836 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 126. 



He has collected numerous specimens 

 from various countries, and readies some 

 interesting conclusions. Thus it appears 

 that the terms used in calling animals are 

 generally corruptions of their names, and 

 usually the expressions addressed to them 

 are from the language of the place. Cer- 

 tain inarticulate sounds, as the click, used 

 with us to start horses, and the chirp, uttered 

 to hasten their pace, are in vogue in remote 

 lands also, as in India, but with a reverse 

 meaning. Even between France and 

 Switzerland such examples of counter-sense 

 are quoted. This illustrates that the adop- 

 tion of these sounds is purely conventional, 

 and the only curious feature remains that 

 the same sound is repeated in widely differ- 

 ent localities. There is also evident an un- 

 conscious attempt on the part of man to 

 lower his language to the comprehension of 

 the brute by abbreviations. 



D. G. Beinton. 



■University of Pennsylvania. 



ASTB0PHY8ICAL NOTES. 



The Harvard Observatory makes an im- 

 portant contribution to astrophysics in Part 

 I. (pp. 1-128) of Vol. XXVIII. of its An- 

 nals. This contains a discussion, by Miss 

 A. C. Maury, under the direction of Pro- 

 fessor E. C. Pickering, of the spectra of the 

 brighter stars photographed with the 

 eleven-inch Draper telescope. This labo- 

 rious investigation has involved the exam- 

 ination of nearly five thousand photographs 

 of 681 stars north of 30° south declination, 

 and has been in progress for several years. 

 From one to four prisms were placed before 

 the object-glass, and the length of the photo- 

 graphed spectrum, between the hydrogen 

 lines /? and e, was from 2 to 8 cm. accord- 

 ingly. 



A scheme of classification was outlined 

 by Miss Maury, containing 22 groups of 

 spectra, with three ' divisions, ' a, h and c, 

 into which each group might be subdivided 



according to the appearance of the lines 

 present in it. The groups are presumed to 

 represent in some degree successive stages 

 of stellar development, I to V containing 

 spectra of the Orion type (Vogel's II 6), 

 while groups VII to XI, XIII to XVI, and 

 XVII to XX respectively include Secchi's 

 first, second and third types. VI and XII 

 are considered as transitional groups. 

 Group XXI is Secchi's type IV, and XXII 

 is Pickerings fifth type — bright-line stars 

 and planetary nebulae. Typical stars of 

 each group are cited, and about forty pages 

 are given to a detailed description of the 

 characteristics of each group. The desira- 

 bility of the introduction of a new classifi- 

 cation of stellar spectra may be open to 

 question, but there can be no doubt that 

 the results of minute study of spectra must 

 be expressed in some systematic way, since 

 gradations of spectra are perfectly evident. 

 Miss Maury is quite justified in thus sys- 

 tematizing her work, as she has done with- 

 out undue reference to theories of develop- 

 ment. It is, however, hardly to be ex- 

 pected that this classification will be gen- 

 erally adopted. The time has not yet come 

 for general agreement on stellar classifica- 

 tion. Further laboratory researches and 

 theoretical investigations upon lumines- 

 cence must be awaited before stellar spectra 

 can be interpreted. 



Separate chapters are devoted to the 

 Orion lines ; * to the solar lines between A 

 3686 and A 5896 with their occurrence 

 and intensity in the stars, to the lines 

 in stars of division c, and to the relative 

 intensities of lines. Chapter VIII. contains 

 a table of the stars in their order by groups 

 and subgroups or divisions, followed by 

 several pages of valuable notes on indi- 

 vidual stars. Chapter IX. is a general 

 catalogue of the stars investigated, in order 



*The identification of these lines with those of 

 heilum was discovered too late for discussion until 

 the close of the volume. 



