36 



NATURE 



\Nov. 8, 1877 



terms as barrister, though he never practised. It 

 was during this period of privation that he contracted 

 disease of the lungs, from which he suffered greatly up to 

 the time of his premature death. The first thing that 

 brought him to the notice of the scientific world was his 

 experiments on the instinctive movements of birds, which 

 were first described at the Brighton meeting of the British 

 Association in 1872, and published va. Mac7nillan's Maoa- 

 zine for February, 1873. From a series of interesting 

 experiments on chickens he showed that the only theory 

 in explanation of the phenomena of instinct that has an 

 air of science about it is the doctrine of inherited associa- 

 tion. Instinct, he maintained, in the present generation 

 of animals, is the product of the accumulated experiences 

 of past generations. In another paper at the Bristol 

 meeting of 1875 he communicated the results of further 

 experiments, some described in Nature, vol. viii. p. 289, 

 bearing out still more strongly the conclusions he had 

 already reached, and which he summed up in the statement 

 that " animals and men are conscious automata." The 

 Brighton paper brought Mr. Spalding into deserved repute. 

 "While travelling in France he became acquainted with 

 John Stuart Mill, and through him afterwards with many 

 other distinguished men, who all treated Spalding with 

 great respect. Through Mill also, we believe, he became 

 acquainted with Lord and Lady Amberley, with whom he 

 lived as companion and tutor to their children from 1873 

 until the death of Lord Amberley. Mr. Spalding was 

 appointed guardian to the children, but was ultimately 

 compelled to withdraw from this office owing to his 

 religious opinions, Earl Russell, however, allowing him 

 to retain for life the salary settled upon him by Lord 

 Amberley. For the last two years Mr, Spalding has lived 

 mostly in the south of France, bearing his fatal and pro- 

 tracting illness with the greatest equanimity, regretting 

 only his po verlessness to work and his enforced absence 

 from London. 



As to the value of his scientific work our readers having 

 the material before them are able to judge. By his experi- 

 ments on animals he didmuch not only to clearup the nature 

 of what is call .d instinct, but also to shed a new light on 

 certain mental phenomena in man himself. His papers in 

 Nature, mo ,tly reviews of works connected with psycho- 

 logy, on the metaphysics of instinct and evolution— of the 

 latter doctrine he was a warm advocate — were good speci- 

 mens of clear and close reasoning. That he had a tender 

 side to his character is evident from even his Association 

 papers, and still more so from the interesting letters written 

 by him to Nature, last April, on the swallows and 

 cuckoos at Menton. All who knew him felt that had his 

 health permitted he would have added largely to scientific 

 knowledge in the special department to which he had 

 devoted himself— physiological psychology. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The Solar Eclipse of 1878, February 2.— The 

 eclipse of the sun in February next will be annular, but 

 the central line passes at such high southern latitudes that 

 the annular phase is not likely to be observed unless it be 

 in the western parts of Tasmania near sun-set. Thus the 

 central eclipse will commence in longitude 103° o' west of 

 Greenwich, latitude 73° 8' south, and will end in longi- 

 tude 149° 25' east, latitude 40° 58', and the eclipse is cen- 

 tral at noon m longitude 112° 27' west, and latitude 84° 3' 

 south. Another point upon the central line is in longitude 

 145 25 east, and latitude 42° 25', where the sun's altitude 

 however, will be less than 4° ; this point lies on the west 

 coast of Tasmania. Launceston is near the central line 

 but at the midule of the eclipse the sun at that place is 

 almost in the horizon. 



A large partial eclipse will be visible over the southern 

 parts of Australia. At Melbourne it will commence at 

 Oh. im. P.M. local mean time, at 120° from the sun's north 



point towards the west, and will attain its greatest magni- 

 tude o"9i, just before sunset, or at 7h. 4. At Adelaide the 

 eclipse will begin at 5h. 44m. local time and will be greatest 

 about 6h. 45m., when the magnitude will be 085, with the 

 sun at an altitude of between f" and 6°. At Perth, in 

 Western Australia, the whole eclipse will be visible ; 

 greatest about 5h. 25m. local time, magnitude o"66, with 

 the sun at an elevation of 23°. 



The next total eclipse of the sun visible in those parts 

 of the earth will take place on the morning of September 

 9, 1885. At Wellington, New Zealand, the ecUpse begins 

 about a quarter of an hour after sunrise ; totality com- 

 mences at 7h. 42m. A.M., but continues only about forty 

 seconds ; in 175° 3' east, and 40° 34' south, on the central 

 line, the duration of totality is im. 54s. It should be 

 stated that these figures are founded upon the tables of 

 Damoiseau and Carlini. 



The Minor Planet Euphrosyne. — It does not 

 frequently happen that we have to look for a planet at 60° 

 of north declination ; such, however, will be the case at 

 the end of the present year, and in the first days of 1878 

 as regards Euphrosyne, No. 31 of the group, which was 

 discovered by Ferguson at Washington, on September i, 

 1854. The planet will be in opposition on December 18, 

 with the brightness of a star of the tenth magnitude. 

 The following are its calculated positions when passing 

 its greatest northern declination. 



Distance 

 i2h. Berlin M.T. Right Asceasion. Declioatlon. from the 



h. m. s. o , ,; Earth. 



1877, December 31 ... 52017-1 ... 60256 ... I'6i3 



1878, January i ... 51849-5 ... 60259 ... 1-614 

 ,, ,, 2 ... 51724-1 ... 60238 ... 1-618 



The star L. 10067 ij^ Camelopardus, which Lalande 

 calls an eighth, and Argelander a seventh, will be a good 

 guide for identifying the planet in this position. At 

 midnight at Greenwich on January i, by calculation, 

 Euphrosyne will precede the star seven seconds in R.A., 

 seven minutes to the south of it. 



The latest elements of this body which, it will be seen, 

 approaches much nearer to the pole of the equator than 

 the generality of the small planets, are as follows, 

 according to the computations of Mr. S. W. Hill : — 



Epoch 1877, December 18 o M.T. at Berlin. 



Mean Longitude ... ... ... ... 901023 



Longitude of Perihelion ... ... ... 93 17 30 



,, Ascending Node ... ... 313323 



Inclination ... ... ... ... ... 26 28 34 



Eccentricity ... ... ... ... ... 0-222786 



Semi-axis major ... ... ... ... ... 3-14902 



Comets of Short Period in 1878.— Of the comets 

 known to be performing their revolutions in periods of 

 less than ten years, two are due in perihelion again in the 

 ensuing year, probably within a few days of each other. 

 According to Dr. von Asten's elements of Encke's comet 

 at its appearance in 1875, the next perihelion passage, 

 neglecting perturbation, would fall about July 27-0, 

 which involves an apparent track in the heavens un- 

 favourable for observation. In 1845, when the con- 

 ditions were more nearly the same than at any of the 

 comet's returns since its periodicity was first ascertained, 

 only four observations were secured between July 4 and 

 14 — at Rome, Philadelphia, and Washington. If the 

 comet is not observed [before the perihelion in 1878, 

 while at a considerable distance from the earth, it may 

 be found at the observatories of the southern hemisphere, 

 after perihelion, or in the latter part of August, when it 

 makes its nearest approach to us, although its distance at 

 that time will not be less than the mean distance of the 

 earth from the sun. The second comet, which is due in 

 perihelion in 1878, is that discovered by Dr. Tempel on 

 July I, 1873, The period of revolution assigned by Mr. 

 W. E. Plummer from observations extending to October 

 20, is 1,850 days ; and the comet, neglecting perturbations 



