5-8 



NA TURE 



[OCTObFR 28, 1909 



two groups other bands were observed, and the wave- 

 lengths are given. It is interesting to note that when 

 the arc-gap was lengthened the line at A. 4227 reversed 

 at the positive pole only, while H and K were much 

 stronger near the negative pole than the positive. 



The concluding part of the first volume of the Memoirs 

 of the College of Science and Engineering, Kyoto Imperial 

 University, contains a second paper by Mr. Y. Osaka on 

 the mutarotation of glucose. It is shown that the velocity 

 of the change of rotatory power which takes place in 

 freshly prepared solutions of this sugar increases between 

 15° and 25° in the ratio 1/2-7. Sodium chloride has no 

 catalytic action at dilutions below N/15, l*"' ^t N/io and 

 N/5 a distinct retardation could be detected, as already 

 noted by Levy and by Trey ; in presence of hydrogen 

 chloride, however, it was found to stimulate the catalytic 

 action of the acid. In accordance with the author's 

 theoretical conceptions, the addition of a trace of a weak 

 acid {N/300 succinic or acetic acid) wa's found to produce 

 a slight retardation, although larger quantities of the acid 

 accelerated the change. The same issue contains a paper 

 by Kuhara and Komatsu on a series of isomeric phenyl- 

 phthalimides. Two compounds previously described could 

 not be prepared again, but, in addition to the ordinary 

 stable, colourless phthalimide, the authors obtained a 

 colourless isomeride melting at 83-84°, which readily 

 passed over into the stable form, and a yellow compound 

 melting at 125-126°, which could not be transformed. 

 The isomerism of the derivatives of phthalic acid is un- 

 doubtedly one of the most important of the cases awaiting 

 investigation, and further work in this direction is much 

 to be desired. 



The October issue of Tcarson's Magazine contains a 

 further instalment of Lieut. Shackleton's narrative entitled 

 " Nearest the South Pole." In the same number is also 

 to be found an illustrated article dealing with oak galls. 



MM. A. Hermann et Fils, of Paris, have published a 

 second French edition of the third part of Mr. W. Rouse 

 Ball's " Mathematical Recreations and Essays." The 

 volume includes the chapters on astrology, hyper-space, and 

 time and its measurement, together with additions by MM. 

 Margossian, Reinhart, FitzPatrick, and Aubry. The 

 translation is from the fourth English edition, and its 

 price is 5 francs. 



In the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts 

 and Sciences (xliv., 25) Messrs. Gilbert \V. Lewis and 

 Richard C. Tolman discuss the principle of relativity, and 

 the system of non-Newtonian mechanics required to main- 

 tain such fundamental conservation laws as that of energy 

 and to reconcile them with the experimental results of 

 Michelson and Morley and of Bucherer. 



A SERIES of volumes on the history of science has been 

 arranged by the Rationalist Press Association, and will be 

 published by Messrs. Watts and Co. The first two volumes 

 are " The History of Astronomy," by Prof. George Forbes, 

 and " The History of Chemistry " (vol. i., from earliest 

 times to 1850 a.d.), by Sir T. E. Thorpe. Among the 

 authors who will contribute to the series are Dr. J. Scott 

 Keltic (geography), Mr. Horace B. Woodward (geology), 

 Prof. L. C. Miall (biology), and Dr. A. C. Haddon (anthro- 

 pology). 



The Railway Department of the Cape Government has 

 issued a second edition of its official guide-book under the 

 title " Cape Colony To-day." The book runs to 280 pages, 

 is profusely illustrated, and provides an admirable account 

 of the distinguishing characteristics of the districts 

 NO. 2087, VOL. 81] 



described. For the convenience of tourists who wish to 

 explore Cape Colony thoroughly nine tours have been 

 mapped out, and particulars are given of the chief towns 

 and other interesting places en route. The principal in- 

 dustries dealt with are fruit and grain growing and ostrich 

 farming in the western province ; sheep, goat, and ostrich 

 farming and fruit growing in the midland districts ; and 

 the cultivation of maize. Every sort of information likely 

 to be of service to the traveller is to be found in the book. 



A COPY of the report for 1908-9 of the council of the 

 Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and 

 Newcastle-upon-Tyne has been received. The society is to 

 be congratulated upon receiving, by the will of the late 

 -Mr. George E. Crawhall, a legacy of 6000/. to be invested 

 for the benefit of its funds. The legacy was most oppor- 

 tune in view of the many financial needs of the society, 

 and it is to be hoped that the council's appeal for dona- 

 tions to enable the cost of maintenance of the Hancock 

 -Museum at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and of printing the' 

 society's Transactions to be met will be responded to 

 generously. The curator's report on the museum shows 

 that a complete overhauling and re-installation of the fishes 

 in the zoology department has been effected, and that 

 niunerous valuable specimens have been presented to 

 different sections of the museum. 



A SIXTH edition of Mr. Herbert M. Wilson's " Irriga- 

 tion Engineering " has been published by Messrs. Chap- 

 man and Hall, Ltd., in this country, and by Messrs. John 

 Wiley and Sons in America. The fourth edition of the 

 work was reviewed at length in these columns on 

 January 28, 1904 (vol. Ixix., p. 291), and it will suffice 

 to mention some of the distinguishing characteristics of 

 the present edition. The book has been re-written almost 

 entirely, and brings up to date the remarkable progress 

 made in construction by the Reclamation Service of the 

 United States. Much old matter has been eliminated, and 

 a large amount of new text and eighty new illustrations, 

 representative of more modern designs for irrigation works, 

 have been introduced. 



We have received the third part of the first volume of 

 the Journal of the Municipal School of Technology, Man- 

 chester. An explanatory note points out that the journal 

 was established to record the original scientific work done 

 in the school by members of the teaching staff or by 

 students. .Such work has accumulated so rapidly, how- 

 ever, that it has been decided to print in abstract only, or 

 in some cases the titles only, of all the work published 

 previous to 1908 which has not appeared in the journal 

 already. The papers for 1908 are to be printed in full. 

 The present issue contains the paper by Mr. J. Prescott 

 on the figure of the earth which appeared in the Philo- 

 sophical Magazine of October, 1907, and abstracts of 

 papers from the mechanical engineering, the physics, the 

 electrical engineering, and the chemistry departments. It 

 is noteworthy that the excellently produced periodical was 

 printed in the photography and printing crafts department 

 of tfie school. 



OVR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Hallev's Comet. — In a communication to No. 4263 of 

 the Astronomische Naclirichten (p. 319, October 13), Prof. 

 .Millosevich states that the photographic observations of 

 Hallev's comet made on September 14 show that the 

 elements already published need very small corrections, and 

 that, according to his calculations, perihelion passage 

 should occur at 1910 .-Xpril 19 2d. (Berlin M.T.) +o-5d. 



Father Searle, director of the Brooklands Catholic 

 University Observatory (U.S.A.), finds, from the Mount 



