Feb. 9, 1888] 



NATURE 



353 



The Bulletin Pltarmaceutiqiie states that a new remedy for 

 Phylloxera has been discovered by M. LafFon, of Capendu, and 

 it has proved successful. It consists of a weak solution of 

 nitrate of mercury. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Red-winged Parrakeet(^/;'^j';«;V/?/j-^ryMro- 

 pterus) ; eight Peaceful Doves {Geopelia trajiqtiilla) from Aus- 

 ralia, presented by the Hon. Stormont Finch-Iiatton ; a 

 Fulmar Petrel {Fulmarus glacialis) from Norfolk, presented by 

 Mr. H. M. Upcher, F.Z.S. ; a Jardine's Parrot {Pceocephalus 

 gulielmi) from West Africa, received in exchange. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Royal Astronomical Society's Memoirs. — The first 

 part ofvol. xlix. of the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society 

 has just been pu'ilished, and contains a new General Catalogue 

 of nebulae, by Dr. J. L. E. Dreyer. Sir John Herschel's General 

 Catalogue, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1864, 

 was almost entirely founded upon his own and his father's 

 observations, and hence, since several observers have devoted 

 themselves to the work of searching for nebulae since that cata- 

 logue was prepared, the number known to us has been very 

 largely increased. D'Arrest's great work on nebulae, which 

 appeared three years later than the General Catalogue, gave the 

 means of correcting many of its positions, and hence Dr. 

 Dreyer had been induced as early as 1876 to comoile a supple- 

 ment to the General Catalogue, which he published in the Trans- 

 actions of the Royal Irish Academy in 1878 (v)!. xxvi.), 

 containing a list of corrections to it, and a catalogue of 

 recently-discovered nebulae. In 1886, Dr. Dreyer presented a 

 second similar supplement — in which the later discoveries of 

 Messrs. .Stephan, Swift, Ormond Stone, and other observers had 

 been incorporated — to the Council of the Roy al Aslronomical 

 Society ; but the Council, considering that the General Cata- 

 logue was practically out of print, and that the use of three 

 catalogues and two lists of corrections would be very incon- 

 venient, proposed to Dr. Dreyer that he should prepare from 

 the whole of his materials a single new General Catalogue. This 

 work he has now carried out, and the present catalogue contains 

 7840 objects, the positions of which have been as thofoughly 

 corrected and revised as the materials available permitted. The 

 epoch of the first General Catalogue, and of D'Arrest's final 

 positions — 1860 — has been retained, as it is close to the epochs 

 of the great star-charts of A rgelander, Schonfeld, Chacornac, and 

 Peters, and nearly all the modern micrometric observations 

 of nebulae are referred to an epoch but little later. The 

 precessions have been given for 1880, as done by Sir 

 John Herschel, and the descriptions have been care- 

 fully revised. The work also contains an index to published 

 figures of nebulae and clusters, and an appendix giving the places 

 of several new nebulae discovered by Prof. Safiford and Mr. 

 Swift, but published too late to be incorporated in the catalogue 

 itself. These are added that the volume may contain a com- 

 plete record of all nebulae of which the places have been pub- 

 lished up to December 1887. 



Publications of Dunsink Observatory. — Tiie sixth part 

 of theobservations of the Observatory of Trinity College, Dublin, at 

 Dunsink, has just been ]:)ublished, and contains the separate results 

 reduced to 1885 'o, and the mean places for 1012 southern stars 

 observed with the transit circle by Dr. Dreyer, the late, and Mr. 

 Kambaut, the present, Assistant Astronomers. These stars are 

 nearly all in the Southern Durchmusterung Belt, between 

 S. Decl. 2° and 23°, and were suggested for observation by Prof, 

 Schonfeld on account either of their proper motion or of dis- 

 cordances between their places as given in different catalogues. 

 A few other stars were observed either at the request of Prof. 

 Peters or Dr. Auwers. The work had been commenced by 

 Dr. Dreyer in September 1881, who continued it until his 

 appointment to the Armagh Observatory in May 1882, and Mr. 

 Rambaut took it up, on succeeding to Dr. Drever's position, in 

 November of the same year. Mr. Rambaut gives the probable 

 error of a single observation — most of the stars were observed 

 only once— as ± o-o65s. in R. A., ± o"-864 in Decl. ; the faint- 

 ness of the objects and their low altitude at meridian passage 

 making observation somewhat difficult. A plate at the end of 

 the volume shows a portion of one of the',chronograph sheets, and 



illustrates a convenient method of making notes whilst at the 

 telescope by sending special signals to the chronograph. 



RousDON Observatory. — Astronomical observations have 

 been steadily carried on during the past year at Mr. Peek's 

 private observatory, Rousdon, Lyme Regis. The principal work 

 undertaken, besides transit observations for time, has been the 

 observation of twenty long-period variable stars. It is proposed, 

 so soon as any star has been observed over several complete 

 periods, to publish a memoir with plates showing the variations 

 in the light curve. The record of the Observatory shows that 

 there were 165 good observing nights in 1887, as against 146 in 

 1886. 



;3 Delphini. — Mr. J. E. Gore published two years ago 

 elements for this difficult and interesting binary (Nature, vol. 

 xxxiii. p. 518), in which he gave the period as 30"9I years, a 

 value fairly corresponding to that found by Dubiago a couple of 

 years earlier, viz. 26'07. Sig. Celoria having been placed in 

 possession of Prof. Schiaparelli's observations made in 1875 and 

 1886-87, and those of Engelmann made in 1885 and 1886, has 

 re-investigated the orbit, and deduced elements differing widely 

 from these two earlier sets, particularly in the period, which he 

 finds to be a little short of seventeen years {Astr. Nachr. No. 

 2824). If this last orbit be correct, the star has already been 

 watched through nearly a complete revolution. There is, how- 

 ever, a considerable divergency between the recent observations 

 of Schiaparelli and Engelmann, and those of the latter would 

 accord better with a longer period. It is, therefore, much to be 

 desired that astronomers who possess sufficient optical power 

 should give early and careful attention to this star. The 

 following are Sig. Celoria's complete elements : — 



T = i868'85o ... 6 — 0-09622 



il = 10" '938 ... a — o" "46000 



A = 220'952 ... P = 16-955 years 

 7 = 61-582 



Olbers' Comet. — The following ephemeris for Berlin mid- 

 night is in continuation of that given in Nature, vol. xxxvii. 

 P- 234 :— 



1888. R.A. Decl. Log n Log <i. Bright- 



h. m. s. o / ness. 



Feb. II... 17 46 35 ... 6 5-7 S. ... 0-3320 ... 03974 .. 0-29 



13... 48 57 ... 6 17-2 



15... 51 IS ... 6 28-4 ... 0-3394 ... 0-3970 ... 0-28 



17... 53 28 ... 6 393 



19... 55 36 ... 6 50-0 ... 0-3477 ... 0-3962 ... 0-27 



21... 57 39 ... 7 0-4 



23-- 59 36 -• 7 10-7 ... 0-3558 ... 0-3951 ... 0-26 



25... 18 I 28 ... 7 20-8 



27-- 3 15 ••• 7 307 S. ... 0-3638 ... 0-3936 ... 0-25 



The brightness on 1887 August 27 is taken as unity. 



New Minor Planet. — A new minor planet. No. 272, 

 mag. 13, was discovered by M. Charlois, of the Nice Observatory, 

 on February 4. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1888 FEBRUARY 12-18. 



/LJ'OR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 ^ Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 



is here employed. ) 



At Greenwich on February 12 

 S m rises, 7h. 22m. ; souths, I2h. 14m. 28-6s. ; sets, I7h. 7m : 

 right asc. on meridian, 2lh. 42-4m. ; decl. 13" 46' S. 

 Sidereal Time at Sunset, 2h. 36m. 

 Moon (New, February 12, oh.) rises, 7h. 47m.; souths, 

 I2h, 41m. ; sets, I7h. 43m. : right a^^c. on meridian, 

 22h. 9 -2m. ; decl. 13" 19' S. 



Right asc. and declination 

 Planet. Rises. Souths. Sets. on meridian. 



h. m. h. m. h. m. h. m. „ , 

 .Mercury.. 7 54 ... 13 19 .. 18 44 ... 22 47-5 ... 7 39 S. 

 Venus ... 5 37 .. 9 41 ... 13 45 ... 19 8-2 ... 21 38 S. 

 Mars ... 22 59*... 4 20 ... 9 41 ... 13 46-6 ... 8 18 S. 

 Jupiter ... 2 27 ... 6 42 ... 10 57 .. 16 9-1 ... 20 4 S. 

 Saturn ... 14 51 ... 22 46 ... 6 41*... 8 154 ... 20 22 N. 

 Uranus... 22 4*... 3 37 ... 9 10 ... 13 3-9 ... 6 4 S. 

 Neptune.. 10 33 ... 18 13 ... i 53*... 3 41*6 ... 17 55 N. 



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

 that of the following morning. 



