Sept. 30, 1875I 



NATURE 



477 



68 (A.N. 1810), and the following are almost decisive of 

 fluctuation through about two magnitudes, so that at 

 times the star will be visible to the naked eye, and at 

 others fairly beyond unassisted vision. 



As lower estimates we have Argelander 1842 January 

 25—8 mag., and Radcliffe Obs. 1870 February 22—7-5 

 mag. 



As higher estimates we find, Flamsteed, 1696 January- 

 s', Lalande (in Fedorenko's Catalogue), 1790 February— 

 5^6, Dembowski, 1868 February 2—5-5, and Radcliffe 

 Obs., 1872 March 9—60. 



It does not occur in the Uranometria^ but is B.A.C. 

 1924, and there very properly removed from Camelo- 

 pardus, to which it could only have been originally 

 assigned by a mistake. It belongs to Auriga, though it 

 is hardly, as the Bedford Cycle tells us, " in the Wag- 

 goner's eye." 



The Double Star 2 2120. — M. Camille Flammarion 

 sends us some remarks on this object, to which allusion 

 was made in Nature, vol. xi. p. 147. Identifying it with 

 No. 89 of Sir W. Herschel's Class III., M. Flammarion 

 thinks the early observation tends to establish the binary 

 character of the star, notwithstanding the measures from 

 1829 to 1S73 may be represented by rectilinear motion. 

 We shall revert to this subject next week. 



The Minor Planets.— The elements of No. 148 have 

 been calculated by M. Bossert and Herr V. Knorre ; the 

 orbit is one of the most inclined to the ecliptic (26°).— 

 No. 136, Austria, was recovered at the Observatory of 

 Berlin on the 6th of the present month. Dike and 

 Camilla, with one or two others, are still adrift. 



The August Meteors. — As previously stated, the 

 systematic course of observation of the meteors of the 

 August period, organised by the French Scientific Asso- 

 ciation, has this year been attended with considerable 

 success, the atmospheric conditions on the nights of the 

 9th, 10th, and I ith having been as favourable as possible at 

 many of the stations. The greatest number was observed 

 during the night between the loth and nth, but this 

 number varies much in the different accounts so far pub- 

 lished by M. Leverrier. The Lisbon observers would appear 

 to have recorded the greatest number, 1,227 meteors having 

 been noted between loh. and i5h. 25m., when the sky 

 clouded. A table of more than forty tracks, exactly noted, 

 appears in the Paris " Bulletin International" of Sept. 23, 

 the co-ordinates of the points of commencement and 

 extinction being expressed in right ascension and declina- 

 tion, with the corresponding mean times. At Avignon, 

 on the same night, 858 meteors were recorded between 

 8h. 35m. and I5h. 40m. At Bordeaux M. Lespiault 

 remarked tliat four- fifths of the meteors seen were Perseids, 

 generally very small, though in a few cases they had con- 

 siderable brightness and left trains. At Dijon, on a mean 

 of the three nights' observations, the radiant was fixed 

 approximately in R.A. 37°, and polar distance 45°, and in 

 addition to this point, two secondary radiants were 

 detected, one in R.A. 320^-4, N.P.D. 9i°-8, and the other 

 in R.A. 33i°'o, and N.P.D. 9o°-o. With respect to these 

 it is remarked that although, by the means, these co- 

 ordinates appeared to be confused together, yet for each 

 night the points of radiation were very distinct, the meteors 

 of the first group appearing to be directed towards the 

 second radiant, and those of the second group towards the 

 first. At Rouen, 500 meteor-tracks were entered upon the 

 charts, the invariable direction being from Perseus. At 

 the Observatory of Palermo, Prof. Tacchini and M. Delisa 

 made numerous determinations of the position of the 

 radiant from August 9-12 inclusive, the mean of the whole 

 being in R.A. 2h. som.g, N.P.D. 36° 51', but when the 

 points are laid down on a chart it is seen that they are 

 comprised in a very narrow ellipse, a circumstance to 

 which Prof. Tacchini has already drawn attention. 



M. Wolf, in reporting the results of this year's observa- 

 tions, considers that the phenomenon advances rapidly 



towards a very brilliant maximum ; the next year will 

 enable us to judge if this maximum has been attained, 

 and it may then be possible, he thinks, to determine the 

 period of revolution of a swarm of meteors, which, though 

 now extended far along the orbit, still presents a very 

 marked region of condensation. On the contrary, M. 

 Wolf observes, the November shower has so nearly 

 ceased, passing now almost unperceived, that it may be 

 unnecessary to call upon observers, who have previously 

 co-operated in this class of observations, to expose them- 

 selves again to the possible severity of the nights at that 



THE CLINICAL LABORATORIES ANNEXED 

 TO THE PARIS HOSPITALS 



THE first and typical clinical laboratory was created 

 at the Hotel-Dieu, by private exertions, a very few 

 months after the time when blood had been running 

 so freely on the pavement of the great city. It was 

 organised at the expense of two doctors, who had shared 

 the disappointments and dangers of those troubled times. 



Dr. Liouville, a nephew of the celebrated academician 

 who edited for so many years Xho. Aftnals of Mathonatics, 

 having learned by his travels, before the Franco-German 

 war, that Prussia and other German powers had estab- 

 lished special laboratories at Berlin and other large cities 

 for promoting physiological researches in the Universi- 

 ties, resolved to introduce establishments of that descrip- 

 tion in his native land, but under a different system. He 

 bid his ideas before Dr. Behier, one of the most popular 

 professors of the Faculty who adhered to the scheme, and 

 lent all his influence and patronage to bring physical and 

 chemical instruments to the very bedside of the patients 

 at the hospitals. 



The intention of these two distinguished physicians 

 was not only to open an institution where physiological 

 science might be promoted as it is at Berlin and Vienna, 

 but to place under the hands of practitioners ready 

 means for enlarging the degree of accuracy of their dia- 

 gnoses. At a moment's notice an able microscopist armed 

 with a powerful instrument is to answer any question put 

 for ascertaining the composition of humours, the nature 

 of abnormal secretions, &c. A competent chemist, 

 well acquainted with the properties of reagents, is 

 ready to make an analysis of blood, of virus, of medica- 

 ments, of urine, of excreta, suspected poisonous matters, 

 &c. The use of the spectroscope was not so general at the 

 time as to call for the service of a spgctroscopist, but the 

 utility of the speciality even then was made apparent to 

 MM. Behier and Liouville. 



These operations can be done daily for the instruction 

 of the students following the daily practice of the hospital. 



When the patient dies, his autopsy being carefully 

 made, it can be shown whether the diagnosis was 

 true, or whether the fatal result was due to some uncon- 

 trollable circumstance. The unhappy inmate whom 

 science and humanity were powerless to save, is turned 

 into an object of instruction, so that human knowledge 

 may be enlarged and other sufferers cured under similar 

 circumstances. The laboratory was also open from the 

 time of its infancy to foreign men of science or to prac- 

 titioners wishing to investigate any points connected with 

 their patient. 



To the Hotel-Dieu Laboratory was annexed a " chenil," 

 where a number of rabbits and the like are constantly 

 bred and kept in an excellent state of health. These ani- 

 mals are destined to be employed in testing the efficacy 

 of new medicines to be tried, if proved innocuous, on the 

 patients. In cases of poisoning, the localisation of toxic 

 substances is ascertained, as well as the symptoms of 

 death, and in some cases antidotes are administered for 

 testing their restorative power. They may be considered 

 as living instruments fo# exploring and extending scientifi- 

 cally the scope of Pharmacology. 



