206 



NATURE 



\yan. 4, 1877 



There are also others so small, that for lectures and demonstra- 

 tions an enlarged model is of very great assistance. 



What may be done in teaching natural history by means of 

 models and coloured casts is admirably shown in Mr. Frank 

 Buckland's museum in this building, where may be seen accurate 

 representation of many of the species of Cetacea and larger fish 

 of our seas, giving a more complete idea of their size, form, and 

 colour, than has ever been produced by any other method. The 

 reduced models of animals and men of various races exhibited by 

 the Committee of the Pedagogical Museum of Russia are also 

 interesting, and must be useful aids to school teaching. By what 

 other means, for instance, could the singular form of such an 

 animal as the Greenland right- whale be brought before a class of 

 pupils? I would also call attention to the well-known anatomical 

 models of Dr. Auzoux, of Paris (which by the way are not very fully 

 represented in the present exhibition by Nos. 3,829 aio d); to 

 the models illustrating the development of the trout, by Dr. A. 

 Ziegler, of Freiburg (No. 3,839) ; to the enlarged models of 

 blood corpuscles of different animals for illustrating their form 

 and size, by Prof. H. Wolcker, of Halle (No. 3,893) ; to the 

 models of Radiolaria in papier 7ndche, by V. Fric, of Prague 

 (No. 3.865) ; to the numerous anatomical models of Strembitsky 

 in the Russian collection, of Ramme and Todtmann, of Hamburg 

 (Nos. 3,868-3,877) ; and of Tramond, of Paris (Nos. 3,923- 

 3>925) ; to the casts of different parts of the human body dis- 

 sected, by Steger and Honikel, of Leipzig (Nos. 3,840-3,842) ; 

 and to the models by various exhibitors illustrating the structure 

 of flowers and seeds. 



With reference to such models, the importance of accuracy of 

 execution cannot be too strongly insisted upon. With a cast of 

 course there is not much chance of error, but foi the accuracy 

 of a model, especially when on a different scale from the original, 

 we are entirely dependent upon the artist's skill and care. The 

 only fault to be found with most of those in the exhibition is that 

 they are rather too rough in execution to be pleasing to the eye, 

 but it has been in most cases an object to produce them at such 

 a low price, as would not be compatible with fine workmanship. 



Although I have only been able in the time allotted to glance 

 biiefly at the various branches of the subject which I have been 

 requested to expound, I trust that some suggestions have been 

 given in this lecture which will be found of use to those who 

 have the care of collections, and that I have succeeded in show- 

 ing that the art of preparing, preserving, and displaying speci- 

 mens in museums is one which deserves to be more fully culti- 

 vated than it has hitherto, as a most important adjunct to the 

 diffusion of biological knowledge. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The New Star in Cygnus.— Prof. Schmidt has pub- 

 lished details of his observations of this star from November 24, 

 the date of discovery, to December 15, and has also put upon 

 record the dates, between November i and 20, when he had 

 examined the constellation Cygnus, with the view to show that 

 a star as bright as the fifth magnitude could not have escaped 

 his notice, and therefore that the rise of the new one to the 

 third magnitude must have b een very rapid, as also appears to 

 have been the case with T Coronce in 1866. On the evening of 

 its discovery the star was strong golden yellow, and writing on 

 December 9, Plerr Schmidt states it had always been of a deep 

 yellow, but at no time exhibited the redness of its neighbour, 

 75 Cygni. The following are the magnitudes on different nights 

 a? determined at Athens by careful comparisons with p, tt^, t, f 

 and (^ Cygni, and tj Pegasi : — 



m. m. m. 



Dec. II. ..67 



12. ..67 



13. .6-8 



14 6q ' ^^^"^"^^y visible to 

 '+■■■ "I naked eye. 



i5..7-o!™^.. '°' ^""^ 

 ■^ ' { last time. 



On the evening of December 31 the new star was about 7m. 

 and very decidedly orange. It has but slowly diminished during 

 the last three weeks. 



New Variable Star in Cetus.— Mr. J. E, Gore, writing 

 from Umballa, Punjab, on November 28, draws attention to a 



star entered on Harding's atlas as a'sixth magnitude, about \\° 

 distant from 59 v Ceti, and 13' s.p. Lalande 3590. On November 

 18, this star was only 8m., considerably fainter than a 7m. stdr 

 shown by Harding, closely preceding v. 



This star is not in any of the catalogues, nor in Schjellerup's 

 list in No. viii. of the publications of the Astronomische Gesell- 

 schaft. Reading off from Harding and reducing to 1877 'O its 

 position is in R.A. ih. 50m. 13s,, N.P.D. 110° 59'. 



De Vico's Comet of Short Period. — It was remarked in 

 this column last week, that unless the orbit of De Vico's comet 

 of 1844 has undergone some violent perturbation, a perihelion 

 passage may be expected to occur during the year just com- 

 menced. It appears, however, that the chances of detecting the 

 comet, should it arrive at its least distance from the sun during 

 the first three months of the year are very small indeed, 'and 

 hence, unfortunately if the comet is not found between July and 

 December, it cannot be inferred with any degree of certainty 

 that it has not passed its perihelion within the twelvemonth. 

 The following places are calculated from Prof Briinnow's last 

 orbit for 1844, reduced to the equinox of 1872, supposing the 

 arrival at perihelion to fall either on the date mentioned or thirty 

 days before or after it. A is the comet's distance from the earth. 



Time from 

 Perihelion. 



— 30 days 



o „ 

 + 30 ., 



Time from 

 Perihelion. 



— 30 days 

 o „ 



+ 30 M 



January 10. 

 R.A. Dec. 



302-1 

 317-9 

 335-1 



21-8 

 i8i 

 12-3 



February I'o 

 R.A. 1 Decl. 



2-13 



I 85 331-6 



1-58 I 347-0 



16-4 I - 18-3 



- 13-4 



- 7-2 



2-23 

 2-IO 

 1-94 



1-97 



2-12 

 2-24 



The Total Solar Eclipse of Stiklastad, 1030, 

 August 31. — The circumstances under which this eclipse 

 occurred are given by Prof. Hansteen, of Christiania, in 

 ErgHnzungs- Heft zu den Astronomische Nachrichten, p. 42, with 

 elements computed from the tables of Burckhardt and Carlini. 

 Sir George Airy has also published elements of the eclipse, 

 resulting from Hansen's calculations from his S olar and Lunar 

 Tables, as an addendum to the paper on the eclipses of Aga- 

 thocles, &c., in vol. 26 of the Royal Astronomical Society's 

 Memoirs, having previously drawn attention to the circumstance 

 that the eclipse of Stiklastad, from the narrowness of the belt of 

 totality and its having been total at a well-defined point, might, 

 in combination with the eclipse at Larissa, B.C. 557, May 19, be 

 of much value in throwing light upon corrections possibly re- 

 quired for the lunar tables. 



The following elements of this eclipse are founded upon the 

 same system of calculation for the moon's places, to which we 

 lately referred as having been applied to the Nineveh eclipse of 

 B. c. 763, with the sun's place from Sir George Airy's paper :— 

 G.M.T. of conjunction in R.A., 1030, Aug. 31, at ih. 20m. 40s. 



R.A 



Moon's hourly motion in R. A. 



Sun's „ 



Moon s declination ... 



Sun's „ 



Moon's hourly motion in decl. 

 Sun's „ „ ,, 



Moon's horizontal parallax . . . 

 Sun's „ „ ... 



Moon's true semi-diameter . . . 

 Sun's 



