552 



NATURE 



[Sept. 19, 1878 



navigation of the estuary of the Ob is better known, 

 the voyage may be made in even a shorter time. Indeed 

 if dep&ts were established at suitable points on the north 

 Norwegian coast, it might be possible for a ship to make 

 tvro journeys to Siberia in one summer. Probably the 

 Ob is the most important of the Siberian rivers so far as 

 commerce is concerned. Trade on the Ob is already 

 considerably developed, the river being navigated by 

 over thirty steamers. The region around the river is the 

 iTiost productive and most thickly inhabited in Siberia. 



In an article in the September number of Petermann's 

 Mittheiluiigen, on the chief branches of the Russians, 

 much interesting information is given on the character- 

 istics and distribution of the Great, Little, and White 

 Russians, illustrated by a carefully constructed map. In 

 the same number Dr. Junker, in a letter to Dr. G. 

 Schweinfurth, describes his travels in the south-west part 

 of the Nile Region in January-October, 1877, adding con- 

 siderably to our knowledge of the region, and making 

 several corrections on existing maps. Lieut. Weyprecht 

 describes the results of his observations in 1871-4, oh the 

 temperature and depth of the sea to the east of Spitz- 

 bergen. The sea, he finds, is comparatively shallow, 

 seldom exceeding 400 metres. 



We have received a handsome atlas of the State of 

 New Hampshire (U.S.), containing, besides a series of 

 beautifully-executed maps of the state and of its counties, 

 — meteorological, geological, agricultural, and arboricul- 

 tural,— a vast amount of well-arranged information on its 

 topography, geography, river systems, climatology, rail- 

 roads, educational institutions, agricultural and botanical 

 productions, mechanical and manufacturing interests, &c. 

 The work is edited by Mr. H. F, Walling, C.E., and 

 Prof. C. H. Hitchcock, and is published by Comstock and 

 Clive, New York. The work is creditable both to the 

 editors and publishers. The long list of "patrons" of 

 the atlas appended — mostly people in business— speaks 

 well for the intelligence of the inhabitaats of New Hamp- 

 shire. 



In a letter to Sir Samuel Baker from a gentleman in 

 the Khedive's service, the latter describes a successful 

 journey which had been made with some Indian elephants 

 in the White Nile region, proving that this powerful and 

 useful animal may be utilised advantageously in African 

 travel and exploration. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Intra-Mercurial Planet.— In addition to the 

 letter addressed to the Astronomer-Royal by Prof. James 

 Watson, after revising his first position of the object 

 near 6 Cancri, more carefully at Ann Arbor, similar com- 

 munications have been made to M. Fizeau {Comptes 

 Rendus, May 2), Prof. Fdrster {Circular zum Berliner 

 Astronomischen yahrbuch, No. 98), and to Prof. Peters 

 iAstronomischeNachrichten,Y\o. 2,217). The definite posi- 

 tion is in R.A. 8h. 27m. 243., Decl. + 18" 16' for July 

 29, at 5h. 1 6m. 37s. Washington M.T., or loh. 24m. 49s. 

 M.T. at Greenwich, which position Prof. Watson con- 

 siders to be trustworthy within five minutes of arc, with 

 a greater probable error in the declination than in the 

 right ascension. The other points named by the dis- 

 coverer, upon which stress is to be laid, are the fact of 

 the star 6 Cancri being also observed, the appearance of 

 a sensible disk with a power of 45 on a 4j-inch refractor, 

 its ruddy colour and much greater brightness than that of 

 the neighbouring star. There has never been a suspicion 

 of a variable star in this vicinity, nor can the appearance 

 of a disc be so explained. Prof. Watson seems to have 

 satisfied himself that the object was not a comet ; indeed, 

 such a body would hardly appear round and well-defined 

 ^T ?^ ^"" totally eclipsed. In the case of the comet of 

 March 1847, which was observed in full daylight, at a 



similar distance from the sun to that of Prof. Watson's, 

 object, two short tails were visible though the head was 

 circular, and the great comet of February, 1843, also 

 exhibited a bifid tail, which was bright and distinct to 

 the naked eye. Mr. Hartnup, who observed the comet of 

 Klinkeifues, 1853, in broad daylight, described it as 

 circular, well-defined, and without tail, but the" case is 

 hardly analogous to that of a comet viewed while the sun 

 is wholly hidden. 



[Since the above was in type, the full details of Prof. 

 Watson's observations and reductions have been received.] 



The Variable Nebula in Taurus (Hind, 1852). 

 —In the diagram attached to M, Temper s remarks upon 

 this object in Astron. Nach., No. 2,212, a distinction is 

 made between the position given in No. 839 of the same - 

 periodical and that assigned with reference to the neigh- 

 bouring variable star T Tauri. To prevent misconcep- 

 tion on this point it may be well to remark that, on the 

 first night the nebula was perceived with Mr. Bishop's 

 seven-inch equatorial — October ri, 1852 — it preceded the 

 variable star is. "2, and was south of it o'7, as stated in 

 the Astron. Nach , and that at no subsequent time when 

 the nebula was observed with the same instrument was 

 any difference of position noticed : it appeared to nearly 

 touch the star on the S.P. side. No. i on M. Tempel's 

 diagram should be therefore erased. In a note in his 

 Supplementary Catalogue Mr. Dreyer states that he 

 found no appearance of nebulosity near the well-known 

 variable ; nor did Dr. Copeland, observing with the 

 large re'^ractor at Lord Lindsay's Observatory; nor M. 

 Tempel, with a fine Amici of i i-in. aperture, at ArcetrL 

 On the other hand, M. Otto Struve still found traces of 

 nebulosity with the Pulkova instrument, which he "be- 

 lieves is certainly the variable nebula itself, only in 

 altered brightness and spread over a larger space ;" and 

 he adds, " some traces of nebulosity are still to be seen 

 exactly on the spot where Hind and d' Arrest placed the 

 variable nebula." The accurate position of T Tauri has ^ 

 yet to be determined by meridional observation. Arge- 

 lander re-observed Bessel's star of the ninth magnitude, 

 which precedes it i6'5s., about 4' south. 



The Late Dr. E. von Asten.— By the early death of 

 Dr. von Asten astronomy has lost a most able worker in 

 a branch which has numbered of late years fewer distin- 

 guished names than formerly. He was one of Arge- 

 lander's pupils and intended to apply himself to obser- 

 vations, but, we believe, through a serious accident, he 

 was incapacitated for active occupation, and his desire 

 to devote his attention to astronomy could only be grati- 

 fied by obtaining employment in calculation. This he 

 was so fortunate as to effect through the director of the 

 Imperial Observatory at Pulkova, M.jOtto Struve, who 

 engaged him as one of the staff of computers. In this 

 position Dr. von Asten had for some time carried on a 

 rigorous investigation on the motions of Encke's comet, 

 one of the most interesting results of which has 

 been to prove that while in some revolutions an accele- 

 ration similar to that attributed by Encke to the exist- 

 ence of a resisting medium has made itself evident ; in 

 others the motion of the comet could be precisely fol- 

 lowed without such hypothesis, and hence a different 

 cause might be found for the cases of acceleration. Dr. 

 von Asten previous to his connection with Pulkova, 

 minutely discussed the whole of the observations of the 

 great comet of Donati (1858 vi.), arriving at the con- 

 clusion that at the time it was visible it was moving in an 

 elliptical orbit with a period of nearly 1,900 years. 



NOTES 



The Association of German Naturalists and Physicians com- 

 menced its sittings at Cassel on Wednesday last weelc, and 

 judging from the numbers of the Tageblatt and of the Cassel 

 papers that have been sent u?, the meeting has been quite as 



