478 



NA TURE 



\_Sept. 15, 1887 



absorption will probably have but little affected its ^practical 

 value in the work on which it was actually employed. 



Brooks's Comet. — Dr. Franz gives in the Dtin Edit 

 Circular, No. 151, the following elements and ephemeris for this 

 object, based upon observations obtained with the Konigsberg 

 heliometer on August 27, 28, and 29 : — 



T = 1887 October 13-6623 Berlin M.T. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1887 SEPTEMBER 18-24. 



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

 ^ *■ Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 

 is here employed.) 



At Greenwich on September 18 



Sun rises, 5h. 41m. ; souths, iih. 54m. 8-9$. ; sets, i8h. 7m. ; 



decl. on meridian, 1° 54' N. : Sidereal Time at Sunset, 



I7h. 56m. 

 Moon (at First Quarter Sept. 24, 5h.) rises, 6h. 30m. ; souths, 



I2h. 50m. ; sets, i8h. 55m. ; decl. on meridian, o" 11' N. 



Variable Stars. 



Star. 

 A Tauri 



R Canis Minoris. 

 U Monocerotis . 

 S Cancri 

 5 Librae 



U Coronae ... 

 U Ophiuchi . . 



X Sagittarii.. 



W Sagittarii 



j8 Lyne 



TI Aquilse 

 5 Cephei 



R.A. 



Decl. 



3 54-4 ... 12 10 N. ... Sept. 



7 2-5 

 7 25-4 

 837-5 



14 54'9 



15 13-6 

 17 10-8 



10 12 N. 



9 33 S. 

 19 26 N. 



8 4S. 



32 4N. 



I 20 N. 



19, 

 22, 

 21, 

 24, 

 18, 

 19, 

 23, 

 23, 

 21, 



17 40-5 ... 27 47 S. 



and at intervals of 



17 57-8 . 



18 45-9 



19 46-7 

 22 25-0 



29 35 S. 



33 14 N. 



o 43 N. 



57 50 N. 



Sept. 21, 

 24, 



19, 

 21, 

 18, 

 22, 



h. m. 

 o 51 m 



23 43 m 



M 



M 



3 39 w 



3 39 ^ 



19 22 111 

 o IT m 

 3 59 m 



20 8 



23 

 20 



19 



22 



23 

 20 



o ;« 

 o M 



O 711 



oM 

 o tn 

 oM 



Meteor- Showers. 

 R.A. Dec'. 



Near a Arietis ... 

 ,, 17 Aurigse... 

 ,, 5 Draconis 



31 



74 

 290 



20 N. 

 41 N. 

 70 N. 



Swift ; streaks. 

 Swift. 



Sept. h. 



20 ... 6 ... Jupiter in conjunction with and 4° 18' south 



of the Moon. 



21 ... 16 ... Venus in inferior conjunction with the Sun. 

 23 ... 9 ... Sun in equator. 



Af signifies maximum ; m minimum. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



To the September number of Peteniiann'' s Mitteilungen Dr. 

 G. Giirich contributes a useful sketch of the geological structure 

 of the African continent. Much of his article is devoted to the 

 Atlas and Cape regions, and that naturally, since on these 

 regions the material is most abundant, only scanty notes for the 

 most part being available for Central Africa, where, however, 

 the prominence of granite Dr. Giirich thinks specially note- 

 worthy. To the same number Dr. Baumann, the companion of 

 Dr. Lenz, contributes a fairly detailed study of the physical 

 geography of Fernando Po, where he stayed for some time on 

 his return from the Congo. Both papers are illustrated by 

 maps, that of Fernando Po being a specially good one on 

 a large scale. Dr. Radde continues his preliminary account of 

 his journeys in 1886 into the Transcaspian region and North 

 Khorassan. 



Herr Ed. Glaser contemplates a third journey into 

 Southern Arabia, and will attempt to explore the northern and 

 eastern part of the old Sab^ean kingdom, which in his first two 

 journeys he was not able to reach. If political conditions permit, 

 he will also cross the Serat Mountains into a part of Hadramaut 

 hitherto almost unexplored. 



An original communication of some value on the aboriginal 

 Indian races of Vera Cruz, Mexico, by Consul A. Baker, will be 

 found in the September number of the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Geographical Society. 



In the course of a short exploratory visit of six weeks' dura- 

 tion, in March and April last, to the delta region known as Aird 

 1 River, New Guinea, Mr. Theodore Bevan made the important 

 I discovery of two large rivers, flowing from the interior highlands, 

 : at a distance apart of about 60 miles, into that part of the Gulf 

 of Papua. One of these, the Douglas, enters the head of the 

 \ Aird delta, and the other discharges at Bald Head ; both rivers 

 ! were navigated for about 100 miles. 



With reference to the recent Russian expedition to the New 

 Siberian Islands, we learn further that Von Soil made a special 

 exploration of the mountain in New Siberia known to travellers 

 01 the beginning of the present century as the "Wood Moun- 

 tain," which was found to be a beautiful Tertiary profile with 

 carbonized tree trunks, and a rich collection of leaf impressions 

 and fruits, corresponding exactly with the Tertiary flora of 

 Greenland and Spitzbergen, as described by Heer. He made a 

 complete circuit of Kotelnoy Island in forty days, obtaining from 

 the northern point a view of the still untrodden land of Ssanikow, 

 100 miles distant. The northern part of Kotelnoy is Devonian, 

 and the southern Trias. On Liakov Island, Dr. Bunge found 

 that, with the exception of some granite peaks, the prevailing 

 formation is Quaternary. The ice blocks are covered with 

 loamy deposits, in which are found fossil bones. Besides 

 the fossil remains of the mammoth, rhinoceros, and musk-ox, 

 Dr. Bunge discovered the remains of two species of oxen, 

 deer, horses, and some smaller animals. About seventy Phane- 

 rogams were collected. Both birds and insects are poorl\ 

 represented. 



The India-rubber, Gutta-percha, and Telegraph Wc 

 Company have issued tables of the soundings taken by tt 

 vessels in 1885-87 in the two Havanna expeditions, the secG 

 West African expedition, and the Congo repairs expedition. 



GRANTS FOR SCIENCE AND ART 

 INSTRUCTION. 

 A SUMMARY of grants made by the Department of Scier^ 

 -'^ and Art is printed in the new number of the "Directory,' 

 issued by the Department, containing regulations for establish- 

 ing and conducting Science and Art schools and classes. T^" 

 summary is as follows : — 



