CORRESPONDENCE.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13008, 9 January 1908, Page 8

CORRESPONDENCE.

/ _♦ :—^-.' THE USE OF CrHWRODYNE. TO THE EDITOR Or "THE "r«KSS;" Sir, your casualty column ot yesterday 1 noted that a nan haddied from an overdose of chlorodyne ? • At this time of year, when the use "of < thus mixture is common enough, it seems right that the puMic should be made aware of the dangers. Ghlorodyne is not a scientific or true mixture, and when at rest divides itself into'three layers—a point that can readily bo ascertained by means of. transmitted light... A number of strong;, poisons are present, such as pruasdc acid, chloroform, and morphia. Of . prnssio acid being lighter thin watjar flo#B in the top layer, while -Hie chloroform,, being heaviest, sinks 'to the bottom. It is obvious that if the bottle is not well shaken, the patient will get an overdose of pruesio acid in the first dose, and of chloroform in the last. In twenty drops—-the socalled medium dose—there is a quarter of a. grain of morphia, which is a fuH dose of that drug for an adult. Owing to tho presence of the morphia, chlorodyne is a most unsuitable medicine for children, as the latter are specially susceptible to the action of opium.—Yours, etc. WALTER THOMAS. January Bth.

VARIABLE STARSTO THE EDITOR OF "THE PBESS." Sir, —I have just received the enclosed clipping, giving absolute confirmative evidence of the two scarred suns, from the eminent actuary, Mr F. W. Frankland. It is from "Science" for March 16th. 1906. Although the ! discoveries must be some two years old. yet no astronomer seems to have 6een its extraordinary demonstration of, the theory of partial impact. The cutting is as follows (page 737): — "Two interesting cafes have recently been discovered by Mrs Fleming, at the Harvard Observatory, of * double stars, both of whose components are variable That two variable stars should be close together, where variables occur in large numbers, as in>the detase globular clusters, or. to a leas degree in the Magellanic clouds, would not be especially surprising. Even hero, however, as a matter of fact, veryfew really close doubles are found- In the sky as a whole, away from, such special regions, the" number of known variables in the 40,000 square degrees of tho sky is not much more than 600, or one ijt 67 aguare degrees. The chance, therefore, two of them should come within a few seconds -of nrc of each other,'is extremely small. The first double variable consists, of tho well-known variable star S Lupi and a close companion, distant only 13 seconds, so close, indeed, that it may often have been mistaken for. 6.Lupi itself, especially when it was bright and S Lupi faint. S Lupi has a period of 346 days, and varieein light about three and a half magnitudes, between 9.6 and 13.1. The close companion varies between 10.4 and 12.8, ami its period appears to be irregular. Another variable pair has - just been t announced. The components w are 40 j seconds apart. Tho first component varies between the magnitudes 10.Q and 10.6, arid the second; between 10.0 and 12.4. It will be of "the' greatest >in» I terest to determine ; whether there" is any relation between • the lightrchangee of the components, but thisTias not y yet been possible. 'It is well-known*to astronomers that Mrs Fleming has discovered nearly 200; variable stars by examination of photographic • spectra, made with an objective prism,, in •connection with the work of the Henry Draper -memorial. By discovering.that the spectra, of. long-period variables usually contain the bright lines duo to hydrogen, .she has been able to- pick up large numbers. of variables of thi» class while engaged in other spectroscopic _ studies. It , would ■ have been quite impossible for, a single observer, or, "perhaps for half a dozen, by visual methods, to find'such'a number in a lifetime. The result illustrates the power of photographic method* when the .-correct interpretation htto been found." I have made a calculation, and find that, variables would have- to be more than four million times as thick as they are to average the distance of <mc of these pairs. And two pairs, each variable, are already, discovered, a fact beyondsthe probability of chance. That 200 variables have-been detected by i the glowing line; of' hydrogen ahbwe : thi.«.- to bo a common characteristic J Sir, can you conceive of any other moans of getting the blaze line, save from the fiery scars of conflict of a grazing collision. These two facta, the character of thp spectrum • and the' double variability of double stars suffice alone to demonstrate the impact theory ;of their origin; even without adding , the already cpnehrsive mass of evidence previously, available.—Yours, etc., | A- W. BICgERTOy.