272 



NATURE 



[Aug. 5, 1875 



Haughton refers the difficulty to my experiments, and I refer the 

 difficulty to his theory. 



5. Prof. Haughton objects to my reduction for variations in 

 strength. In reply, it is to be said that an increase of from 

 13 "66 kgr. to 14 "84 kgr. in the strength of Mr. Myer's arm, 

 caused n to vary from 78 to 1366. The weight used was 5*00 

 kgr. For a weight of one or two kgr. my own arm also varies 

 thus greatly. I therefore conclude that this reduction is not 

 only not improper, but that it is essential. 



6. I beg leave to state that I alone am responsible for the 

 paper published in Nature, vol. xi, pp. 256-276. I ac- 

 knowledged therein all the aid that I am conscious of having 

 received. F. E. Nipher 



Washington University, St. Louis 



P.S. — I find that one important point in Prof. Haughton's 

 paper has been overlooked in my reply. Objection is made to 

 my last series of experiments, on the ground that all the muscles 

 thrown into action are not exhausted. If this objection is well 

 taken, it applies also to the former series of mine, so "highly 

 confirmatory of the Law of Fatigue," the agreement of which 

 with Prof. Haughton's formula is so " complete and satisfactory." 

 The H/Hng of the weight was done in precisely the same way. 



Domestic Economy of Blackbirds 

 Two Blackbirds having built their nest in full view of my 

 bedroom window, 1 have been much interested in watching the 

 process of feeding their young, &c. The cock bird is the prin- 

 cipal forager, and the food generally brought are worms. My 

 object in writing is to draw attention to one feature which may 

 be unknown to most of your readers as relates to the disposal of 

 the young birds' droppings. If left in the nest, it would become 

 filthy, if thrown aside the accuroulalion would lead to detection, 

 and I believe the general impression is that the old birds carry 

 the soil away ; but on watching them closely I never saw the 

 droppings carried away but on one occasion, and that by the 

 hen ; in every other instance after being fed, the young birds in 

 turn lift up their tails and the droppings are taken by the old 

 bird and actually swallowed. On the 15th July the young birds 

 being fully fledged, were literally washed out of their nest by the 

 downpour of ram on that day, but, with a little care, they all 

 survived, On the 22nd the hen again returned to her nest, 

 and she is now sitting closely on three eggs, and I hope to get 

 the next brood photographed, I enclose my card and address, 

 and should any readers of Nature desire to witness what I have 

 described, I shall be very glad to afford them an opportunity. 

 Woolwich Comnaon, 2nd Aug., 1875 E, R, W. 



Scarcity of Birds 



Mr, Barrington, writing from the Co. Wicklow, in 

 Nature, vol. xii. p. 213, says that he finds Blackbirds and 

 Thrushes unusually scarce this year. I have not heard of this 

 anywhere else, and certainly it is not the case here. 



Old Forge, Dunmurry, Joseph John Murphy 



Co. Antrim, July 26 



Hay Crops of 1875 



Let me record in Nature the extraordinary fact that on 

 Monday, July 26, in one of my meadows here, the first crop was 

 carried while the second crop, or after-math, was being cut. 



Valentines, Ilford C. M. Ingleby 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Variable Stars.— The last number of Vierteljahrs- 

 schrift der Astronomischen Gesellschaft (x. Jahrgang, 

 weites Heft), received within a few days, contains an 

 ephemeris of most of the known variables, including those 

 of short period, for the year 1876, drawn up by Dr. 

 Schcenfeld, chiefly from the data in his catalogue of 1875. 

 This early publication will, no doubt, be very acceptable 

 to observers who are devoting attention to these interest- 

 ing and puzzling objects. 



The Great Cluster, Messier ii.— As the first 

 special publication of the Observatory of Hamburg, we 

 have Prof. Helmert's memoir detailing the results of his 



micrometrical observations on the components of this 

 well-known cluster in the constellation Aquila, or in 

 Clypeiim or Scuiiiin Sobieski, as many of the Continental 

 astronomers continue to call that part of the heavens in 

 which it is situate. The memoir has a particular interest 

 from the circumstance of Dr. Lamont having similarly 

 employed the Munich refractor in the years 1836-39. The 

 investigation of any changes that may take place in the 

 constituents of these groups of stars, as regards position 

 or brightness, becomes a very attractive one, and as we 

 know from the excellent work of Herr Pihl on the 

 Perseus cluster, it is not one always requiring the use of 

 large instruments, such as have been employed in the 

 hands of Lamont and Helmert, upon Messier 1 1. D'Arrest 

 terms this cluster "magnifica innumerabihum stellarum 

 coacervatio" ; the amateur will remember Admiral Smyth's 

 comparison of the configuration of the components to " a 

 flight of wild ducks." 



New Minor Planet.— No. 147 of this group was 

 detected by Herr Schulhof, at the observatory of Vienna, 

 on July 10, in the vicinity of ^ Capricorni. It is of the 

 twelfth magnitude, and Prof. Littrow, the director, pro- 



Eoses to caU it *^ Protogeneia," perhaps in allusion to it 

 eing the first minor planet discovered at this observa- 

 tory. It may be presumed that he has satisfied himself 

 of its distinctness from any of the minors which are now 

 adrift. 



The Great Comet of 1843. — The elements of the 

 orbit of this remarkable body, finally derived by the late 

 Prof. Hubbard, of the Naval Observatory, Washington, 

 after a very masterly discussion of the whole series of 

 observations, are as follow : — 



Perihelion Passage 1843 February 27 "4 1051 G.M.T. 

 Longitude of Perihelion ... 278° 40' 17" ) t^ -p .•._ 

 ,, Ascending Node i 14 55 j ^' ^^- "'^3- 



Inclination of Orbit 35 40 39 



Excentricity 0-9999 157; 7 



Perihelion Distance 00055383 



Motion — retrograde. 

 From which we have the following additional figures : — 

 Mean Distance from the Sun ... 65711 



Aphelion Distance 131 '42 



I^eriod of Revolution 5327 years. 



The distance from the sun at the perihelion is less 

 than that of any other comet so far computed ; the 

 famous comet of 1680, according to Enckes definitive 

 calculations, making also a very close approach, though 

 not so near as in the present case. If Leverrier's semi- 

 diameter of the sun be adopted, with 8""875 for the solar 

 parallax, we find — 



Sun's semi-diameter 428,7x0 English miles. 



Comet's perihelion distance .. . 510,140 ,, 



Whence it would appear that a httle before 10 p.m. on 

 February 27, the comet passed within 81,500 miles from 

 the sun's surface, and if we compute the orbital velocity 

 at the time, we find it 348'5 miles per second. The comet 

 was less than 2J: hours on the north side of the ecliptic, 

 passing from ascending to descending node in ah. 134m. 

 On examining with the above elements the track of the 

 comet on the day of perihelion passage,, it results that a 

 transit over the sun's disc must have taken place at the 

 descending node, the ingress (geocentric) occurring at 

 iih. 28m. Greenwich time, 241° Irom the sun's N. point 

 towards E., and the egress at I2h. 29m., at 187° similarly 

 reckoned. The transit might have been observed in 

 Australia ; the times for Sydney being, Feb. 27, 2ih. 33m. 

 for ingress and 22h. 34m. for egress. Such a transit 

 brings to recollection an observation recorded in the 

 Paris Astronomical Bulletin at the time as having been 

 made by M. Aristide Coumbary at the observatory ot 

 Constantinople, on the morning of the 8th of May, 1865, 

 from which it would appear that a dark spot moved over 

 a space of 21' upon the sun's disc, in a httle over three- 



