Dec. 27, 1888] 



NATURE 



211 



elements and ephemeri 

 Vo. 2867) :— 



are by Dr. A. Berberich {Astr. Nach. , 

 T =1889 January 31-23814 Berlin M.T. 



« = 340 28 I -5 ) 



ft = 357 24 48-8 \ Mean Eq. 1888 -o. 



t = 166 22 II-2 ) 



log 1/ = o 258900 



Ephaneris for Berlin Midnight. 



Jan. 



Decl. 



Log r. 

 0-2688 



.. 0-2664 •• 

 .. 0-2644 . 



Log .i. 

 0-2403 

 0-2633 ■ 



. 0-28^0 



Bright- 

 ..4-6 



■• 7 19-5 S, 



•• 7 13-2 



.. 7 6-5 



•• 6 59-3 



.. 6 51-8 



.. 6 439 



• 6 35-8 



.. 6 27-5 



.. 6 19-0 S. ... 0-2612 

 The brightness at discovery is taken as unity. 



Dr. Copeland {Dun Edit Circular, No. _ 

 that, though the computed brightness is decreasing, the intrinsic 

 brightness will increase until the beginning of February. Dr. 

 Copeland also announced, in a paper read before the Royal 

 Astronomical Society at its last meeting, that the spectrum of 

 the carbon bands had become decidedly more conspicuous lately 

 than when the spectrum of the comet was first observed. 



o 2626 ... 0-3053 ... 4-2 



... 0-3242 ... 3-9 



165) anticipates 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1888 DECEMBER 30—1889 JANUARY 5. 



/rj*OR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 

 is here employed. ) 



At Greenwich on December 30 

 Sun rises, 8h. 8m. ; souths, I2h. 3m. 3'2s. ; sets, I5h. sS.n. : 

 right asc. on meridian, i8h. 40-501. ; decl. 23° 8' S. 

 Sidereal Time at Sunset, 22h. 36m. 

 Moon (New on January i, 2ih.) rises, 4h. 55m. ; souths, 

 9h. 56m. ; sets, I4h. 9m. : right asc. on meridian, 

 i3-im. ; decl. 17° 16' S. 



Right asc. and declination 

 Souths. Sets. on meridian, 



h. m. h. m. h. m. « / 



12 8 .. 15 50 ... 18 45-4 ... 24 52 S. 



14 57 ... 19 35 ... 21 35-2 ... 16 17 S. 



15 2 ... 19 46 ... 21 398 ... 15 10 S. 

 10 49 ... 14 46 ... 17 26-1 ... 22 50 S. 



2 53 ... 10 21 ... 9 29-4 ... 15 58 N. 



6 44 ... 12 8 ... 13 2I-0 ... 7 52 S. 

 21 14 ... 4 57*... 3 52-5 ... 18 29 N. 



l6h. 



Planet. 



Mercury.. 

 Venus .. 

 Mars .. 

 Jupiter .. 

 Saturn ... 

 Uranus... 

 Neptune.. 13 31 



Ri!es. 



h. m. 



8 26 

 10 19 

 10 18 



652 



19 25* 



• Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and the setting 

 that of the following morning. 



Dec. 



Jupiter in conjunction with and 2° 11' south 



of the Moon. 

 Sun at least distance from the Earth. 



Total eclipse of the Sun : not visible in the 

 United Kingdom, but will be seen generally 

 over the continent of North America. 



Mercury in conjunction with and 2° 34' south 

 of the Moon. 



Venus in conjunction with and 0° 40' south 

 of Mars. 



Mars in conjunction with and 2° 4' north 

 of the Moon. 



Meteor- Showers. 

 R.A. DecL 



From Cancer 



Near fl Ursre Majoris 

 The Quad rant itls ... 



120 

 142 

 228 



16* N. 

 56 N. 



S3N. 



Swift ; bright. 

 Very swift ; short. 

 January 1-3. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



In a paper (accompanied by a map) in the last number 

 of the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, we 

 are told by the author, Captain Langen, that the Key, 

 or Kc, Islands deiive their name from the native word Ke 

 (pron. Kay), which signifies "What do you say?" The 

 native tradition runs that when Macassar traders first landed 

 there, and inquired in the Malay tongue after the name of the 

 land they had set foot on, the Key natives answered " Kay ?" 

 which expression was mistaken by the questioners for the name 

 of the islands ; and under this name, which has been changed 

 into " Key," or " Ke," we find them on charts of the East 

 Indian Archipelago. The islands are very incorrectly laid down 

 on all nautical charts, and Captain Langen's brother has taken 

 great pains in drawing up a map according to his own survey, 

 which is given in illustration of the paper. The group con- 

 sists of two larger islands, of which the westerly one bears the 

 name of Nuhu-roa, or Little Key, and the easterly one Ju-ud, 

 or Great Key, surrounded by a number of smaller islands. 

 There is no doubt that Great Key is geologically much older 

 than Little Key and the other surrounding islands ; it possesses 

 elevations of from 20CO to 3000 feet, whilst Little Key and the 

 other islands are very low. Great Key principally consists of a 

 rocky and volcanic formation, whereas Little Key and the sur- 

 rounding islands are formed of coral and interveined by flint 

 and quartz. The traveller will find on the liighest inland eleva- 

 tions of Little Key (200 feet) shells of various species, greatly 

 damaged through long exposure to wind and weather. 

 About thirty-five years ago, according to the most re- 

 liable chiefs, Little Key was raised out of the sea during 

 the shocks of a severe earthquake, attended by a tidal 

 wave ; since then no earthquakes occurred until 1884, in the 

 month of April. The members of the European settlement 

 report that the day opened sultry and stifling, the sun shone till 

 about 9 a.m., when the sky became overcast, and at 10 a.m. the 

 first shock was felt, which caused our saw-mill, then in course of 

 erection, to sway to and fro. No sooner had the workmen felt 

 this first shock than they rushed out of the building, and after a 

 short lapse of time two more slight shocks were felt, but 

 f rtunately without doing any serious damage. About half an 

 hour's walk eastward from Doelah, is an extinct crater, filled with 

 fresh water, of a great depth, and of a very dark blue colour. 

 Every island belonging to the Key group i> covered, down to the 

 water's edge, with dense tropical jungle, gigantic creepers wind- 

 ing themselves from one tree to another, thus forming a close 

 network and great imjiediment to tiavelling. These forests con- 

 tain choice kinds of limber, which formed one of the principal 

 inducements for the establishment of the present German 

 colony. 



The Hon. F. T. Gregory, the well-known Australian traveller, 

 died some weeks ago at his residence in Queensland. He was 

 one of the earliest settlers in Western Australia, where he re- 

 mained for upwards of thirty years. So far back as 1846, he 

 headed an Expedition to explore the country around the Swan 

 River, and in 1857 he was engaged in exploring the northern 

 coast of Australia. In this latter journey he discovered the 

 A^hburton and Fortescue Rivers. He also drew up a geological 

 map of Western Australia. He went fro;n the latter colony to 



