6o 



NATURE 



[May 19, 1898 



the largest «umber of patients were admitted suffering from bites 

 on the hands 5 next in order come bites on the limbs, whilst in 

 1151 cases the injuries were inflicted on the head. The Seine 

 Department appears to be the district where rabies is most 

 prevalent in France, more than one-third of all the cases 

 coming from this part of the country. 



A PAMPHLET on "Science and Engineering during the 

 Victorian Era (1837-1897)," by Mr. Charles Bright, has been 

 (published by Messrs. Archibald Constable and Co. The 

 (pampklet is a reprint of an introduction which Mr. Bright 

 wrote for the Victorian Era Exhibition held at Earl's Court 

 Ilast ]'ear. 



To eiacoarage and facilitate the use of the metric system in 

 the United Kingdom, the Pharmaceutical Journal x^c^vitXy ^\x\>- 

 Ilished a series of tables of metric equivalents of Imperial 

 Weights and Measures, and thermometric equivalents. The 

 (tables liare been found of great assistance, and they have now 

 'been reprinted in a convenient form for reference by pharmacists, 

 .chemists, and medical men. 



We have received the fourth number of the new Journal of 

 Applied Microscopy, published monthly by the Bausch and 

 ILomb Optical Company, of Rochester, N.Y. The present 

 (part is chiefly devoted to methods of imbedding and staining 

 ^sections, but photo-micrography also receives its share of 

 .attention. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 .past week include a Rhesus Monkey (Macacus rhesus, 9 ) from 

 India, presented by Mr. W. H. Lewis ; a Macaque Monkey 

 'KMacacus cynomolgits, <J ) from India, presented by Mrs. Eyre ; 

 .-a Red-backed Buzzard (Buteo erythronotus), captured at sea, 

 presented by Mr. Ernest Hartley ; two Banded Parrakeets 

 i.{Pal(Vsrnis fasctata, i i) from India, presented by Lady 

 Lumsden ; a Cardinal Grosbeak {Cardinalis virginianus) from 

 North America, presented by Mrs. Harry Blades ; two Crested 

 Screamers [Ckauna cristata) from Buenos Ayres, two Scaly- 

 tireasted Lorikeets {Psitlenteles chlorolepidotus) from New South 

 Wales, purchased ; two Black-backed Geese {Sareidiornis 

 mtelanonola) from India, two Grey-lag Geese [Anser cinercus), 

 British, received in exchange. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Observations of Variable Stars.— A most useful and 

 -valuable series of variable star observations has just been pub- 

 dished by Dr. Francesco Porro in a memoir in the Pubblicazioni 

 ,del Reale Ossei-vatorinio Astronomico di Torino, No. 4. The 

 •observations were made at Torino and Soperga, and extend 

 .over the years 1889-95. 



Comet Perrine (March 19).— The following is a continu- 

 ratflon of the ephemeris of Comet Perrine for the ensuing 

 <week: — 



Decl. Br. 



-f55 36-6 ... 0-30 

 43*4 

 49-5 

 550 

 59-9 ... 0-27 



56 4-3 



8-1 

 21 ... S SO 48 ••• +56 11-3 

 'Fra'vce and International Time. — Slowly but surely the 

 'ocheme for dividing the time all over the world into an equal 

 number of zones, differing from one another by one hour, is 

 •extending, and we hope before long that such a rational system 

 of international time will be universally adopted. Even now 

 ithere are some notable outstanding countries which as yet 

 have not thought fit to adopt this principle. Before, however, 



NO. 1490, VOL. 58] 



one can say anything more in the matter, the case of Ireland must 

 be remembered. There is no doubt that if we wish other countries 

 to adopt a system of time zones, we should see that, at least. 

 Great Britain, if not all British colonies, is one in the adoption 

 of the scheme. There is absolutely no reason why Ireland 

 should not adopt Greenwich time ; l)Ut yet Dublin time is daily 

 used, and all the while we are laughing at the prejudices of 

 Frince for not instantly adopting the Greenwich meridian, 

 which is only a matter of less than ten minutes. ?"or Ireland 

 there is absolutely no excuse for not coming under the new 

 regime, but with France it is different. A change from mean 

 Paris to mean Greenwich time would necessitate a great amount 

 of work in altering their numerous publications, such as the 

 Connaissance de Temps and other almanacks, to say nothing of 

 charts, &c. Such difficulties have not, however, hindered her 

 from adopting the international system of time zones ; and 

 although the new time she has adopted is really Greenwich 

 time, yet the "national hour" is that "of the meridian of 

 Paris diminished by 9m. 21s." In an interesting article {Kevue 

 Scientifiqtie, May 7, 1898) on this subject, M. Bouquet de la 

 Grye does not seem to advocate the step taken by France, and 

 concludes that this adoption will be " contrary to the interests 

 of our country, tradition, scientific spirit." The following list 

 of meridians successively adopted, which is of interest, we have 

 taken from the above-mentioned article : — 

 ■ Dicearque, of Messina, adopted the island of Rhodes, 300 B.C. 



Eratosthenes chose the meridian of Alexandria, 270 B.C. 



Marin de Tyr took for the origin the meridian of the islands 

 of Fortune in the year 80 a.d. 



The Arabians chose the meridian of Mecca, and also that of 

 the column of Hercules, 800 a.d. 



The Alphonsine tables assumed as their origin the meridian 

 of Toledo, 1250 a.d. 



Mercator took the Azores for the initial meridian, 1569 a.d. 



The Paris Congress chose the island of Fer, 1633 a.d. 



It was decided, after the example of Guillaume Delille, to 

 place the meridian of the island of Fer 20° to the west of that 

 of Paris, 1724 A.D. 



A New Long Period Variable. — Herren Miiller and 

 Kempf describe some observations which have led them to dis- 

 cover an interesting variable star of evidently long period ( .4 j/;-. 

 Nachr., No. 3491). The star in question is B.D. 4- 30°-59i, 

 R.A. 3h. 49m. 8s., Decln. 4- 30° 46' -Q 1900-0, and was included 

 in their list of comparison stars for the Potsdam Photographic 

 Durchmusterung. As soon as this star was found to vary its 

 magnitude, observations were at once begun to determine its 

 period. The following table shows the magnitudes, as yet, 

 obtained. 



Appear.ir.ce No. of Mag. 



in Mean date. obs. Mag. Curve. curve. 



1887-88: 1888 March 10 4 6-36 6-31 +0-05 



1888-89 Nov. 24 16 629 6-31 - 0-02 



1889-90 1890 Jan. II 14 6-33 631 4- 002 



1890-91 Dec. 12 16 6-30 6-31 -001 



1891-92 — _ — • — — 



1892-93 — — — — — 



1893-94 1894 Feb. 22 5 6-44 6-46 -002 



1894-95 1895 March 6 9 6-6o 6-59 -f 001 



1895-96 1896 Jan. 19 41 6-69 670 -001 



1896-97 Dec. 21 28 6-82 681 -fo-oi 



1897-98 1897 Dec. I 26 6-92 6-93 - o-oi 



The fourth column gives the observed magnitudes of the 

 variable, the fifth the magnitudes as obtained by drawing a 

 curve through the points when plotted with the time as abscissK 

 and the magnitudes as ordinates ; and, lastly, the sixth denotes 

 the differences between the two latter. A glance at the curve 

 shows that the star from 1887 to the middle of 1891 retained 

 its original brightness, namely 6 '31 mag. It began then to dim 

 off, and from the beginning of 1894 it has decreased o'Oi 

 magnitudes monthly, or a little over one-tenth of a magnitude 

 in a year. This new variable is said to be of a yellowish-white 

 colour. With the help of the 30-inch Pulkova refractor Herr 

 Renz has examined the star for duplicity, but could not detect 

 a second body Probably the spectroscope may tell us more 

 about the constitution of this interesting variable : it is hoped 

 that both spectroscopic and photometric observations will be 

 made to unravel the mystery of such a long period variable as 

 this appears to be. 



