Oct. 13, 1887] 



NA TURE 



565 



Wisconsin, containing the record of the work done during the 

 year and quarter ending April 1887, has recently been published. 

 Pending the appointment of a successor to Prof. Holden, who re- 

 signed his position as Director of the Observatory in the winter of 

 1885, to assume the direction of the Lick Observatory, Dr. Davies, 

 Professor of Physics in the University of Wisconsin, has had 

 general charge of the Observatory, to which of course he has 

 been able to devote only a limited amount of time and attention. 

 It is no doubt owing to this circumstance that no very definite 

 programme of work has been carried out since the completion 

 of the observations and reductions necessary for clearing off the 

 list of 303 fundamental stars undertaken by Prof. Holden for 

 the Astronomische Gesellschaft. The assistants, Mr. Updegraff 

 and Miss Lamb, have been principally employed in obser- 

 vations of fundamental stars for determination of latitude and 

 discussion of the instrumental errors of the meridian-circle and of 

 refraction. The large equatorial has been used for measures of 

 double stars, observations of Sappho and of Comet b 1887 

 (Brooks). A considerable portion of the volume is devoted to 

 an index of the stars occurring in Airy's Greenwich Catalogues 

 not found in Flamsteed, which has been prepared by Miss 

 Lamb. This index, which will be very u-eful to practical 

 astronomers, has been prepared according to the general plan 

 sucrgested by Argelander in his review of the Greenwich second 

 seven-year Catalogue ( Vierteljahrsschrifc, Bd. vi. Heft 2), and 

 contains some 3000 entries. The computer is thus saved the labour 

 of looking through all six catalogues when searching for a star 

 which is tolerably sure to be in one of them, and as the cata- 

 logues are reduced to six different epochs, the labour attending 

 such a search would be considerable. The star places in Miss 

 Lamb's index are reduced to 1875 'o. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1887 OCTOBER 16-22. 

 /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 October 16 

 Sun rises, 6h. 27m. ; souths, iih. 45m. 39"05. : sets, I7h. 4m. ; 



decl. on meridian, 8' 52' S. : Sidereal Time at Sunset, 



l8h. 44m, 

 Moon (New on October 16, 23h.) rises, 5h. 22m. ; souths, 



iih. 27m. ; sets, I7h. 21m. ; decl. on meridian, 2° 20' S. 



j'l/ signifies maximum ; m minimum ; m^ secondary minimum. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES. 



We have just received the *' Results of Meteorological and 

 Magnetical Observations " made at Stonyhurst College during 

 1886, which maintains well the high character of previous issues. 

 Pressure, at a height of 381 feet, fell, on December 8, to 27-350 

 inches, being absolutely the lowest hitherto noted at Stonyhurst. 

 On the other hand, no excessively high readings occurred during 

 the year, the maximum of each month being in each case topped 

 by higher readings in previous years. For eight of the months 

 temperature was under the normal, the deficiency being, in Febru- 

 ary, 5°-2 ; December, 4°'4 ; January, 3''-4 ; and March, 2"'-3 ; 

 and for the year, i°-5. In October, temperature was 2°'9 

 above the average of the month. The annual rainfall was 5" 18 

 inches above the mean, a result largely due to the heavy rains 

 of January and May ; but in February and August the fall was 

 much less than usual. The actual sunshine for the year was 30 per 

 cent, of the possible sunshine, the highest monthly percentage 

 being 40 in April, and the lowest 20 in January. The maximum 

 sunshine for the day occurs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the abso- 

 lutely highest hour being from i to 2 p.m. Among the more 

 special meteorological work undertaken by the College are 

 observations of cirrus clouds, upper glows, and trees, shrubs, 

 and flowering plants. For the fourth year an appendix is given, 

 exhibiting with some fullness the results of the observations made 

 at St. Ignatius's College, Malta, by the Rev. J. Scholes. 



The Meteorological Commission of Cape Colony have pub- 

 lished their Report for the year 1886, containing summaries of 

 observations taken at 28 stations, and rainfall observations at 

 268 stations, including 3 in Basutoland and 11 in Orange Free 

 State. At the Royal Observatory the absolute maximum tem- 

 perature in a Glaisher stand was 104° 'O in January, and the 

 minimum 34°'5 in August. In a Stevenson screen the maximum 

 was ioi°"o, and the minimum 35°'0 (in July), plainly showing 

 the effect of radiation on the former readings. The total rain- 

 fall measured on 77 days was 2779 inches, of which 7 68 inches 

 fell in June. Self-recording anemometers are erected at the 

 Royal Observatory, Port Elizabeth, and East London^ but no 

 arrangements are made for reducing the curves. The Com- 

 mission draw special attention to the interesting series of thirteen 

 rainfall maps appended to the Report. These have been reduced 

 from maps exhibited by Mr. Gamble at the Indian and Colonial 

 Exhibition, and represent the average rainfall of the colony for 

 each month and for the whole year. 



In the Annalen der IJydro^aphie und imtitimen Meteorologie 

 for September, Capt. D. Ruete gives the results of eighteen 

 years' experience of the typhoons of the China seas, accom- 

 panied by rules for manceuvring in different cases, and by charts 

 of the tracks of the typhoons in various seasons. The distinguish- 

 ing features of the typhoon are its small diameter and its sharply- 

 defined central calm, as compared with ordinary rotatory storms. 

 They occur most frequently in August and September, less 

 frequently in July and October, and more rarely still in May, 

 June, and November. They do not extend into the higher 

 regions of the atmosphere ; Knipping assumed a height of four 

 nautical miles for the severe September typhoon of 1878. 

 Their form is generally oval, but dependent on the contour of 

 the coasts. The author finds that they travel slower when south 

 of 30° N. than they do when north of that position, and that the 

 faster they travel and the greater the area of the storm field, the 

 more sei'ere the typhoons are, and that the duration of the fall 

 of the barometer gives no clue to the magnitude of the area of 

 the storm, and further, that an approaching typhoon is shown 

 less by the amount of the fall than by the general behaviour of 

 the instrument. The regions most frequented by the typhoons 

 extend from lat. 10° N. to 38° N. in the China seas, and to 

 50° N. in the Japan seas, and may be divided into four different 

 seasons and districts, which are separately dis-ussei in the 

 paper. 



