May I, 1879] 



NATURE 



»5 



system of comparing the brightness of stars, are therefore 

 requested to make estimates of the magnitude of as many 

 as may be convenient of the stars above mentioned. It 

 is desirable that the estimate should be made, for each 

 star which may be observed, on five different nights, and 

 that each estimate should be, if possible, entirely inde- 

 pendent of those previously made. It will add to the 

 yalue of the work if, on every occasion when the fainter 

 stars are looked for, a record is made of such of them as 

 can then be seen, even if no estimate of their magnitude 

 is attempted. 



Observers are also requested to note the approximate 

 places of any stars not represented upon the chart, but 

 within five minutes of the place of the pole at any tirne 

 between 1880 and 1900. The boundary of this region is 

 represented on the chart by a dotted line. The stars not 

 shown within it have been omitted as unnecessary for 

 the purpose of finding the others, and several of these 

 omitted stars are inconveniently faint for photometric 

 observations ; but records of their visibility at any time 

 ,and place will be valuable as evidence of the state of 

 the atmosphere and character of the instrument employed 

 in the observations. 



All astronomers who may be induced by this request 

 to make any observations of the kind just described will 

 confer a favour upon the Harvard College Observatory 

 by sending to it a copy of their records, accompanied by 

 a statement of any modification of the proposed method 

 of observation which they may have adopted, as well as 

 any additional details which may appear desirable, with 

 regard to the instruments employed, &c. Unless the con- 

 trary is requested, the results will be published with the 

 photometric measurements obtained at the Harvard Col- 

 lege Observatory ; and a copy of the publication will be 

 sent to each observer who has co-operated in the work. 



It is hoped that a large number of those astronomers 

 whose experience has been sufficient to establish a definite 

 scale for their estimates of stellar magnitude will con- 

 sent to take part in the proposed observations, in order 

 that the published series of observations may be com- 

 plete enough to be of general utility. 



Edward C. Pickering 

 Director of the Harvard College Observatory 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



At the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on 

 Monday evening it was announced that the gold medals 

 had that day been awarded to Col. Nicholas Prejevalsky 

 for the great additions he has made to our knowledge of 

 Central and Eastern High Asia by his successive expe- 

 ditions into the unexplored parts of the great plateau of 

 Mongolia and the lofty deserts of Western Thibet, and 

 for the admirable way in which he has described the 

 regions traversed by him in the published narratives of 

 his journeys ; and to Capt. W. J. Gill, R.E., for excellent 

 geographical work performed during two journeys of ex- 



. ploration, roluntarily undertaken, along the northern 

 frontier of Persia in 1873, and over previously untravelled 

 ground in China and Thibet, in 1877 ; also for the elabo- 

 rate memoir and route maps contributed to the forth- 

 coming volume of the Society' s y^wrwa/. A paper was 

 afterwards read by the Rev. James McCarthy, of the 

 China Inland Mission, descriptive of the journey which 

 he made, mostly on foot, in 1877, across China, from 

 Chinkiang, on the Yangtsze-Kiang, to Bhamo, in Bur- 

 mah. The leading features of this journey have been 

 fully described in Nature. The most noteworthy 

 incident of the evening was a speech, delivered in 

 his native language by the Marquis Tseng, Chinese 



1 Minister to England and France, expressive of the 

 pleasure which he felt at Mr. McCarthy's acknowledg- 

 ment of the uniformly courteous treatment he experienced 

 during his long journey. 



At the next meeting of the Geographical Society on May 

 12, the second of the course of scientific lectures of the 

 present session will be delivered by Prof. G. RoUeston, of 

 Oxford, on the " Modifications of the External Aspects of 

 Organic Nature produced by Man's Interference." 



News has arrived by the last mail from Zanzibar that 

 Mr. H. M.Stanley is busily occupied in engaging porters 

 for a journey into the interior of Africa, but that he pre- 

 serves the utmost secrecy as to his intended movements. 

 A rumour is current amongst the porters that their 

 journey is to commence from the west coast ; if this be 

 the case, Mr. Stanley must have introduced a radical 

 change into the original plans of the Belgian section of 

 the International African Association, for whom he is 

 believed to be acting. That, accidents apart, he will be 

 more successful than the unfortunate leaders of the first 

 Belgian expedition few will be so rash as to doubt, and he 

 is sure to have good and sufficient reasons for the course 

 he is adopting. 



During the past few days there has been a consider- 

 able exodus of missionary explorers. Dr. James Stewart, 

 the well-known head of the Livingstonia station, has re- 

 turned to his post, and will soon be adding more to our 

 knowledge of the shores of Lake Nyassa. Dr. Joseph 

 Mullens, of the London Missionary Society, who ha* 

 already done good service to geography in Madagascar, 

 has started for Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, and before 

 returning home he will probably make his way down to 

 the north end of Lake Nyassa, thus filling up an im- 

 portant blank in our knowledge of the lake region. 

 Lastly, the Rev. T. J. Comber, of the Baptist Missionary 

 Society, has returned to Western Africa to found a station 

 at San Salvador, and eventually to conduct a missionary 

 expedition to the upper waters of the River Congo. 



The general report of last year's operations of the 

 Marine Survey of India, under Commander A. Dundas 

 Taylor, late I.N., has just reached this country. During 

 that period two parties carried out the following surveys : 

 Ratuagiri, including Mirya and Kalhaderi Bays ; Vizia- 

 durg, including Rajapur and Ambol Ghur Bays ; Paumben 

 Pass (between Ceylon and the mainland) and its 

 approaches ; Beypore, Calicut, and Cochin. The natural 

 history investigations of the season have been confined to 

 an examination of the fauna inhabiting the shores in the 

 vicinities of Ratnagiri and Viziadurg, and to the collec- 

 tion and preservation of the various ornithological speci- 

 mens procured. The area examined includes the tract of 

 country lying between the above places fro.n the sea to 

 the chain of hills known as the Western Ghlts. The 

 examination of the sea-bottom with the dredge was im- 

 practicable, owing to the want of a vessel; this waiit, 

 however, has since been supphed, as was recorded in 

 Nature, vol. xix. p. 298, and no doubt interesting results 

 will be obtained during the present season. Captain 

 Taylor's report is accompanied by a useful map showing 

 the surveys completed by his officers, together with the 

 sheets published or in course of publication, 1877-8. 



The second session of the Congress of Commercial 

 Geography, inaugurated at Paris last year, will be held at 

 Brussels in September, under the presidency of M. 

 Bamps, and arrangements for the meeting have already 

 been commenced. 



News has been received from Queensland that the 

 remains of the two Prouts, well-known explorers, have at 

 length been discovered, so that the question of their fate 

 is now finally set at rest. 



At the last meeting of the Socidtd do Gdographie Com- 

 merciale at Paris Dr. Harmand gave some account of his 

 observations in the Laos country of the Indo-Chinese 

 peninsula. He stated that though elephants were common 

 there, ivory was dearer than in Paris, and that the same 

 remark applied to rhinoceros-horn. There are mines of 

 lead, iron, and copper in the country, and probably gold. 



