June 23, 1887] 



NATURE 



183 



oDtained : so that the final determination rests on 145 

 observations of Polaris made from 1885 January 21 to 

 1886 July 6. These intervals were used till 1887 March 



3, since which time another determination, from 78 ob- 

 servations of Polaris, from i836 July 7 to 1887 April 27, 

 has been used. 



Sixty-five observed north polar distances of Polaris 

 above the pole, deduced from observations made in 1886, 

 with observed nadir point and assumed colatitude 

 37° 47' 8" 4, and corrected for flexure and errors of 

 division, give a north polar distance less than that given 

 in the Berliner Jahrbuch by o"'557 : 63 observations below 

 the pole, treated in the same way, give a polar distance 

 greater than the Berlin one by precisely the same 

 quantity. Thus our polar distance of Polaris for 1886 

 is exactly equal to the Berlin one, and the correction of 

 assumed colatitude is +o""557 > results very similar to 

 those of previous years. 



The observations of Polaris above the pole, direct and 

 reflected, made by Miss Walker on 1886, April 8, May 3, 



4, and 6, when corrected for errors of division and for 

 refraction, give for the colatitude 37° 47' 8"'853. The 

 mean for eight years, given in the last Report, is 

 37° 47' 8"-854. 



579 observations of clock stars made by Mr. Graham 

 in 1886, Mr. Todd in nearly every case reading the circle, 

 give, as a mean value for reduction to the Berlin N.P.D. 

 \ o""353 ; or, if we take the means for each separate 

 night as of equal weight, -|- ^""h'^9- These have not been 

 corrected for errors of division and flexure, which, for the 

 limits of the zone, 60^-65° N.P.D. , have probably a mean 

 value of - o"'26 or thereabouts ; this would have to be 

 applied with an opposite sign to the above means : 

 but the results for intervals of 1° show that the errors 

 of division ought to be determined for each star, as they 

 have been for Polaris and for the nadir point. 



Meieorological Observations. — The meteorological ob- 

 servations continue to be communicated daily by telegraph 

 to the Meteorological Office. 



The sunshine recorder has been regularly employed, 

 and the records are sent at intervals to the Office. 



NOTES. 

 In the distribution of Jubilee honours the claims of science 

 liave not been forgotten. Among those who have been raised 

 to the peerage we are glad to see the name of Sir William 

 Armstrong, C.B., F.R.S. The honour of knighthood has 

 been conferred upon Warington Smyth, Esq., F.R.S. ; Dr. 

 Garrod, F.R.S. ; G. H. Macleod, Esq., Queen's Surgeon, Edin- 

 burgh ; and J. Wright, Esq., C.B., late Civil Engineer to the 

 NaN-j'. Among the new Knights Commanders of the Bath are 

 John Simon, Esq., M.D., C.B., F.R.S., late Medical Officer, 

 Privy Council Office ; and Capt. Douglas Galton, C.B,, F.R.S. ; 

 Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., British Museum, and Prof. Brown, 

 Agricultural Department of the Privy Council, have been made 

 Companions of the Bath. 



The names of the fjllowing gentlemen have been added to 

 the list of the Tyndall Dinner Committee : — The Duke of 

 Northumberland, President of the Royal Institution; Sir W. G. 

 Armstrong, F. U.S., e.vPresident of the Society of Mechanical 

 Engineers; Dr. Haughton, F.R.S., President of the -Royal 

 Irish Academy ; E. H. Carbutt, Esq., President of the Society 

 of Mechanical Engineers ; and G. B. Bruce, President of the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers. 



Mr. Harford J. Mackinder, M.A., has been elected 

 .vi.ader in Geography at the University of Oxford. 



In the Report on the Oxford Observatory, which we print 

 to-day, reference is made to important improvements effected, 

 euher wholly or in part, at the cost of Dr. De la Rue. We 



may add to what is there stated that Dr. De la Rue generously 

 offers £,%oo to convert the Oxford I2i-inch refractor into a 

 Henry photographic telescope — practically, to buy a new 

 object-glass. 



The annual general meeting of the Marine Biological Asso- 

 ciation will be held to-morrow in the rooms of the Linnean 

 Society, The Laboratory on the Citadel Hill, Plymouth, erected 

 by the Association at a cost of ^900:), will be opened for work 

 in the summer, and the Covincil are anxious to co-operate in the 

 foundation and management of laboratories on other parts of 

 the British coast. 



Miss Oldfield has presented to the Herbarium of the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, the botanical collections made in Australia by 

 her late brother, Mr. Augustus Oldfield. This gentleman was, 

 as stated by Mr. Bentham in the preface to "The Flora of 

 Australia," an acute observer as well as "an intelligent col- 

 lector." His series ol Eucalypti are especially good, as he took 

 great pains to obtain the various forms of foliage characteristic 

 of each species, as well as the fruiting and flowering stage?. Sir 

 Joseph Hooker used his Tasmanian plants in his "Flora" of 

 that colony. Mr. Oldfield "made large additions to the West 

 Australian plants previously known." These collections were 

 placed at Mr. Bentham's disposal for the purposes of his " Flora 

 Australiensis." 



The biennial Exhibition of Agriculture and Entomology ir» 

 Paris will take place from August 27 next to September 29, at 

 the Orangerie, one of the terraces of the Tuileries Gardens. 

 The French Minister of Public Works is the President of the 

 Society which organizes the display. 



The Pdot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for June, issucv) 

 by the Hydrographic Department of Washington, states that 

 Capt. Lassan, of the Norwegian barque Petty, while in 

 lat. 17° 38' N., long. 46' 34' W., on April i, experienced three 

 distinct shocks of earthquake, diminishing in force, and accom- 

 panied by strong eruption of air-bubbles, covering the surface 

 during the continuance of the shocks. The ice-reports show 

 large numbers of bergs north of lat. 42°, and between long. 47^ 

 and 53°. 



On June i, M. Herve Mangon, President of the Council of 

 the French Central Meteorological Office, read the ninth Annual 

 Report of the work of the Office (see N.vruRE, vol. xviii. p. 96). It 

 shows satisfactory evidence of continued energy and progress in 

 all departments of the service. No less than 154 telegraphic 

 reports are received daily from Europe and Algeria, and 41 

 telegraphic summaries and weather forecasts are issued, includ- 

 ing one to a London daily p.iper. The success claimed for the 

 forecasts is 88 per cent., and for the wai-nings of storms 82 

 per cent., being a greater success than in any previous year. 

 There are 153 climatological stations (including 12 observa- 

 tories) taking not less than 3 observations daily, in addition 

 to a large number of minor stations. The Office is also 

 actively engag^-d in collecting ob-^ervations made at sea, and 

 received upwards of 500 log-books during the past year. This 

 brar.chis encouraged by the presentation of medals, awarded by 

 the Association Scieiilifique to the best observers. M. Herve 

 Mangon reviewed the work of the various observatories, and 

 referred especially to the investigations of M. Renou, at St. 

 Maur, who has just completed an inquiry into the rainfall for 

 the last 200 years, and is finishing a work on the climate of 

 Paris, on which he has been engaged for 40 years. Reference is 

 also made to the reports now received daily from America and 

 the Atlantic, of which our own Meteorologic.il Office bears 

 half the cost. The telegrams are regularly published in the 

 French Bulletin International. The other half of the expense 

 of these telegrams is borne by a lady whose name is not generally 

 known. M. Herve Mangon spoke at great length of the damage . 



