568 



NATURE 



{April 1 1 , I ! 



Observations of Variable Stars in 1888. — Mr. Sawyer 

 publishes the results of his observations of variable stars made 

 in 1888, in Gould's Astronomical Journal, No. 190. Amongst 

 the principal of these were U Orionis (Gore's variable), observed 

 at maximum 1888 December 26 ; Mira Ceti at maximum 1887 

 November 10 ; W. Cygni at minimum 1889 January i, since 

 when it has brightened fast, p Persei was considered as having 

 been at minimum, 1888 November 7 ; e Aurigae about 1889 

 January 15. R Scuti seems to have been just three weeks in 

 advance of the ephemeris in Nature ; R Lyrae and U Monn- 

 •cerotis corresponded to the predicted times pretty closely. R 

 Virginis also was estimated to be at maximum only one day 

 later than given by the ephemeris ; § Herculis was recorded as 

 at maximum 1888 June 3 and September 11, and at minimum 

 July 1 8. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1889 APRIL 14-20. 



/"pOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 ' Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 



is here employed.) 



Ai Greemvich on April X4 

 Sun rises, 5h. 7m. ; souths, I2h. om. 11 '53. ; sets, l8h. 53m. : 

 right asc. on meridian, ih. 3 1 •6m. ; decl. 9° 35' N. Sidereal 

 Time at Sunset, 8h. 25m. 

 Moon (Full on April 15, 22h.') rises, I7h, 3m. ; souths, 

 23h. 20m. ; sets, 5h. 21m.* : right asc. on meridian, 

 I2h. 52-9m. ; decl. 0° 14' S. 



Right asc. and declination 

 on meridian, 

 h. m. „ , 



Planet. 



Mercury . . 



Venus 



Mars 



Jupiter. ... 

 Saturn . . . . 

 Uranus . . . 

 Neptune.. 



Rises, 

 h. m. 



4 58 



5 6 



5 40 

 I 9 



II 52 

 18 14 



6 39 



Souths, 

 h. m. 

 II 20 

 13 25 



13 6 



5 5 

 19 32 

 23 41 



14 24 



Sets, 

 h. m. 

 17 42 ., 



21 44 .. 

 20 32 .. 



9 r .. 

 3 12*.. 



5 8*.. 



22 9 .. 



051-6 .. 



2 56-9 .. 



2 37-8 .. 

 18 35-2 .. 



9 5-0 .. 



13 13-8 .. 



3 55-4 •• 



3 31 N. 

 23 44 N- 

 IS 31 N. 

 22 55 S. 



17 55 N. 

 7 7S. 



18 43 N. 



Indicates that the setting is that of the following morning. 



April. 

 14 . 

 20 . 



Saturn stationary. 



Jupiter in conjunction with and 0° 19' south 

 of the Moon. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 

 The Founder'.s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society has 

 been awarded to Mr. A. D. Carey, of the India Civil Service, 

 for his remarkable journey in Central Asia, at his own risk and 

 expense, during which he travelled over a dibtance of 4750 miles, 

 through regions which have never before been visited by an 

 Englishman, and very rarely by any European. The Patron's 

 Medal has been awarded to Dr. G. Radde, Director of the 

 Natural History Museum, Tiflis, for a life devoted to the pro- 

 motion of scientific geography, as a traveller, observer, and 

 author. The Murchison Grant has been given to Mr. F. S. 

 Arnot, towards providing and conveying a suitable present to 

 the Chief Chitambo, of Ilala, as a recompense for his services 

 in connection with the removal of the body and personal property 

 of Dr. Livingstone in 1872. Mr. Arnot also receives the 

 Cuthbert Peek Grant, in recognition of the interest and value of 

 his seven years' travels in Central Africa. The Back Premium 

 has been awarded to Mr. F. C. Seloui, in acknowledgment of 

 the geographical work accomplished by him in his recent journey 

 in Mashona Land and north of the Zambesi ; and the Gill 

 Memorial to Mr. M. J. Ogle, of the Indian Survey Department, 

 in recognition of his excellent survey work in Eastern Assam, in 

 Manipur, and in Northern and Western Burma. The three new 

 honorary corresponding members are Captain Dutton, of the 

 U. S. Survey ; M. Maunoir, secretary of the Paris Geographical 

 Society ; and Dr. Ballivian, a Bolivian geographer. Sir Mount- 

 stuart Grant Duff will succeed General Richard Strachey as 

 President. 



On Monday night Mr. Harold W. Topham read to the Royal 

 Geographical Society an account of his visit last summer to the 

 Glaciers of Alaska and Mount St. Elias. Speaking of Glacier 

 Bay, near Sitka, Mr. Topham said that into it many large glaciers 

 descend, only one of which, the Muir, has been explored. It 

 is thirty miles long, and its breadth, where it runs out into the 

 sea, is one mile. It is decreasing very rapidly, so rapidly, in- 

 deed, that the sailors assert that they can, year by year, distinguish 

 the difference in its size. The height of the ice wall at the foot 

 of the glacier, where it is washed by the sea, was 319 feet in 

 1886, whilst last year it was 266 feet, a decrease of 53 feet. A 

 cairn which had been erected to ascertain the rate of motion 

 of the glacier, was found almost overthrown into a crevasse. 

 Mr. Topham speaks of the magnificence of the mountain range 

 stretching from Cross Sound to Yakatat. The peaks reach up 

 16,000 feet, the whole of which height is at once presented to 

 the view. Their bases are washed by the sea, into which their 

 glaciers descend. Many of these glaciers are singularly free 

 from moraine. They are exceedingly steep, and are broken 

 up into innumerable ice falls. The St. Elias Alps, from Cross 

 Sound to Fairweather, run close to the sea. They then curve 

 inland, and sweep round Yakatat Bay at a distance of about 

 thirty miles from the water. There are many fine peaks in 

 the range, and the eye wanders on from summit to summit 

 till it rests upon the finest of all, Mount St. Elias, at the 

 far north-west of the range. Lieutenant Allen stated this peak 

 to be 19,500 feet high. It is the highest mountain in North 

 America. To the north and west of Yakatat Bay all is ice. 

 It is a vast plain of ice, stretching back sixty miles or more, 

 and running eighty miles along the coast. At a place fifty miles 

 up the glacier from the bay, the party found they were only 650 

 feet above the sea. This gives a fall of only 13 feet to the mile. 

 The rate of progress, therefore, of the ice, must be very small, 

 and this is proved by the quantity of scrub and trees which 

 grow upon the terminal moraine upon the top of the ice. The 

 moraine is several miles broad, and is covered with brush of 

 alder and willow and spruce. The party proceeded by boat 

 from Yakatat to opposite Mount St. Elias. They proceed 

 up the Yahtsetah River. Seven miles from the sea, the river 

 issues from beneath the ice, and it brings with it such a 

 quantity 1 of dirt, that the water is of a greyish- white. The 

 river, where it issues from the ice, is about 50 feet broad, but it 

 divides and subdivides to such an extent that at its mouth 

 it is about seven miles in width. The west bank is com- 

 posed entirely of ice. Where the river issues from under the 

 ice, the latter is 500 feet thick, and possesses a moraine 

 several miles wide, the last mile of which, the one neatest 

 the edge of the glacier, is covered with thick brush. 

 Through this brush they had some difficulty in forcing their 

 way to the open glacier beyond. The best way of describing 

 the moraines upon the Malaspina Glacier is to liken the 



