August 23, 1888] 



NATURE 



397 



"The Educational Annual," a handy reference volume of about 

 200 crown octavo pages on educational subjects, which is likely 

 to prove a convenience to school managers, teachers, and others 

 interested in the promotion of national education. It is pro- 

 posed to review elementary education, technical education, 

 agricultural education, industrial, reformatory, truant, and 

 ragged schools, secondary education, and, generally, the purpose 

 and work of the Education Department, the Science and 

 Art Department, the training of teachers, and the teachers' 

 organizations. 



Messrs. Sonnenschein and Co. will issue shortly a trans- 

 lation of Moritz Hauptmann's " Nature of Harmony and Metre." 

 The work consists of three parts. The first part considers the 

 evolution of harmony from acoustics, taking as basis the 

 Hegelian theory of sound. In the second part the author dis- 

 cusses metre and rhythm, which are respectively analogous to 

 harmony and melody. The last part of the book is concerned 

 with the union of metre and harmony — that is, harmony and 

 melody in concrete combination with metre and rhythm. 



A specimen of the golden mullet (Mugil aiiratus, Risso), 

 320 mm. in length, has been caught at Stromstad, on the south- 

 west coast of Sweden. Only once before has a specimen of this 

 fish been caught on the Swedish coast. 



The authorities of the Mason Science College, Birmingham, 

 have issued the syllabus of day classes to be held during the 

 session 1888-89. 



According to the American Naturalist, the proposed site of 

 the National Zoological Park at Washington is one of great 

 beauty, and even grandeur. It is in the valley of Rock Creek, 

 just beyond the city limits, and at two points walls of rock 

 rise to a height of over 80 feet. The Rock Creek will afford 

 what the American Naturalist describes as "unrivalled 

 facilities " for the care of aquatic mammals and birds of all 

 kinds. Nearly the whole tract is covered by a fine growth of 

 forest trees. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus sinicus i ) from 

 India, presented Mr. William Norman ; a Lesser White-nosed 

 Monkey ( Cercopithecus petaurista $ ) from West Africa, pre- 

 sented by Mr. W. Blandford Griffith ; a Tiger (Felts tigris 6 ) 

 from India, presented by Sir E. C. Buck, C.M.Z.S. ; a Bengal 

 Cat (Felis bengalensis) from India, presented by Mr. W. L. 

 Sclater, F.Z.S. ; a Black backed Piping Cro** (Gymnorhina 

 leuconota), two. Lead beater's Cockatoos (Cacatua leadbcateri) 

 from Australia, a Common Magpie (Pica rustica), four Common 

 Herons (Ardca cinerea), British, two Himalayan Monauls 

 (Lophophorus impeyanus $ $ ) from the Himalayas, two Gold 

 Pheasants ( Thaumalea picta i Q ), two Silver Pheasants 

 (Euplocamus nycthemerus £ Q ), two Mandarin Ducks (.Ex 

 galericulata) from China, a Javan Pea-fowl (Pavo spicifer & ) 

 from Java, two Common Pea-fowls (Pavo cristatus <J 9 ) from 

 India, a Rose-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) from 

 Moluccas, a Hyacinthine Macaw (Ara hyacinthina), a Blue 

 and Yellow Macaw (Ara ararautia) from South America, a 

 Great Eagle Owl (Bubo maximus), European, presented by Mr. 

 Charles Clifton, F.Z.S. ; a Bare-eyed Cockatoo (Cacatua 

 gymnopis) from North Australia, presented by Mrs. Fishlock ; 

 an Imperial Eagle (Aquila imperalis) from Morocco, presented 

 by Mrs. Ernest H. Forwood ; two American Box Tortoises 

 ('/ crrapcne carinata), two Alligator Terrapins (Chelydra serpen- 

 tina), a Speckled Terrapin (Clemmys guttata), four Sculptured 

 Terrapins (Clemmys insculpta) from North America, presented 

 by Prof. O. C. Marsh, C.M.Z.S. ; a Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma 

 cornutum) from North America, presented by Master Howard 

 Sexton ; six Guinea Pigs (Cavia porcellus, var.), presented by 

 Mr. R. F. Bennett ; a Common Kingfisher (Alccdo ispida), 



British, deposited ; a New Zealand Parrakeet (Cyauorhamphus 

 zcalanditz) from New Zealand, purchased ; two Chinchillas. 

 (Chinchilla tanigera), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Comet 1888 c (Brooks).— Dr. H. Kreutz (.-/;/;-. Nachr., No. 

 2853) has computed the following elements and ephemeris for 

 this comet from observations made at Vienna on August 9, 

 and at Strassburg on August 10 and II. The middle place 

 was represented closely. 



T *s 1888 July 16, 1982, Berlin M.T. 



» = 34 3690 ) 



& = 94 59 '69 t Mean Eq. 1888*0. 

 1 = 71 25-07 ) 

 log q = 9 '92444 



•*" = [9"5 I 743] r • sm ( v + 22 9 57*12) 



y = [9-99943] r . sin (v + 148 23-72) 



* = [9*97573] r . sin (v + 59 24-32) 



Ephemeris for Berlin Midnight. 



18E8. R.A. Decl. Log r. Log a. Bright 



h. m. s. o / ness. 



Aug. 23 ... 12 5 53 ... 42 14-0 N.... 0-0390 ... 02201 ... 074. 



25 ... 12 19 20 ... 41 2fj-I 



27 ... 12 32 20 ... 40 33-4 ... 0-0568 ... O2254 ... - 67 



29 ... I24450 ... 3936-5 



31 ... 12 56 49 ... 38 36-1 ... 00746 ... 02326 ... o-6o 

 Sept. 2 ... 13 8 17 ... 37 328 



4 ... 13 19 16 ... 36 27-2 ... 00921 ... 02413 ... 053, 



6 ... 13 2945 ... 35 199 



8 ... 13 39 46 ... 34 "*3 N.... 0-1094 ••• 02514 ... 0-47 

 The brightness on August 9 is taken as unity. 



Yale College Observatory. — The Reports of this Obser- 

 vatory for the last two years have recently been published. That 

 for the year 1886-87 notes the retirement of Mr. Orray T. 

 Sherman, who had charge of the Thermometric Bureau up to 

 the date of his resignation in November 1886, and the renewal 

 of subscriptions for the support of the work with the heliometer 

 for another period of three years. Prof. Loomis had borne the 

 expense of printing and distributing Dr. Elkin's memoir upon 

 the Pleiades, and a second grant of 600 dollars had been made 

 from the Bache Fund to enable Mr. Asaph Hall, Jun., the 

 Assistant Astronomer at the Observatory, to carry on his obser- 

 vations of Titan for the determination of the mass of Saturn. 

 Dr. Elkin had continued his heliometer measures for the deter- 

 mination of the mean parallax of the first magnitude stars ; and 

 the Report for 1887-88 records the completion of this work, and 

 gives the results for the ten stars observed. These are as 

 follows : — 



Aldebaran + o*i 16 ± 0029 

 Capella + 0*107 ± 0*047 

 a Ononis - 0-009 ± 0*049 

 Procyon + 0*266 ± 0*047 

 Pollux + 0*068 ± 0047 



a Leonis + 0*093 "^ 0*048 



Arcturus + 0*018 ± 0022 



a Lyras + 0*034 ± 0*045 



a Aquilae + 0*199 "±" °'°47 



a Cygni - 0*042 ± 0047 



The probable errors include an estimation of the probable sys- 

 tematic error of the measures, and are not as usual confined to 

 the mere casual error of observation. 



The results for Procyon and a Aquilae are in close accord with 

 those obtained by Auwers and Wagner for the first star, and by 

 W. Struve for the second ; and that for Aldebaran agrees with 

 Prof. Asaph Hall's value ; the value found by O. Struve — viz. 

 -f o""5i6 — would appear, therefore, to be erroneous. But Dr. 

 Elkin's parallax for a Lyrae is much smaller than the results 

 which have been hitherto obtained by other observers, and 

 which give in the mean a parallax quite five times as great as he 

 has found. But the most remarkable result is that obtained for 

 Arcturus, the practically insensible parallax of which seems in 

 such strong contrast to its large proper motion. Dr. Elkin is 

 well satisfied that the parallax of this star is extremely small, for 

 his value depends upon eighty-nine observations and on five 

 pairs of comparison stars, all in reasonable agreement. 



The mean of the ten parallaxes gives for the mean parallax of 

 a first magnitude star — 



+ o"-o89 ± o"-oi5, 

 a result according well with the values deduced by Gylden 

 (o"*o84) and Peters (o"*io2). 



