58 



NATURE 



{Nov. 15, 1888 



" Celestial Objects," p. 294). The spectrum of the red 

 component resembles that of a Herculis (Espin, Astr. 

 Nac/i., No. 2825). 



U Cygni = Schjellerup 239(2 was discovered by Knott, 

 in 1871, to vary from 77 to below 11 magnitude in a 

 period of 466 days (Gore's " Variables," No. 163). It had 

 previously been remarked by Birmingham for its deep 

 ruby tint {Astr. Nach. No. 1809). An attendant at 62" 

 appears to fluctuate in light from 8 to S7 magnitude, in 

 colour from a decided blue to white and reddish (Birming- 

 ham, Trans. R. Irish Academy, xxvi. 300 ; Tarrant, Journ. 

 Liverpool Astr. Soc. vi. 124; Eitglish Mechanic, xliv. 

 368 ; Gemmill, ibid., xlvi. 340). The spectrum of U ,Cygni 

 is of \\\.b type, but the zones are feeble (Dundr, " £;toiles 

 de la 3^ Classe," p. 73). 



U CassiopeifE = 02 (App.) 254. — A pair very similar 

 to the preceding. The red star (= Schjellerup 280) 

 varies from 7 to 9, the blue from 8 to 10 magnitudes, 

 both in uncertain periods. Their distance, as measured 

 by Dembowski in 1873, and by Burnham in 1881, is 

 58"-84 (" Publications of Washburn Observatory," i. 157). 

 U Puppis = Lalande 14551, found by Espin in 1883 

 to vary from 6 to 6'8 magnitude in I4d. oh. 2i4m. 

 {Monthly Notices, xliii. 432). Burnham resolved it 

 January 28, 1875, into two components, respectively of 

 6-5 and 8'5 magnitudes at o"'8 {Astr. Nach., No. 2062). 

 Colour yellowish ; spectrum of the solar kind. Proper 

 motion insensible (Sadler, Journ. Liverpool Astr. Soc, v. 

 142). With a ninth magnitude star at 20", it forms the 

 fixed pair 2 1097. 



U Tauri is no longer included in lists of variables, 

 the fluctuations noticed by Baxendell, 1865-71, having 

 ceased to be perceptible {^c\iOXi{€iA, Jahresbericht, Mann- 

 heim, xl. 51). It is unknown whether they affected one 

 or both of two nearly equal components of 97 magnitude 

 (distance 44"), into which Knott divided the star, iSecem- 

 ber 4, 1867 (Mems. R. A. Soc, xliii. 78J. This interesting 

 object has received little or no attention of late. 



r\ Geminorum was discovered by Burnham at Mount 

 Hamilton, November 11, 1 881, to be made up of a third 

 and a ninth magnitude star at o" 96. "A splendid 

 unequal pair," he remarked, " and likely to prove an in- 

 teresting system" (Mems. R. A. Soc, xlvii. 204). He 

 re-examined it at Dearborn a couple of months later, but 

 we are not aware of any subsequent observation. The 

 variability of 77 Geminorum in a period of 229 days was 

 noticed by Schmidt in 1865. Its greatest extent of one 

 magnitude is rarely attained, and the phases often seem 

 nearly obliterated (Schmidt, Astr. Nach., Nos. 1745, 

 1988, 2297.) The spectrum is an ill-marked specimen of 

 Class \\\.a. 



Y Virginis = Lalande 25086 was found by Schmidt in 

 1866 to vary from fifth to eighth magnitude in an undeter- 

 mined period {Astr. Nach., No. 1597). Ptolemy marked 

 it of fifth, Abdurrahman Sijfi as approaching sixth magni- 

 tude (Schjellerup, " Description des Etoiles," p. 160). 

 Piazzi catalogued it eighth, but observed it 67 and 7 

 magnitude. It figures in Lalande as of 6-5, in the Madras 

 and Brisbane Catalogues as of sixth magnitude (Nature, 

 vol. XX. p. 248; "HarvardAnnals,"xiv.456). Photometrically 

 determined at Harvard, it came out of 57 magnitude, It is 

 the only " Sirian '' star showing considerable irregular 

 fluctuations. Its duplicity was detected by Burnham in 

 1879, the components (o"-48 apart) being estimated as of 

 6"2 and 6'5 magnitudes. Re-measurements on three 

 nights of 1 88 1 gave no conclusive evidence of change 

 {Observatory, iii. 92 ; Mems. R. A. Soc, xlvii. 190). 



A. M. Clerke. 



NOTES. 



The medals of the Royal Society have this year been awarded 



as follows : — The Copley Medal to Prof. Huxley, for his 



investigations on the morphology and histology of vertebrate am 

 invertebrate animals; the Rumford Medal to Prof. P. Tacchin 

 for his investigations on the physics of the sun ; and the Dav\ 

 Medal to Mr. W. Crookes, for bis investigations onthebehavioi 

 of substances under the influence of the electric discharge i 

 a high vacuum. The Royal Medals have, with the approv 

 of Her Majesty, been awarded to Baron Ferdinand von Muelle 

 for his investigations of the flora of Australia, and to Pro; 

 Osborne Reynolds, for his investigations in mathematical an 

 experimental physics. The medals will be presented at tli 

 anniversary meeting on November 30, 



Frequent application having been made to Mrs. Spotti 

 woode for copies of papers by her late husband, the Presidet, 

 of the Royal Society, she has decided to have them pul 

 lished in a collected form. The collection and editing of tli 

 mathematical papers she has intrusted to Mr. R. Tucker. 



The tone of the debate on the Education Estimates la 

 Friday was eminently satisfactory. All who took part in i 

 seemed to recognize that our system of elementary education 1 

 still very far from perfection. Sir John Lubbock evidently ex 

 pressed the general feeling of the Llouse of Commons when h> 

 complained that "the great faults of the present system wer 

 that it was too bookish and too dry." Mr. Mundella had a goo 

 deal to say — and said it well — on the necessity of the educatio; 

 of children being carried on to a much more advanced stage tha: 

 that at which it now usually stops. "So long as the schoi 

 hfe of the child was so short and limited," he said, "it wa 

 no use, in his judgment, talking about improved methods or ai 

 improved curriculum. So long as a child could enter a factor} 

 as a half-timer at ten years of age, or, as was the case in 800 

 or 10,000 parishes in England, children were allowed \o leav 

 school after passing Standard IV., it did not matter what theii 

 curriculum was, or what their methods were, they could have n^ 

 good results. It was impossible for them to force a number of 

 compulsory subjects into a child who was to follow the plough- 

 tail before he was eleven years of age. In the counties aroun! 

 London it was found that children left school after passing 

 Standard IV., which they generally did about ten. There couli^ 

 not be a greater waste of money than to educate a child iip to ter. 

 years of age at the expense of the State, and then turn him oui 

 into the world, the eventual result being that by the time he hat! 

 reached thirteen he had forgotten everything he had learnt.' 

 After quoting from the report of Mr. Matthew Arnold as to the 

 curriculum in force in Germany, showing that in Hamburg, for 

 instance, there are thirteen obligatory subjects taught in the 

 elementary schools, English being one of the subjects, Mr. 

 Mundella pointed out that in Prussia no child leaves school until 

 he is fourteen. Even after he leaves school, unless he can, 

 satisfy the school authorities, he must attend the continuation 

 schools until he reaches sixteen or seventeen years of age. 



Admiral Mouchez has received a magnificent set of photo- 

 graphs sent by the French Embassy at Pekin, illustrating Mr. 

 Russell's lecture on the Pekin Observatory, of which we gave an 

 account last week. These photographs will be exhibited in the 

 astronomical museum of the Paris Observatory. 



During the recent meeting of the British Association at Bath, 

 Mr. G. J. Symons found in the Jenyns Library a manuscript 

 meteorological register of considerable importance — namely, the 

 original daily records kept by the Rev. James Cowe, at Sunbury 

 Vicarage, Middlesex, from 1795 to 1839. It gives barometer, 

 maximum and minimum temperatures, wind, rain, and remarks 

 for each day. This record covers a period respecting which 

 there has been much uncertainty as to both temperature and 

 rainfall, and several meteorologists are of opinion that it should 



