298 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 477. 



application. The author has now in hand 

 a similar determination of proper motions 

 of all stars fainter than the eighth magni- 

 tude for which suitable data can be ob- 

 tained from the earlier double star obser- 

 vations of the Struves. 



Photographs of Comet 1903 c {Borelly) : 



Sebastian Albrecht. 



This paper gave a preliminary account 

 of results obtained from thirty-seven pho- 

 tographs of the comet taken at the Lick 

 Observatory. The photographs show that 

 the comet had two distinct types of tails — 

 one very much curved and short, never 

 much exceeding a degree and a half in 

 length, the other long, and in its general 

 direction straight. Measures of the long- 

 tail show that its average lag behind the 

 radius vector was less than two degrees. 



The period from the 22d to the 26th of 

 July was one of unusual activity in the 

 comet. The plates of July 23, 24 and 26 

 show detached portions of the main tail, 

 indicating changes in the emission of com- 

 etary matter from the head. From a com- 

 parison of the Lick plate of July 24 with 

 two plates of the same date taken at the 

 Yerkes Observatory and one taken at Nan- 

 terre, an average recession from the head 

 of thirty-five miles per second was obtained 

 for a detached section of the main tail. 

 This is equivalent to thirteen miles per 

 second relative to the sun. 



The paper was accompanied by slides 

 showing the principal features of the 

 comet. 



A more complete account of results will 

 be published in a Bulletin of the Lick Ob- 

 servatory. 



The Eros Parallax Photographs at the 



Goodsell Observatory : H. C. Wilson. 



Some of the results of the measurements 



of photographs taken with the eight-inch 



photographic telescope at the Goodsell Ob- 



servatory were exhibited. , A, rough solution 

 of the equations derived from the best situ- 

 ated plates gives for the solar parallax 

 8". 799. Similar equations from the pub- 

 lished results from photographs taken at 

 the Bordeaux and Paris Observatories give 

 for the parallax 8".798 and 8".794 re- 

 spectively. W. S. ElCHELBERGEE, 



For the Council. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 L'Annee psychologique. 9me Annee, 1902. 

 Publiee par Alfred Binet. Paris, Schleich- 

 er Freres at Cie. 1903. Pp. 666. 

 This ninth number of the yearly publication 

 issued from the psychological laboratory of the 

 Sorbonne is rendered especially notable by the 

 clear and acute analysis which M. Binet gives 

 of the oldest of the problems of experimental 

 psychology. His conclusions are at variance 

 with all the prevailing ideas concerning the 

 measurement of the threshold for the discrim- 

 ination of sensations of contact. Since Weber 

 first introduced the problem, it has been be- 

 lieved, and the researches of numberless ex- 

 perimenters have seemed to confirm the be- 

 lief, that this threshold of tactile sensibility 

 could be definitely determined, and that it was 

 uniformly lowered by practise. M. Binet as- 

 serts that what has been measured is not the 

 acuteness of tactile discrimination, but a man- 

 ner of judging, of interpreting; that the 

 threshold itself practically can not be deter- 

 mined; and that in all probability practise 

 does not alter its real position. 



The original articles in this number, of 

 which there are three besides that just men- 

 tioned, cover 252 pages. They are followed by 

 255 pages of bibliographical analyses of nearly 

 80 books and articles ; and by the international 

 BibliogTaphical Index for the year 1902. 

 Analysis of the original articles follows. 



(1) P. Malapert: 'Inquiry Concerning the 

 Peeling of Anger in Children' (pp. 1-40). 

 This is a presentation of the results of .i 

 questionnaire sent out in 1900 by the newly 

 founded Soeiete libre pour I'etude psychol- 

 ogique de I'enfant. The author remarks upon 

 the ambiguity of some of the questions, the 



