April 1 8, 1878] 



NATURE 



489 



radius of the earth at the place for which .we are com- 

 puting, / its geocentric latitude, and L the east longitude 

 from Greenwich ; the quantities within square brackets 

 are logarithms. 



At the Royal Observatory the first external contact is 

 found to occur at 3h. iim. 35s; the sun will set at 7h. 

 31m., about 30m. after least distance of centres, so that 

 more than half the transit may be observed. At Edin- 

 burgh the first contact takes place at 2h. 58m. 53s. Edin- 

 burgh mean time, and the sun will set at yh, 36m. The 

 first internal contact at Greenwich and Edinburgh occurs 

 3m. 7s. later. The angle from North point of external 

 contact is 45° towards East for direct image. 



At Ogden, Utah, to which position it has been stated 

 that a French Expedition is proceeding for the observa- 

 tion of the phenomenon. Mercury enters upon the sun's 

 disc at 7h. 44m. a.m., and the egress takes place at 3h. 

 1 8m. P.M., the duration of the transit being 7h. 34m. 



At the next transit at the descending node on May 10, 

 1891, the last external contact at Greenwich, according 

 to Leverrier's tables, will occur at 4h. 5o'4m. a.m., and 

 as the sun will not rise till 4h. 19m., but little of the 

 transit can be witnessed in this country. In the transit 

 at the opposite node on November 10, 1894, the first 

 contact of limbs appears to fall close upon sunset here. 

 On November 7, 1881, as will be seen from the Nautical 

 Almanac, the transit will be wholly invisible in England. 

 It thus follows that on the afternoon of May 6 next, we 

 shall have in these islands the only favourable opportu- 

 nity of viewing the planet Mercury projected upon the 

 sun's disc that is afforded during the present century. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Africa.— M. F. Deloncle, a member of the Geo- 

 graphical Society of Lyons, has recently translated into 

 French a remarkably interesting itinerary of the voyages 

 made by a Spanish friar in the middle of the fourteenth 

 century. The work was originally written in the Catalonian 

 dialect and devoted chiefly to travels in Africa. 



The Society of Geography has prepared, for the Paris 

 Exhibition, a map of Africa, measuring 2 m. X 2 metres, 

 and showing the route of every explorer from 1754 

 to Stanley, in 1878, The number of travellers is 121, of 

 whom not less than 42 are French ; but a large number 

 of these explored either Madagascar or the Desert round 

 Algeria. The first name written in this list is Mayeur, a 

 traveller now quite forgotten, who crossed the northern 

 part of Madagascar. 



N EW Mexico. — During the season of 1 877 a party of the 

 U.S. Geographical and Geological Surrey of the Territories, 

 under the command of Lieut. C. C. Morrison, was detailed to 

 survey the section of New Mexico lying between the 105th 

 and io8th meridians and between the 33rd and 35th 

 parallels, about half of which is mountainous, the rest 

 being mesas and plains. In giving an account of their 

 explorations at the last meeting of the Royal Geographi- 

 cal Society, Mr. T. W. Goad, the meteorologist of the 

 party, mentioned some points in regard to the physical 

 features and characteristics of the country surveyed, 

 which attracted special notice. Between the Sierra 

 Blanca and the Oscura Mountains a lava flow was met 

 with of over seventy-five miles in length, with an average 

 breadth of three miles. This Mai Pais, as the Mexicans 

 call it, resembles a black river, widening and narrowing 

 as the country undulates. This stretch of lava, owing to 

 denudation, is somewhat higher than the surrounding 

 country, and is full of caverns. Several of these were 

 visited by the survey party, but the only one of importance 

 was near Fort Stanton, which, hke the others, was in a 

 limestone formation, and proved of considerable length ; 

 some persons, indeed, asserted that no one had been to 

 the end, though a distance of five miles was measured. 

 The exploration of this caye was of a most uncom- 



fortable nature, necessitating long crawls through narrow 

 passages, and obliging the explorers to wade up to their 

 waists in ice-cold water for hours. Stalactites and stalag- 

 mites of immense size were met with. The lake in the 

 cave was said to contain eyeless fish, but none of the 

 party were able to catch or see any. The canon, again, 

 of the Rio Grande, below Castilla, is of peculiar interest, 

 because it differs in most respects from other canons, 

 and instead of being worn away by the action of the 

 water alone, it was probably commenced by volcanic 

 action. The sides are of trap-rock, and although the 

 caiion itself is very narrow, its depth was estimated at 

 1,000 feet. The rirer at this point has a great fall and 

 rushes along with a velocity of ten miles an hour. Mr. 

 Goad describes the climate of New Mexico as delightful. 



Geographical Annual. — The new volume oiLAnn^e 

 Giographique, for 1876, has at length appeared. The 

 delay has been caused by the resignation of the editor- 

 ship by M. Vivien de St. Martin, whose time is now 

 so fully occupied with other work. The new editors are 

 MM. Maunoir and Duveyrier, and the new volume is 

 quite up to its predecessors. The volume for 1877 will 

 be published about June. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES 



Meteorology of Stonyhurst.— The results of the 

 meteorological and magnetical observations at Stonyhurst 

 for 1877 are aheady pubhshed. In addition to the very 

 full statement of the results for the year, and which are 

 compared with the averages of previous years brought 

 down to date, there are given observations of crops, 

 flowers, trees, and shrubs ; observations of the cirrus 

 clouds made at the observatory in connection with Prof. 

 Hildebrandsson's large inquiry into the upper move- 

 ments of the atmosphere ; and a discussion of the hours 

 of occurrence of the barometric maxima and minima 

 during the eight years ending 1875. This discussion has 

 been evidently conducted with great care and with full 

 knowledge of the subject in hand. The results arrived at 

 are of great importance, the chief points being that there 

 is a tendency of the maxima to occur between 10 and 1 1 

 A.M. and P.M., the total number from midnight to noon 

 being, however, considerably in excess of that from noon 

 to midnight ; and that the minima occur with nearly the 

 same regularity as the maxima, but at different hours, 

 viz., about 3 and 4 A.m. and p.m. The importance of 

 these results lies chiefly in the circumstance that they 

 accord with the hours of the critical phases of the diurnal 

 fluctuations of the barometer, and peculiarly so as regards 

 the annual results. We are much pleased to see from the 

 report that Father Perry is engaged with the discussion 

 of the meteorological observations made at Kerguelen 

 during the Transit of Venus Expedition, to the results of 

 which meteorologists will eagerly look forward. 



Weekly Statistics ofthe Weather.— The Meteor- 

 ological Office has begun to issue weekly statistics of the 

 weather of the British Islands for agricultural and sani- 

 tary purposes. For this object the country is divided 

 into two divisions, the one being suited for the produc- 

 tion of wheat, and the other for the rearing of stock. 

 For each of the ten regions into which these two divisions 

 are sub-divided there are published the highest, the low- 

 est, and the mean temperature of the week, and the 

 degree to which the last is above or below the average of 

 the week, together with the number of days of rainfall, 

 its amount, and the difference between the latter and the 

 average rainfall of the week. To these follow general 

 remarks on the weather as regards frost, winds, storms, 

 and any irregularity that may have occurred in the rain- 

 fall at the selected stations. This step is in the right 

 direction, and the scheme will no doubt soon receive 

 greater extension and further development in order that 



