840 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1066 



of camels, some of them quite large, at least three 

 rhinoceroses, many carnivorous animals, some of 

 large size, at least two mastodons, a peccary, the 

 last of the oreodons or "ruminating hogs" as 

 Professor Joseph Leidy called them, an antelope of 

 entirely new type, quite different from anything 

 hitherto reported from North America, with scimi- 

 tar-shaped horns sloping backward and curving 

 inward, circular at the base but flattening out 

 toward the tips. There is still another antelope, 

 Dromomeryx, but no trace of the pronghorn. In 

 collections made by the American Museum from 

 the Snake Creek beds the first of the bisons ap- 

 pears, so the Snake Creek fauna gives us some 

 idea of the kinds of animals on the buffalo range 

 when the buffalo first came, and shows what great 

 faunal changes have taken place even during the 

 lifetime of this genus. 



The Bdle of the Glacial Anticyclone in the Air Cir- 

 culation of the Glohe (illustrated by lantern 

 slides) : William H. Hobbs. 

 The paper presents in outline a theory of nour- 

 ishment of the great continental glaciers of the 

 polar regions, and shows in what ways this theory, 

 first promulgated by the author in 1910, has been 

 confirmed and extended by the work of the nu- 

 merous exploring expeditions carried out since 

 that date. It is particularly because the expedi- 

 tions across Greenland of 1912 (deQuervain) and 

 of 1913 (Koch and Wegener), and those of Scott 

 and Amundsen into the heart of the Antarctic con- 

 tinent, have for the first time penetrated the cen- 

 tral areas of continental glaciers that the newer 

 studies are illuminating. The penetration of higher 

 levels of the atmosphere upon the borders of the 

 inland ice through the aid of pilot balloons, has 

 supplied further evidence of great value along a 

 wholly new direction. Most recent of all, the stud- 

 ies of Sir Douglas Mawson within a new section of 

 the Antarctic continental glacier has brought val- 

 uable confirmatory observations. 



Note on the Sun's Temperature: Heney Norris 



EUSSELL. 



The effective temperature of the sun may be 

 computed from Abbot's data for the radiation of 

 each separate wave-length, using Planck's for- 

 mula. The resulting temperature at the center of 

 the disk is about 6600° when determined from the 

 visible radiation, but 600° lower according to the 

 radiation in the infra-red. The effective tempera- 

 ture at the edge of the sun is more than 1000° 

 lower, which accords with the theory that at the 



center of the disk we can see down deeper, into 

 hotter layers. 



Some Besults from the Observation of Eclipsing 



Variables: Raymond S. Dugan. 



Slides showing observed light-curves of three 

 giant eclipsing variables: BT Persei, Z Draeonis 

 and EV Ophiuchi; and diagrams of the binary sys- 

 tems whose revolution is supposed to give rise to 

 the observed light variations. The importance of 

 repeatedly observing the entire period shown in the 

 discovery of shallow secondary minima, the oblate- 

 ness of the stars, inter-radiation and periastron 

 effects and darkening toward the limb. Evidence 

 of the greater brilliance of the advancing side of 

 the bright star. The variation of the periods of 

 these three stars. Early Harvard photographs and 

 recent photometric observations extend the obser- 

 vations of Z Draconis over nearly 7000 periods and 

 of RT Persei over nearly 11,000 periods. Com- 

 parison of the visual and photographic light curves. 



The Variable Stars TV, TW and TX Cassiopeia: 



R. J. MCDIARMI0. 



A brief discussion of the light curves of the 

 variable stars TV, TW, TX Cassiopeiae and T 

 Leonis Minoris was given, pointing out interesting 

 features in connection with each system. 



In the system TV Cass, we have two stars of 

 nearly the same size but of different surface 

 brightness, the ratio being 5.5 as to 1.0. In this 

 system other points of interest are brought out, 

 such as the reflection and ellipticity effects. The 

 system TW Cass, represents two stars of almost 

 equal brightness and of nearly the same size, mov- 

 ing in an eccentric orbit. In the third system TX 

 Cass, the two stars are very unequal in size, with a 

 ratio of surface brightness of 1.0 to 1.5. The 

 stars are ellipsoidal in shape, giving rise to an 

 ellipticity effect shown by the light curve. The 

 system is of special interest, as there seems to be 

 little doubt of its being similar to the sun, bright 

 at the center, decreasing in brightness toward the 

 limb. T Leonis Minoris is an eclipsing variable. 

 The ratio of the surface of the two stars in the 

 eclipsing system T. Leonis Minoris is 1 as to 25. 



Badial Velocities in the Orion Nebula: Edwin B. 



Frost. 



The investigations of the nebula in Orion by 

 Messrs. Bourget, Fabry and Buisson, of Marseilles, 

 published in the Astrophysical Journal for Oc- 

 tober, 1914, show that the photographic inter- 

 ferometer method can be successfully applied to 

 the study of the radial velocities of ths nebula, 



