I'ebruary 24, 1898] 



NATURE 



399 



Cook, during 1896, has just been issued from the Mysore 

 Government Central Press. In addition to meteorological 

 statistics, the volume contains several plates, upon which the 

 observations are represented graphically. The Report of the 

 Meteorological Service of Canada for the year 1890 was also re- 

 ceived a few days ago, together with a report on the observations 

 made during 1895. Both of these reports are almost completely 

 taken up with rows of figures referring; to the meteorology of 

 the Dominion. 



The Manchester Museum, Owens College, has just pub- 

 lished, as a museum handbook, Parts ii. and iii. of a Cata- 

 iogue of the Hadfield Collection of Shells from the Loyalty 

 Islands. Since the first part of the catalogue was published, 

 further consignments of shells have been received at the 

 museum, the number of species recorded being thus increased 

 from 630 to 860. The complete catalogue should be of con- 

 siderable value to conchologists, as the collection of shells 

 described in it is the largest and most important that has been 

 received in this country from the Loyalty Islands. 



The first number of the thirty-second volume of the American 

 Naturalist marks the issue of the magazine in a new and more 

 attractive form. It is the purpose of the editors to make the 

 periodical a means of encouraging the movement towards a 

 closer union of the natural sciences. Superficial observations 

 and poorly-grounded speculations are not to be published in its 

 pages, but only articles and other contributions which have 

 significance from various points of view. This^ ideal is a com- 

 mendable one, and it remains for American naturalists to help 

 the journal to attain it. 



The current number of Xki^ Journal of the Royal Microscopical 

 Society (published bi-raonthly on the third Wednesday in 

 February, April, June, August, October and December) con- 

 tains the tenth and concluding part of Mr. F. Chapman's very 

 important account of the Foraminifera of the Gault of Folk- 

 stone. The greater part of the number is, as usual, occupied 

 by the summary of recent researches in zoology, botany, and 

 microscopy (structural and applied). The object aimed at is 

 to give a brief abstract of every important paper (not purely 

 systematic) in these departments of science, each section being 

 under the care of a specialist sub-editor. The paragraphs on 

 bacteriology arie especially full and complete. 



Under the title of the " Universal Lamp Time Chart," Mr. 

 D. E. Benson, of Southport, is publishing an accurate and 

 ingenious chart, constructed by Mr. G. Napier Clarke and him- 

 self, to show graphically the time at which cyclists must light 

 up on any day of the month in any part of the British Isles. 

 Separate charts are required for each month, and also for 

 England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland ; but though this 

 will probably prevent the charts from being widely used, the 

 idea of representing by a graphic construction the times for 

 lighting and extinguishing lamps in different latitudes and 

 longitudes in the British Isles is so good, that the authors 

 deserve encouragement- Another publication in which those of 

 our readers who ride cycles will be interested is " The 

 Cyclist's Pocket Book " (Archibald Constable and Co.). The 

 book contains a large amount of useful information and 

 memoranda on the practice of cycling, and a few hints on the 

 initial treatment of the commoner casualities to which cyclists 

 are liable. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Australian Sheldrakes ( Tadorna tador- 

 uoides) from Australia, two Chinese Quails {Cotiirnix chinensis) 

 from China, six Pintail {Dsfila acuta), European, purchased ; a 

 Great K^ngz-xoo {Macropus giganteus), an Australian Cassowary 

 ( Casuarius australis) from Australia, deposited. 



NO. 1478, VOL. 57] 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



ASTRONO.MICAL OCCURRENCES IN MaRCH 1898 : — 



March i. 8h. 49m. Jupiter's Sat. IV. in conjunction S. of 



planet. 

 2. loh. lom. to I2h. 33m. Jupiter's Sat. III. in 



transit. 

 2. loh. 51m. to I2h. 33m. Jupiter with only one 



visible satellite. 

 2. I3h. 40m. to I4h. 36m. B.A.C. 2238 (mag. 6'S) 



occulted by the moon. 

 4. 7h. lom. to 8h. 29m. d^ Cancri (mag. 5*9) occulted 



by the moon. 

 4. 8h. 44m. Minimum of j8 Persei (Algol). 

 9. iih. 12m. to iih. 51m. q Virginis (mag. 57) oc- 

 culted by the moon. 

 9. I3h. 29m. to I5h. 14m. Jupiter with only one 



visible satellite. 

 9. I3h. 29m. to I5h. 53m. Jupiter's Sat. III. in 



transit. 

 9. I4h. 12m. Jupiter's Sat. IV. in conjunction N. of 



planet. 

 13. I4h. 38m, to I5h 49m. a Scorpii (Antares, mag. 



I'l) occulted by the moon. 



15. Illuminated portion of disc of Venus = 0*993. 



,, ,, ,. Mars = o'968. 



16. i6h. 46m. Jupiter's Sat. III. begins transit. 



16. i6h. 46m. to i6h. 58m. Jupiter with only one visible 

 satellite. 



20. Pons-Winnecke's comet due at perihelion. 



21. Minor axis of Saturn's outer ring I7"'63. 



24. loh. 27m. Minimum of /3 Persei (Algol). 



25. I2h. Jupiter in opposition to the sun. 



Equatorial diameter = 44" •95. 

 Polar ,, = 42"! 3. 



26. 2h. Mercury in conjunction with Venus. Mercury 



1° 14' N. 



26. 9h. 24m. Near approach of 23 Tauri (mag. 4'2) to 



the moon. 



27. 7h. i6m. Minimum of i3 Persei (Algol). 



30. iih. 13m. to I2h. 14m. 8 Geminorum (mag. 3*7) 

 occulted by the moon. 



Another Lunar Hoax? — From very early times the moon 

 has frequently been selected as a suitable object upon which to 

 exercise the imagination or base an elaborate hoax. We may re- 

 member that Hubert gravely declared to King John "that five 

 moons were seen to-night : four fixed : and the fifth did whirl 

 about the other four, in wondrous motion." Such rough de- 

 scriptions were good enough for the times in which they were 

 uttered ; but in days of more exact knowledge, the lunar fable 

 must be prepared with greater elaboration and decked in a 

 more scientific garb. When this century was young, a tale ob- 

 tained some credence, because it was artistically disguised, 

 concerning what astronomers could see on the moon's surface. 

 It was reported that Sir David Brewster and Sir John Herschel 

 had seen a lunar forest with trees resembling '* the yews grown 

 in English churchyards," and a "lunar ocean breaking in large 

 white billows upon the strand, while the action of very high 

 tides was quite manifest upon the face of the cliffs for more 

 than a hundred miles." Now, at the end of the century, comes 

 the latest lunar myth, and it necessarily must be surrounded 

 with still greater nicety of detail, and clothed with an accurate 

 terminology. 



The author of the alleged discovery in this instance is Dr. 

 Georg Waltemath, an astronomer of Hamburg, and his assertion 

 is, that there is evidence of the existence of a second moon, 

 circling about the earth, but with such low reflective power 

 that it has usually escaped observation even when in opposition. 

 The author has perceived the desirability of making this hypo- 

 thetical moon do a useful work in celestial mechanics, by ex- 

 plaining that the difference between the observed and computed 

 secular acceleration of the moon's mean motion arises from the 

 action of the newly discovered body. Perhaps it might also, 

 with a little art, be made to explain the motion of the peri- 

 helion of Mercury. A new comer who is able to remove some 

 existing difficulties, is naturally more welcome than one who 

 might introduce fresh disturbances. Therefore the mass must not 

 be very great, and Dr. Waltemath assigns to the new body that 

 he has discovered or deduced, a mass of l/§o of that of the 

 moon, and a diameter of 700 kilometres. The distance is put 



