2o6 



NATURE 



[July 2, 1891 



to assume an assistantship in the Radcliffe Observatory, 

 Oxford, under the late Mr. Johnson ; and there his zeal 

 was rewarded by the discovery of several minor planets, in 

 days when the number of the known asteroids was com- 

 paratively small, and their discovery conferred some little 

 distinction upon their fortunate discoverer. Of greater 

 importance to astronomy was his subsequent devotion to 

 variable stars and photometry, the latter carried out, we 

 believe, with the apparently inappropriate instrumental 

 means of the heliometer of the Radcliffe Observatory, 

 Oxford. But the result of his investigation of the amount 

 of light that separates two consecutive magnitudes has 

 never been displaced, and the fortunate employment of 

 the number, whose logarithm is 0*4, to express this ratio 

 will probably long connect Mr. Pogson's name with the 

 history of accurate photometry. 



After a somewhat short stay at the Hartwell Observa- 

 tory, Mr. Pogson left England in 1861 to take charge of 

 the Madras Observatory, His direction of that institu- 

 tion will always be remembered in connection with the 

 extraordinary discovery of a telescopic comet, effected in 

 consequence of the telegraphic communication he re- 

 ceived from Prof. Klinkerfues, who expected that Biela's 

 comet might be seen in the constellation Centaur, after 

 the brilliant meteoric shower to which that comet had 

 given rise in November 1872. Mr. Pogson looked in the 

 direction indicated, and by a remarkable coincidence 

 found a comet, which he observed on two, and only two, 

 occasions. The orbit remains, therefore, indeterminate, 

 but there is good reason to believe that the object seen 

 was in no way connected with either of the two condensa- 

 tions which together make up the lost comet of Biela. 

 And thus another and not uninteresting chapter was 

 added to the history of this comet. Several volumes of 

 observations have been published under Mr. Pogson's 

 direction ; the last bears the date of 1870, so that prob- 

 ably, and as the Director has often lamented, the reduction s 

 are considerably in arrear. 



It will be interesting to watch the future of this Obser- 

 vatory. It is to be hoped that some steps will be taken 

 to place it more in accordance with the requirements of 

 the present time. We believe that its abandonment has 

 even been canvassed, but it cannot be sufficiently re- 

 gretted if an Observatory, possessing as that does many 

 historical associations, and occupying a very favourable 

 position on the earth's surface, be allowed to disappear. 



W. E. P. 



NOTES. 



The death of Wilhelm Weber, the illustrious physicist, is 

 announced. He died at Gottingen on June 23. On a future 

 occasion we shall give some account of his services to science. 



The second lecture in connection with the Faraday Centenary 

 was delivered by Prof. Dewar, F.R.S., at the Royal Institution 

 on Friday evening last. 



On Tuesday, Lord Cranbrook, in the House of Lords, moved 

 the second reading of a Bill the object of which is to allow the 

 managers of science and art schools to transfer them to local 

 authorities when they desire to do so. Lord Cranbrook ex- 

 plained that at present there were considerable difficulties in the 

 way, and that the process was a very long and tedious one. The 

 Bill proposed to make these schools transferable in the same 

 way as ordinary schools could be transferred to School Boards. 

 The Bill was read a second time. 



DrS. J. BoRNMiJLLER AND P. SiNTENIS propose to OCCUpy 



the present summer with an investigation of the flora of the 

 islands Samothrace and Thasos, from which very few collections 

 are to be found in European herbaria ; also of Mount Aihos 

 NO. I I 3 I , VOL. 44] 



and of the Bithynian Olympus. They then intend to take up 

 their winter quarters in Mossul, and to spend the following 

 spring and early summer in the comparatively unknown moun- 

 tainous region of Djebel Hamzin near Bagdad, and the mountains 

 to the north and east of Mossul. 



The distinguished Italian botanist, Prof. O. Penzlg, is about 

 to start on a botanical expedition to Massowah and Bogos. 



Mr. J. T. NicoLSON, at present Prof. Ewing's demonstrator 

 in the University of Cambridge, has been appointed to the 

 Chair of Mechanical Engineering in the McGill University, 

 Montreal. 



A STALL for the sale of "zoological photographs" has just 

 been opened in the Zoological Society's Gardens, It is placed 

 in the centre of the Gardens, near the band-stand, and has an 

 attractive exterior. The photographs sold are mostly repre- 

 sentations of animals in the Society's Gardens, but also include 

 some taken in the Jardia d'Acclimatation of Paris, and in other 

 similar establishments. 



The marine laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University will 

 be open this summer at Port Antonio on the north-east coast of 

 Jamaica. According to Science of June 19, Prof Brooks and 

 some members of his party had already started for the station. 



There has been lately formed in Berlin (we learn from 

 Nciturw. Rdsch.) a " Union of friends of Astronomy and Cosmical 

 Physics," with the view of organizing practical co-operation in 

 these subjects of research in Germany, Austria, Hungary, 

 Switzerland, and neighbouring countries, and also in the 

 colonies, and where membership may be desired. The object 

 is to be sought by means of free communications of the members 

 or groups of members to head-quarters, whence advice and results 

 of observations, &c., will be issued. Sections are formed for 

 observations (i) of the sun ; (2) of the moon ; (3) of the intensity 

 and colour of starlight and of the Milky Way ; (4) of the zodiacal 

 light and meteors ; (5) of polar light, terrestiial magnetism, earth 

 currents, and atmospheric electricity ; and (6) of clouds, halos, 

 and thunderstorms. Prof. Lehman-Filhes has been elected 

 President of the Union, and the presidents of the sections are 

 Forster, M. W. Meyer, Plassmann, Jesse, Weinstein, and 

 Reimann. 



According to a telegram sent through Reuter's Agency from 

 San Francisco on June 29, a series of sudden sharp earthquake 

 shocks, accompanied by subterranean rumblings, passed through 

 San Jose, California, that morning. The first shock was so 

 violent that the electric-light tower, two hundred and forty feet 

 high, swayed for at least ten feet. A panic prevailed in the 

 town ; and in two of the principal hotels, which were filled with 

 tourists from the East, men and women rushed half-dressed from 

 their rooms into the corridors in a great state of alarm. The 

 city rocked like a ship in the trough of the sea, and when the 

 second shock occurred, buildings rose and fell with a slow 

 undulating motion, one partly erected brick building tumbling 

 to the ground. Many chimneys fell, and a large number of 

 windows were broken, while considerable damage was done to 

 crockery and other fragile articles in the houses. 



Germany had very heavy rains on November 22 to 24 

 last year, causing floods at a rather unusual time in the region of 

 the Elbe, Weser, &c. It is shown by Prof. Hellmann, that 

 Middle and West Germany were then on the front side of a deep 

 depression, which passed very slowly from north to south, 

 taking about 90 hours from the North Sea to Central Germany, 

 less than half the usual speed from west to east. A region of 

 high pressure with cold lay to the east, blocking the course in 

 that direction, and this afterwards spread over the flooded 

 country, covering it with ice. 



