 the solar eclipse of .\ugust 30, 1905, which occurred at 

 Monte Rosa between ih. sm. and 2h. ssm. p.m., with 

 a perfectly clear sky, the values obtained vary from 

 1-651 gram calories at i^h. 41m. to 0298 at 2h. 20m. 

 and 1-530 at 3h. 39ni. p.m. The observations made in 

 1907 will be communicated to the academy in a subsequent 

 note. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Comet Morehouse, 1908c. — Although, according to its 

 ephemeris, Morehouse's comet is increasing in brightness, 

 it still remains a disappointing object except to those 

 possessing large instruments ; this is probably due partly 

 to its diffuse nebulous nature and partly to the strong 

 moonlight that has obtained during the time which has 

 elapsed since its discovery on September i. 



Numerous observations of this object are recorded in 

 No. 4273 of the Astrononiisclie Nachrichten (p. 14, Sep- 

 tember 14), having been communicated, telegraphically, to 

 the Kiel Centralstelle. The comet's magnitude was re- 

 corded as 9-0 at Copenhagen and at Uccle on .September 4, 

 as lo-o by Prof. Palisa at Vienna on September 5, and 

 as 9-3 and 9-0 at Strassburg on September 5 and 7 re- 

 spectively. In the latter observation, Prof. Wirtz records 

 the appearance of a small, fine tail in position-angle 230°. 

 An indefinite condensation, 2' in diameter and about as 

 bright as a ninth-magnitude star, was observed by Prof. 

 Abetti, at Arcetri, on September 4, the condensation 

 appearing more especially in the north-east section of the 

 nebulous patch. .»\n observation by M. Sternberg at 

 Moscow on September 6 revealed no nucleus. 



A telegram from Paris, received at Kiel at midday on 

 September 4, announced that the comet was discovered 

 independently by M. Borrelly at loh. om. (Marseilles 

 M.T.) on September 3 ; its magnitude was given as 100, 

 its movement as north-east, and it was said to possess a 

 feeble condensation and a small tail. Prof. Morehouse 

 described the tail as " long and conspicuous," and the 

 apparent discrepancy is, possibly, due to the fact that he 



discovered the comet photographically. Observed visually, 

 the tail is not conspicuous, but photographs taken with the 

 36-inch reflector of the Solar Physics Observatory show 

 that there is a fairly prominent tail with at least two 

 miiin streamers. 



Owing 10 the diffuseness and faintness of the comet, no 

 observations of its spectrum have, as yet, been possible. 



According to the ephemeris given in these columns last 

 week, the comet should be some 45m. W. and 2° 17' N. 

 of the 3-3 magnitude star 3 Cephei at 10 p.m. (G.M.T.) 

 on September 30, and its brightness should then be about 

 33 times that at the time of discovery. 



The Orbits of Several Spectroscopic Binaries. — Lick 

 Observatory Bulletin No. 133 contains several notes 

 referring to different stars which the observations have 

 shown to be spectroscopic binaries. 



First, Mr. Pluminer discusses the orbit of Leonis, the 

 spectrum of which has been dififerently classified by 

 different observers, and some difficulty found in bring- 

 ing the velocity measures into accordance. It is now 

 found that the spectra of both components appear when 

 the latter are separated by the greatest distance. 



The masses of the two components are almost equal, 

 and the period is found to be 14-49S0 days, the orbit being 

 very nearlv circular. 



The period of 3 Ilerculis is found to be 410-575 days; 

 the eccentricity of its orbit is 0-5498, and the length of 

 the semi-inajor axis 60,280,000 km. 



The perturbation discovered in the orbital motion of the 

 visual binary J Urs;e Majoris by Mr. N. E. Norlund is 

 found by Mr. W. H. Wright to' be due to the fact that 

 the principal component itself is a spectroscopic binary, 

 the measures already made indicating that Mr. Norlund 's 

 period of 1-8 years is not far wrong. 



In the last note Mr. A. B. Turner compares the elements 

 of the orbit of w Draconis as derived by the analytical 

 method with those obtained by the method of Lehman- 

 Filh^s, and the final elements from a least-square solu- 

 tion. The period is found to be 5-2796 days, the eccen- 

 tricity 0-016, and the semi-major axis 2,626,700 km. 



The Determination of Time in Subtropical Lati- 

 tudes. — A paper by Messrs. Wade and Craig, appearing 

 in No. 21, vol. ii., of the Cairo Scientific Journal, 

 describes a method which was devised by the authors, and 

 has been found very useful, for determining local time, 

 with great precision, in subtropical latitudes. The 

 method differs from those proposed by Chandler and 

 Coolve, inasmuch as the observations are not restricted to 

 a circle passing through the pole, and is therefore more 

 suitable for equatorial latitudes. The method of observa- 

 tion consists in taking transits of a pair of stars, one east 

 and one west, at the altitude of their maximum elongation 

 when the star is rising vertically, stars being chosen so 

 that the maximum elongation takes place as near as 

 possible to the prime vertical. It is shown by the authors 

 that the computation of results becomes a simpler matter, 

 and that many corrections which have to be applied in 

 other methods are either eliminated or negligible. 



Cambridge University Observatory. — From the annual 

 report of the observatory syndicate we learn that the work 

 of Cambridge University Observatory during the period 

 1907 May 19 to 1908 May 18 was directed along the usual 

 lines. Stellar parallax work was continued with the 

 Sheepshanks equatorial, and was somewhat retarded by 

 poor weather at the beginning of this year. Valuable 

 catalogues of star-places are evolving from the Eros solar- 

 parallax reductions, and it is hoped that the first solution 

 of the whole material will be made during the present 

 year. 



Stellar spectroscopy, solar observations, and the labora- 

 tory study of spectra formed the programme for the 

 Newall telescope, and an attempt is being made to develop 

 a method for utilising the sharply defined atmospheric lines 

 of the a and B groups as standard lines in the determina- 

 tion of radial velocities of stars. At present the method 

 is not successful with faint stars owing to the lack of 

 sensitiveness of the photographic plates and to the want 

 of brilliancy of the diffraction gratings available for use 

 in the spectroscope employed. 



NO. 2030, VOL. 78] 



