286 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



[October 1, 1887. 



student of Northern life and custom as a sound and trust- 

 worthy introduction to subjects exhaustively treated in 

 works like the " Corpus Poeticum Boreale " of York Powell 

 and Vigfusson. 



Animal Biology. By C. Lloyd Morgan. (Rivingtons.)— 

 This is a thoroughly practical book, sufficient for the medical 

 student, for whom it is primarily intended, and, withal, un- 

 technical enough to be enjoyed by the general reader. 

 Acting on the sound principle that when once the form and 

 function of a given organism have been mastered its rela- 

 tion or nnrelation to large groups is clear, the author 

 selects typical reprcFentatives of each sub-kingdom, illustrat- 

 ing his expositions by diagrams, which are to be preferred 

 to pictures in all guides to laboratory work. 



The English Illustrated Magazine, 1886-87. (Macmillan 

 ct Co.) — The present volume fully maintains the high level 

 of its predecessors. The delicacy and, withal, vigour of the 

 woodcuts evidence that our engravers need not fear the 

 competition of theii" American rivals. As for the letter- 

 press, it suffices to say that B. L. Fai;jeon, Marion Crawford, 

 Grant Allen, and the late Pvichard Jefleries are among the 

 contributors. 



Messrs. Longmans send us a cheap edition of that lively 

 story of travels, Three in Norway, by Two of Them, on 

 which the public has wisely set its seal of approval. Messrs. 

 Blackwood have issued the twelfth edition of the late 

 David Page's Introductory Textbook of Physical Geography, 

 to which Professor W. D'Arcy Thompson adds a revised 

 chapter on animal and plant distribution. 



We have also to acknowledge the current issues of Long- 

 man's Magazine, with a pleasant paper on '• Independent 

 Travelling," by Mr. Hamerton, and the ojiening chapters of 

 a new story by the fecund author of " Mehalah " ; of the 

 Century, St. Nicholas, and the Westminster lieviein, which 

 has an article on the poetry of George Meredith, inviting 

 attention to works which his prose tends to obscure. 

 Travellers to the Ardennes should put Percy Lindley's 

 Walks (W. H. Smith & Son) in their pockets, as a guide- 

 book worth sis shillings instead of the sixpence it costs ; and 

 our microscopist readers may be reminded that Mr. Cole's 

 Microscopical Science Studies (Hammond <fe Co., Birming- 

 ham) continue to merit their support. They will be worth 

 keeping. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR OCTOBER. 



By F.R.A.S. 



HK outburst of solar activity to whioli reference has 

 more than once been recently made here seems to 

 have subsided, and sun spots are now few, small, 

 and infrequent. The zodiacal light is visible be- 

 fore sunrise in the east. The night sky is delineated 

 in map x. of "The Stars in their Seasons." 

 Minima of Algol. ("The Stars in their Seasons," 

 map xii.) will occur at 12h. .50m. r,M. on the 3rd, 

 at SIh. 39m. P.M. on the 6th, at 6h. 28m. P..M. on 

 the 9th, at 1 Ih. 21m. P.M. on the 26th, and at 8h. 10m. p.m. on the 

 29th, and at o'her limes more inconvenient for the amateur observer. 

 Mercury is an evening star all through the month, and attains his 

 greatest eas'ern elongation from the sun (23° 48') in the early 

 morning of the 27th He is too near the horizon now, though, 

 especially towards the end of the month, for the observer to have 

 any reasonable chance of seeing him. Venus is a morning star 

 throughout October. She attains her greatest brilliancy on the 

 28th, and, should the sky be sufficientlj' clear about that date, may 

 be caught with the naked eye in bright sunshine, by any one who 

 knows exactly where to look for her. She exhibits a beautiful 

 crescent in the telescope. Neither Mars nor Jupiter are, for the 

 purposes of the ordinary amateur observer, visible. Saturn is a 

 morning star; he rises at midnight at the beginning of October, 

 and soon after lOh. p.m. at the end of it. His ring system is sen- 

 sibly the same as it was on his departure early in the year. He will 



be found below the Pra^sepe in Cancer ("The Stars in their 

 Seasons," map ii.). Uranus is invisible, coming, in fact, into con- 

 junction with the sun on October 6. Neptune may be seen before 

 midnight, in that void part of the sky south of a line joining the 

 Pleiades and -y Tauri (" The Stars in their Seasons," map. xii.). He 

 looks like a 7-8th magnitude star, but shines more steadily than 

 any in the neighbourhood, and is of a slightly bluish tinge. The 

 moon is full at 3h. 47-3m. A.M. on the 2nd, enters her last quarter at 

 4h. 57'4m. A.M. on the 10th, is new at lOh. 35m. on the night of the 

 16th, enters her first quarter at 5h. 45-8m. P.M. on the 23rd, and is 

 full for the second time this month at 9h. 30'9m. at night on 

 the 31bt. High tides may be looked for on the 16th and 17th. No 

 less thun eleven occultations of fixed stars by the moon occur at 

 convenient hours during the present month. On the 6th. 75 Tauri, 

 a star of the 6th magnitude, will disappear at the bright limb of 

 the moon at lOh. 45m. P.M., at an angle from her vertex of 102°. It 

 will reappear ai her dark limb at llh. 39m. P.M., at an angle of 215° 

 from her vertex. On the same night 6' Tauri, of the 4.^th magnitude, 

 will dis.appear at the bright limb at lOh. 54m. at a vertical 

 angle of 350°, reappearing at the dark limb at 1 Ih. 8m., at an angle 

 of 325° from the vertex of the moon. Later still B.A.C. 1391, 

 of the 5th magnitude, will disappear at the bright limb at 

 llh. 4 5m. at an angle of 29° from the moon's vertex; and will 

 reappe;ir at her dark limb at 12h. 40m. P.M. at a vertical angle of 

 295°. On the 8th 71 Orionis, a 5^th magnitude star, will disappear 

 at the bright limb of the moon at llh. 56m. P.M. at an angle from 

 her vertex of 59°, reappearing at her dark limb at Ih. Im. A.M. 

 on the 9th at an angle of 237° from her vertex. On the 23rd 

 (T Capricorni, a 5i,th magnitude star, will 'disappear at the dark limb 

 of the moon at Sh. ISm. p.m. at an angle of 113° from her vertex; it 

 will reappear at her bright limb at 9h. 29m. P.M. at an angle fr.im 

 her vertex of 327°. On the 24th 6 Capricorni will disappear at her 

 dark limb at 4h. 32m. p.m. at an angle of 78° from her vertex, and 

 will reappear at 5h. 52m. P.M. at her bright limb, at a vertical angle 

 of 277°. On the 26ih, 70° Aquarii, of the 6th magnitude, will dis- 

 appear at the dark limb at 7h. .50m. P.M. at an angle of 88° from the 

 vertex of the moon ; its reappearance, 323° from the lunar vertex, 

 occurring at 9h. 7m. P.M. On the 28th B.A.C. 81, of the 6th mag- 

 nitude, will disappear at the moon's dark limb at lib. 32m. P.M. at 

 an angle from her vertex of 85°. It will reappear at her bright 

 limb 21 minutes after midnight, at an angle of 12° from lipr 

 vertex. On the 29th three occultations will happen, 26 Ceti, of the 

 65th magnitude, disappearing at the dark limb of the moon at 

 7h. 22m. P.M. at an angle of 87° from her vertex, and reappearing at 

 her bright limb at 8h. 37m. P.M. at an angle from her vertex of 274°. 

 Next, at lOh. 40m. P.M., 29 Ceti, also of the 6^th magnitude, will 

 disappear at the dark limb at an angle of 141° from the vertex of 

 the moon ; and will reappear at 1 Ih. 57m. p.m. at her bright limb at 

 an angle of 294° from her vertex. Thirdly, 33 Ceti, a star of the 

 6th magnitude, will disappear at the dark limb at 12h. 5Sm. P.M., 

 193° from the moon's vertex. Its reappearance does not occur until 

 the next morning. We have said above that these eleven occulta- 

 tions occur at convenient hours ; but there is a twelfth which it is 

 well worth the while of the am.ateur to get up — or sit up — to 

 observe. We refer to the occultation of Aldebaran during the early 

 morning of the 7th. On that day, at 3h. 20m. A.M., the star will dis- 

 appear at the moon's bright limb at an angle from the vertex of 

 42°, its reappearance occurring at 4h. 2m. A.M. at the dark limb 

 at a vertical angle of 354°. The student will not forget that this is 

 the star which has been seen on more than one occasion to be appa- 

 rently projected on to the bright disc of the moon. At noon to- 

 day the moon is in Pisces ("The Seasons Pictured," plate xxii.), and 

 in the course of two or three hours passes into the confines of Cetus, 

 from which she emerges in Pisces again at 4 P.M. on the 2nd, only, 

 however, to re-enter the most northerly portion of Oetus at 9 P.M. 

 on the 3rd. When .she finally quits this constellation at 10 P.M. on 

 the 4th it is to enter Aries. Her pas-.age through the remaining 

 part of Aries is accomplished by 4h. 3ilra. P..M. on the 5th. She 

 then crosses into Taurus (" The Seasons Pictured,'' plate xxiii.), and 

 travelling through it, arrives at 3h. P.M. on the 8th at the western 

 edge of the northern prolongation of Orion. She takes just twelve 

 hours to cro.ss this, and at 3h. A.M. on the 9th quits it for Gemini 

 ("The Seasons Pictured," plate xxiv.). Her journey through 

 Gemini ends at lOh. P.M. on the 10th, and she then pnsses into 

 Cancer. She remains in Cancer until lOh. a.m. on the 12th, and 

 then crosses into Leo. Leo she leaves for Virgo at 9h. 30m. P.M. on 

 the 14ih ("The Seasons Pictured," plate xxv.), and Virgo in turn 

 for Libra at 6h. P.M. on the 17th (" 'J'he Seasons Pictured," plate 

 xxvi). Journeying through Libra she reaches at 9h. A.M. on the 

 19th the narrow northern spike of Scorpio. By 5h. 30m. P..M. on 

 the same day she h.as traversed this and come out in Ophiuchus. 

 Here she remains until 8h. A.M. on the 21st, when she crosses the 

 boundary into Sagittarius. By 4h. p.m. on the 23rd her passage 

 through Sagittarius is ended, and she has entered Capricornus 



