June 13, 1878] 



NATURE 



^^3 



all the." meres" are visible. Having submitted the work, Mr. 

 Harrison tells us, to gentlemen of scientific repute, and being 

 encouraged by their favourable criticisms, he has concluded, if 

 a sufficient number of subscriptions can be obtained, to publish 

 a work under the title of " Telescopic pictures of the Moon," in 

 oil colour chromos (the only medium for facsimile reproduction 

 of paintings) 2 feet in size, with an image of 18 inches in dia- 

 meter, in hix progressive pictures of the following phases : — I. 

 Three days old crescent, terminator at Mount Glacier. 2. Five 

 days old, terminator at the crater Katharina. 3. Seven days 

 old, or first quarter. 4. Nine days old, sunrise at the crater 

 Copernicus. 5. Full moon ; and 6. Last quarter. An outline 

 drawing with letter-press description, bearing the names and 

 sizes of all objects, will accompany the work, which will be com- 

 pleted in about a year from the time the first phaie has been 

 issued, and will be furnished to subscribers complete for 3odols., 

 or 5 dols. for each plate. The description will appear gratui- 

 tously with the last issue. Subscribers should send full name 

 and address to Henry HaiTison, P.O. Box, 179, Jersey City, 

 New Jersey. 



A VERY successful experiment has been made at Lockport, New 

 York State, in supplying heat to houses by steam supplied from a 

 central station, in much the same way as gas is supplied. The 

 experimental works in Lockport were commenced last year, and 

 during the late v.inter about 2CO houses in the city were heated 

 from the central supply, through about three miles of piping, 

 radiating from the boiler-house, containing two boilers 16 feet by 

 5 feet, and one boiler 8 feet by 8 feet. These boilers were, 

 during the winter, fired to a pressure of 35 lb. to the inch, with 

 a consumption of 4 tons of anthracite, costing 41 dols. a ton 

 during the summer, but one boiler is fired consuming a ton and 

 a half of anthracite in twenty-four hours, and a pressure of 25 lb. 

 per inch maintained. The boiler pressure of 35 lb. in winter, and 

 25 lb. in summer, is maintained through the entire length of the 

 three miles of. piping up to the points of consumption, where there 

 is a cut-oiT under the control of the consumers. The distribution 

 of heat in the apartments is by means of radiator.-, consisting of 

 I inch pipes 30 inches long, placed vertically either in a circle or 

 as a double row, and connected together, top and bottom, with 

 an outlet pipe for the condensed water, which escapes at a 

 temperature a little below boiling, and is sufficient for all the 

 domestic purposes of the house, or is used as accessory heating 

 power for horticultural and other purposes. The steam has also 

 been applied at a distance of over half a mile from the boilers 

 for motive power, and two steam-engines of ten and fourteen 

 horse-power are worked from the boilers at a distance of half a 

 mile, with but a slightly increased consumption of fuel. ITie 

 laid on steam is being also used for cooking purposes, for boiling, 

 and even baking, and -Mr. G. Maur, F.G.S., who describes 

 the system, witnessed in a house three quarters of a mile from 

 the boilers, a bucket ^ofxold water raised to boiler heat in three 

 minutes by the passage of the steam through a perforated 

 nozzle plunged in the bucket. The operations of the Heating 

 Company have been up to the present time of an experimental 

 character, and from the 200 houses already supplied ^^ ith the 

 heating connection," the actual cost of the coal that would have 

 been used for heating has been provisionally received in pay. 

 ment, and the amount has left a wide margin over the working 

 expenses, though the company's operations at present cover but 

 a small portion of the area for which they have provided plant. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens durino- the 

 past week include two Mandrills {Cyitocephalus mormon), an 

 Ocellated Monitor {Monitor ocellatns) from West Africa, pre- 

 sented by Mr. G. H. Garrett ; two Greater Spotted Woodpeckers 

 {Pkus major), British Isle.-, presented by Mr. J. A. Cooper; a 

 Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo {Cacatua gaUrita) from Aus- 



tralia, presented by Mr. N. Portocalis ; a Horned Lizard 

 {PhrynosoTna cornutnni) from Texas, presented by Mr, J. C. 

 Witte ; a Common Chameleon (C/iama:leon vulgaris) from North 

 Africa, presented by Mr. W. W. Spicer ; two Indree Owls 

 {Syrnittm indrattee) from Ceylon, deposited ; two Common 

 Seals {Phoca vitulina) from British seas, a White-fronted 

 Amazon ( Chrysotis leucocephala) from Cuba, two Oyster Catchers 

 (Hcemaiojrus ostralegus), British Isles, purchased ; two Horned 

 Tragopans {Cerior7tis saiyra), an Impeyan Pheasant {Lophophorus 

 impeyanus), bred in the Gardens. 



THE ROYAL -OBSERVATORY 



'T^HE annual visitation of the Royal Observatory took place 

 ■*• on Saturday week, when the Astronomer-Royal read his 

 Report, which refers to the year ending May Zt 



The Report on the buildings and grounds, movable property, 

 manuscripts, library, astronomical instruments, &c., is, as usual, 

 satisfactory. The new railway through the town of Greenwich 

 has apparently had no effect at the observatory. 



The usual varied astronomical observations have been carried 

 on with the usual diligence, the advantageous observation of 

 the small planets being, however, limited by the want of 

 ephemerides. 



To facilitate the observations of stars, a new working cata- 

 logue has been prepared, in which are included all stars down to 

 the third magnitude, stars down to the fifth magnitude which 

 have not been observed in the last two catalogues, and a list of 

 258 stars of about the sixth magnitude of which the places are 

 required for the United States Coast Survey. The whole num- 

 ber of stars in the new working list is about 2,500. An exten- 

 sive series of observations was made, during the autumn, of 

 about seventy stars, at the request of Mr. Gill, for comparison 

 with Mars, Ariadne, and Melpomene. 



Among the observations made we may mention 3,970 transits, 

 the separate limbs being counted as separate observations, and 

 3,824 circle obsei'vations, each requiring a separate reading of 

 the six microscope micrometers. Twenty-nine sketches of 

 Mars were obtained with the great equatorial near his oppo- 

 sition, forming a complete record of the appearances of that 

 planet during the entire rotation. Preparations were made for 

 observing the Transit of Mercury on May 6, but owing to the 

 unfavourable state of the weather no result of importance was 

 obtained. A great amount of work has been done in the 

 reaction of astrononomical observations. 



The computations for the " Nine- Year Catalogue " of 2,263 

 stars, including some supplementary investigations, were com- 

 pleted in the course of 1877, and the introduction has been 

 prepared and sent to the printer. The catalogue is drawn up 

 in the same form as previous catalogues, the only noteworthy 

 alterations being the addition of another decimal place to the 

 R.A.'s and annual precessions in R.A., which are carried to 

 os"ooi and os'oooi respectively. The right ascensions are thus 

 made to correspond more nearly with the north polar distances 

 as regards the degree of accuracy exhibited. 



During the past year the sun's chromosphere has been exa- 

 mined with the spectroscope on seventy-nine days (on two of 

 these through part of the circumference only) ; prominences 

 were seen on fifty- eight days. All the observations, however, 

 tend to show that the solar prominences have been few in 

 number and insignificant in size for many months. 



All observations with the spectroscope have been com- 

 pletely reduced ; the position-angles of prominences being con- 

 verted into heliographic N.P.D. ; and the displacements of 

 l.nes in the spectra of stars being reduced so as to exhibit the 

 concluded motion in miles per second, after applying a coitcc- 

 tion for the earth's motion. 



The areas, position-angles, and distances from the sun's 

 centre, of sun-spots and faculcc, have been measured to the end 

 of 1877, and in duplicate July 5, 1877. 



The coiTCction of the position-angles and distances for the 

 effects of refraction and distortion, and their conversion into 

 heliographic longitude and latitude, have been pushed forw ard 

 as rapidly as circumstances would admit after the measurements 

 had been completed. As there is a considerable accumulation 

 of arrears since 1873, which will require many months for their 

 reduction, it has seemed desirable to commence with the year 

 1876, with the view of including in the volume for 1876 the 



