October 26, 1893J 



NATURE 



62 



being R.A. I2h. 2im. N. declination 12° 55'. The comet has 

 also been observed at Hamburg, October 17, lyh. 5'8m. 

 Hamburg mean time. R.A. I2h. 22m. 42'9s. Declination 



(- 13° 25' 24". It has a tail, and is about as bright as a star of 

 the ninth magnitude. 



Determination of Geographical Longitude. — In part 

 15 (August I) of the Zeilsc/iri/t Jiir Vermessungs'vesen, 

 Ilerr C. Runge, of the Technical Hochschule, Hannover, gives 

 a very interesting account of his results in determining geo- 

 graphical longitude with an ordinary camera. The negative 

 Irom which the results were obtained, was taken on June 17, 

 the camera being pointed to the new moon. Eight exposures 

 were made one after the other, with intervals of about two 

 minutes. Without moving the camera, and after an interval of 

 about thirty minutes, another series of pictures was taken (on 

 the same plate), the objects this lime being some stars in Leo, 

 which were allowed to record their trails on the plate for the 

 period of about an hour and a quarter with regular intermittent 

 breaks of five seconds. The times of exposure were noted with 

 an ordinary watch, and the measuring of the plates made with 

 an accurate micrometer. Dealing here only with the accuracy 

 of the method, we may say that the declination of the moon 

 can be determined to 20", and in some cases with greater 

 accuracy ; in the example given the differences between 

 the measured and calculated values were + 11", -19", + 15", 



- 6'. In the measuring of the moon-distance Herr Runge says 

 that although this was the first trial, and the star-images were 

 not all that could be desired, yet the accuracy was surprising, 

 and can perhaps be still increased, even without the help of any 

 " mechanische Hiilpmittel." Since the above example was 

 made he has obtained the geographical latitude and local time 

 by this photographic means, and with excellent results. The 

 instrument employed consisted of a simple camera with a so- 

 called " gruppenantiplanet "objective, by Steinheil in Miinchen, 

 with a focal length of 24 cm. The stop used for the above 

 plate had a diameter of 17 mm. 



ASTRONO.MY AND ASTRO-PHVSICS AT CHICAGO. — A few of 

 the many papers on astronomy which were read at the series of 

 meetings that commenced at Chicago on August 22 appear in 

 this month's Astronomy a>ui Astro- Physics, and as they are too 

 long for individual description, we give simply the titles of the 

 papers and their authors: "Great Telescopes of the Future," 

 by Alvan G. Clark. This deals with the subject completely 

 from the object-glass point of view. — "A Field for Woman's 

 Work in Astronomy," by Mrs. M. Fleming; "Engineering 

 Problems in the Construction of Large Refracting Telescopes," 

 by Worcester R. Warner. This is accompanied by a photo- 

 graph taken by Mr. Burnham of the 40 inch Yerkes instru- 

 ment, as exhibited at the Columbian Exposition. — "The Two 

 Magnetic Fields surrounding the Sun," by Prof. Frank H. 

 Bigelow ; " The Constitution of the Stars," by Prof. Edward C. 

 Pickering. This paper concludes as follows; "With few 

 exceptions all the stars may be arranged in a sequence beginning 

 with the planetary nebula, passing through the bright line stars 

 to the Orion stars, thence to the first type stars, and by insensible 

 changes to the second and third type stars " ; " Concerning the 

 Nature of Nova Aurigaj's Spectrum," by Prof. W. W. Camp- 

 bell ; "Preliminary Note on the Corona of April 16, 1893," 

 by Prof. J. M. Scha;berle, being a discussion of the facts 

 gathered from the numerous photographs taken ; " The Wave- 

 lengths of the Two Brightest Lines in the Spectrum of the 

 Neuul.x," by Prof. James E. Keeler ; and lastly, "Con- 

 tributions on the Subject of Solar Physics," by Prof. E. R. von 

 Oppolzer. 



A NewAstronomicalObservatory at Manila. — Manila 

 already possesses a Government meteorological and seismo- 

 graphic observatory, and an important astronomical observatory 

 will soon be established there. The chief instruments will be a 

 novel photographic meridian instrument and a large Merz re- 

 fractor (192 inches), the latter being provided with a photo- 

 graphic correcting lens. Father Algue seems to be taking the 

 work in hand, and he proposes to institute a series of latitude 

 observations in connection with a similar series to be carried on 

 at the Georgetown Observatory, for the determination of the varia- 

 tion of latitude. The instrument at Manila will consist, ac- 

 cording to Astronomy and Astro-Physics for October, of two 

 telescopes in the same tube ; or at least there will be two object 

 glasses, one at each end of the tube, their foci coinciding. These 

 will be of the same diameter, 6 inches, and focus 3 feet, the 



NO. 1252, VOL. 48] 



tube being equal to the sum of the focal lengths of the object- 

 glasses. The photographic plate is placed in the focus of the 

 two objectives, i.e. in the centre of the tube. The method 

 adopted is that of Talcott, and during the observation of both 

 stars the instrument is not moved. The upper objective throws 

 the image of the first star on the upper side of the sensitive film, 

 while by the help of a basin of mercury below, and the lower 

 objective, the trail of the second star is recorded on the under side 

 of the same film. Besides visual work the Merz refractor will 

 be used for photographic observations of double stars, spectro- 

 graphic work, photographic parallax, &;. 



The Visibility of Venus to the Naked Eye. — Principal 

 A. Cameron, at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and M. Bruguiere, ai. 

 Marseilles, have made a series of observations with a view of 

 determining for how long a period the planet Venus can be seen 

 in the day time without optical aid ( Trans. Nova Scotia Insti- 

 tute of Science, vol. i. part 2. 2nd series). Beginning with 

 the superior conjunction of February 18, 1890, Mr. Cameron 

 saw Venus with his naked eye 2(i\ days after that date, and M. 

 Bruguiere, in the same latitude, detected the planet 4J days 

 before the inferior conjunction of December 4, 1890 ; so that 

 altogether she was visible to the unaided eye daring 259 days. 

 The elongation of the planet when first picked up by Mr. 

 Cameron was 6|°, and when M. Bruguiere saw her last in 

 November, 1890, the elongation was nearly 9°, but the brilliancy 

 was only 6J per cent, of the mean greatest brilliancy. 



Meyer's Conversational Lexicon.— The popularity of 

 this series of volumes can only be accounted for by the very 

 judicious way in which the publishers have dealt with every 

 branch of science, treating it fully, accurately, and in such 

 language that it can be unoerstood by the most general reader. 

 Under the heading "Astronomy" is given an excellent 

 and concise account of the early historyand development of the 

 science. This lexicon has reached its fifth edition. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



A cable has recently been laid between the seaport of 

 Bundaberg, in Queensland, and New Caledonia. This line of 

 910 miles, although not very important in itself, is of some 

 interest as possibly the commencement of a great Pacific cable 

 which may ultimately unite Australia and Canada. Should this 

 scheme be carried into effect the probable route of the cable 

 would be from New Caledonia to Fiji, thence to Samoa, and by 

 Honululu and the Fanning islands to Vancouver. 



The last number of the Bulletin of the Paris Geographical 

 Society publishes the list of awards of the society's medals, the 

 bestowal of which was noticed in this column (vol. xlviii. p. 40), 

 together with the reports of the awards, which were too lengthy 

 to be read at the meeting in April, A notable fact connected 

 with these prizes is the custom of recognising the value of 

 original maps and books of geographical research, historical or 

 critical, as well as the work of explorers. 



An amusing instance of the danger of commenting on 

 geographical news without referring to a full report occurs in 

 the last number of the Revue Francaise, a journal which is 

 valued for its full and usually accurate record of recent and 

 projected travels. In mentioning the fact of the discovery of 

 Active Strait, near Erebus and Terror Gulf, by the Dundee 

 sealers this spring, the editor adds parenthetically, "volcanoes 

 of Victoria Land to the south of New Zealand " — a pardonable 

 mistake, as the names of Ross's ships were perhaps too freely 

 scattered over the Antarctic regions. But in this instance it 

 happens, somewhat oddly, Erebus and Terror Gulf is in land 

 named after a French and not a British monarch, being in Terre 

 Louis Phillippe, south of the Falkland Islands. 



The full programme of the Royal Geographical Society's 

 Evening Meetings for the Session 1893-94 has been published. 

 In addition to the subjects intimated in this column last week, 

 we note that papers are expected by Prof. Lapworth, F. R.S., 

 on the ups and downs of the earth's surface ; by Dr. J. W. 

 Gregory, on his expedition to Mount Kenia ; Mr. R. D. Old- 

 ham, ot the Indian Geological Survey, on the geographical de- 

 velopment of India ; Mr. K. Grossmann, on a journey in 

 Iceland ; Mr. T. J. Alldridge, on journeys in the interior of 

 Sierra Leone ; Dr. H. R. Mill, on the survey of the English 

 lakes ; Mr. H. Warington Smyth, on journeys on the Upper 



