December i6. 1807J 



NA TURE 



155 



which evoked the fear of even the adventurous native? 

 of the district. When once their haunts are gained, 

 gannets with young are however, according to our author, 

 very easy birds to photograph, as they will permit the 

 observer to walk among them with no more protest than 

 an occasional peck at his legs. Much has of late years 

 been written on the destruction by human agency of our 

 sea-birds ; and it is, therefore, of interest to note that 

 other causes likewise aid to no inconsiderable extent in 

 the diminution of their numbers. " The mortality among 

 sea-birds of all kinds," writes our author, " reckoning 

 the loss of eggs and young ones, from purely natural 

 causes alone, must be very great in the course of a 

 season. We saw a great number of young terns lying 

 dead everywhere upon these islands, and Watcher 

 Darling told us that two years ago very few Arcttc or 

 common terns got away. He picked up several dead 



Fig. 2. — Razorbill and Egg. (From " With Nature and a Camera.") 



ones with sand-eels in their bills, and concluded that 

 there was no small fry for them, and that the eels, al- 

 though the natural diet of Sandwich terns, were too 

 large for the young of the smaller species to swallow." 



Most of us suppose that the eider is pre-eminent for 

 the quantity of down she employs for lining her nest ; 

 but in this, according to our author, she is beaten by the 

 common wild duck. Did space allow, many other ob- 

 servations of equal interest might be quoted, but for 

 these we must refer the reader to the work itself, which 

 will form a welcome Christmas gift to all, whether young 

 or old, interested in wild nature. R. L. 



DR. FRIEDRICH A. T. WINNECKE. 



T T is always a painful duty to review the life work of 

 ■*■ those who have recently passed away, to estimate 

 the position their names will occupy in the history of a 

 science, and to survey the grounds on which their repu- 

 tation will finally rest. But in the case of Dr. Winnecke, 

 whose death was recorded last week, the task becomes 

 both painful and difficult. Thirty years ago he occupied 

 a prominent position among continental astronomers, and 



NO. 1468, VOL. 57] 



was intimately connected with the onward growth and 

 development of the science in many important direc- 

 tions. His enterprise and ability were everywhere ac- 

 knowledged, and a long career of work and usefulness 

 seemed before him. But while he was still a com- 

 paratively young man, the state of his health prevented 

 him from adding to the reputation he had established, 

 and to-day his name is perhaps little more than a memory 

 to many, who, interested in newer problems and more 

 sensational inquiries, may possibly undervalue the work 

 of an older school, which occupied itself mainly in the 

 astronomy of position. But wherever a just and com- 

 prehensive view of astronomy as a whole is taken, 

 Winnecke's work will be remembered with gratitude and 

 admiration. 



Dr. Winnecke enjoyed the advantage of admirable 

 mathematical training under competent teachers. The 

 school of Bessel was then in the ascendant, and the 

 reputations of Encke and of Argelander were at their 

 zenith ; while in the district of Hanover, where Winnecke 

 passed his early years, the memory of Herschel was still 

 treasured, and helped to give direction to his astronomical 

 tastes. He received his training in practical astronomy 

 mainly at Bonn, under Argelander, where he became a 

 proficient in the use of the heliometer, and with this 

 instrument efTected a complete triangulation of the stars 

 in the Praesepe cluster, together with a thorough ex- 

 amination of the necessary constants of reduction. This 

 latter part of the work he prepared himself for publication^ 

 but never printed, and it forms a painful commentary on 

 his enfeebled energies to i-emember that this work never 

 saw the light till many years after, when Dr. Schur 

 proved himself an able and sympathetic coadjutor, and 

 arranged the numerical portion of the research for general 

 use. In 1858, Winnecke left Bonn for Pulkova, where 

 he still interested himself in extra -meridional work. The 

 fine series of observations of the great comet of 1861, 

 which he followed until May 1862, long after it had ceased 

 to be observed in other telescopes, and on which the 

 final orbit rests, is a proof of both his energy and his 

 observational skill. Cometary astronomy always had for 

 him great attractions, and besides the periodic comet 

 which bears his name, he found several others, receiving 

 the prize of the Vienna Academy of Sciences for his 

 cometary discoveries. At Pulkova, too, he took some 

 part in the geodetic work arranged between Dr. Otto 

 Struve, Argelander, and the late Astronomer Royal, for 

 determining the differences of longitude between places 

 on the great European arc of parallel, and, in conjunc- 

 tion with Colonel Forsch and Captain Zylinski, carried 

 through that portion of the scheme which connects Haver- 

 ford West with Nieuport and Bonn. 



Winnecke also bestowed some attention on the problen* 

 of the sun's distance, which forty years ago was a burning 

 question. Hansen and Le Verrier were contending for 

 the rejection of Encke's value of the parallax as the out- 

 come of mathematical investigations based on the lunar 

 and planetary theories, and were supported by the result 

 of Foucault's mechanical operations atranged to deter- 

 mine the velocity of light. Winnecke was among the 

 first to perceive the importance of obtaining evidence 

 from independent sources, and fully appreciated the 

 value of utilising the observations of Mars as a new 

 element in the discussion. The result of his investigatior* 

 of the observations made at the 1862 opposition was to 

 assign to the Solar Parallax a value of 8"964, confirmed 

 by Stone's result of 8""932. 



After leaving Pulkova, Winnecke settled for some years 

 in Karlsruhe, where he was an industrious observer of 

 comets and variable stars. On the conclusion of the 

 Franco- German war, he was invited to take charge of 

 the new observatory at Strassburg. The equipment of 

 this observatory and the details of its arrangement are 

 due to his superintendence, and it certainly ranks among 



