March 29, 1877] 



NATURE 



479 



has not entered it. There appears a strong suspicion 'of varia- 

 bility in this case. The star's position for 1877 is in R.A. 

 7h. 8m. IIS., N.P.D., 112° 27' "8. (2) Harding has a star 6m., 

 a little south— preceding 40 Leonis Minoris, where in February 

 last Mr. Gore found only a star of about 10 m. The position 

 for i?oo, reading off from the Atlas, was in about R.A. 157" 14', 

 N.P.D., 63° 28'. There is no star here in I.alande or Bessel, 

 nor in the Durchniusterimg. (3) About 1° 20' south— following 

 the 5 m. star 6 Canis Minoris, Harding has a 6 m. which on 

 February 4 was only 7^ m., being less than Lalande 14720, but 

 brighter than 14726 ; it was also less than the 7 m., about 30' 

 north-preceding, which is undeilined in the Atlas. This star 

 appears to have been observed as an 8 m. by Bessel (Weisse, 

 VH., 780), and is called 8-i m. in the Durchmusterung ; 

 Harding's place, however, requires a small correction in R.A. if 

 Bessel's star is the one entered on his map. 



Biela's Comet in 1805.— Of the six observed returns of this 

 comet that of 1S05 was by far the most favourable for observa- 

 tion, and it approached very near to the earth as it sank below 

 the horizon in Europe. At the beginning of December it exhi- 

 bited a well-defined planetary disc, according to Huth, sur- 

 rounded by nebulosity 20' in diameter ; on the 8th Olhers found 

 it very distinct to the naked eye, and it remained visible without 

 the telescope after the moon had risen, though at a south decli- 

 nation of 23°; the small well-defined nucleus which he had 

 remarked in common with other observers he considtred to be 

 from twenty to thirty German miles in diameter. The comet 

 was not observable in Europe after December 9, when it had 

 reached 35^° S., but its after-course was a very favourable one 

 for observation in the southern hemisphere, and, as Gauss 

 remarked at the time, if observations from thence could 

 have been obtained, it would have been practicable to deter- 

 mine at this appearance the true form of the comet's orbit, which, 

 as is well known, greatly exercised the calculators of that day, 

 and particularly Gauss and Bessel. Th • comet's apparent track 

 in the southern heavens during the week subsequent to the 

 cessation cf observations in Europe was as follows, according 

 to a computation from the definitive orbit in 1805, given by the 

 late Prcf. Hubbard :— 



oh. G.M.T. R.A. N.P.D. Distance from earth. 



While referring to Biela's comet, it may be noted that if the 

 period of revolution had been so lengthened in 1872, as to delay 

 the perihelion passage until December 27, and thus bring the 

 comet, or what remains of it, into close proximity to the earth 

 on the night of the great meteoric display a month previous, its 

 return in 1879 will take place under nearly the same circum- 

 starces as in 1832, when this body was the object of so much 

 interest. 



NOTES 



We understand that the FuUerian Professorship of Chemistry 

 in the Royal Institution is likely soon to be vacant by the resig- 

 nation of Dr. Gladstone. 



The Council of the Yorkshire College of Science, Leeds, have 

 arranged to purchase for 13,000/., the Beech Grove Hall Estate, 

 comprising about three and a half acres, and situated a mile 

 from the railway stations, and close to the Grammar School. 

 The total donations to the College have now reached 42,456/. 



It has been decided that of the statues of the two Humboldts 

 which are to be erected in Berlin, that of Alexander will be given 

 to Reinhold Bf gens to execute, and that of Wilhelm (o M. P. 

 Otto, 



EvER"vr Thursday evening M. Leverrier receives at the Paris 

 Observatory the provincial mayors who happen to be in Paris 

 and explains to them the principles used by the Internationa 

 service for telegraphing its warnings all over France. 



The dreaded Hemileia vastatrix which has hitherto been con- 

 fined to the coffee plantations of Ceylon and Southern India has 

 at last made its appearance in Sumatra, and in all probability 

 will find its way before long to the neighbouring islands where 

 coffee is grown. 



The Settle Cave Exploration Committee have issued a circular 

 asking further contributions to enable them to carry on their 

 important work. The valuable contributions already made, both 

 to the historical and prehistoric ethnology of Britain are already 

 well known, but there is good reason to believe discoveries even 

 more interesting than any yet described remain to be made. The 

 Committee are now working in beds of still earlier age than those 

 hitherto explored, and hope by perseverance to throw some light 

 upon the condition of Britain and its inhabitants during some of the 

 most obscure ages of its geological history, the interest and value 

 of the explorations increasing as the work is carried down into 

 lower and earlier beds. Except at the entrance, the rocky floor 

 of the cavern has not yet been found, and it is impossible to say 

 what treasures to science and aids to the unwritten history of 

 man still lie beneath the feet of the explorers. Though libe- 

 rally assisted by a grant from the British Association, the Com- 

 mittee find themselves obliged to appeal to the public for further 

 funds, without which this interesting work will speedily come 

 to a premature end. We arc sure that the wants of the Com- 

 mittee only require to be made known in order to be supplied. 

 The sum required is, after all, very moderate, and we hope that 

 many who read this will send what they can afford to the lion. 

 Treasurer, Mr. John Birkbeck, jun., Craven Bank, Settle, 

 Yorkshire. 



The present French University will probably be divided into 

 seven or eight local universities— Paris, Nancy, Lyons, Bordeaux, 

 Lille, Marseilles, Montpellier or Toulouse. The competition 

 between the two last has been so sharp that it has been suggested 

 to divide between them the boon sought for. None of the 

 existing Faculties in a large number of provincial towns will be 

 suppressed, but will become affiliated to the nearest university. 

 Each university will be governed by a special Senate or Council, 

 and the Minister of Public Instruction will have authority over 

 all of them. Fellowships will be created by the government, and 

 will be distributed according to merit, after due examination. 



All who have read Mr. Smiles's " Scottish Naturalist" must 

 remember the crowning incident of Mr. Edward's exhibition of 

 his collection in Aberdeen, when, in his despair at the total un- 

 success of his venture, he rushed to drown his misery in the 

 Die. Mr. Edward was the chief actor in a very different scene 

 in the same city on Wednesday week, when the proverbially 

 hard-headed and close-fisted citizens of Bon Accord tried to 

 make amends for their former almost fatal neglect, by presenting 

 him publicly,! through their Lord Provost, with an olive-wood 

 casket containing 333 sovereign?. Mr. Edward, who seems to 

 be taking his sudden eminence very quietly, thanked the sub- 

 scribers in a short speech spoken in broad Doric and characterised 

 by perfect naturalness and much humour — Scotch, perhaps, but 

 not Highland, as some of the papers characterise it,, for Aber- 

 deen and Banff are as much " Highland" as Berwick and New- 

 castle. Mr. Edward made no allusion to his former treatment 

 by the certainly not obtuse Aberdonians, who, after all, can't 

 be blamed for not making it their business to discover and 

 succour genius, though the gift of the "bit boxie," as Edward 

 called it, looks very like as if meant to be a peace-offering. 



The papers read at the Iron and Steel Institute last week 

 were all of a purely technical nature. The Bessemer Medal was 



