NATURE 



[December 12, 1895 



Thb additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include an Arabian Baboon {Cynocephalus 

 hamadryas) from Egypt, presented by Mrs. Locke King ; two 

 Tufted Umbres (Scopus utnbretta) from Bechuanaland, South 

 Africa, presented by Mr. F. J. Newton, C.M.G. ; four Cockateels 

 (Calopsjfta nm'cE-hollanduc), a Many-coloured Parrakeet {Pseph- 

 otus iiiulticolof), a Rose-Hill Parrakeet {Platycenus eximius) from 

 Australia, presented by Mr. Thomas J. Manns ; two Red and 

 Blue Macaws {Ara macao), five Saffron Finches {Sycalis 

 flaveola), two Pileated Song Sparrows {Zonotrichia pileata), a 

 Guttural Finch {Speriitophila pitturalis), a Plumbeous Finch 

 {Sperinophila plumbea), a White-throated Finch {Sperniophila 

 alhoguldris), a Finch {Spermophila iorqueold), a Black- 

 throated Siskin {Chrysomitris magellanica) from South America, 

 a Brambling (/>//;^7/<a: montifringilla), a Greenfinch {Ligurimis 

 chioris), European, presented by Mr. A. J. Chalmers ; a Red- 

 vanted Bulbul {Pycnonottts hainorrhous) from India, presented 

 by the Hon. Miss E. Dillon ; a Chestnut-breasted Finch 

 (Doiiaco/a castanothorax) from Queensland, presented by Mr. 

 A. Rowney; a Hardwiek's '^zs,\\gMXQ (Uromastix hardwicki) 

 rom India, presented by Mr. W. Allen ; a Black Swan [Cygiius 

 atratus) from Australia, deposited ; two Black-necked Stilt 

 Plovers {Himaiitopiis nigricollis) from South America, a Green- 

 headed Tanager [Calliste tricolor) from South-east Brazil, 

 purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



THENEwCoMfexs. — Numerous observations of Perrine's Comet 

 and a few of Comet Brooks are reported in Ast. Nach., No. 3320. 

 The former is generally described as bright, the nucleus being 

 about 7th magnitude, while the tail is pretty broad, and variously 

 estimated at from 10' to 20' in length. F"rom observations up to 

 November 25, Dr. E. Lamp finds the date of perihelion passage 

 to be 1895, 1-^^c. 1 8 "3509 Berlin mean time, and the following 

 ephemeris is given : — 



R.A. Dec!. Bright- 



h. m. s. o / ness. 



Dec. II ... 15 59 40 ... -24 7"6 ... 28-30 



12 ... 16 16 14 ... 26 2"I 



13 - 34 33 -• 27 50-5 



14 ... 16 54 40 ... 29 25*0 



15 .. 17 16 5 ... -30 37-4 ... 6o-o 



The unit of brightness is that on November 18. The comet 

 is brightening with great rapidity, but it is so near the sun that 

 observations can only be made in daylight. 



Comet Brooks apparently presents only the appearance of a 

 feeble, difi'used nebulosity without condensation. The following 

 ephemeris for Berlin midnight is due to Dr. H. Kreutz : — 



R.A. , Decl. Bright- 



h. m. s, o ■ / ness- 



Dec. le ... 7 16 42 ... +57 23-5 ... 0-8 



13 - 7 o 37 ... 59 45-8 



14 ... 6 43 39 ... 61 48"o ... 0-6 



15 ... 26 4 ... 63 31-2 



16 ... 682 ... 64 56 7 ... 0-5 



17 ••• 5 49 52 ... 66 6-2 



18 ... 31 47 ... 67 1-4 ... 04 



19 ... 5 14 6 ... 67 437 



20 ... 4 57 4 ... -f68 15-0 ... 0-3 



The brightness on November 24 is taken as unity. According 

 to the elements adopted, perihelion was passed on October 

 20-887. 



It will be seen that the comet is now circumpolar. 

 ■ The Great Comet of i 843. — In the Astronontische Nachrich- 

 ien. No. 3320, Dr. Kreutz gives another chapter in the history 

 of the three interesting comets of 1843 I., 1880 I., and 1882 II., 

 all belonging to one cometary system, distinguished by great 

 brilliancy and small perihelion distance. In 1889, Dr. Kreutz 

 published an exhaustive monograph on the motion of the 1882 

 comet, that one of the system which, it will be remembered, was 

 first seen in this country by Dr. Common, in bright daylight, 

 and which at the Cape was followed till it seemed to touch 



NO. 1363, VOL. 53] 



the sun's limb. The present inquiry has reference to the 1843 

 comet, also seen and observed in full daylight, and the motion of 

 which had been made the subject of a classical discussion by Dr. 

 Hubbard {Astronomical Journal, vols. i. and ii.). The improved 

 normal places which Dr. Kreutz has formed are not, however, 

 very well represented by Hubbard's orbit, and new elements 

 have been derived, which, of course, do not differ materially 

 from the earlier results. The period, deduced as the most 

 probable, is 512 years, or twenty years less than Hubbard's 

 period ; but the interesting point in the present discussion is the 

 determination of several orbits with various values for the semi- 

 axis major, assigned on the hypothesis that this comet of 1843 

 is identical with some other the appearance of which has been 

 recorded. The periods a.ssigned are thirty-six years, suggested 

 by a possible identity between the 1843 and 1880 comets ; 175 

 years, which would make the 1843 comet a reappearance of 

 that in 1668 ; 800 years, a period approximately equal to that 

 found for 1882 II., and finally a parabolic orbit. The result is 

 to settle very decisively that there is no identity between the 

 1843 and 1880 comets, and almost as certainly that the comet is 

 not a return of that of 1668. On the other hand, it is by no 

 means certain that equal periods would not satisfy the observa- 

 tions in both 1843 and 1882, but true parabolic motion cannot be 

 accepted. From the position of the line of intersection of the 

 orbital planes of the two comets 1843 ^^i^' 1882, Dr. Kreutz 

 infers that they originally formed one comet, and that the separa- 

 tion into two distinct bodies was effected near the time of 

 perihelion passage. Seeing that the 1843 comet would approach 

 within 100,000 miles of the sun's surface, it is easy to suggest a 

 cause for the subdivision. 



Nebulosities around the Pleiades. — The nebulous- 

 relationships of the Pleiades, brought so forcibly into view by 

 the beautiful photographs of Dr. Isaac Roberts, are carried 

 a stage further by a photograph which we owe to Prof. Barnard. 

 This was taken with the 6-inch portrait lens with a total ex- 

 posure of loh. 15m. on December 6 and 8, 1893, ^"^ ^n 

 enlargement and description of the plate are given in the current 

 number of Knowledge. In this photograph the nebulre photo- 

 graphed by Dr. Roberts are submerged in the "burnt out" 

 images of the brighter stars ; outside the group various nebulous 

 masses and streams are seen extending in all directions, but 

 apparently connected with the nebulosities of the cluster itself. 

 The most prominent of the new nebulosities are two irregular 

 streams flowing from the north and south sides of the cluster, 

 and running three or four degrees easterly ; the northern stream, 

 is double for a part of its length, but the upper part is very feeble. 

 The nebulosities have also been photographed by Dr. Wilson, 

 of the Goodsell Observatory, with an exposure of 1 1 hours r 

 they are best seen by increasing the contrast in a positive copy 

 of the plate. 



THE FIRST STEPS IN SERUM-THERAPY. 

 T N scientific discovery, as in many other walks of life, it fre- 

 -*- quently happens that the magnitude of the result achieved 

 casts into obscurity the labours which led up to that discovery^ 

 just as the parent is often forgotten in the fame which may sub- 

 sequently surround the work of his offspring. It is rarely, 

 however, that so young an infant as we must perforce recognise 

 antitoxic serum to be, succeeds in baffling the pedigree-hunter ;. 

 barely recognised three or fours years back, its parentage has,. 

 however, already become the subject of much discussion. 



Dr. Welch, of Baltimore, in an exhaustive paper ^ on the 

 treatment of diphtheria by anti-toxin, commences with an his* 

 torical survey of the subject, and states that Babes and Lepp in. 

 1889 were the first to publish results of experiments to solve the 

 question whether the fluids and cells of animals which have 

 been rendered immune by vaccination, have not become vaccines 

 and capable of protecting also other organisms. On turning, 

 however, to the volume of the Annates dePInstilut Pasteur, 

 in which the memoir by Babes and Lepp '^ on this subject is 

 published, we find that they do not claim to have originated 

 these investigations, for they expres.sly state : " We have seen,, 

 in the course of our investigations, that this problem has been 

 studied experimentally in various diseases, and this fact en- 

 couraged us to pursue this idea." 



1 " The Treatment of Diphtheria by Antitoxin," Trarts. A.ssociation of 

 American Physicians, vol. x., ,1895. 



■■i " Recherches sur la vjicpiitiatipl) ;?ntira,bique," Annates de t'Institut 

 Pasteur, vol. iii., 1889. > ■•'■•' 



