MARCH 29, 1901. ] 
Inspection of the photograph will show that 
the spectrum is very similar to the earlier 
spectrum of Nova Aurige. The hydrogen 
lines, notably C and F, are bright and very 
broad. The dark lines superposed upon them 
are probably reversals caused by the absorption 
of an outer layer of cooler gas at lower pres- 
sure. ° 
On the more refrangible side the hydrogen 
lines are accompanied by dark lines, just as was 
the case with Nova Aurige. As Wilsing has 
shown, this is doubtless due to the great pres- 
sure under which the radiation occurs. The 
bright sodium line has broadened into a band, 
on which appear the two dark D lines. These 
appear on the photographs, and are clearly 
visible in visual observations with a three-prism 
spectroscope. As the titanium poles were 
moistened with a weak solution of sodium 
chloride, the comparison spectrum contains the 
bright sodium lines. Thus the motion of the 
star in the line of sight can be measured. Some 
preliminary determinations indicate that the 
Nova is moving away from the earth at a low 
velocity. 
The helium line D; seems to be present as a 
dark line, lying close to the bright sodium band 
on the more refrangible side. The bright cal- 
cium lines H and K are notable for their great 
breadth and for the narrow lines of reversal 
which traverse them. The chief nebular line 
seems to be present (15002-5041), and a 
fainter line or band (24911-4988 ) covers the 
region of the second nebular line. The b group 
of magnesium is doubtless represented by the 
very bright band 15154-5204. The green 
coronal line (45303) would fall near the more 
refrangible edge of a bright band in the spec- 
trum of the Nova. 
Further results, based upon measurements of 
photographs taken with the three-prism spec- 
trograph, will be given in a subsequent paper.* 
Marcu 12, 1901. GrorGE E. HALE. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 
PROFESSOR S. W. STRATTON has, in view of 
his appointment as director of the Bureau of 
Standards, resigned his professorship in the 
* Note added March 18th. A comparison of photo- 
graphs taken on March 4th and March 15th, shows 
SCIENCE. 
515 
University of Chicago. He will go abroad soon 
to study similar institutions in foreign countries. 
PROFESSOR GEORGE FREDERICK WRIGHT, of 
Oberlin College, arrived in New York on March 
22d, after his geological expedition round the 
world. 
Dr. LEON VAILLANT, professor of zoology 
at the Paris Museum of Natural History, has 
been elected a member of the Zoological So- 
ciety of London in the room of the late Al- 
phonse Milne-Edwards. 
Av the banquet offered to M. Marey, the 
eminent French physiologist, by the Paris Club 
Scientia, to which we have already called at- 
tention, it was decided to present him with a 
medal, and a committee for this purpose has 
been appointed. Subscriptions may be sent to 
M. Masson, treasurer, 120 Boulevard Saint- 
Germain, Paris. 
THE University of Glasgow will confer, on 
April 23d, its LL.D. on Dr. A. W. Ricker, sec- 
retary of the Royal Society. 
Dr. G. A. HANSEN, the discoverer of the 
lepra bacillus, will celebrate his 60th birthday 
on July 29th, and the occasion will be cele- 
brated by the erection of a marble bust in the 
Lungegaard Hospital, Bergen, where he dis- 
covered the bacillus. 
THE Society of Italian Agriculturists has 
awarded a special honor to Professor Grassi for 
his services to agriculture by his investigations 
on malaria. 
Dr. G. TORELLI, professor of mathematics 
at Palermo, has been awarded the mathematical 
prize of the Naples Academy of Sciences. 
SECRETARY Lone has called a meeting of the 
Board of Visitors to the Naval Observatory in 
Washington on April 9th. The board, it will 
be remembered, consists of Mr. St. Clair Mc- 
Kelway, of the Brooklyn Eagle, President 
William R. Harper, of the University of Chi- 
cago, Professor Edward C. Pickering, of the 
Harvard College Observatory, Professor Asaph 
that the dark lines on the more refrangible edge of 
the bright hydrogen lines continue to increase in 
sharpness. At first single and rather diffuse, they 
have become sharply defined double lines. The b} line 
of magnesium is apparently decreasing in intensity, 
and the calcium line K is much fainter than before. 
