HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



is in great part composed of a coral reef surrounded 

 by fragments of reef and chalk, very full of fossils 

 closely allied to those found in the common chalk. 



The limestone has been quarried extensively at 

 Faxe, and has been used for building in Copenhagen. 

 It also takes a good polish, and many handsome 

 marble ornaments have been turned out of it, of 

 which I purchased several small specimens, made 

 from parts of the coral beds which are quite white. 



The corals are very perfect, and present an 

 appearance similar to the corals building at the 

 present day. Amongst the zoophytes are Oculina, 

 Caryophyllia, Cladocora, Monomycis, and Molthea 

 Isis. 



The quarries make an exquisite hunting ground, 

 and the limestone varies from tough coral reef, etc., 

 at the east end, to soft earthy chalk towards the 

 north and west ; this again being followed by tough 

 limestone in a small quarry on the west of the 

 workings. 



I could not form any idea of the thickness, but in 

 some places the quarry was sixty feet deep. 



On the coast at Stevens Klint, a fine section is 

 obtained, and the Faxe limestone there lies between 

 two beds of chalk, and lying on a bed of chalk with 

 flints, from which it differs very much in appear- 

 ance, but with which it is closely allied in its fossils, 

 and which fossils such as Fusus, Trochus, Ceri- 

 thium, Nautilus, Terebratula, Ostrea, and Echino- 

 dermata, Corals, etc., are closely allied to the chalk 

 of England. 



I was not surprised then in the quarries to find 

 that the yellow reef limestone rested on an earthy 

 chalk bed full of fossils, Belemnites, Terebratula, 

 etc., and were also capped by a bed of white chalk 

 in places containing corals, Pecten, Ostrea, &c. 



Well I made a grand collection of fossils. I had 

 hardly entered the quarries from the south-east when I 

 found two good specimens of Brachyurus rugosus, 

 and several fine specimens of zoophytes. In pro- 

 ceeding, I was rewarded on the west side of the 

 quarry by finding a Nautilus Daniats, Belemnites 

 mueronatus, an Ammonite, Terebratula, a shark's 

 tooth, and en finishing my round, I had a heavy 

 bag containing Brachyurus, Pollicipes, and Serpulse, 

 A r autilus belleroplum, Nautilus Danicus, Nautilus 

 fricator (a friend found), Pleurotomaria, Valuta, 

 Cardium, Isocardium, Area, Pecten, Terebratula, 

 Cidaris Myeri, Goniaster, numerous zoophytes and 

 a tooth. 



Satisfied with my day's work and having been 

 hospitably received by Pasteur Muller, of Faxe, we 

 sailed next day in a small pilot boat twenty-five 

 miles to Stege, to spend two days at the Moen Klint. 



We are sorry to have to record the death, at the 

 ripe age of 83, of Sir Joseph Whitworth, Bart., the 

 distinguished engineer. 



ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 

 By John Browning, F.R. A.S. 



AT the meeting of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society, held on the 14th of January, a paper 

 by Dr. R. Copeland was read on the Variability of 

 the Spectrum of 7 Cassiopeia?. The C line is variable 

 in brightness, but the F line has never been absent. 

 Mr. Maunder agreed with Dr. Copeland that both 

 the C and F line in this spectrum have been variable 

 in brightness. 



A paper by Prof. Pritchard was read on the Applica- 

 tion of Photography to the Determination of Stellar 

 Parallax. Since last May two hundred negatives 

 have been taken at Oxford of 61 Cygni and the 

 neighbouring stars with which the place of the 

 components of 61 Cygni were compared by Bessel, in 

 1S40, when its parallax was first determined. From 

 measurements of the photographs, Professor Pritchard 

 deduces a parallax of 0*438 for the centre of the 

 binary system. The parallax obtained by Bessel was 

 o - 348. The research will be continued. 



A letter was read from Mr. Penrose containing an 

 account of an occupation he had obtained at Athens, 

 on the iSth of December, of the double star 7 Yirginis. 

 The reappearance took place from the dark limb of the 

 moon. The power used in the telescope was not suffi- 

 cient to show the components separately, a sudden 

 flash showed the reappearance of 7 1, and ten 

 seconds later another flash, which seemed to double 

 the brightness of the star, showed that the second 

 component had appeared. 



Mr. S. C. Chandler, jun., of Cambridge, U.S., has 

 discovered two stars are variable. They are of sixth 

 and seventh magnitude, and their period of change is 

 one about fourteen days, and the other about thirty-six 

 hours. In the first the increase of light occupies 

 about four days and the decrease ten days. A large 

 comet has made its appearance in the southern hemi- 

 sphere. It was seen at Melbourne, on the 29th of 

 January, the tail only being visible. Observers describe 

 it as appearing like a long strong-lit ribbon of light 

 narrowing towards the sun, without any distinct 

 nucleus. It will very probably be visible shortly in 

 Europe, in the southern part of the constellation 

 Eridanus, but as it is diminishing in brightness it may 

 not be visible to the naked eye. 



The lenses of the great refracting telescope have 

 arrived safely at the Lick Observatory. It is re- 

 ported that the Observatory and apparatus will be in 

 a tolerably complete condition in September. 



During March, Mercury will be an evening star in 

 Pisces. Venus will be an evening star also in Pisces. 

 Mars will be an evening star in the first half of the 

 month. 



There will be an occultation of Aldebaran ; first 

 magnitude on March the 2nd, the disappearance 

 takes place at 5 hrs. 47 min. afternoon, and the 



