4o8 



NATURE 



{March 21, 1878 



mentioned by Dembowski vaA.N. 1823 — proper motion of 

 one component is no doubt here also the cause of change. 



These catalogues of double-star measures made at the 

 Temple Observatoiy are meritorious productions from an 

 institution not exclusively devoted to a regular course of 

 observations, but also occupied in endeavouring experi- 

 mentally to interest the youths of the school in astro- 

 nomical science, with the hope that some, to use the 

 words of the last Annual Report of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society, " may hereafter join that band of amateurs to 

 whom is owing much of what is most characteristic of 

 English astronomy." 



While referring to this Report itoccurs to us to mention 

 an article by O. Struve on the Baron Dembowski's long 

 series of measures of double stars which is not noticed in 

 the address of the President of the Society, on the occa- 

 sion of the richly-merited award of the gold medal to 

 the Italian astronomer. It is published in vol. viii. of 

 the Vierteljahrsschrift der asironomischen Gesellschaft. 

 After a general outline of the Baron's work, there is given 

 an index to the volumes and numbers of the Astrotw- 

 iniscJie Nachtishten, in which his measures have appeared, 

 and which, though not entering into much detail, is useful 

 in their present scattered state. Is it too much to hope 

 that eventually the results of the indefatigable GaUarate 

 observer, may be .presented in a collective form, at least 

 as regards their annual means ? 



Schmipt's Lunar Chart. — It is understood that this 

 great wqjrk, which has been engraved at the expense of 

 the Prussian Government, will, with accompanying letter- 

 press description, be ready for issue in the course of a few 

 weeks. We believe Prof. Auwers, of Berlin, is superin- 

 tending its publication. 



Tempel'^ Cojviet of Short Per^iod (1873 H,)— It is 

 probable that ,the period of revolution of this qomet, 

 determined by lyir. W. E. Plummer, from observations 

 extending from July 3 to October 20, will not be found to 

 require very material correction ; according to his orbit, 

 the comet cannot attain the distance of Jupiter in its 

 apheHon, and as at the last passage through this point, 

 the pUnet was distant from it 770 (the earth's mean 

 distance =?= i) perturbations during the actual revolution 

 are likely to be small. Assuming, then, with Mr. Plummer, 

 that the revolution pccupies 1.850 days, the comet may 

 again arrive at perihelion about July I9"5 in the present 

 year. Reducing' the perihelion and node to i878"o, we 

 have the following expressions for the comet's heliocentric 

 co-ordinates referred to the equator : — 



X — »• [9-99212] sin [v + 36 51-8) 

 y — ^[9'98i7oJ sin (v + 310 7*9) 

 2 = ^ [9-533«3] sin {v + 274 53-1) 



Combining the co-ordinates thus found with the 

 X, Y, Z of the Nautical Almanac, and taking July iq'S 

 for the time of perihelion passage, the following apparent 

 track results : — 



12b. G.M.T. 



Right North Polar Distance 



Ascension. Distance. fFcm Earth. 



The comet would be nearest to the earth on July 29, and 

 brightest about that date. With such a course it should 

 be well observed. Though, possibly, observations may 

 have been made later than October 20 in 1873, so far as 

 we know none such have been published. Mr. Plummer's 

 elements will be found in the Monthly Notices R.A.S. for 

 December, 1873. 



[Since the above was written, we learn that Herr 

 Schulhof is engaged upon this comet, with the view to 

 providing an ephemeris for the approaching appearance.] 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



American Longitudes.— The United States Hydro- 

 graphic Office is continuing the work of establishing 

 secondary meridians of longitude by the electric tele- 

 graph. Lieut.- Commander F. M. Green, U.S.N., with 

 the same officers who have been engaged in similar work 

 in the West Indies for some time past, has commenced 

 the determination of South American meridians by mea- 

 suring from the Royal Observatory at Lisbon through the 

 cables of the Brazilian Submarine Company to Madeira 

 and St. Vincent. The measurement will be continued by 

 way of Pernambuco to Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos 

 Ayres, and Valparaiso. The longitude of the Royal 

 Observatory at Lisbon v/ill shortly be determined with 

 great exactitude by electrical measurement from London 

 and Paris. The expedition has met with the most grati- 

 fying and cordial assistance from the officers of the 

 Portuguese Government and the authorities of the tele- 

 graph companies. 



New Guinea. — The statement that gold has been dis- 

 covered in New Guinea by Mr. Goldre, a plant-collector 

 sent out by Messrs. Williams and Co., has caused con- 

 siderable excitement in the Australian Colonies, but a 

 letter in yesterday's Times, from the Rev. W. G. Lawes, 

 who has just returned from a three years' residence on 

 the south-east coast, ought to make would-be gold-hunters 

 cautious. As yet the metal has been found in almost 

 infinitesimal quantities, and we heartily support Mr. 

 Lawes' recommendation that Government ought to take 

 some means to prevent a rush of adventurers who would 

 be sure to demoralise the people, and change to hostility 

 their present decidedly friendly disposition towards white 

 men. It is for the interests of the scientific exploration 

 of the country that this friendly disposition should be 

 maintained. We may state that Mr. C. S. Wilkinson, 

 Government Geological Surveyor of New South Wales, 

 inferred two years ago, from the rock specimens brought 

 back by Mr. Macleay, that gold would probably be found 

 in New Guinea, but he refrained from publishing the fact, 

 he states, fearing it might cause a rush. Mr. Wilkinson 

 states that gold is not likely to be found more plentifully in 

 New Guinea than in the vast auriferous formations of 

 New South Wales. 



African Exploration. — Dr. Emin Effendi, who in 

 1876 travelled with Gordon Pasha to the Somerset River, 

 sends from Mruli to Dr. Petermann, a sketch dated 

 November last, of his second journey from Magungo on 

 the Albert Nyanza, across Kirota and Masindi to Mruli 

 in August last, and from Mruli to Mpara-Njamoga, in the 

 south of Masindi, and back to Mruli (in September and 

 October). Sir Samuel Baker, it will be remembered, 

 found Kaba Rega, the lord of Ungoro, utterly intract- 

 able ; but Dr. Emin Effendi spent a month alone with 

 him, showing the impossibility of anticipating the chances 

 of such travels. In November Dr. Effendi was to go 

 from Mruli to Uganda and Karague, and thence, accord- 

 ing to Gordon Pasha's desire, to reach, if possible, Lake 

 Akanyaru, the Mfumbiri Mountains, and Ruanda. 



Arctic Exploration. — The U.S. Senate has passed 

 the Bill for allowing the Pandora, which has been 

 chartered by Mr. James Gordon Bennett for an Arctic 

 Expedition, to sail under the American flag, and for 

 permitting United States naval officers to be detailed 

 for service on board that vessel during the proposed 

 expedition. 



Petermann's Mittheilungen.— As a sequel to a 

 former paper on the distribution of the sedimentary for- 

 mations of Europe, Petermann's Mittheilungen for March 

 contains another on Europe during the two glacial periods, 

 accompanied by a map. The paper on the distribution of 

 palms is concluded, and the first instalment of a summary 

 of exploration of the Ogovd given, accompanied by a map. 



