414 



NATURE 



\March 8, 1877 



lopment and distribution of organic life as on the other hand the 

 often considerable aid meteorological researches may obtain from 

 purely biological facts, render it desirable that these two sciences, 

 which may appear very different, do not become strangers to 

 each other but mutually come into closer alliance with the object 

 in view, to contribute to the scientific solution of the many yet 

 unsolved physical and biological problems. 



(To be continued.) 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The Binary Star | Bootis. — Dr. Doberck, of the Markree 

 Observatory, has published elements of this revolving double- 

 star, which appear to represent very satisfactorily the measures 

 up to the present time, allowance being made for some obvious 

 errors of observation. The orbit, which differs materially from 

 those calculated upon shorter series of measures by Miidler, 

 Ilerschel, and Hind, is as follows : — 



Peri-astron passage, i77o"44. Period, 127 "97 years. 



Node ... 12° i' Inclination ... 37° 53' 



Node to peri-astron, on orbit ... 130° 54' 



Eccentricity o"678i 



Semi-axis major ... 4" '813 



At the epoch i782'28 these elements give the position 24°'i, 

 distance 3" "64 ; and for 1804*25, position 352° -5, distance 6" "53; 

 for Dembowski's epoch i870"87 the errors are + o°'3 and - o"'i i. 

 The following figures are deduced from Dr. Doberck's ele- 

 ments : — 



i876'o, Pos. 2837 Dist. 4*29 1892*0, Pes. 2247 Dist. 2-35 



i88o-o, „ 274-5 >» 3"84 1896-0, ,, 188-2 ,, . 1-82 



1884-0, „ 262-8 ,, 3-36 1900-0, ,, 111-9 ,, iji 



1888-0, ,, 247-1 ,, 2-86 



Dr. Doberck has now investigated elements of c CoronstrBofea- 

 lis, T and \ Ophiuchi, fjfi, 44 and | Bootis, 7 and « Leonis, r; 

 Cassiopea:, and several other stars, thus greatly adding to our 

 knowledge of the orbits of the binaries, his discussions being at 

 the same time conducted in a very exhaustive manner, to date. 



Variable Stars. — In No. 2,119 of the Astronomische 

 Nachrkhten are observations of a number of variable stars, made 

 in 1875 by Mr. Chandler of New York. There was a well- 

 marked minimum of that irregular variable a Herculis on 

 August 21 ; the observations of W and X Sagittarii are worthy 

 of note, as they support the results previously given by Prof. 

 Schmidt, of Athens, and are stated to have been made without 

 any "pre-occupation of mind in the observer," who had no 

 previous knowledge of the character of the light variations. 

 Schmidt's period for W, is 7-5933 days, and for X, 7 -01 19 days ; 

 another star in the same constellation, U Sagittarii of the last 

 catalogue by Prof. Schonfeld, is assigned a period of 6 7452 

 days. The three stars were added to the variable star list by the 

 indefatigable director of the Observatory at Athens, in the 

 summer of 1866. 



Mr. J. E, Gore (Umballa, Punjab) writes, suggesting the 

 variability of Lalande 42360. The place in the catalogue 

 depends upon an observation made August 7, 1793, when the 

 star was rated 7m. Argelander ("Bonn Observations,'' 

 vol. vii. p. iSi) identifies this star with No. 42383 of the cata- 

 logue, observed as an 8m., September 29, 1791. Considering 

 that there is an error in the record of the time of transit ; the 

 declinations closely agree. 



Damoiseau's Tables of Jupiter's Satellites. —Indepen- 

 dent extensions of these Tables, which run out in 1880, have been 

 made in Europe and America. Prof. Coffin, superintendent of 

 the Anieiican Ephemeris, notifies an extension to 1900, which 

 has been carried into effect by Mr. D. P. Todd, we believe 

 under the superintendence of Prof. Newcomb. The work will 

 be sent to any library or astronomer possessing a copy of the 



Tables, on application to the office at Washington. Before the 

 time named it may be hoped that both as regards theory and 

 observation, the laborious operation of forming new Tables may 

 be justified by the certainty of obtaining results which will enable 

 us to predict the phenomena of the satellites, with considerably 

 greater accuracy than can be effected by the use of Damoiseau's 

 Tables. And we may also express the hope that as regards 

 systematic observations, the Astronomer-Royal's urgent recom- 

 mendation will not be lost sight of. 



Bessel's Treatises. — Volume iii. of the reprint of the 

 more important of the many papers by Bessel on astronomical 

 and other subjects, which completes the work, was issued a 

 short time since by Dr. Engelmann, and comprises geodesy, 

 physics, and general astronomical subjects, as the libration of 

 the moon, shooting-stars, the mass of Jupiter, and the theory of 

 eclipses. Speaking of the work as a whole, it will prove a very 

 valuable aid to the student of Astronomy, affording him without 

 the labour and difficulty of consulting a number of publications, 

 the means of acquainting himself with the principal memoirs of 

 the illustrious Professor of Konigsberg, who may be said to 

 have revolutionised the practice of astronomy. Dr. Busch's 

 "Verzeichnisssrimmtlicher Werke, Abhandlungen, Aufsiitze, und 

 Bemerkungen, von F. W. Bessel," printed in vol. xxiv. of the 

 Konigsberg observations, and subsequently in a separate form, 

 contains 385 articles, and we believe, with only one or two 

 exceptions, Dr. Engelmann's three volumes will be found to con- 

 tain all that are of more permanent interest and value. 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES 

 The I^lectric Eel. — Since Humboldt's discovery of the 

 electric eel and his observations of its peculiar properties, carried 

 out unfortunately before the discovery of the voltaic pile, strange 

 to say, no attempt has been made to study this remarkable reptile 

 in its natural sarroundings. lu view of this fact, the Berlin 

 Academy of Sciences sent the well-known histologist and physio- 

 logist Dr. Carl Sachs, last September, to the scene of Humboldt's 

 former activities, well equipped with an ample supply of electro- 

 physiological apparatus, and means for carrying out an extensive 

 series of observations. In the last session of the Academy a letter 

 dated December 7 was read from Dr. Sachs, in which he stated 

 that he had safely performed the journey from Caraccas, over the 

 Cordilleras, to the Llanos. The gymnotus had disappeared from 

 the neighbourhood of Rastro, where Humboldt's investigations 

 took place, but at a distance of a few miles from the city of 

 Calabozo, a river was found fairly alive with the dreaded tern, 

 blador. In the five days which had elapsed since the discovery 

 of the locality, many valuable results had been afforded by the 

 observations, and there was every prospect that the expedition 

 would yield a large number of new and important additions to 

 our knowledge of the electro-motive organs. 



Early Development of Sponges. — At a meeting, on 

 February 8, of the Societe Vaudoise des Sciences Natu- 

 relles. Prof. Forel spoke on an interesting occurrence of 

 an early development of sponges in the Lake of Geneva, 

 due to the unusually mild winter of this year. The fluviatile 

 sponge of the lake consists of a horny skeleton with very fine 

 siliceous spicula^, covered with a sheet of .soft, perforated animal 

 matter. Usually, in autumn, this soft matter leaves the exterior 

 ramifications and condenses under the form of small gemmulce, 

 half a millimetre in diameter, in the deepest interior parts of the 

 horny skeleton. There it remains until the spring, when it 

 expands anew upon the ramifications, and covers them with a 

 sheet of living animal matter. But this year M. Forel observed 

 on February 2, besides many sponges in their hibernal state, a 

 colony of other sponges which had already reached their full 

 summer development, differing only by a somewhat paler colour 



