Jan. 20, 1876] 



NATURE 



227 



occultation of Antares 18 19, April 13, when at emersion 

 the star appeared to suddenly increase from one of the sixth 

 or seventh magnitude to one of the first, a phenomenon no 

 doubt attributable to the existence of the small companion 

 on the parallel, preceding the principal star (Nature, 

 vol. xii. p. 308). — The next occultation of Atks-Pleiadum, 

 on February 3, will not be visible in this country, but may 

 be well obser\'ed in the United States. The American 

 Ephemeris gives the time of immersion for Washington; at 

 the Observatory of Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y., so 

 actively conducted by Prof. Peters, the immersion takes 

 place at iih. 13m., and the emersion at I2h. 4m., Clinton 

 M.T. 



Variable Stars. — In No. 2071 Dr. Julius Schmidt, of 

 the Observatory, Athens, continues his elaborate re- 

 searches on the three short-period variables U, VV, and 

 X Sagittarii, the periods of which are now given thus : — 



d. b. m. s. 



U Sagittarii 6 17 53 1-4 



W = 7' Sagittarii 7 14 15 34-i 



X = 3 Flam. 7 01742-5 



So assiduously have these stars been watched by their 

 discoverer. Dr. Schmidt, in the fine skies of his locality 

 (little success could be expected to attend their observa- 

 tion in England;, that he believes he has detected perturba- 

 tions of the light curve or period in each instance, though 

 not quite ten years' obser\'ations are yet upon record. 



The following are Greenwich times of geocentric 

 minima of Algol, according to Prof Schonfeld's ele- 

 ments : — 



h. m. h. m 



1S76. Feb. 2 1837 1876. Feb. 25 17 11 



5 15 26 28 14 o 



8 12 15 March 2 10 49 



"94 5 7 39 



14 5 54 



Similar times of geocentric minima of S Cancri, 

 according to Prof. Schonfeld, are : — 



Recently-discovered Minor Planets. — No. 152, 

 discovered at Paris by M. Paul Henry on Nov. 2, has 

 been named ^/^/f^, and for No. 157, the small planet, 

 detected by M. Borrelly at Marseilles on Dec. i, the 

 name of Dejanira is proposed ; elements of this planet 

 have been calculated by M. Stephan. The following are 

 first approximations to the positions of the ascending 

 node, inclination, and periods of the newer minors, with 

 dates of discovery : — 



■». Ascending Node. Inclination. Period in Dateofdis- 



o , o ' years covery, 1875. 



150 207 55 ... 2 2 ... 5-16 ... Oct. 18 



151 40 2 ... 7 52 ... 4-15 ... Nov. I 



152 (Atala) ... 41 29 ... 12 10 ... 5"54 ... Nov. 2 



153 (Hilda) ... 228 20 ... 7 45 ... 7*84 ... Nov. 2 



154 ••■ ■•• 37 35 •■• 20 49 ... 578 ... Nov. 4 



f Circular 



8 52 ...| 



elements ■' 



S'29 ••■ 

 4-i6 



Nov. 8 



Nov. 22 

 Dec. I 



155 40 16 



156 246 II ... 7 29 



157 (Dejanira) 62 25 ... 11 50 



[Since the above was in type No. 158 is announced in 

 ihc Berlin Circular a.nd. Leverrier's Bulletin International, 

 as having been discovered at the Observatory of Berlin, 

 by Herr V. Knorre, on the morning of the 5th inst., in 

 R.A. 7h. 19m. 58s.,andN.P.D.67°58'. Magnitude ii-i 2.] 



THE NEW MUSEUM OF THE GEOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY 



'HEN it was first announced to the Council of the 

 Geological Society that the Government proposed 

 to offer a suite of rooms in Burlington House m lieu of 



W 



the apartments the Society occupied in Somerset House, 

 it was at once seen that the most formidable work the 

 change involved would be the removal of the collections 

 of minerals and fossils. The transference of the library, 

 though an extensive one, would be a comparatively easy 

 matter, but there is always the danger in the mere 

 handling of fossils that they may be damaged. Besides 

 this, the collection had gradually grown to such a size 

 that it was evident the cost of the removal would be con- 

 siderable. So far as the preparation of the rooms at 

 Burlington House was concerned,the Government showed 

 every desire to conform as far as possible to ths wishes 

 of the Council 



Some of the Fellows'counselled that the whole collection 

 should be offered to the British Museum or to the School 

 of Mines Museum in Jermyn Street, on the ground that 

 though in the early days of the Society it was of high 

 value when it was the only museum that existed, it was 

 now so far surpassed in magnitude by the national collec- 

 tions that it was practically of small value. Fortunately 

 wiser counsels prevailed. There were in the museum, it 

 was urged, many typical collections formed by the early 

 leaders of geological science, which were bequeathed in 

 illustration of papers they had read and work they had 

 done. These collections, obtained by their own personal 

 labour in the field, arranged and named in their own hand- 

 writing, were of historical value and had a European repu- 

 tation, and ought to be religiously preserved by the Society. 

 It was true that the integrity of some of the collections 

 had been destroyed in the endeavour at one time to make 

 one general collection illustrating the whole of England, 

 and arranged in stratigraphical order ; but in most cases 

 the original labels and references to catalogues were pre- 

 served, and it was hoped it might be possible in the new 

 buildings to regroup the specimens much as they were at 

 first. It was therefore determined that the museum 

 should be maintained, not as a general geological collec- 

 tion, but mainly as a repository of specimens referred to 

 in papers, and that before the removal commenced it 

 should be carefully weeded, so that in all cases where, 

 through the accidental removal of a label or other causes, 

 the history of any specimen had been lost, it should be 

 discarded, but not until ever)' effort had been made to 

 try to ascertain any possii)le clue. This work has been 

 carried out by Prof Rupert Jones, aided by Mr. Wood- 

 ward, the assistant curator. The accumulation of speci- 

 mens had caused much crowding in the museum, and in 

 such a case a certain amount of damage and loss of 

 labels was almost inevitable. As a consequence of this 

 weeding, many specimens have been omitted in the new 

 arrangement, and the result has been to leave greater 

 space for those that have a real historic value. 



Like many other institutions of gradual growth, the 

 history of this museum has never been written, and very 

 few people, {e\v even of the Fellows of the Society, know 

 what it contains, for there never has been a printed cata- 

 logue. As the collections are the private property of 

 the Society and are not open to the public, this perhaps 

 has not been thought requisite. 



Among the principal collections presented which have 

 now historic value, first in point of general interest 

 should perhaps be mentioned the extensive series of 

 fossils presented by Sir Roderick Murchison, from which 

 were drawn the figtires in his world-renowned " SUuria." 

 The fossils figured in the papers by Murchison and Sedg- 

 wick in describing the structure of Wales and the Lake 

 district are also there, so are the fossils that illustrated 

 Murchison's description of Brora. The fossils connected 

 with Webster's well-known paper of 18 14, the first paper 

 on the Tertiaries of Hampshire; most of those illustrating 

 Fitton's celebrated paper on the '• Strata below the Chalk " 

 (1827); those belonging to Buckland and Conybeare's 

 comprehensive paper " On the South-west of England '' 

 (1824) are all there. Large additions to the general col- 



