156 ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA, 



AUSTRIA. 



extending ether, in. which, aside from the 

 steady motions excited in it by the (light-giv- 

 ing) solar action, the gravitative action of the 

 revolving mass of the sun produces a disturb- 

 ing effect such effect, he finds by mathemati- 

 cal analysis, being adequate to cause in the dis- 

 turbed space light-undulations. The related 

 phenomenon, of a luminous arch several degrees 

 in width across the whole sky, and spoken of 

 by Prof. Brorsen as a " ring-form of the zodi- 

 acal light," observed by Mr. Jones, near Quito, 

 in 1856, by Brorsen, at Senftenberg, Prussia, 

 1854-'8, and previously by Humboldt, off the 

 coast of Mexico, Prof. Challis regards as due to 

 "gravity-undulations" originated in like man- 

 ner by the axial revolution of the earth. 



NelulcE.Axi account was given in this ar- 

 ticle, in the preceding volume, of the singular 

 phenomena of variation and disappearance of 

 certain nebula?, with allusions also to the con- 

 nection of these changes with irregular appear- 

 ance or variability of certain stars situated in 

 or close to the field of nebulae. In the " Amer- 

 ican Journal of Science," for Jan. 1863, appears 

 a translation of Prof. A. Gautier's "Recent 

 Researches relating to the Nebula}" (from the 

 " Bibliotheque Universelle," Sept. 1862), and in 

 which is to be found a very complete statement 

 of the facts accumulated in regard to these 

 interesting bodies, up to the date of appearance 

 of the original article. 



Besides a variation in brilliancy, certain neb- 

 ula) have been observed to undergo changes 

 of form or appearance. Such is now the view 

 taken of the change in the nebula or star-clus- 

 ter, 80 of Messier, in Scorpio, in 1860. This 

 nebula, having on May 9th of that year its or- 

 dinary appearance, by the 28th of the same 

 month had assumed the aspect of a single star 

 of 7-8th magnitude; and by the 10th of June 

 following the stellar appearance had nearly 

 disappeared, though the nebula was then bright- 

 er than usual, with a well-marked central con- 

 densation. 



Quite recently, Chacornac has observed with 

 the great telescope of Foucault the annular neb- 

 ula of Lyra, and he has found it to be resolved 

 into a mass of very small stars, exceedingly 

 near to each other. The nebula presented to 

 him the appearance of a hollow cylinder, seen 

 in a direction nearly parallel to its axis. As 

 Lord Rosse describes it, its centre is veiled by 

 a curtain of nebulous matter, resolvable into a 

 thin stratum of stars. 



Sir John Ilerschel has remarked that the 



Eroportion, to the whole number, of the nebu- 

 e which are if we may so express it mul- 

 tiple, is greater than the proportion, to the 

 whole number, of the multiple stars. Assum- 

 ing 5' as the greatest distance apart of the 

 members of double nebulaj, M. d'Arrest has es- 

 timated that out of the whole number of about 

 3,000 nebula; in that part of the heavens visible 

 to us, some two or three hundred may be re- 

 garded as multiple. He has found a triple nebu- 

 la, 109 12' of right ascension and 29 45' of 



northern declination, in which, as observed in 

 1785, 1827, and 1862, sensible changes appear 

 to have taken place, indicating a movement of 

 revolution of one part round another. Be- 

 tween the two components, which are only 28" 

 apart, a very small star is seen exactly where 

 Lassell observed it ten yelrs before. M. d'Ar- 

 rest will hereafter cite other instances of change 

 in the relative positions of double nebula? ; 

 though he does not yet infer that any of them 

 have periods of revolution so short as those of 

 some of the double stars. Finally, he describes 

 a very small number of cases in which, by re- 

 peated comparison after intervals of a nebula 

 with some small star near it, he has been able 

 to show slight differences of distance or posi- 

 tion, which might indicate a proper motion of 

 one or the other of these bodies. 



The La Lande Prize. The La Lande (astro- 

 nomical) prize, value 500 francs, was awarded 

 by the French Academy of Sciences, in Janu- 

 ary, 1863, to Mr. Alvan Clark, of Cambridge- 

 port, Mass., for his discovery of the companion 

 of Sirius [mentioned in the preceding volume]. 



The great 18 inch object-glass with which 

 Mr. Clark made this remarkable observation, 

 has been purchased by the Astronomical Asso- 

 ciation of Chicago, for the sum of $11,187; 

 about an equal sum being considered requisite 

 to pay for mounting it properly. 



AUSTRIA. (For notice of the Imperial 

 House, detailed statistics of the population, the 

 different nationalities, religious denominations, 

 and principal cities, see ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA 

 for 1862.) 



The population of Austria at the end of 1861, 

 was estimated at 37,000,000 souls. The follow- 

 ing portions of Austria form part of the Ger- 

 man Confederacy: 



The budget of the financial department, es- 

 timated for the year beginning on Nov. 1st, 

 1863, and ending on Dec. 31st, 1864. which 

 was presented to the Council of the Empire, 

 on July 17th, 1863, gave the following results: 



Florin*. 



Ordinary expenditures 612.500,716 



Extraordinary " 102,112,701 



Total 614.618,417 



Ordinary receipt* 521,677,096 



Extraordinary " 59.896,475 



Total 581 .073.571 



Deficit 83,539,876 



