4i8 



NA TURE 



\Sept. 7, 1876 



to their national Observatory, and its distinguished and 

 indefatigable director. 



AN Intra-Mercurial Planet (?).— At the sitting of 

 the Paris Academy of Sciences on the 28th ultimo, M. 

 Leverrier announced that he had received a letter from 

 Prof. Rudolf Wolf, of Zurich, in which it was stated that 

 three observers situated in three different places had 

 witnessed, on April 4, the passage of a round spot over 

 the sun's disc. The three localities were— in Germany 

 (near Miinster), Greece (Athens), and Switzerland (Zu- 

 rich). The date is subsequent to the observation of Dr. 

 Lescarbault by 6,219 ^^^^, which figure is the product of 

 148 into 42*02 (printed 4002 in L'Ifistiiut, whence this 

 notice is taken), and it may be conjectured that, if the 

 object were a planet, it had made this number of revo- 

 lutions of 42'02 days. 



Such a body would have a mean distance from the sun 

 equal to 0*2365 of the earth's mean distance, with a maxi- 

 mum elongation in a nearly circular orbit of about 13^ 

 degrees, the period of revolution being almost precisely 

 half that of Mercury. 



We await details of the observations before examining 

 how far the date 1876, April 4, can be made to agree with 

 similar ones already upon record, supposing all to refer to 

 a single body revolving under the conditions named. 



New Minor Planet. — The Bulletin Intei-national of 

 the Paris Observatory notifies the discovery of No. 167, 

 by Prof. Peters, at Clinton, U.S., on August 28. R.A. 

 21^ 57™., N.P.D., 101° 30', motion south, twelfth mag- 

 nitude. 



NOTES 



We notice, with extreme regret, the announcement of the 

 death of Mr. George Smith, of the British Museum, the accom- 

 plished Assyriologist. A telegram received on Monday at the 

 British Museum from Constantinople stated that Mr. Smith 

 died at Aleppo, on the 19th ult., and that further particulars 

 would be ultimately sent. Faint hopes are entertained that the 

 s ad announcement will be contradicted. The Turkish Govern- 

 ment and officials had thrown so many difficulties in his way that 

 Mr. Smith was on his road home in disgust. It will be remem- 

 bered that he started in February last on his third archseological 

 expedition to the East. The high value of Mr. Smith's work in 

 a department of research of great importance has bean univer- 

 sally acknowledged, and it will be difficult to over-estimate his 

 loss to science and to the British Museum. He has earned an 

 enduring place in the important domain of Eastern archaeology. 



Mr. Howard Grubb, of Dublin, has presented to the 

 Scientific Committee appointed to superintend the work, his 

 Report on the. Progress of the Great Equatorial for the Vienna 

 Observatory, the contract for which was concluded in June last 

 year with the Austro-Hungarian Government. The work, we 

 are glad to say, has gone on smoothly and successfully. To enable 

 him to carry on his important undertaking Mr. Grubb has con- 

 structed a spacious dodecagon chamber, forty-two feet in internal 

 diameter, the roof of which is so constructed as to allow the 

 great steel dome to be erected over it. Mr. Grubb had contracted 

 with Feil of Paris for the supply of the discs of glass for the 

 great objective, and the flint disc is already in Dublin, where it 

 is now undergoing a rigid examination. The crown disc M. Feil 

 expects to have ready in a few weeks ; meanwhile active pre- 

 parations are being^made for the grinding and polishing of the 

 objective. Parts of the general framing have been cast ; the 

 polar pillar is completely finished ; the polar axis has had most 

 of its parts adjusted. The cross-head and declination axis are 

 completely finished, and the declination circle and adapter nearly 

 so. The clockwork and many of the other parts of the elaborate 

 apparatus necessary for the working of the telescope are also 



complete, and Mr. Grubb is preparing a traveUing gantry across 

 the observatory, and proposes commencing shortly to put 

 together the general ramework and erect the larger portions of 

 the mounting. A communication from Prof. Newcomb has 

 induced Mr. Grubb to take means to obviate the temporary 

 spherical aberration in the objective produced by the difference 

 of temperature outside and inside the tube. Altogether Mr. 

 Grubb is to be congratulated on the progress he is making in his 

 great undertaking. From the Deutsche Zeitung we learn that 

 the new observatory itself is making rapid progress towards 

 completion, and may be ready by the beginning of winter, though 

 it will take two or three years to complete the internal arrange- 

 ments. The telescope, a refractor with a 26-inch objective and 

 30 feet focal distance, is expected to be ready by the autumn 

 of 1878. 



ALaoLOGTSTS will be glad to hear that Prof. Agardh of Lund, 

 Sweden, has just published a new volume (vol. iii. ) of his work 

 entitled "Species, Genera, et Ordines Algarum." (Epicrisis 

 Systematis Floridearum. Auctore, J. G. Agardh. Lipsiae : 

 apud T. O. Weigel, 1876.) In it he treats of the Floridese 

 only ; the whole of which, with the exception of the orders 

 Corallines and Rhodomelea:, are included in it. The Floridese, 

 it will be remembered, formed the subject of the second volume 

 of "Species Algarum." Since it was published immense 

 numbers of Algse, in excellent condition, have been submitted to 

 scientific observation ; many new species and genera have been 

 added to the list of marine plants ; old observations have been 

 verified or corrected ; unexpected affinities between plants sup- 

 posed to be far apart in the system of classification ; or dis- 

 crepancies, equally unexpected, between plants supposed to be 

 closely allied, have been perceived. Improved methods of study 

 have led to the discovery of former errors of classification and 

 description ; and the necessity has long been felt by algologists 

 of a work, the arrangement of which should be more in accord- 

 ance with the present state of knowledge, and in which old 

 errors should be corrected, and new forms described. Such a 

 work Prof. Agardh has now given us, and we are sure it will 

 meet with a welcome reception. The present classification is 

 based on a thorough examination of the internal structure of the 

 frond and of the fruit ; and the Professor tells us that no species 

 has been admitted into the text which he had not previously 

 examined. Species, which in the former work had been accu- 

 rately described, are merely referred to in the present, which must 

 therefore be considered supplementary, and as in no wise super- 

 seding the former volume. The present work contains upwards 

 of 700 pages 8vo. 



Among the questions down for discussion at the Social Science 

 Congress to be held in October, nth to i8th, at Liverpool, are 

 the following : — In the Education Section — What methods are 

 best adapted to secure the efficient Training of Teachers of all 

 grades, especially in the art of teaching ? How can the due con- 

 nection between Secondary (Grammar) Schools, Elementary 

 Schools, and the Universities, by means of exhibitions, scholar- 

 ships, or otherwise, be most effectually maintained ? How can 

 Professional and Technical Instruction be best incorporated with 

 a sound system of general education ? In the Health Section — 

 What is the best mode of making provision for the Supply and 

 Storage of Water — (a) in large towns such as Liverpool and 

 Manchester ; {U) in groups of urban communities of lesser size, 

 such as exist in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire ? What amendments are required in the legislation 

 necessary to prevent the evils arising from Noxious Vapours and 

 Smoke ? 



At Pesth, on Monday, the International Prehistoric Congress 

 was opened in presence of the Archduke Joseph, by Herr Tre^ 

 fort, the Minister of Public Instruction, who welcomed the 



