Sept. 27, 1888J 



NA TURE 



529 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1888 SEPTEMBER 30- OCTOBER 6. 



/"pOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 

 is here employed.) 



At Greenwich on September 30 



Sun rises, 6h. im. ; souths, nh. 49m. 46"2s. ; sets. 17b. 38m. : 

 right asc. on meridian, I2h. 28 '4m. ; decl. 3°4'S. Sidereal 

 Time at Sunset, i8h. 18m. 



Moon (New on October 5, 15?).) rises, 23!). 22m.*; souths, 

 7h. 30m. ; sets, 15V1. 32m. : right asc. on meridian, 8h. 8 - om. ; 

 20 22' N. 



decl. 



Planet. 



Mercury . . 



Venus 



Mars 



Jupiter 



Saturn 



Uranus ... 

 Neptune.. 



Right asc. and declination 



* Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening. 

 Ocadtation of Planet and Star by the Moon (visible at Greenwich). 



Oct. 



I 



3 

 Oct. 

 I 



Star. 



Saturn 

 / Leon is . 



h. 

 • • 15 ••• 



Mag. 



Saturn in conjunction with and o° 55' south 

 of the Moon. 



Variable Stars. 



Star. 

 U Cephei ... 



S Arietis 

 Algol 



1< Persei 



C Geminorum 



R Cancri 



5 Ursae Majoris 

 U Ophiuchi... 



W Sagittarii 



6 Lyrae 



R Lyrae 



S Sagittae ... 

 X Cygni 

 T Vulpeculae 

 Y Cygni 



R.A. 



Decl. 



52-4 ... 81 16 N. 



1 58-6 ... II 59 N. 

 3 0-9 ... 40 31 N. 



3 22-9 



6 57-5 



8 io - 4 



12 391 



17 10*9 



17 57*9 



18 46^0 



18 51-9 



19 5o-9 



20 39-0 

 20 467 

 20 47 6 



35 17 N. 

 20 44 N. 

 12 4 N. 

 61 42 N. 

 1 20 N. 



29 35 S. 



33 14 N. 

 43 48 N. 

 16 20 N. 

 35 11 N. 

 27 50 N. 



34 14 N. 



Oct. 



Sept. 

 Oct. 



, Sept. 



Oct. 



. Sept. 



.Oct. 



• »> 



Sept. 

 Oct. 



1, 



6, 

 4. 

 2, 

 5. 

 3o» 

 4, 



5 Cephei 22 25^0 ... 57 51 N. ... Sept. 



M signifies maximum ; m minimum ; w 2 secondary 



30, 21 



5» 22 



30, 19 



3. 19 



3. 



5°. 21 



3. 5 



3. 5 



2, 3 



5, 3 



30, 21 



minimum. 



13 m 



52 vi 



M 



20 m 



8 m 



M 



oM 



M 



m 



20 m 



6 m 



o »l 



o w 2 

 m 

 o M 

 oM 

 o M 

 o in 

 o m 

 o m 



Near rj Aurigae 



Meteor- Showers. 

 R.A. Decl. 



- 75* ••• 41° N. 



225 ... 52 N. 



Swift ; streaks. 



October 2. 

 Bright ; slow. 



October 2. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



Lieut. Wissmann, who is to command the German Emin 

 Pasha Expedition, has already done much excellent work in 

 Africa, for which he received one of the medals of the Royal 

 Geographical Society a few months ago. In his hands the 

 interests of science are sure to be attended to. The Expedition 

 will consist of two contingents, which will proceed through 



German East Africa by the south shore of Victoria Nyanza to 

 the region between that lake and the Albert Nyanza. That the 

 Expedition is sure to meet with difficulties is evident from the 

 telegrams which are almost daily appearing from Berlin and 

 from Zanzibar. The whole coast region is rising against the 

 Germans, and it is to be feared that Lieut. Wissmann will have 

 to proceed through a practically hostile country all the way to 

 Wadelai. It is a pity that in the matter of Emin Pasha, which 

 interests all Europe, Germany and England could not work 

 hand in hand. 



The new American Geographical Society recently founded at 

 Washington, and including the most eminent geologists and 

 geographers of the United States, has already held several meet- 

 ings, and begun work in earnest. It has been resolved that the 

 Society will undertake the task of bringing out a new physical 

 atlas of the United States, and for this purpose it has appointed 

 a c>mmittee of specialists to proceed with the undertaking. 



It is to be regretted that Dr. Meyer's Expedition to Kiliman- 

 jaro has met with opposition in traversing Usambara, and has 

 been compelled to return to the coast. Dr. Meyer, who was 

 accompanied by Lenz's former companion, Dr. Baumann, 

 intended to make a thorough survey of the whole region around 

 Kilimanjaro, which, it will be remembered, he recently scaled 

 to within a few hundred feet of the summit. The Chief Semboja, 

 who is reported to have attacked the Expedition, has hitherto 

 been on friendly terms with the whites. He is a great friend of 

 the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, and Mr. H. 

 H. Johnston, in his book on Kilimanjaro, speaks in highly 

 favourable terms of him, and was indeed indebted to him for 

 many friendly services. It is to be feared, therefore, that the 

 Germans have shown some want of tact in dealing with the 

 Usambara peop'.e. It is to be hoped that Dr. Meyer may be 

 able to resume his journey, and carry out the objects of his 

 expedition. 



The last number of the Izvestia of the Russian Geographical 

 S >ciety will be welcome to geographers, as it contains a chapter 

 from the work of Przevalsky, now in print, about his fourth 

 journey to Central Asia. All discoveries made during that 

 journey are summed up in this chapter, and the relations of the 

 mountain ridges, mapped by the Russian traveller to other h'lly 

 tracts, formerly known, or explored by Mr. Carey, are shown. We 

 hope that this chapter, the chief one of the whole work, will 

 soon be translated into English. After giving a general sketch of 

 the Kuen-lun Mountains, M. Przevalsky describes his journey 

 along the Zaisan-saih; River, the ridges of Tsaidam, " Columbus " 

 and " Moscow," the Lake Unfreezing, Przevalsky's ridge, and the 

 " Windy Valley," which offers an advantageous route to China ; 

 as also the return journey, the excursion to the Khatyn-zan 

 River, the pas- age across the Altyn-tagh, and the return to Lake 

 Lob- nor. The forty pages covered by the article are a rich 

 mine of geographical information. The same number of the 

 Izvestia contains an abstract from A. D. Carey's " Journey to 

 East Turkistan," with a map. 



The remarkable facts communicated by M. Yadrintseff 

 as to the drying up of lakes in Siberia have induced the 

 Russian Geographical Society to take decisive steps for the 

 exploration of the lakes of the Empire. A great number of 

 copies of an instruction by Dr. Forel, of Lausanne, have been 

 sent out to correspondents of the Society, as also a programme 

 for collecting data on the subject, and it is hoped that in a year 

 or two most valuable data will thus be gathered. 



In the last number of Pettrmann's Mitteilungen, Herr J- 

 Menges raises once more the question of the possibility of utiliz- 

 ing the African elephant. Herr Menges points out that there 

 is strong evidence that the elephant was made use of in ancient 

 times in Africa, and asserts that no serious attempt has been 

 made in modern times to subdue it to the uses of humanity. He 

 maintains that it is quite as docile as the Indian elephant, and 

 much stronger, and that if it could be really tamed and trained 

 to work, it would be of immense utility in the opening up of 

 Africa. But, unless some protection is accorded to the African 

 elephant, Herr Menges believes that by the end of next century 

 it will be quite extinct. We are therefore glad to notice that 

 the British East African Company will take special means for 

 the protection of the animal, and they might very well make 

 some attempt to prove whether or not it is capable of being 

 tamed. 



