3o6 



NATURE 



{July 1 8, 1878 



to the ethnologist and philologist. But they are numeri- 

 cally too insignificant to claim further notice here. 



The Island of Cyprus presents no fresh ethnical ele- 

 ments beyond those specified in our scheme. The bulk 

 of the population are Greek, or, at all events, a mixed 

 Phoenician, Carian, and Greek people that have long been 

 Hellenised. The rest are mainly Turks, and both have 

 hitherto been permitted to live harmoniously together. 

 They are not likely to prove a source of trouble to their 

 new rulers. 



As to the future of this varied and interesting region, 

 it is not for us to speak. Everywhere there are evidences 

 that at one time it must have been thickly populated and 

 its resources highly developed. What the country is 

 capable of may be learned from the classical reports of 

 Palgrave, Scherzer, and other British and foreign consuls, 

 as well as from the various special reports on the much- 

 talked-of trans-Asiatic railway. In this connection books 

 worth referring to are Palgrave' s " Essays on Eastern 

 Questions," Goldsmid's "Telegraph and Travel," and 

 Goldsmid and Blanford's " Eastern Persia." Good 

 authorities to consult on the geography and science of the 

 region are the various articles in the "English Cyclo- 

 paedia," recent Yolumes of Petermann's Mittheilungen, 

 Hellwald's "Die Erde und ihre Volker," the Bulletin of 

 the French Geographical Society, Chihacheff's "Asie 

 Mineure," Schliemann's and Cesnola's works, Thiel- 

 mann's " Caucasus, Persia, and Turkey," Unger's " Die 

 Insel Cypern," besides older well-known works. 



TYCHO BRA HE'S CORRESPONDENCE^ 



WE have received the first XhrtQ fasaculi of this work, 

 projected by M. Friis in 1876. Its purpose is 

 to place in the hands of the astronomer, in a collective 

 form, the letters of Tycho and his correspondence, pre- 

 served in the Royal Library at Copenhagen, and in the 

 libraries of Vienna, Pulkowa, and Basle, and others which 

 may be found elsewhere, and it is expected that the work 

 will be complete in about sixteen parts. The earliest 

 letter is one from Tycho to Joannes Aalborg, afterwards 

 librarian at Copenhagen, dated January 14, 1568. There 

 are letters to or from Steno Bille, or Bilde (an uncle of 

 Tycho's, at whose house, it may be remembered, he 

 detected the celebrated star of 1572 which is associated 

 with his name), Thaddaeus Hagecius, physician to the 

 Emperor Rudolph II., Paulus Haintzel, Hieronymus 

 Wolfius, and others, whose names occur in the well- 

 known treatise, "De Nova Stella Anni 1572." In a 

 letter. No. 47, written in 1584, to Henricus Brucaeus, 

 Tycho enters into some discussion of the " Hypothesis 

 Copemici," in another to Hagecius (we follow the Latin 

 names in use at the time) he refers at length to the paral- 

 lax of the comet of 1577, observed by him with much 

 care ; from his observations of this body, as Pingr^ says, 

 " on en concluait que le lieu des com^tes ^tait au-delk du 

 ciel de la Lune." 



The third part contains a finely-executed portrait of 

 Tycho (Woodburytype) from the oil painting in the 

 possession of Dr. Crompton, of Manchester, for infor- 

 miation respecting which M. Friis refers his readers to 

 Nature, vol. xv. p. 406, and vol. xvi. p. 501 ; an account 

 of it also appeared in the Proceedings of the Manchester 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, October 31, 1876. 



We may express the hope that the success attending 

 the publication of the first three numbers of this work 

 may be sufficiently encouraging to induce a more rapid 

 issue of the remaining parts. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Periodical Comets in 1879.— Of the known comets 

 of short period, two will pass through perihelion in the 

 spring of the ensuing year. The comet discovered by 



" Tychonis Brahei, et ad eum doctorum virorum Epistolse nunc primum 

 eoUectae et editse," a F. R. Frus. (D. Nutt : London.) 



Brorsen at Kiel in February, 1846, and since observed in 

 1857, 1868, and 1873, according to the elements deduced 

 at the last appearance by Dr. Schulze, will arrive at peri- 

 helion again on April i, perturbations, which must be 

 light in the actual revolution, being neglected. This 

 comet still approaches very near to the orbit of the planet 

 Jupiter, though perhaps not quite so close as in 1842, 

 when the present form of orbit was impressed upon it by 

 the action of the planet, the point of nearest approach 

 being at a true anomaly of 167° 48', or in heliocentric 

 longitude 283° 30' (Eq. 1870); when last passing this 

 point of its orbit, early in October, 1875, Jupiter was 

 distant from the comet, 5-58, whence the effect of his 

 attraction upon the length of the present revolution will 

 be comparatively trifling. At the ascending node the 

 comet may approach pretty near to Venus, as was the 

 case in October, 1873, a few days previous to the last 

 perihelion passage. To obtain an idea of the track in the 

 heavens in the spring of next year, we may assume that 

 the comet will arrive at its least distance from the sun at 

 midnight on April i (guided by Schulze's elements) and 

 will have the following positions : — 



i2h. 



March 12... 



„ 22... 



I... 



II... 



21... 



I... 



II... 



21... 



31- 

 10... 



April 



May 



June 



R.A. 



23-6 



32*4 

 41 '6 



517 

 633 

 85-0 

 1186 

 154*2 

 176-3 

 iSq'o 



N.P.D. 



897 

 80-5 

 697 

 57*5 

 45 '9 

 33'3 

 27*2 

 30-8 

 40*1 

 50-2 



Distance 

 from Earth. 



• • i'35 . 



. . I '20 



.. 1-05 . 



.. 0'9i . 



.. o-8i . 



.. 074 . 



.. 071 



•• 074 . 



.. o-8i . 



.. o'9i 



Distance 

 from Sun. 



071 

 0-63 



0-59 • 



0-63 . 

 071 



0-83 . 



0*96 . 

 I '09 



I '23 , 



I '36 . 



Intensity 

 of Light. 



I '08 

 177 

 2-58 

 3-06 

 300 

 2-66 



2"I2 



I '53 



I '02 

 0-65, 



Whence it may be expected that the comet will be 

 observed in the latter half of March, attaining its greatest 

 brightness as it traverses the constellation Perseus, about 

 the middle of April. 



The second comet due in 1879 is that discovered by 

 M. Tempel at Marseilles in April, 1 867, and re-observed 

 in 1873, after undergoing great perturbation from a close 

 approach to the planet Jupiter, early in 1870. The best 

 elements for 1873 are those of Sandberg, according to 

 which the next perihelion passage would fall on April 26, 

 without taking into account the effect of planetary action, 

 which, as in the case of Brorsen' s comet, is not likely to 

 be material in the present revolution ; indeed, when the 

 comet was last in aphelion, and nearest to the orbit of 

 Jupiter, the planet was on the opposite side of the sun. 



Assuming, then, that the next perihelion passage will 

 take place at midnight on April 26, the following positions 

 and distances will result : — 



Distance Distance Intensity 

 frcm Earth, from Sun. of Light. 



R.A. 



N.P D. 



The comet under the above condition, will therefore 

 be situate during the whole period in the southern part of 

 the constellation Ophiuchus, and it may be hoped that it 

 will be well observed, as, during the ensuing revolution, 

 material perturbations of the elements may be again 

 occasioned by the action of Jupiter, from which body the 

 comet at the beginning of October, 1881, may not be 

 distant more than 0-55, a degree of approximation that, 

 although not sufficient to lead to such heavy disturbance 

 of the comet's motion as in 1870, will yet render a precise 

 determination of the orbit in 1879 very essential for an 

 accurate prediction of the apparent track in 1885. 



In September, 1879, another return of Biela's comet 

 will be due with the elements of 1 866, but we reserve a 

 few remarks upon this subject for another note. 



