450 



NATURE 



[September io, 1891 



under the eyes of the late Dr. Briinnow. He was pre- 

 sent in the Berlin Observatory when Neptune was first 

 recognized as a planet, and an early, if not the earliest, 

 notification of its discovery, that reached this country, 

 came from his hand. 



It would be tedious to recall all the results that his 

 untiring industry wrought in the department of cometary 

 astronomy. His greatest and best-known work is his 

 classical investigation of the motion of De Vico's comet 

 of short period. The close and eager search that was 

 made for this comet, particularly in 1855, was not success- 

 ful, and its ultimate career is unknown ; but this fact does 

 not detract from the merit of Dr. Briinnow's memoir, on 

 which a lesser reputation might rest. As a calculator of 

 a high order, he will, however, be remembered for his 

 work on the theory of some of the minor planets, as 

 Flora, Victoria, and Iris — a work which to some extent was 

 carried out during his Directorship of the Observatory of 

 Ann Arbor, Michigan, to which he was appointed in 1854. 

 Here, too, he published for a short time a periodical 

 under the title of Astronomical Notices. This journal 

 had but a short life, and judging from its rarity must 

 have had but a small circulation. A very different fate 

 attended the publication of his " Lehrbuch der spharischen 

 Astronomie," first issued in 1851, and which has passed 

 through several editions, been more than once translated, 

 and is everywhere recognized as an authoritative text-book. 



In 1865, on the death of Sir W. Hamilton, Dr. 

 Briinnow was appointed Andrews Professor of Astronomy 

 in the University of Dublin and Director of the Dunsink 

 Observatory. The important and original mathematical 

 researches in which his illustrious predecessor had been 

 engaged had not left him sufficient leisure to superintend 

 with activity the affairs of the Observatory ; and the work 

 of organizing and of placing it on a modern footing, 

 adequately equipped, fell to the lot of Dr. Briinnow, who 

 proved himself admirably fitted for the task. The South 

 object-glass, which had remained unmounted, was, under 

 Dr. Briinnow's auspices, provided with an equatorial 

 movement, and with it he carried out the researches in 

 stellar parallax which marked alike his assiduity and his 

 competence as an observer. This line of research, thus 

 connected with the Observatory, his successor. Sir Robert 

 Ball, has recognized and pursued with vigour and success. 

 In 1874, Dr. Briinnow retired from the Directorship on ac- 

 count of failing health and eyesight, and he has since lived 

 privately, principally abroad. He died at Heidelberg, in 

 his sixty-seventh year, to the deep regret, not only of his 

 numerous private friends, but of all those who have profited 

 by his teaching, whether as members of his class or 

 students of his valuable contributions to astronomy. 



NOTES. 

 The Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science 

 will hold its fourth annual meeting at Hobart in January 1892. 

 The first general meeting will take place on January 7, when 

 Sir James Hector will resign the chair, and Sir Robert G. C. 

 Hamilton, Governor of Tasmania and President of the 

 Tasmanian Royal Society, will assume the Presidency, and 

 deliver an address. Visits to places of interest in the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood of Hobart will be made during the time 

 when the meeting is being held, and afterwards there will be 

 excursions to different places in Tasmania. Application has 

 been made to the New Zealand Shipping Company, and to 

 Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company, for passages at reduced 

 rales to members of the British Association visiting Tasmania to 

 attend the meeting at Hobart, and it is expected that this will 

 be granted. 



The International Electro-Technical Congress was opened 

 at Frankfort-on-the-Main on Tuesday. An address was de- 

 NO. II4I, VOL. 44] 



livered by Dr. Stephan, Imperial Minister of Post and Tele- 

 graphs. Some 650 members, of whom 198 were foreigners, 

 attended the proceedings. After the usual complimentary 

 speeches, the following gentlemen were elected Presidents of 

 the various Sections of the Congress :— Herr Siemens, of Ber- 

 lin Mr. Preece, of London ; M. Hospitalier, of Paris ; Signer 

 Ferrares, of Turin ; Herr Waltenhofen, of Vienna ; and Herr 

 Kohlrausch, of Hanover. It was decided that a special Section 

 should be formed to consider the principles of legislation dealing 

 with electro-technical matters. 



The Crystal Palace Electrical Exhibition, to be opened on 

 January I next, has received the sanction of the Board of Trade, 

 and is duly certified as an International Exhibition, under the 

 provisions of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883. 

 The exhibits of Her Majesty's Government will include his- 

 torical telegraphic and electrical apparatus, instruments, and 

 appliances, as well as the modern apparatus and instruments 

 now in use in the Postal Telegraph Department. This exhibit 

 will be arranged under the direction of Mr. W. H. Preece, 

 F.R.S. 



It has been suggested in America that steps should be taken 

 to secure an International Conference of Electricians at the 

 "Columbian World's Fair." "The time and place," says the 

 new Chicago journal. Electrician, "are certainly auspicious, 

 and as there are many questions in electrical science that are 

 now awaiting adjudication it would seem that it were only 

 necessary that the invitation be made by the properly consti- 

 tuted bodies to have it meet with the hearty approbation of 

 scientific men everywhere. Could such a Convention be as- 

 sembled it would do more than any other agency to bring 

 together at the Columbian Exposition the most complete and 

 varied display of electrical apparatus the world ever saw." 



The International Agricultural Congress was opened on 

 Monday at the Hague by M. Meline, the President, who briefly 

 reviewed the labours of the Paris Congress, dwelling upon its 

 great importance to agriculture in general, and pointing out 

 that the results obtained by that meeting would assist the 

 various Governments in the legislative, administrative, and 

 financial problems requiring solution. The conclusions arrived 

 at in Paris were, however, not final, and would be more pre- 

 cisely defined by the present assembly. 



We have received an intimation of the sudden death, from 

 apoplexy, of Dr. L. Just, Professor of Botany at the Polytech- 

 nikum, Carlsruhe, and Director of the Botanic Garden belonging 

 to the same institution. Dr. Just was best known to the 

 botanical world through the Botanischer yahresbericht, which 

 has appeared under his name since its foundation in 1874 up to 

 the present time, though he resigned the editorship in 1885. 



Mr. Charles Jamrach, well known as an importer, breeder, 

 and exporter of all kinds of animals, died last Sunday at his 

 residence in Bow. He was of German parentage, and inherited 

 from his father the business which he conducted with so much 

 energy and intelligence. Many scientific collections, as well as 

 travelling menageries, have been enriched by him with valuable 

 specimens. He showed particular interest in the breeding of 

 long-coated Persian greyhounds, Japanese pugs, and Madagascar 

 cats. The collection he had last formed includes, the Times 

 says, young lions, tigers, and dwarf cattle from Burmah. 



The number of visitors to the South Kensington Museum 

 during the last month exceeded 120,000. This is the largest 

 number in any one month since 1883, in which year the Fisheries 

 Exhibition was held opposite to the Museum, on the ground 

 formerly occupied by the Royal Horticultural Society. 



