Sept 4, 1879] 



NATURE 



433 



5^2 7 1 ^r-E^- '879-0. 



positions of which were required for the reduction of the 

 observations made by the late Mr. James Ferguson during 

 the years that he was so industriously and effectively ob- 

 serving with the equatorial. As a whole, therefore, the 

 catalogue is a very miscellaneous one. The first edition 

 contained 10,658 stars, with a number of cases, however, 

 where the star had been observed only in one element, 

 and included objects observed during the years 1845 to 

 1871. The new edition contains the results of observa- 

 tions to 1877, and includes 11,103 stars; the mean places 

 are for the beginning of the year i860, but it is to be 

 borne in mind that they do not include any effect of 

 proper motion from the mean date of observation, which 

 is always given, to that general epoch. The annual pre- 

 cessions are annexed, without secular variation. 



Like other publications of the U.S. National Observa- 

 tory, the new Washington catalogue appears to have been 

 most liberally circulated amongst astronomers. 



New Comets. — On August 21 a telescopic comet was 

 discovered at Pola by Herr Palisa ; its position at 

 loh. 26m. M.T. was in right ascension 150° 35' and 

 declination -f- 49° 6' ; daily motion in right ascension 

 1° 34' increasing, and in declination 3 minutes diminish- 

 ing ; it was small but bright. 



A second comet was discovered on August 24 at the 

 Imperial Observatory, Strassburg, by Dr. Ernst Hartwig ; 

 it was then very faint and about \\ minutes in diameter. 

 The following elements and ephemeris have been calcu- 

 lated by Dr. Hartwig, from the Strassburg observations 

 on August 24 and 28, and one at Leipsic on August 26 : — 

 Perihelion passage August 26'466i M.T. at Berlin. 



Longitude of perihelion 309 



,, ascending node ... 28 



Inclination 71 55*0 



Logarithm of perihelion distance 9 99056 

 Motion — retrograde. 

 It will be found that these elements have no resemblance 

 to those of any comet at present in our catalogues. 

 The following positions are for Berlin midnight : — 



Right Declination Log. distance from 



Ascension. North. Earth. Sun. 



h. m. s. o / 



Sept. 5 ... 13 34 9 ... 42 50-3 ... 0-1055 ... 9-9973 



9 ... 13 46 19 ... 37 378 ... 0-1314 ... 00036 



»3 ••• 13 55 44 - 32 S7'2 ... 0-1577 .. 0-OII6 



17 ... 14 3 20 ... 28 46-5 ... 0-1834 ... 0-0212 



21 ... 14 9 38 ... 25 2-6 ... 02081 ... 00320 



25 ••■ 14 IS 3 ••• 21 42-2 ... 0-2315 ... 0-0439 



29 ... 14 19 47 ... 18 41-8 ... 02535 ••• o'o567 



TO ASTRONOMERS 

 'T'HE United States Naval Observatory will gratefully 

 •*■ receive for its Library separate copies or reprints of 

 memoirs published in the Transactions of learned socie- 

 ties or in journals. The volumes of Transactions are 

 regularly received, but often many months after the 

 reprints of particular papers, which are, therefore, espe- 

 cially valued. 



It is also requested that all communications of this 

 nature, and all correspondence relating to them, may be 

 .addressed to The Library, U.S. Naval Observatory, 

 Washington, U.S.A. 



Agents of the Smithsonian Institution abroad will 

 receive large parcels for transmission. Smaller ones 

 will be received more quickly if they are sent by post. 



As far as possible the publications of the Observatory 

 will be distributed to all working astronomers. 

 John Rodgers, 

 Rear Admiral, U.S.N., Superintendent 



Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., August 18 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

 The Pernnanent Commission of the International Geo- 

 detic Association, presided over by General Ibafiez, has 



decided to meet on the i6th inst. at Geneva, on the invita- 

 tion which has been addressed to it by the Government 

 of the little republic. The first official sitting is to be 

 at 2 o'clock, on the i6th, at the Hotel de Ville of Geneva, 

 in the room known as " the Alabama. " In the evening 

 Prof. E. Plantamour will hold a reception. The official 

 sittings will continue daily at 10 A.M., in the same room, 

 to the end of the week, interrupted on the 1 8th by a pro- 

 cession of steamers on the lake, which will occupy the 

 whole of the day. On the evening of the 17th the Com- 

 missioners are invited to dine by the Council of the State 

 of Geneva, and on the afternoon of the 19th there will be 

 a reception at Sdcheron by Prof. Plantamour. The pro- 

 gramme of the session comprises : The reports of the 

 Permanent Commission and the Central Bureau, the re- 

 port of the Commission appointed at Hamburg in 1877 

 to consider the proposals of Lieut.-Col. Adan ; the choice 

 of the place of meeting of the sixth conference, and the 

 appointment of special reporters to record the proceedings 

 (i) As to determinations of latitude, longitude, and azi- 

 muth ; (2) Triangulations and calculations of compensa- 

 tion of the networks ; (3) Levelling operations and 

 result of mareographic operations ; (4) Measurements of 

 the intensity of gravitation ; (5) Publications relating to 

 the measurement of degrees in Europe. 



The eminent African traveller. Dr. Junker, intends to 

 start for Africa during this month. His first object is to 

 reach Monbutta, which is to form the basis for his 

 further investigations. 



The Daily News Lisbon correspondent telegraphs on 

 September 2, that official news has arrived which states 

 that on July 24 the explorers Ivens and Capello were in 

 the district called Duque de Braganza. At the last session 

 of the Geographical Society it was stated that the explorers 

 were unable to continue their journey through want of 

 means. The president promised to ask the Government 

 to send them assitance. It will be remembered that Ivens 

 and Capello started with Major Pinto. 



We find in the Isvestia of the Russian Geographical 

 Society an interesting note by M. Potanin on the eastern 

 Altai Mountains. Until 1869 these highlands were quite 

 unknown, and even after the recent explorations of MM. 

 Matusovsky and Sosnovsky it was considered that the 

 Altai range did not go east of the meridian of Kobdo, 

 where geographers, according to the map of Klaproth, 

 supposed the existence of low hills which connected 

 the Altai with the Tian Shan. Now M. Potanin proves 

 that the Altai range goes further east, at least to the 

 meridian of Lake Orok-nor, and that it is separated on 

 its whole length by the Gobi steppe from the Tian Shan 

 mountains. The altitude of the mountain passes in the 

 parts visited by M. Potanin reaches as much as 8,000 

 feet. The eastern parts of the Altai mountains are 

 rather dry, and forests in this part of the range are 

 rather scarce. 



The same number of the Isvestia of the Russian Geo- 

 graphical Society contains an interesting note on the 

 levelling accomplished during the last three years by the 

 Russian General Staff on several lines of railways in 

 Western Russia. The results are very satisfactory, as 

 the probable error of this topographical levelling (with 

 level and rule) does not exceed + 2 inches on a distance 

 of 100 versts (67 miles), i.e., less than half the probable 

 error of the best geodetical levellings. These levellings 

 have brought to light a very interesting circumstance, 

 namely, that the average level of the sea at Cronstadt is 

 I3'2 ± 3'3 inches higher than at Diinainiinde ; the dis- 

 tance between the two towns being 240 miles. The 

 Prussian levellings prove that the level of the Baltic is 20 

 inches higher at Kiel than at Memel. 



Capt. Howgate writes to us that he is preparing to send 

 an expedition to the North Pole next year, independently of 



