January 14, 1892] 



NATURE 



261 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Stonyhurst Drawings of Sun-spots and Facul^. — 

 A little more light on the relation of faculse to spots is contained 

 in a paper communicated by the Rev. Walter Sidgreaves to the 

 Royal Astronomical Society in December 1891. None of the 

 drawings of solar phenomena made at Stonyhurst under the late 

 Father Perry's direction afforded a clear instance of faculse pre- 

 ceding the birth of a spot. Neither was there any positive 

 evidence of the birth of a spot before the appearance of faculse ; 

 while every spot of importance was attended from the beginning 

 with at least a small surrounding of faculae. No absolute priority 

 of one or the other could therefore be regarded as proved. 

 During the minimum of 1889, however, Father Sidgreaves ob- 

 served two cases in which faculoe undoubtedly appeared before 

 any trace of a spot could be detected. " On June 29, a small 

 patch of faculae was sketched near the eastern limb, in latitude 

 - 40°*S, and in longitude 252°. There was no trace of a spot 

 in the neighbourhood, and neither spot nor faculae had been seen 

 near the position for years. On the following day a small round 

 spot appeared in latitude -40° '3, and longitude 25 2° "2 — that is, 

 in the midst of the faculse, the faculse on this day being visible 

 only just close round the spot." A similar development was 

 recorded at the end of July, in latitude - 22°, and longitude 

 155". Both the faculst and spots were new, and clearly dis- 

 tinguished ; hence, so far as these observations are concerned, 

 their evidence clearly indicates that the birth of some spots is 

 preceded by the appearance of faculse. 



Some apparently Variable Nebula. — Mr. Lewis Swift, 

 in his ninth catalogue of new nebulae discovered at the Warner 

 Observatory {Astr. Nach., 3004), noted his inability to re-find a 

 nebula previously seen in R. A. 3h. 36m. os., Decl. 95° 2''l. A 

 further examination of the region led this observer to suspect 

 that the object formerly located in the position given must have 

 been a comet {Astr. Nach., 3014). Dr. Dreyer has looked up 

 the observations of nebulae in the region in question, and the 

 information thus obtained leads him to conclude that the object 

 is most probably a variable nebula {Monthly Notices, December 

 1891). The nebula appears to have been visible in 1827, 1848, 

 1850, 1851, 1856, and 1889, while it was not seen in 1785, 1855, 

 1864, 1865, 1872, 1875, 1877, and 1890, although it was 

 specially looked for on two or three of these occasions. The 

 two nebulae h 229 and k 882, which Prof. Winnecke found 

 were periodically variable (and his observations were supported 

 by later ones made by other observers), are believed by Dr. 

 Dreyer to owe their apparent fluctuations of light to disturbing 

 atmospheric influences, h 1452 is a similar dififused nebula with 

 slight condensation, which Sir John Herschel suspected to be 

 variable. But in this case, also, conclusive evidence of vari- 

 ability is wanting. 



THE CRYSTAL PALACE ELECTRICAL 

 EXHIBITION. 



T^HE Electrical Exhibition at the Crystal Palace was opened 

 -^ on Saturday last. It is an Exhibition of great interest, 

 not only to electricians but to the public, and should do much 

 to enlighten ordinary visitors as to the methods and results of 

 electrical science. At the present stage we need refer only to 

 some parts of the display. When the Exhibition is complete, 

 we shall give a fuller account of the principal exhibits. 



Much attention will, of course, be devoted to the section con- 

 taining the generating machinery. Every important type of 

 generating apparatus is shown in this department. Among the 

 large exhibits is a 350 horse-power Davey, Paxman engine, 

 capable of driving a powerful Kapp dynamo ; and Mes>rs. 

 Crompton and Co. exhibit a dynamo combined with a Willans 

 engine of 200 horse-power — the dynamo being capable of running 

 nearly 4000 8 candle-power glow lamps. There are many gas- 

 engines, some of which are shown by Messrs. Crossley Brothers, 

 the original proprietors of the Otto gas-engine. Other exhibitors 

 are the British Gas Engine Company, with cycle engines ; 

 Messrs. Dick Kerr and Co., with the Griffin gas-engine ; Messrs. 

 J. E. H. Andrew and Co., with the Stockport gas-engine ; and 

 Messrs. Day and Co., with a new form of gas-engine. AH of 

 these engines are used to drive dynamos of various makers. 



A most interesting exhibit is sent by the Postmaster-General, 

 who displays a complete set of telegraphic apparatus. A large 



NO. I 159, VOL. 45] 



projector or search-light is shown by Messrs. Crompton and Co., 

 who also exhibit, among other things, an electric crane capable 

 of hoisting about a ton. No fewer than 10,000 glow lamps in 

 one group are shown on a wire screen by the Edison- Swan 

 Company, and arc lights, poles, regulators, and samples of sub- 

 marine cables are displayed by Messrs. Siemens Brothers. A 

 model of an electric launch built for use on the Thames is in- 

 cluded among the exhibits of Messrs. Woodhouse and Rawson ; 

 and a full-sized electric tram-car is shown by the Brush Elec- 

 trical Engineering Company, who have also in the Exhibition 

 various dynamos, arc lamps, and other objects. 



The exhibits in connection with telephony cannot fail to 

 attract notice, and will do more than any amount of verbal 

 explanation to make its principles intelligible. The National 

 Telephone Company are arranging rooms where London operatic 

 and other performances may be heard by visitors on payment of 

 a small fee ; and two stands belonging to the Consolidated 

 Telephone Company, one in the nave, and another in the 

 gallery, are connected by telephone. 



Messrs. Croggon and Co, show lightning conductors of the 

 latest type applied to a model church, in connection with which 

 a peal of bells are rung by electricity from a keyboard. Various 

 styles of fittings for domestic electric lighting are displayed in a 

 series of rooms in the galleries ; and these will no doubt attract 

 very general attention. The Medical Battery Company show 

 well how electricity is applied in various departments of medical 

 practice. 



The Exhibition has been organized with so much care, and on 

 so great a scale, that it is sure to be widely appreciated. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

 pROF. S. P. LANGLEY, Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 -'■ Institution, has submitted to the Board of Regents his 

 Report for the year ended June 30, 1891. It includes, among 

 other things, an account of the work placed by Congress under 

 the charge of the Institution in the N^^tional Museum, the 

 Bureau of Ethnology, and the National Zoological Park. 



As in a previous Report, Prof Langley refers to the fact that 

 owing to the changing value of money the purchasing power of 

 the Smithsonian Fund, in the language of a Committee of the 

 Regents, "while nominally fixed, is growing actually less year 

 by year, and of less and less importance in the work it accom- 

 plishes with reference to the immense extension of the country 

 since the Government accepted the trust"; and he urges that 

 the fund should be enlarged, "if only to represent the original 

 position of its finances relatively to those of the country and 

 institutions of learning." If we may judge from the general 

 tone of the Report, the required increase is more likely to be 

 obtained from private benefactors than from the Government. 

 Quite lately, as we recorded at the time, the Institution ob- 

 tained from Mr. Thomas G. Hodgkins, of Setauket, Long 

 Island, a handsome donation of 200,000 dollars. 



By reducing expenses in other directions, the Institution has 

 been able to revert to its early practice of aiding investigators 

 carrying on original research. Among the special grants may 

 be named that of 500 dollars to Prof. A. A. Michelson, of 

 Clark University, for continuing his important work upon a 

 universal standard of measure founded on the wave-length of 

 light ; also a sum of 600 dollars placed at the disposal of Prof. 

 E. W. Morley, to procure a special apparatus for determina- 

 tions of the density of oxygen and hydrogen, an investigation 

 requiring extreme precision and delicacy of manipulation, and 

 promising results of wide application ; while a sum of 200 dollars 

 was placed at the disposal of Dr. Wolcott Gibbs, for involiga- 

 tions at his laboratory in Newport upon chemical compounds. 



To Prof. E. S. Holden, Director of the Lick Observatory, 

 California, a grant of 200 dollars was made, to assist in perfect- 

 ing his apparatus for securing photographs of the moon. The 

 results of his studies in this field Prof. Holden has offered to 

 place at the disposal of the Smithsonian Institution for publica- 

 tion at some future day, should it seem desirable. 



Prof. Pickering, Director of the Harvard Observatory, has 

 also placed at the disposal of the Institution for publication a 

 very valuable series of photographs of the moon, which have 

 been secured at the Harvard Observatory, and which will be 

 supplemented by photographs to be taken at the Harvard Ob- 

 servatory high-altitude station in the mountains of Peru. 



The Director of the Paris Observatory, Admiral Mouchez, 



