May 26, 1892] 



NATURE 



87 



ber of spectra described here is no less than 121, and the star 

 places have all been brought up to the year 1900. 



Comet 1892 Swift (March 6).— The ephemeris of this comet 

 yc this week is as follows : — 



1892. 



h. 



R.A. 



Decl. 



log A. 



log 



May 27 23 43 17 +35 36-6 



28 45 36 36 2-2 



29 47 54 36 27-4 0-1727 0-1297 0-42 



30 50 10 36 52-1 



31 52 24 37 162 



1 54 36 37 39 9 



2 56 46 38 3-2 0-1821 0-1429 0-38 , 



The brightness at the time of discovery is taken as unity. 



On the 30th the comet will lie in the prolongation of the line 

 joining v and 6 Andromedse, being about twice the distance 

 from as is (T. 



Light Variations of Y Cygni.— In Astronomische Nach- 

 richten, No. 3091, Prof. Duner discu«;ses the results of his 

 observations, made during the interval April 1891 to April 1892, 

 of Y Cygni, with respect to the cause of the anomalies in the light 

 variations. The number of minima observed amounted to 

 twenty-seven, and onjtheir reduction (together with many others), 

 by grouping the differences between observation and calculation 

 in a particular way, the values for the normal deviations were 

 obtained. These figures showed that the even and odd epochs 

 deviated on the positive and negative sides respectively ; and 

 from subsequent calculation, in which ±s represented constant 

 deviation of the even from the odd minima, the numerical value 

 of s was found not to be constant, but a slowly-increasing 

 quantity. Mr. Yendell, who has previously considered this 

 question, explained the possibility of representing such differ- 

 ences by a periodical function, but Prof. Duner, assuming a 

 systematic difference between the even and odd epochs, explains 

 them otherwise — "that the star Y Cygni consists of two equally 

 large and bright components, which revolve around their com- 

 mon centre of gravity in an elliptic orbit with a period of revo- 

 lution of 2d. 23h. 54m. 44s. ; the perihelion passages occurring 

 between the even and the odd epochs." If the value of z be 

 found to be real, and not as at present only suspected, we might 

 suppose " a third body, dark or only slightly luminous, which 

 should cause a perturbation in the position of the lines of apsides, 

 such as we recognize in the planets and satellites of our solar 

 system." 



To facilitate observation, Prof. Duner gives an ephemeris for 

 the times of minima expressed in Greenwich mean time. From 

 the latest observations these times may be probably half an hour 

 too late. 



Epoch. 



1341 

 1361 

 1381 

 1401 

 1421 

 [441 

 1461 



Minimum. 



d. h. m. 



1892 June 9 9 33 



July 9 8 40 



August 8 7 46 



September 7 6 52 



October 7 5 58 



November 655 



December 64 12 



Nekul.^. — The Monthly Notices for April contain some notes 

 on observations of nebulae made by Mr. Burnham with the 

 36-inch refractor of the Lick Observatoiy. The work was 

 undertaken by him during the months of September and 

 October, 1891, in order to give fuller details concerning the 

 descriptions, places, and actual existence of several of these 

 objects included in the general catalogue. All the places derived 

 from the measures are referred to the epoch i860 of the general 

 catalogue, while the numbers used in all cases are those of 

 Dreyer's general catalogue. 



During this survey, several new nebulae were found, although 

 no attempt was made to search for new objects. The following 

 list includes some of these, together with some of the doubtful 

 nebulae : — 



No. 707. — R.A. ih. 44m. 31s., Decl. -9° i2'-o. In the 

 immediate vicinity of this a new nebula was found, R.A. ih. 

 43m. 31S., Decl, -9° i3'-'4. 



No. 874.— R.A. 2h. 9m. 43s., Decl. -23° 5o'-5. No nebula 

 found near this place. Probably a faint star had been seen, as 

 many are near this position. 



No. 942. — R.A. 2h. 2im, 30s., Decl. -11° 27'-2. Near 



NO. 1178, VOL. 46] 



this position are three fainter nebulae, two of which have been 

 observed before, but one quite new. The places for these three 

 are Neb. {a) (new) 2h. 22m. o 5s., Decl. - 11° 27'-9 ; Neb. (b) 

 2h. 22m. 23-5s.,-ii° 28'- 1 ; and Neb. (<:) 2h. 22m. 22-78., 

 - 11" 27'-6, 



No. 988.— R.A. 2h. 28m. 34s., Decl. -9''S7'-9. No sug- 

 gestion of any nebulosity about this star after very careful 

 scrutiny. 



Barnard. — R.A. 5h. 14m. 33'?., Decl. + 3° 20' -7. In sweep- 

 ing for this double nebula, another nebula was found in the 

 immediate vicinity, R.A. 5h. 14m. 40s., Decl. -I- 3° io'-4. 



No. 1988. — R.A. 5h. 29m. 4s., Decl. + 21° 7'7. Not the 

 least trace of nebulosity here. Dreyer stated that Tempei 

 pointed out that supposed nebula was only a false image of the 

 star. New observation endorses this view. 



No. 7447.— R.A. 22h. 53m. 6s., Decl. -11° i6'-7. This 

 object certainly does not exist. 



No. 1086. — Near this nebula are two others — 



Neb. I. 2h. 40m. 49s,, Decl. -t- 40"" 28' -5. 

 Neb. II. 2h. 41m. I2S., Decl. -f 40° 28' 6. 



ANNIVERSARY MEETING OF THE ROYAL 

 GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 



'T'HE anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical Society 

 was held on Monday afternoon, when the Right Honour- 

 able Sir Mountstuart E. Grant Duff was re-elected President. 

 The following changes have taken place amongst members of 

 the Council : — Sir Henry Rawlinson and Mr. Clements R. 

 Markham have been appointed Vice-Presidents in the room of 

 Sir Frederick Goldsmid and Sir Beauchamp Walker, both of 

 whom remain on the Council, Sir Beauchamp Walker being 

 appointed Foreign Secretary in place of the late Lord Arthur 

 Russell. In addition to the Councillors who have been elected 

 Vice-Presidents, the following have retired by rotation : — Sir 

 George Bowen, Dr. R. N. Cust, Sir Alfred Dent, the Duke 

 of Fife, and General Maclagan. lu their place Lieut. -Colonel 

 J. C. Dalton, Sir Arthur Hodgson, Mr. John Murray (the 

 publisher), Mr. E. G. Ravenstein, Sir Rawson Rawson, and 

 Colonel Tanner have been elected . 



During the meeting the Royal MeHals for the Encouragement 

 of Geographical Science and Discovery were presented, the 

 Founder's Medal being given to Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace in re- 

 cognition of the high geographical value of his great works. 

 "The Geographical Distribution of Animals," " Island Life," and 

 "The Malay Archipelago," and his further claim for distinc- 

 tion as co-discoverer with Darwin of the theory of natural 

 selection. The Patron's Medal was presented to Mr. Edward 

 Whymper for the results of his journey in 1879-80, recorded in 

 his work, " Travels among the Great Andes of the Equator," 

 London, 1892, 2 vols., besides a volume on the aneroid 

 barometer. The Murchison Grant for 1892 went to Mr. 

 Robert Swan, surveyor and geologist, who accompanied Mr. 

 Bent in his expedition to Mashonaland, making a careful route- 

 map of the country traversed down to the East Coast at Beira : 

 the Back Grant to the Rev. James Sibree, for his many years' 

 work on the geography and bibliography of Madagascar ; the 

 Cuthbert Peek Grant to Mr. Charles W. Campbell, for his 

 important journeys in Korea ; and the Gill Memorial to Mr. G. 

 H. Garrett, for important geographical work done during the 

 past fifteen years in Sierra Leone. Mr. Mackinder and Mr. 

 Buchanan gave a short account of the Geographical Lectureships 

 at Oxford and Cambridge. The scholarships and prizes given 

 by the Royal Geographical Society to students in training 

 colleges for 1892 were also presented. 



The President delivered the annual address on the progress 

 of geography, in the course of which, after referring to the even- 

 ing meetings and to the Proceedings for the past year, he 

 said : — • 



* With our meetings all Fellows of the Society who live 

 in London, and with our Proceedings all Fellows of the 

 Society, may be taken to be more or less familiar, but our 

 Fellows by their contributions do a great deal more for 

 their science than to make it possible to hold meetings and to 

 publish Proceedings ; nor does it seem unadvisable to remind 

 them, from time to time, what they are doing in other ways for 

 science and the body politic. They are aware that an annual 

 vote of ;ii^500 is taken in the Estimates in aid of the Society's 



