8o 



NATURE 



[Nov. 27, 1879 



in quarterly parts, the contents of each part being 

 arranged under the following heads : — 



1. Generalities and Statistics, Description of Apparatus 

 and Machinery, Heat-production. 



2. Dry Distillation of Heating and Lighting Materials, 

 Sulphide of Carbon, Petroleum, Coal-gas, Wood-tar, 

 Asphalte, &c. 



3. Sulphur, Acids, Alkalis, Aluminium Salts, Borates, 

 Chromates. 



4. Oils and Fats, Resins, Glycerin, Volatile Oils, 

 Lubricating Materials. 



5. Sugar, Starch, Fermentation, Wine, Beer, Spirits, 

 Vinegar. 



6. Food, Meat and its Preparations, Milk and Dairy 

 Produce, Flour and Baking. 



7. Dye-stuffs, Dyeing and Calico-printing. 



8. Tanning. 



9. Matches and Explosives. 



10. Glass, Earthenware, Cement, Plaster. 



11. Metallurgy — Iron, Copper, Tin, Lead, Bismuth, 

 Antimony, Nickel, Mercury, Silver, Gold, &c. 



12. Smaller Industries — Oxalic Acid, Cellulose, Sali- 

 cylic Acid, Tartaric Acid, Chloral Hydrate, Mineral 

 Waters, Chloride of Zinc. 



Detailed criticism of the immense amount of matter 

 contained in the 900 pages of the volume is, of course, 

 impossible. Suffice it to say that the whole has been 

 compiled with great care ; every available source of 

 information appears to have been thoroughly ransacked ; 

 and the necessarily condensed descriptions of the several 

 processes and products are supplemented by copious 

 references to original papers. Lists of chemical patents 

 taken out in Great Britain, America, France, Belgium, 

 and Austro-Hungary, are also given at the end of each 

 quarterly part, the whole extending to forty closely-printed 

 pages. 



In the possession of such a report of chemical industry 

 as the one now under consideration, and of the admirable 

 Jahresbericht of Dr. Wagner, the manufacturers of 

 Germany are certainly fortunate ; and when we consider 

 the vast extent and importance of chemical manufactures 

 in England and America, it is matter of surprise and 

 regret that no similar work exists in the English language. 

 Projects for such a work have, indeed, been started in this 

 country, but their execution appears to be a problem for 

 the future. 



Southern Stellar Objects for Small Telescopes, between 

 the Equator and 55 South Declination, -with Observa- 

 tions made in the Punjab. By J. E. Gore, M.R.I. A., 



' A.I.C.E., &c. (Lodiana, 1877.) 



This small work is divided into two sections. The first 

 contains objects arranged according to the constellations, 

 and chiefly selected from Sir John Herschel's Cape 

 volume, which are within the scope of telescopes of very 

 ordinary capacity, including double stars, clusters and 

 nebula?, with special reference to stars which may prove 

 to be variable. The second section contains the more 

 original work of the author, who was provided with 

 telescopes 3 and 3'9 inches aperture, in the Punjab, and 

 wholly relates to southern stars possibly variable, some 

 new and noteworthy cases being adduced. 



Mr. Gore appears to have made a useful comparison of 

 Harding's " Atlas " with the sky, so far as relates to stars 

 found in it, which do not occur in the great catalogue 

 from the " Histoire Cdleste" of Lalande, or are under- 

 lined in the "Atlas," and it is in such cases that he has met 

 with the most decided evidence of variability. Amongst 

 them we may note L. 1028, a star twenty minutes due 

 north of L. 8951, one in R.A. about 4h. 58m. for 1880, 

 N.P.D. iri° 14', apparently variable from 6m. to 9m.; 

 L. 19,662 from 4'5m. to 7m. ; L. 23,228 ; Oeltzen 17,670 

 (No. 31 in Mr. Gore's list), observed three times by 

 Argelander, and estimated 5, 7, and 5'6, which is 6m. in 



Harding, but not in Lalande or Heis ; No. 37, or Oeltzen 

 20363, called "a fine ruby star" by Sir John Herschel, and 

 6£, and found to be only 8J or 9m., and fiery red with a 

 3-inch refractor in July, 1875, an d L. 43,239. Generally, 

 the objects mentioned in the author's second section will 

 deserve further examination. 



There is frequent reference to the magnitudes assigned 

 in Proctor's " Atlas," by the side of those given by such 

 original authorities as Lacaille, Heis, or even Harding ; 

 this is a mistake, and is more calculated to mislead than 

 to assist a judgment on the question of variability. The 

 author of this Atlas distinctly states in his preface that he 

 has followed the magnitudes of the British Association 

 Catalogue except for stars in Sir John Herschel's list, 

 which is a comparatively small one ; the work is more of 

 a popular description, and so far as we know may be 

 useful to amateurs, but it is idle to quote the indications 

 of this Atlas with those of Argelander or Heis, whose 

 magnitudes are the results of actual comparison with the 

 heavens. Probably after his clear reference to the source 

 whence his magnitudes have been derived, no one will 

 have been more surprised to find his work quoted as an 

 authority in a question of change of brightness of a star 

 than Mr. Proctor himself. We should hardly have 

 referred to this point, were it not that others have made 

 the same mistake as Mr. Gore. 



There are many misprints in this small volume, which 

 should be avoided in another edition. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or 

 to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. No 

 notice is taken of anonymous communications. 



[ The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as 

 short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it 

 is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even of com- 

 munications containing interesting and navel facts.] 



A New Nebula 

 On November 14, the Rev. T. W. Webb discovered a small 

 nebula, or nebulous star, in Cygnus. It is apparently identical 

 with D.M. + 41, No. 4004, 8 - 5m. 



1880 = 2ih. 2m. 31s. + 41 45''3. 

 At Dunecht Observatory the object was seen, on November 

 22 and 23, to be approximately monochromatic, seen through 

 passing clouds ; about 5" diameter. Lindsay 



Dunecht Observatory, November 24 



Does Sargassum Vegetate in the Open Sea? 



THE reply of Dr. Wild in NATURE, vol. xx. p. 578 to my 

 query, does not satisfy me, for he partly cites old reports, that 

 are, as I showed, mostly suspicious of being a mixture of the 

 prevalent opinion since Columbus and observed facts. 



If it has been stated formerly that pelagic varieties (?) multiply 

 only by simple growth and subdivision, and a wide area covered 

 with sea-weeds corresponding to the Sargasso Sea occurring in 

 the North Pacific, I believe that is only a compilation. I crossed 

 the Pacific Sargasso Sea (as it is printed on the charts) in 

 December, 1874, from 140° W. long., 35° N. lat., to 174° W. 

 long., 29° N. lat., and observed no Sargassum at all ! But it is 

 possible that the quantity diners in different years. I ask, there- 

 fore — and beg forpersonal observations only — has any one 

 seen a difference in the quantity or density of floating Sargassum 

 in different years, and in what degree or quantity has (1) 

 brownish or olive-coloured, and (2) yellowish pale Sargassum 

 been seen in several years ? 



A flowering branch with buds of any garden plant, if cut and 

 put into water, does not wither suddenly, but sometimes opens 

 continuous to the buds, and may even sprout, but never for a 

 long time ; but we never call such cut flowering branches put 

 into a water-glass water plants. I take Sargassum to be 

 analogical, and it should not be allowed to consider the dying 

 broken Sargassum or Fucus, that swing in the open sea, as pelagic 

 in habit, or as a living variety of the open sea. 



