Feb. 6, 1890] 



NATURE 



327 



Remarks. 

 (i) The spectrum of this nebula has not yet, so far as I know, 

 been recorded, but the observation will not be difficult, if one 

 may judge from the description given by Herschel, namely : 

 " Very bright, pretty large, round, much brighter in the 

 middle, mottled as if with stars." 



(2) This star has a spectrum of the Group II. type, Duner 

 describing it as very beautiful. He states that all the bands, 

 1-9, are very wide and dark. The observations most likely to 

 extend our knowledge of the group of bodies to which this star 

 belongs are (i) observations of the bright carbon flutings (see 

 P- 305) ; (2) comparisons with the flame spectra of manganese, 

 magnesium, and lead ; (3) observations made with special refer- 

 ence to the presence or absence of absorption lines, of which 

 Duner makes no mention. 



(3) Gothard classes this with stars of the solar type. The 

 usual differential observations are required. 



(4) A star of Group IV. The usual observations of the re- 

 lative intensities of the hydrogen and metallic lines {b, D, &c.), 

 as compared with other stars, are required. 



(5) A rather faint star of Group VI., in which the character 

 of band 6 (near \ 564), as compared with the other carbon bands 

 (9 and 10), requires further attention. Secondary bands should 

 also be looked for. 



(6) This variable is stated by Gore to have a continuous 

 spectrum, but it seems probable that lines or flutings will be 

 found if the star be examined under the most favourable con- 

 ditions — that is, when near maximum. Rigel was formerly said 

 to have a " continuous" spectrum, but the lines are now by no 

 means difficult to s^e. The star ranges from magnitude 6 at 

 maximum to 7*2 at minimum, and the period is 31-50 days 

 (Gore). A. Fowler. 



Total Solar Eclipse of 1886. — Dr. Schuster has thus 

 summarized the spectroscopic results he obtained at this eclipse 

 (Phil. Trans., vol. 180, 1889) :— 



(i) The continuous spectrum of the corona has the maximum 

 of actinic intensity displaced considerably towards the red, when 

 compared with the spectrum of sunlight. 



(2) While, on the two previous occasions on which photo- 

 graphs of the spectrum were obtained, lines showed themselves 

 outside the limits of the corona, this was not the case in 1886. 



(3) Calcium and hydrogen do not form part of the normal 

 spectrum of the corona. The hydrogen lines are visible only 

 in the parts overlying strong prominences ; the H and K lines 

 of calcium, though visible everywhere, are stronger on that side 

 of the corona which has many prominences at its base. 



(4) The strongest corona line in 1886 was at A = 4232*8; this 

 is probably the 4233*0 line often observed by Young in the 

 chromosphere. 



(5) Of the other strong lines, the positions of the following 

 seem pretty well established : — 



4056-7 40842 40893 4169 7 41950 4211-8 



4280-6 4365-4 4372-2 4378-1 4485-6 4627-9 



The lines printed in thicker type have been observed also at the 

 Caroline Island and Egyptian Eclipses. 



(6) A comparison between the lines of the corona and the 

 lines of terrestrial elements has led to negative results. 



Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes. — In the volume f:)r 

 1890, MM. Loewy and Schulhof contribute a list of the comets 

 which appeared from 1825 to 1835 inclusive, and in 1888, being 

 a continuation of the lists given in former years. M. Loewy 

 also gives a complete table of the appearances of the planets 

 throughout 1890, and ephemerides of a considerable number of 

 variable stars. An elaborate comparison of the various calendars is 

 from the pen of M. Cornu, and under the head;of the solar system 

 a rich store of information is included. With the notices we 

 find an account of the meeting of the permanent committee of 

 the photographic chart of the heavens and the Photographic 

 Congress of September last. This year's Annuaire is as com- 

 pletely filled with information as it has ever been and doubtless 

 will be as much appreciated by astronomers. 



Annuaire de l'Observatoire Royal de Bruxelles. — 

 The volume for 1890 is the fifty-seventh annual publication from 

 this Observatory. It contains tables of the mean positions of the 

 principal stars and their apparent right ascensions, of the occulta- 

 tion of stars by the moon, and of eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, 

 mention being also made of remarkable phenomena relating to 

 the moon and the planets. M. Folic gives a biographical 



sketch of his predecessor, J. C. Houzeau, which is embellished 

 with the portrait of this deceased bibliographer. Considerable 

 attention has been paid to the researches on diurnal nutation and 

 the determination of the constant. M. Spee discusses the tabulated 

 observations of the condition of the sun's surface during 1888, 

 and M. Moreau contributes an interesting note on the movement 

 of a solid about a fixed point. A list is also given of the comets 

 and asteroids discovered in 1889, and some of the particulars 

 relating to their orbits. 



Royal Astronomical Society. — The annual general 

 meeting of the Fellows of this Society will be held at Burlington 

 House on Friday, the 14th inst., for the purpose of receiving the 

 Report of the Council, electing officers for the ensuing year, and 

 transacting other business of the Society. The chair will be 

 taken at 3 o'clock precisely. 



Erratum. — In the elements of companion C of Brook's comet 

 (P- 305). r^ad Q, =z \f 52' 24" -5, and log a = o 565059. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



Baron Nordenskiold has announced in the Swedish 

 Academy of Sciences, that he and Baron Oscar Dickson, with 

 assistance from the Australian colonies, will start on an expedition 

 in the South Polar regions next year. 



A recent telegram from Tashkent announced that Colonel 

 Pevtsoff and M. Roborovsky had discovered a convenient pass 

 to the north-western part of Tibet, from Nia, and had mounted 

 to the great table-land. The plateau has there an altitude of 

 1 2,000 feet above the sea, and the country round is desolate and 

 uninhabited, while towards the south the plateau is well watered 

 and wooded. The Tashkent telegram is so expressed that it 

 might be supposed to mean that two separate passes had been 

 discovered by the two explorers. But the news received from 

 the expedition at St. Petersburg on December 26, and dated 

 October 27, shows that both explorers proposed to leave the 

 oasis of Keria (100 miles to the east of Khotan) on the next day, 

 for Nia (65 miles further east) and there to search for a passage 

 across the border-ridge which received from Prjevalsky the name 

 of the " Russian ridge." This immense snow-clad chain separates 

 the deserts of Eastern Turkestan from the trapezoidal space, the 

 interior of which is quite unknown yet, and which is bordered 

 by the " Russian" ridge and the Altyn-tagh in the north-west ; 

 the ridges of Tsaidam and those named by Prjevalsky" Columbus " 

 and " Marco-Polo" in the north-east ; the highlands (explored 

 by Prjevalsky in 1879-80) at the sources of the Blue River, in 

 the south-east ; and a long, yet unnamed ridge which seems to 

 be a prolongation of the Tan-la, in the south-west. The pass 

 leading to that plateau from Nia, and now discovered by the 

 Russian expedition, is situated some 80 miles to the east of the 

 well-known pass across the Kuen-lun Mountains which leads 

 from Southern Khotan to Lake Yashi-kul. M. Roborovsky's 

 intention is evidently next to move up the Tchertchen river and 

 to endeavour to reach the ridges "Moscow " and " Lake 

 Unfreezing" (11,700 feet high), which were visited by Prjevalsky 

 from the east during his last journey. Having succeeded in 

 finding a pass to Tibet in the south of Nia, Colonel Pevtsoff 

 proposes, as soon as the spring comes, to proceed himself by this 

 pass to the table-land, while M. Roborovsky probably will be 

 despatched to explore the same border-ridge further east, in the 

 south of Tchertchen. 



The Boletin of the Madrid Geographical Society for the last 

 quarter of 1889 contains a most valuable memoir by Dr. 

 Fernando Blumentritt, on the intricate ethnology of the Philip- 

 pine Islands. The author classifies the whole of the native popu- 

 lation in three broad divisions — Negrito, Malay, and Mongoloid; 

 the last comprising those tribes which in their physical appear- 

 ance betray certain Chinese or Japanese affinities. All are 

 grouped in an admirably arranged alphabetical table, where 

 their names, race, language, religion, culture, locality, and 

 numbers are briefly specified in seven parallel columns. With 

 a few variants and cross-references this table contains no less 

 than 159 entries, and thus conveys in summary form all the 

 essential particulars regarding every known tribe in the Philip- 

 pine Archipelago. From it we gather that the Negritoes— that 

 is, the true autochthonous element, variously known as Aetas, 

 Attas, Ates, Etas, Itas, Mamanuas, &c. , and physically belong- 

 ing to the same stock as the Samangs of the Malay Peninsula — 



