6i6 



NA TURE 



[April 26, 1888 



tinuation of the lists which appeared in the Scottish N'aturalist 

 for 1886 and 1887. Mr. Bennett says that the results during the 

 year 1887 were probably richer than in any former year, not only 

 in the large number of comital records, but in the new species 

 added to the Scottish flora. 



We have received several numbers of the Annates cie la 

 Faculty des Sciences de Toulouse (Paris : Gauthiers-Villars). 

 This new publication (which is well printed on good paper, with 

 wide margins) consists chiefly of memoirs relating to physics, 

 chemistry, and mathematics pure and applied. It contains also 

 articles on questions of general scientific interest. To papers of 

 the latter class the authors append lists of books on the questions 

 discussed. 



According to a paper in the Board of Trade Journal for 

 April, the production of attar of roses constitutes one of the 

 most important branches of native industry in Bulgaria. The 

 valley of Kezanlyk, known as the Vale of Roses, is the centre 

 of this production, which extends as far as Carlovo, and the 

 villages which lie sheltered from the north wind by the vast 

 chain of the Great Balkans. In 1885, and no later statistics 

 have been published, the manufacture of attar of roses in the 

 district indicated amounted to a value of 1,100,000 francs. 

 The prosperous condition of the valley of Kezanlyk has led 

 other districts of Bulgaria to develop the same industry, and par- 

 ticularly the inhabitants of Strema, and of Toundja, at the foot of 

 Mount Rhodope. It is not yet certain that the attar from these new 

 countries will equal in quality the famous product of Kezanlyk. 

 The Government, however, is anxious to encourage this move- 

 ment, and the Department of the Interior has lately authorized 

 the purchase of a certain quantity of attar prepared at Strema 

 and at Toundja. Specimens of each are to be sent for examina- 

 tion at the laboratory of the University of Moscow, and the 

 result is to be published. 



From an official report just published it appears that in 1886 

 there were killed in Norway 1 14 bears, 37 wolves, 5618 foxes^ 

 950 eagles, 5100 hawks, and 108 other animals of prey. The 

 number of bears was slightly below that of 1885, but above the 

 numbers of previous years, whilst the number of wolves was twice 

 that of 1885. The number of foxes, on the other hand, was only 

 half that of the previous year, whilst those of eagles and hawks 

 were about the same. 



In last week's Nature (p. 581), near the middle of the 

 second column, for " Ekholm of Hagstrom," read " Ekholm and 

 Hagstrom." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Common Marmoset [Hapale jacchus) from 

 South-East Brazil, presented by Mrs. Leighton ; a Striped 

 Hyaena {HycBna striata) from Morocco, presented by Mr. Herbert 



E. White ; an Indian Wo\{{Canis pallipes i ), two Foxes 



{Canis ), a Hawk Eagle {Spizaetus ) from India, 



presented by Colonel Alex. A. A. Kinloch, C.M.Z.S. ; two 

 Rock-hopper Penguins {Eudyptes chrysocome) from Auckland, 

 New Zealand, presented by Captain Sutcliff", R.M.S.S. 

 Aorangi; a Gannet {Sula ba^sana), British, presented by 

 Miss Serrell ; three Common Swans {Cygnus olor), British, 

 purchased ; a Chinchilla {Chinchilla lanigera), a Barbary Wild 

 Sheep {Ovis tragelaphus), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Photography in the Determination of the Motions 

 OF Stars in the Line of Sight. — Of the many developments 

 of spectroscopy, one of the most interesting is that first made a 

 1 tactical branch of observation by the skill and patience of Dr. 



Huggins, viz. the determination of the motions of stars in the 

 direction of the visual ray by measures of the displacement of 

 the more prominent lines in their spectra. The research has, 

 however, always been beset with many practical difficulties, one 

 of the most serious being the manner in which the stellar lines 

 seem to elude the sight when the air is disturbed. This hindrance 

 has been especially felt at Greenwich, where this kind of work 

 has been adopted as part of the ordinary routine, and where, in 

 consequence, it has not been possible, as would be the case in 

 a private observatory, to confine observation to nights of fault 

 less definition. Many of the observations have, therefore, been 

 exceedingly rough, or even discordant. Prof. H. C. Vogel, 

 who had made some successful measures of the displacements 

 of lines in three or four of our brightest stars soon after Hug- 

 gins's first observations, has recently turned his attention to 

 photography as a means of overcoming this difficulty, and his first 

 results, given in a paper read before the Royal Prussian Aca- 

 demy on March 15, are very promising. Prof. Vogel finds that 

 the atmospheric tremors, so wearisome to the eye, exercise no 

 influence upon the photograph, which possesses the additional 

 advantage of being free from all bias or predisposition. Dr. 

 Scheiner, who has been carrying out these experiments, has 

 examined seven spectra, viz. those of Sirius, Procyon, Castor, 

 Arcturus, Aldebaran, Pollux, and Rigel. Of these, Sirius 

 showed a slight displacement to the red, Procyon a decided 

 displacement, and Rigel very large in the same direction, whilst 

 Arcturus showed a considerable displacement towards the violet. 

 The observations were made on the third line ot hydrogen, H7, 

 a train of two prisms of high dispersion being used. 



The Total LuxNAr Eclipse of January 28. — Dr. E. 

 Lindemann sends the following list of the number of occulta- 

 tions observed at different Observatories during this eclipse, in 

 addition to the lists given already : Albany (U. S. ), 7 ; Chris- 

 tiania, 28 ; Milan, 23 ; Bonn, 7 ; Durban (Natal), 17; Oxford 

 (Radcliffe), 9 ; Bruxelles, 14 ; Liege, 5 ; Palermo, 8 ; Cape of 

 Good Hope, 21 ; Madras, lo. The weather was cloudy at 

 Warsaw. 



New Minor Planets. — Herr Palisa discovered a new minor 

 planet. No, 274, on April 3, and another, No. 275, on April 13. 

 The latter is his sixty-third discovery. No. 269 has received the 

 name of Justitia. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1888 APRIL 29— MAY 5. 



/"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 April 29 



Sunrises, 4h. 36m. ; souths, iih. 57m. iO"3s. ; sets, igh. i8m. : 

 right asc. on meridian, 2h. 287m. ; decl. 14° 41' N. 

 Sidereal Time at Sunset, 9h. 51m. 

 Moon (at Last Quarter May 3, oh.) rises, 22h. 21m.*; 

 souths, 2h. 46m. ; sets, 7h. 6m. : right asc. on meridian, 

 I7h. 157m. ; decl. 19° 30' S. 



Right asc. and declination 

 Planet. Rises. Souths. Sets. on meridian. 



h. m. h. m. h. m. h. m. o < 



Mercury.. 4 23 ... Ii 11 ... 17 59 ... i 42-0 ... 8 45 N. 



Venus 4 8 ... 10 44 ... 17 20 ... i I5'8 ... 6 22 N. 



Mars 16 45 ... 22 25 ... 4 5*... 12 58-3 ... 4 38 S. 



Jupiter.... 21 25*... I 40 ... 5 55 ... 16 9-9 ... 20 I S. 

 Saturn.... 9 40 ... 17 38 ... i 36*... 8 lO'S ... 20 40 N. 

 Uranus... 16 42 ... 22 20 ... 3 58*... 12 53'2 ... 4 58 S. 

 Neptune.. 5 35 ... 13 17 .. 20 59 ... 3 486 ... 18 21 N. 

 * 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- 



May. Star. Mag. DIsap. Reap. tex to right for 



inverted image, 

 h. m. h. m. 00 



I ... 50 Sagittarii ... 6 ... 3 19 ... 3 ZZ - 359 339 

 3 ... 31 Capricorni ... 6| ... 2 50 ... 3 43 ... 112 214 

 May. h. 



5 ... 18 ... Mars in conjunction with and 0° 35' north 

 of Uranus. 



