Nov. II, 1875J 



NATURE 



27 



Curious Australian Implement 



In Nature, vol. xii. p. 544, a correspondent points out the 

 resemblance existing between an implement usetl by the Ute 

 Indians and one belonging to the Australian natives, which he 

 calls a vermin hook. May I venture to suggest that he may 

 possibly have mistaken the use of the latter ? It appears to me 

 to be identical with the instrument used by all the Australian 

 " river " blacks to throw their light reed spears with, which con- 

 sist of a heav'y miall wood point and a shaft of reed. Th« bone 

 hook is inserted in the head of the reed, the spear resting 

 between the forefinger and thumb of the hand that holds the 

 thrower and lying parallel to it, thus : — 



the spear being propelled from the hooked end of the thrower, 

 which is rapidly brought forward into a vertical position, thus pro- 

 pelling the spear before it. During several years on the different 

 Australian rivers, I saw the weapon universally used as above, 

 but neither there nor elsewhere in the colonies for any other 

 purpose. J. P. Glover 



Derby, Oct. 29 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



Variable Stars. — The following are the Greenwich 

 mean times of geocentric minima of Algol, occurring 

 before I4h., to the end of the present year, according to 

 the elements employed by Schonfeld for his later ephe- 

 merides : — 



h m. h. m. h. m. 



Nov. 14 ... II 42 Dec. 4 ... 13 24 Dec. 27 ... 11 57 



„ 17 ••• 8 30 „ 7 ... 10 13 „ 30 ... 8 46 



„ 20 ... 5 19 „ 10 ... 7 2 



The first heliocentric minimum in 1876, with the epoch 

 and period of Schonfeld's second catalogue of variable 

 stars (1875), occurs on January 2, at 5h. 34"5m. G.M.T., 

 or January Tiyizb ; the minima throughout the year will 

 be obtained by the successive addition of 2"^ 86729. For 

 times of geocentric minima, corrections must be applied 

 to the times so calculated, which may be found from 



Corr. to heliocentric minimum = 7'67m. R. sin. (S + 3S°'69), 



where R is the earth's radius-vector at the date, and S 

 the sun's longitude. 



The period of Algol, which had diminished since 1782, 

 at first slowly, but afterwards more rapidly, after remaining 

 constant or nearly so for a time, appears to be again 

 slowly diminishing. 



According to Schmidt, of Athens, the brightness of 

 Algol is equal to that of 8 Persei about 47 minutes before 

 and after mmimum, to that of e Persei about 62 minutes 

 before and after the same, and to that of ^ Trianguli 95 

 minutes before and after. The fluctuations extend over 

 about 94- hours. 



There is a suspicion of variability about the light of the 

 small companion of this star, first remarked by Schroeter. 

 Smyth measured it in 1835. During the last two years it 

 has sometimes been readily visible and at others dis- 

 cernible with difficulty with the same instrument ; but a 

 systematic course of observations is required to decide if 

 there be a real variation. 



According to Schonfeld, S Cancriwill be at a minimum 

 on Nov. 14 at i6h. 50m., Dec. 3 at i6h. 3m., and Dec. 22 

 at I5h. 17m. G.M.T. 



For U Geminorum it appears very difficult to make a 

 prediction likely to be of any service, so that very frequent 

 examination is necessary for the determination of the 

 times of maximum. Mr. Otto Struve states that this 

 object does not usually disappear in the Pulkova refractor. 

 Schonfeld thinks the period varies between 70 and 150 



days. A secondary minimum has been remarked on 

 several occasions about the time of greatest light. In 

 most periods the star has not continuedvisible in ordinary 

 telescopes more than a fortnight, and occasionally less. 

 Winnecke has given a list of the small stars in the vicinity 

 of U Geminorum, which will be useful in its identification 

 (See Astron. Nach., No. 1,120). At maximum this star 

 is a little brighter than an average ninth magnitude in 

 Bessel's scale. 



The Minor Planets —There are this week three 

 additional discoveries to record. No. 151, by Palisa, at 

 the Observatory of Pola on the Adriatic on Nov. i, place 

 at I3h. 24m. local mean time in R.A. 3h. 2m. 17s., and 

 N.P.D. 71° 40'; No. 152, by Paul Henry, at Paris on 

 Nov. 2, place at iih. in R.A.2h. 38m. 173., N.P.D. 74° 35' ; 

 and No. 153 by Palisa, on Nov. 2, place at i2h. 40m. in 

 R.A. 3h. im. 28s., N.P.D. 72° 25' ; all three are of the 

 twelfth magnitude, or somewhat fainter. In Prof. Tietjen's 

 Berlin Circular he transposes the above numbers for the 

 planets discovered on Nov. 2, but upon what ground does 

 not appear ; according to the times of observation given 

 in the first announcement of discovery, the Paris planet 

 should precede that detected at Pola. No. 150, which 

 was found by Watson at Ann Arbor on Oct. 19, soon 

 after his return from Europe, has been observed at 

 Berlin, Diisseldorf, Leipsic, and Pola, and No. 151 on the 

 night after discover}', at Berlin, 



Though in certain cases it may be necessary to use 

 caution in announcing the discovery of a new small 

 planet, the actual positions of several of those already 

 observed being very imperfectly known, there appears 

 every probabihty that the three just brought to light are 

 really new. No. 138 (Tolosa) is probably near the ecliptic 

 in 3h. R.A., but some thirteen or fourteen degrees to the 

 east of Palisa's objects, as will be found from the elements 

 of Gruber, calculated upon the six weeks' observations 

 in June and July 1874. The rough approximations to the 

 orbits of Dike and Camilla at present obtained, place the 

 former in the 5 th hour of R.A., and upwards of 34^ N. of 

 the equator, and the latter at the beginning of the 4th 

 hour, but at a considerable distance from the ecliptic, or 

 with a N. declination of 8° or 9°. The position of 

 No. 137 (Melibcea) is open to great uncertainty, the 

 observations so far published extending over sixteen days 

 only, and an orbit founded upon them would be of little 

 service so long after the date of observation. A circular 

 orbit appears to have been computed by Dr. Becker 

 at the time, as he published a short ephemeris in 

 the Asironomische Nachrichten — but the elements were 

 not appended. Even with the shortest period yet as- 

 signed to any member of this group of planets, Me- 

 liboea would hardly be so far advanced in R,A. at the 

 present time. 



No. 97 (Clotho), in opposition on Nov. 9, is now very 

 little below an eighth magnitude in Argelander's scale. 

 The calculated places for Berlin midnight are — 



h. m. s. , , 



Nov. 12 R.A. 3 22 2 N.P.D. 93 30 



„ 16 „ 3 19 I „ 93 52 



„ 20 ,, 3 16 2 „ 94 9 



„ 24 „ 3 13 12 „ 94 20 



» 28 ,, 3 10 J5 „ 94 24 



Bessel's Works.— With No. 2,061 of 'Ca.zAstronomische 

 Nachrichten, Dr. Engelmann, formerly attached to the 

 Observatory of Leipsic, issues a prospectus of an im- 

 portant astronomical publication, entitled "Abhandlungen 

 von Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel," in which it is intended 

 to reprint a selection of upwards of 130 of the more 

 important papers, &c., of the great Konigsberg astro- 

 nomer. Many of these are now scattered in works which 

 are often costly and difficult to procure, and the proposed 

 collective edition of the principal memoirs cannot fail to 

 be of vast service to the astronomical student. The selec- 

 tion which has been made will be contained in three 



