Oct. 



1875J 



NATURE 



535 



It may, however, prove to be a variaWe star of long period, 

 like the 8th magnitude orange-coloured star remarked by 

 the same observer near Procyon in the autumn of 1833, 

 the existence of which is supported by the observation of 

 Mr. Isaac Fletcher, as described in Smyth's Sidereal 

 Chromatics and elsewhere, and we believe by the experi- 

 ence of the Rev. T. W. Webb. There is now a star of 

 the 9th magnitude, following /x Cassiopea?, 17' 2 and 15' 38" 

 south ; this is clearly Argelander's star -f 53°, No. 228 of 

 the " Durchmustcrung," there estimated 9-5, a consider- 

 ably fainter object than an average 9th m:;gnitude in 

 Bessel's scale ; its place would appear to correspond 

 better with that of Smyth's star following his 6th magni- 

 tude, nearly on the parallel, than with that of the missing 

 one. Probably this small star may be variable also ; its 

 place for the beginning of the present year is R.A. 

 oh. S9m. 58'3s. ; N.P.D., 35° 41' 27". 



Smyth thought his 6th magnitude star, omitted by 

 Piazzi, might have had " something to do with the mis- 

 takes of Flamsteed respecting /^, alluded to by Mr. Baily." 

 These mistakes seem rather to have originated in the 

 confusion of the stars 6 and \i, and although Baily 

 doubted if the place of the latter, which he gives from 

 Halley's edition of 17 12, could be depended upon, it will 

 be found to agree very well with that of \i carried back 

 from the position in the Greopwich Catalogue of i860, 

 with Madler's proper motions^. 



Should any reader of this'^lunin have had the curi- 

 osity to look for Smyth's reddish stars, perhaps he will 

 communicate the result of his examination of their 

 neighbourhood. 



The Double Star 2 2120. — Mr. J. M. Wilson has 

 favoured us with the following measures of this star, 

 made at the Temple Observatory, Rugby, by himself and 

 assistants : — 



1872-48 Pes, 262° -9 Obs. 4 Dist. 3" 78 Obs. 2 

 73-50 ,, 26i°-7 „ 6 „ 3"-65 „ 2 

 74-62 „ 258°-5 „ 4 „ 4"-2 „ 2 

 Comparing these measures with the formula; for recti- 

 linear motion already given in Nature, the following 

 differences are shown : — 



1872-48 Pes. (^ - 0) ~o^-\ Dist. (c - 0) + o"-6s 

 73*50 ,. - o°"3 .. + o''9i 



74-62 „ + i°-8 „ + o"-5i 



Mr. Wilson has had a suspicion of variation in the 

 magnitude of the companion, but thinks this may be 

 owing to atmospheric circumstances. 



The Minor Planets.— It is notified from Berlin, in 

 M. Leverriei-'s Bulletin International, that the small 

 rjlanet detected by M. Perrotin at the Observatory of 

 Toulouse, on the evening of Sept, 21, in R.A. 23h. i6m. 8s. 

 and N.P.D. 95° 12', is a new one, and will therefore be 

 No. 149. The brighter members of this group now near 

 opposition are Bellona, Clotho, and Thyra. Clotho will 

 be between the 8th and 9th magnitude ; the calculated 

 places are, for Green <vich midnight, as follows : — 



h. m. s. ' 



Oct. 23 ... R.A. 3 34 47 ••• N.P.D. 90 36-0 



„ 27 ... ,, 3 32 50 ••■ M 91 170 



„ 31 ••• .. 3 30 30 ... „ 91 55'8 



Nov. 4 ■•• .. 3 27 51 ••• .. 92 3J'6 



„ 8 ... „ 3 25 o ... „ 93 3'4 



Transit of Comet 1826 (V.) over the Sun's Disc. 

 — It was remarked by Gambartthat the comet discovered 

 by Pons on the 22nd of October, 1826, the " comet in 

 Bootes," as it was called at the time, must pass over the 

 sun's disc on the morning of November 18, and he was 

 at some pains in correcting the elements of the orbit, with 

 the view of deciding whether the comet had left the disc, 

 before it was examined by himself and Flaugergues, the 

 only two observers who were at stations partially free 

 from clcud on the morning of the transit. A letter from 

 Gambart addressed to Sir John Hcrschel, at that time 



president of the Royal Astronomical Society, conveying 

 an intimation of the expected phenomenon, arrived in 

 London on the evening previous to the transit, and, as 

 stated in vol. iii. of the Memoirs of the Society, " the 

 news of so rare a phenomenon was immediately spread, 

 and fcyv astronomers in or near the metropolis failed to 

 be prepared for it ;" the sun, however, was totally ob- 

 scured at rising, and for the whole day, by clouds and 

 rain. A dense fog appears to have prevailed very gene- 

 rally over the continent of Europe, so that, as mentioned 

 above, Gambart at Marseilles and Flaugergues at Viviers 

 alone obtained a view of the disc during the interval in 

 which it was expected the transit would take place. 



The following particulars of the transit founded upon 

 a new calculation from the corrected elements of 

 Gambart, closely representing the observations between 

 Oct. 26 and Dec. 11, may possess interest for the astro- 

 nomical reader. 



The comet's true geocentric positions, for Greenwich 

 mean time, were : — 



R.A. N P.D. 



Nov. 17. I7h. ... 233 75 ... 108 51 48 



„ 19^1- ••• 233 7 52 ... 109 II 50 



„ 2ih. ... 233 8 38 ... 109 31 26 



Whence, correcting for aberration and taking the sun's 



places from Carlini's tables, the following differences of 



R.A. and N.P.D, of comet and sun's centre result : — 



h, , „ , „ 



Nov. 17.. 17 Diff. R.A. +531 Diff. N.P.D. - 1648 



18 ,, + 3 19 „ - 7 19 



,, 19 M •*■ 1 7 „ -H 2 2 



,,20 ,, - I 6 „ + II 17 



,, 21 ,, - 3 19 ,, + 20 26 



And as referred to the centre of the earth, we find : — 



h. m. 

 Ingress Nov. 17 at 16 59*9 at 19° from sun's N. point towards E 

 Egress ,, 20 22-5 at 184° ,, ,, „ ' 



At Marseilles, the egress would take place at 2oh. 59m. 

 apparent time, the equation of time being 14m. 43s. addi- 

 tive to mean time. 



As is well known, neither Gambart nor Flaugergues 

 were successful in detecting this comet upon the sun's 

 disc, but though visible at one time to the naked 

 eye, it was not of any considerable degree of bright- 

 ness. 



FA YE ON THE LA WS OF STORMS* 



Mechanical Theory of Whirling Movements. — Before 

 we enter on the mechanics of these phenomena, it is 

 necessary to clear the way by the removal of certain 

 ideas which constantly recur to the mind of the reader, 

 and by distracting his attention render any clear un- 

 biassed perception of the subject altogether impossible. 

 This preliminary discussion will embrace the three fol- 

 lowing points : the part played by electricity in the forma- 

 tion of whirlwinds and cyclones, the significance to be 

 attached to the indications of the barometer, and the part 

 played by currents of aspiration in the modern theory of 

 the trade winds. 



I. Part played by Electricity.— Certain physicists, dissa- 

 tisfied with the views we are about to refute, and struck 

 with the electrical phenomena which so often accompany 

 hurricanes, typhoons, &c., have supposed that electricity 

 is the determining cause. We shall perhaps give a clear 

 idea of this theory by reverting to the electrical expla- 

 nation of hail, the phenomena of hail being intimately 

 bound up with thatof whirling movements. It is well known 

 that hailstones are composed of layers of ice alternately 

 opaque and transparent ; in breaking them we see in 

 their texture the evidence of successive and alternate 



* Continued from p. 501. 



