28o 



NATURE 



[July 21, 1892 



former photograph taken in 1889, July 28, indicated also the 

 same nebulosity. The exposure in the former case was of 

 3h, 29m. duration, a Wijlard lens of 6-inch aperture being used. 

 The position of the star for i860 was R.A. l8h. 9m. 23*2s., 

 Decl. - 19° 42' 7. 



Atmospheric Depressions and their Analogy with 

 THE Movements of Sun- Spots. — The solar photosphere, 

 although so different in chemical composition from our own 

 atmosphere, yet affords us many points of resemblance with 

 regard to its general circulation. One special analogy, and that a 

 comparison of the motions of storms here with those of spots 

 on the solar surface, is treated of in the July number of 

 V Astronomie by M. Camille Flammarion. In this article he 

 has brought together sufficient observations to trace out the 

 paths of many of the most violent storms that have from time to 

 time visited Europe generally. The first storms which he gives 

 are those which occur in the Atlantic ; their general direction 

 of motion seems to be from south-west to north-east, pursuing 

 generally the path of the Gulf Stream. Their centres, when 

 traced on a map, seem to just graze the shores of the British 

 Isles, France very rarely being reached by them. From ob- 

 servations made on land, and more especially from those at 

 Paris, M. Flammarion remarks that certain curves with regard 

 to these storms seem to offer many analogies to solar spots ; this 

 is so not only for the regular displacements, but even for 

 those which at first sight seem to be totally void of all regularity. 

 The diagrams which he gives, showing both the paths of the 

 storms and those of sun-spots, afford most interesting compari- 

 sons and seem to confirm the view suggested by M. Faye that 

 the constitution of spots resembles somewhat that of the cyclones 

 with which we are familiar. 



Yale College Observatory Report. — In this report, 

 submitted by the Board of Managers to the President and Fel- 

 lows of the Yale Observatory, Mr. Brown makes us acquainted 

 with the present condition of the Observatory generally, while 

 Dr. Elkin gives an account of the work done by the heliometer 

 during the past year. The satellites of Jupiter formed the prin- 

 cipal object of work from July ^1891 to January 1892, 570 

 complete measures of their relative positions having been 

 obtained on 114 nights. Dr. Chase, with the same instrument, 

 has been measuring the cluster in Coma Berenices, securing 

 from 18 to 20 measures for each of the 32 stars, besides deter- 

 mining the required data for the reduction-constants. In the 

 work on the parallaxes of the first-magnitude stars in the 

 northern hemisphere, the 100 sets of measures of each of the ten 

 stars have not yet been fully completed, but the following table 

 shows the results obtained up to the present. Dr. Elkin thinking 

 that it will require two more years before the final results can 

 be published : — 



Star. Parallax. Prob. Error. No. of No. of 



„ „ comp. stars. Sets. 



a Tauri -t- o-joi ... -f 0022 ... 6 ... 65 



a Aurigse ... -t- 0095 ... 0-021 ... 5 ... 51 



a Orionis ... + 0-022 ... O-022 ... 6 . . 48 



a Canis Minoris + 0-341 ... 0*020 ... 6 ... 48 



)3 Geminorum -f 0057 ... 0021 ... 6 ... 48 



o Leonis + 0-089 •■• 0-026 ... 10 ... 43 



a Bootis -f 0-016 ... 0-018 ... 10 ... 89 



a Lyrse + 0-092 ... 0-019 ... 6 ... 67 



o Aquilas ... + 0-214 • •• 0*023 ... 10 ... 46 



o Cygni . ... + 0012 ... 0-020 ... 7 .. 49 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



The condition of affairs in Uganda, of which much has 

 recently been made in home and foreign newspapers, is a 

 question rather of politics than of geography ; yet problems of a 

 geographical kind are involved in it. So far the progress of 

 civilization amongst the Waganda has served only to introduce 

 new elements of dissension, and the attempts to carry out the 

 policy of preventing the sale of spirits, firearm.s, and ammuni- 

 tion have only been partially successful. Scientific exploration in 

 a country so unsettled must necessarily be suspended. If the 

 British occupation is to be productive of benefit either to British 

 trade on the one side or to native interests on the other, the firm 

 and impartial rule of Captain Lugard and Captain Williams must 

 be maintained and reinforced. The urgent request which these 

 officers have made for additional white assistance demands all 



NO. II 86, VOL. 46] 



the more attention since the garrison under their control has 

 been swelled by the survivors of Emin's force in Equatoria. 



Although, as announced in Nature (p. 230), Captain David 

 Gray's Antarctic expedition has fallen through, it is satisfactory 

 to know that three Dundee whalers, which are shortly expected 

 back from the Arctic " fishing," will be refitted immediately and 

 despatched about the beginning of September to the Falkland 

 Islands, and as far to the south as may be necessary in order to 

 get a cargo. The proposed cruise is to be purely commercial, 

 and it is not likely that any exploring work will be done. It is 

 probable that berths will be available on board for two or more 

 scientific men, who should have good opportunities of collecting 

 natural history specimens. The experience of the whale-ships 

 will be valuable in supplying hints for the equipment and route 

 of the great Antarctic expedition which under some European 

 flag cannot be long delayed. 



Dr. Oscar Baumann, charged with the survey of a road to 

 the Victoria Nyanza, reached the shores of that lake in April, 

 after an unprecedentedly rapid journey from the coast. From the 

 Times report of a letter written by Dr. Baumann from Kadoto, we 

 learn that the route, after passing around Lake Manyara, struck 

 across an unknown stretch of country in which a new lake of large 

 dimensions was discovered. Even in Africa few lakes of such 

 magnitude can now remain unknown, at least from native reports. 

 Lake Eiassi lies on the plateau south-east of Victoria Nyanza, 

 and from the report of the neighbouring Masai, it seems to be 

 about ninety miles long, while the breadth of the northern 

 portion, along which Dr. Baumann marched, varied from eigh- 

 teen to thirty miles. This lake is presumably filled with fresh 

 water, but no outlet is mentioned. It is interesting, however, to 

 find native reports of a great river flowing in on the western 

 side, which may be confidently identified with the Wemberi, a 

 river shown on recent maps as flowing north-eastward from the 

 border heights of Unyamwesi, and losing itself on the plateau. 

 It is possible that the new lake may discharge into the Victoria 

 Nyanza by the Simiu river, the head waters of which have not 

 previously been explored. 



The recently founded New Zealand Alpine Club has pub- 

 lished the first number of its Journal, devoted to the exploration 

 of the glaciers and peaks of the Southern Alps. The magnitude 

 and difficulty of these snow mountains of the south has hitherto 

 been very inadequately realized. 



THE MUSEUM QUESTION} 



r^ ENTLEMEN of the Museums Association,— In taking the 

 ^-"^ chair which was so ably filled by my predecessor at Cam- 

 bridge, I must first of all give you a hearty welcome on the part 

 of the Committee of the Manchester Museum. There is to my 

 mind a singular fitness in the selection of Manchester as a place 

 of meeting after Cambridge. At Cambridge you had the oppor- 

 tunity of studying the various museums which have in the course 

 of time naturally grown out of the development of that ancient 

 seat of learning. In Manchester you will see the collections 

 which have been gathered round Owens College, which repre- 

 sents the newest University development in this country. The 

 genius of the place has left its mark in both. In Cambridge the 

 collections are, as they should be in a region of academic calm, 

 free from trade-winds, arranged mainly, if not entirely, with an 

 eye to University students, and not for the general purposes of 

 a miscellaneous public. In this busy centre of movement and 

 commerce, you will find that the principle of arrangement is 

 twofold. It first aims at meeting the needs of the University 

 students, and of the Mechanics' Institutes, and schools, and 

 other educational bodies, which are daily being drawn closer to 

 Owens College, and next at the instruction and enjoyment of 

 the general public. Our collections are for the most part older 

 than the college and have been absorbed from without into our 

 educational centre. 



The problem which we have attempted to solve is this : How 

 to arrange and organize collections which are in part as old as 

 the second quarter of this century, so that they may become 

 valuable in the new learning and at the same time put an out- 

 line of the history of nature within reach of the people. This 



I Address to the Museums Association, Manchester meeting 1892, by the 

 President, Prof. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. 



