

May 17, 1888] 



NA TURE 



65 



i>f the places which will be visited : Leatherhead and Boxhill, to 

 examine the gorge of the Mole in chalk ; Maidstone and the 

 vicinity, for gravels ; Woolwich and Reading beds, chalk gault, 

 and lower greensand ; Erith and Crayford, for river gravels ; 

 Grays (in Essex), Northfleet, and Oxsted, for studies in chalk ; 

 and other places besides. Intending students should apply for 

 tickets at once, as only a limited number are issued. Application 

 forms may be had from Mr. W. P. Collins, 157 Great Portland 

 Street. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Blue and Yellow Macaw (Ara ararauiia), 



rom South America, presented by Mrs. Warrand ; two White 

 [bis (Ettdocimus albus), from South America, deposited ; two 

 Black-backed Geese (Sarcidiornis mclanonota i J ), from India, 

 jurchased ; a Puma (/'Wis concolor), two Long-fronted Gerbilles 



Gerbillus longifrons), a Hog Deer {Cervus porcinus), a Sambur 

 Deer (Cervus aristotelis £ ), born in the Gardens. 



"RONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1888 MAY 20-26. 



'T70R the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 

 s here employed. ) 



At Greenwich on May 20 

 in rises, 4I1. 2m.; souths, nh. 53m. 21 - o 

 right asc. on meridian, 3h. 50 ^ui. 

 Sidereal Time at Sunset, nh. 45m. 

 loon (Full on May 25, 14b.) rises, I3h. 

 ioh. 49m.; sets, 2h. 23m.*: right asc. 

 44'2m. ; deck 6° 3' N. 



sets, I9h. 

 decl. 20" 



5o.n. : 



8' N. 



uh 



Planet. 



om. ; souths, 

 on meridian, 



Right asc. and declination 

 on meridian, 

 h. m. „ 



Rises. Souths. Sets. 



h. m. h. m. h. m 



Mercury.. 4 25 ... 12 43 .. 21 1 ... 4 37-3 



Venus ... 3 35 ... 11 o .. 18 25 ... 2 54-0 



Mar.-, ... 15 7 ... 20 49 ... 2 31*... 12 44-8 



[upiter ... 19 49*... o 7 ... 4 25 .. 15 59-5 



Saturn ... 8 27 ... 16 22 ... o 17*... 8 167 



Uranus... 15 16 ... 20 55 ... 2 34*... 12 5o\8 



Neptune.. 4 13 ... 11 57 ... 19 4I ... 3 51 -8 



Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and the setting 

 that of the following morning. 



Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich). 



Corresponding 



angles from ver- 



Star. Mag. Disap. Reap. tex to right for 



inverted image. 

 h. m. h. m. 00 



19 o near approach 142 — 



23 42 N. 



15 26 N. 



4 12 S. 



19 33 S. 



20 22 N. 

 4 43 S. 



18 31 N. 



May. 



20 .. 



21 .. 



24 .. 



25 •• 



26 .. 



May. 

 21 



22 

 23 

 25 



B.A.C. 3996 

 b Virginis... 

 V Libra; ... 

 6 Libras ... 

 B.A.C. 5700 



6 

 6 

 6 

 4h 



61 



o 57 

 22 52 



3 45 



4 14 



5 

 11 



7 



t Below horizon at Greenwich. 



I 44 



23 23 



4 39f 



4 44 



139 254 



128 184 



8 5 322 



175 236 



Jupiter in conjunction with and o° 2' north 



of & Scorpii. 

 Mars in conjunction with and 4 32' south 



of the Moon. 

 Jupiter in opposition to the Sun. 

 Mars stationary. 

 Jupiter in conjunction with and 3 34' south 



of the Moon. 



Variable Stars. 



Star. 



U Cephei ... 

 S Persei 

 W Virginis ... 

 U Coronas ... 

 U Ophiuchi... 

 S Sagittae ... 

 R Sagitta? ... 

 T Vulpeculas 

 8 Cephei 



R.A. 

 h. m. 

 o 52-4 ... 81 



2 14*8 ... 58 

 13 203 ... 2 

 15 I 3 -6 



17 io'9 



19 5o'9 



20 90 

 20 467 

 22 25*0 



Decl. 



32 



16 N. 



4 N. 



48 S. 



3 N. 



1 20 N. 



16 20 N. 



16 23 N. 



27 50 N. 



57 5i N. 



M signifies maximum ; m minimum. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



At Monday's meeting of the Royal Geographical Society 

 Lieut. F. E. Younghusband gave an account of his journey 

 across Central Asia, from Manchuria and Peking to Kashmir 

 and the Mustagh Pass. This is the most important paper which 

 has been read at the Society during the present session, and the 

 journey one of the most remarkable ever made, considering its 

 length, the time taken — April to November, 1887 — and the 

 novelty and value of the results. We have only space to refer 

 briefly to Lieut. Younghusband's observations on the Mustagh 

 Pass, which he has been the first European to cross. He crossed 

 the Gobi Desert to Hami by a route lying between those of 

 Marco Polo and Mr. Ney Elias. His observations in the 

 Gobi are of much interest. The clearness and dryness of the 

 atmosphere were remarkable. Everything became parched up, 

 and so charged with electricity that a sheepskin coat or blanket, 

 on being opened out, would give out a loud crackling noise, 

 accompanied by a sheet of fire. At the western end of the 

 Hurku Hills, beyond the Galpin Gobi — the most sterile part of 

 the whole Gobi — is a most remarkable range of sand-hills. It 

 is about 40 miles in length, and is composed of bare sand, with- 

 out a vestige of vegetation of any sort on it, and in places it is 

 as much as 900 feet in height, rising abruptly out of a gravel 

 plain. With the dark outline of the southern hills as a back- 

 ground, this white, fantastically-shaped sand-range presents a 

 very striking appearance. It must have been formed by the 

 action of the wind, for to the westward of this range is an im- 

 mense sandy tract, and it is evident that the wind has driven the 

 sand from this up into the hollow between the Hurku Hills and 

 the range to the south, thus forming these remarkable sand-hills. 

 It was near this region that traces of the wild camel were met 

 with, and both wild asses and wild horses seen. As far as 

 Hami the country continues to be mainly desert. From Hami, 

 Lieut. Younghusband went 01 to Yarkand, and by the Yarkand 

 River to the Karakorum Range, which he meant to cross 

 by the Mustagh Pass. The difficulties, owing to the enormous 

 glaciers, the rugged nature of the mountains, and great 

 height of the pass, were very great for Mr. Younghusband, 

 his men, and his ponies. The glaciers here are of enormous 

 size, and Mr. Younghusband has added considerably to 

 the information obtained by Colonel Godwin-Austen, who 

 surveyed the region [to the south of the pa-s twenty- 

 six years ago. "The appearance of these mountains," 

 Lieut. Younghusband stated, "is extremely bold and rugged 

 as they rise in a succession of needle peaks like hundreds 

 of Matterhorns collected together ; but the Matterhorn, Mont 

 Blanc, and all the Swiss mountains would have been two or three 

 thousand feet below me, while these mountains rose up in solemn 

 grandeur thousands of feet above me. Not a living thing was 

 seen, and not a sound was heard ; all was snow and ice and 

 rocky precipices ; while these mountains are far too grand to 

 support anything so insignificant as trees or vegetation of any 

 sort. They stand bold and solitary in their glory, and only per- 

 mit man to come amongst them for a few months in the year, 

 that he may admire their magnificence and go and tell it to his 

 comrades in the world beneath." After some extremely difficult 

 prospecting, Lieut. Younghusband made up his mind to cross the 

 old and long-abandoned Mustagh Pass, instead of the new one. 

 " Next morning," he stated, "while it was yet dark, we started 

 for the pass, leaving everything behind, except a roll of bedding 

 for myself, a sheepskin coat for each man, a few dry provisions, . 

 and a large tea-kettle. The ascent to the pass was quite gentle, 

 but led over deep snow in which we sank knee-deep at every 

 step. We were now about 19,000 feet above the sea-level, and 

 quickly became exhausted. In fact, as we got near the sum- 

 mit, we could only advance a dozen or twenty steps at a time, 

 and we would then lean over on our alpenstocks, and gasp 

 and pant away as if we had been running up a steep hill 

 at a great pace. But it was not till midday that we reached 

 the summit, and then on looking about for a way down . 

 we could see none. Huge blocks of ice had fallen from the 

 mountains which overhang the pass, and had blocked up the 

 path by which travellers used formerly to descend from it, and 

 the only possible way now of getting to the bottom was by 

 crossing an icy slope to a cliff, which was too steep for a particle 

 of snow to lodge on it, even in that region of ice and snow. 

 P'rom this we should have to descend on to some more icy 

 slopes which could be seen below. . . . We had first to cross 

 the icy slope ; it was of smooth ice and very steep, and about 

 thiity yards below us it ended abruptly, and we could see 



