October 3, 1895] 



NATURE 



000 



The Canadian Geological Survey has published the second 

 part of vol. iii. of its monographs on " Palaeozoic Fossils," 

 in which Mr. Whiteaves describes and figures fossils — ^chiefly 

 Gastropods and Brachiopods — from the Guelph and Hudson 

 River formations. 



VVk have received from Mr. J. II. Knowles, of Lavender 

 Hill, .S.W., a catalogue of various books of science which he 

 has for .sale. .Many interesting and valuable works on Ornith- 

 ology, Botany, Astronomy, and other sciences are included. 



Mks.srs. Jarroi.d and Sons have just published an abridged 

 edition of " The Official Guide to the Norwich Castle Museum," 

 at the small price of si.\pence. The chief author of the book is 

 Mr. T. Southwell, who has produced a work that should be in 

 the hands of all visitors to the museum, which it so well describes. 

 The little work is admirably compiled, and is illustrated by 

 numerous figures in the text. 



The valuable series of reprints now being published by Mr. 

 Engelmann, of Leipsig, under the title of Ostwald's " Klassiker 

 der Exakten VVissenschaften " has recently had four more volumes 

 added to it. These, numbered 63 to 66, contain respectively the 

 following papers : — " Zur Entdeckung des Elektromagnetismus," 

 by H. C. Oersted and • T. J. Seebcck ; " Ober die Vierfach 

 Periodischen Functionen Zweier V'ariabeln," by C. G. J. 

 lacobi ; " Abhanillung ueber die Functionen Zweier Variabler 

 mit vier Perioden," by G. Rosenhain ; and " Die Anfange des 

 Nattirlichen Systemes der Chemischen Elemente," by J. W. 

 Doebereiner and .Max Pettenkofer. 



We have received part i. vol. vi. of the Transaclions cA the 

 Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, by which it appears 

 that the Society has just completed its twenty-sixth year, and to ' 

 be financially in a prosperous condition ; now numbering 275 

 members, amongst whom we recognise many well-known names. 

 The presidential address, by Dr. Plowright, was mainly devoted 

 to the consideration of some obscure points in the life-history and 

 development of the various forms of Piucinia, which he showed 

 bad l>y no means been worked out, and indicated the diiecticn 

 in which further investigations should be jiursued. Amongst 

 the papers read before the Society, and published in their Trans- 

 actions, is a very interesting one on " Neolithic Man in Thetford 

 District," with illustrations of the various types of flint imple- 

 ments found in the river-gravels of that neighbourhood. The 

 usual "Report on the Herring Fishery of Yarmouth and 

 Lowestoft " is also published, which having been continued 

 for fourteen consecutive years, in the absence of trustworthy 

 statistics on the subject elsewhere, should be possessed of value ; 

 and the same may be said of the very full meteorological notes 

 by Mr. A. \V'. Preston. A chatty paper on "Old-time ^'annouth 

 Naturalists," by Mr. F. Danby- Palmer, should also be men- 

 tioned as giving some particulars of the more noticeable of the 

 old-time naturalists, for which that ornithologically rich section 

 of the east coast has always been remarkable. There are fifteen 

 published papers in all, each of which speaks well for the 

 vitality and usefulness of the Society. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include two Bonnet Monkeys {Afacacus 

 siniciis, 9 9 ) from India, presented respectively by Mr. 

 Thomas Mackenzie and Messrs. Davies and Sons ; a Chim- 

 panzee (Anthropopitheciis troglodytes, i ) from West Africa, 

 presented by Captain G. C. Denton ; a Piping Guan {Pipile 

 itimanensis) from Uruguay, presented by Mr. P. du Pre Gren- 

 fell ; four Green Lizards (Lacerta viridis), three Wall Lizards 

 (Lacerta muralis), European, presented by Mr. C. W. 

 Tytheridge ; two Laughing Kingfishers (Dacclo gigantca) from 

 -Vustralia, deposited ; a Connnon Seal (Phoia viliilina) from 

 Scotland, purchased. 



NO. 1353, VOL. 52] 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Return of Faye's Co.met. — A telegram from Kiel, received 

 on September 28, announces that Faye's comet was oljserved by 

 Javelle at Nice on the 26th. .\t izh. 34 -Sm., Nice time, it was 

 in R.A. 2lh. 8m. iis., and Decl. 1° 54' S. It is accordingly 

 well situated in the north-western part of the constellation 

 Aquarius, crossing the meridian a little before 9 p.m. .\t the 

 time of observation it was noted as " feeble." 



Elements and Ephemkris ok Comet a, 1895 (Swift). — 

 Dr. Berberich has computed the following new elements of 

 Swift's comet, from observations made at .Mount Hamilton, 

 .August 21 ; Nice, August 31 ; and .Strassburg, September 16. 



These elements represent the comet's orbit with a greater 

 degree of accuracy than those previously deduced, and the 

 ephemeris determined from them closely represents observations 

 made at Paris. In continuation of the ephemeris given in 

 Nature of September 5, we print the following, from Edinburgh 

 Circular No. 46 : — 



T = 1895, Aug. 20, 88480 M. T. Berlin 



a = 167 47 7-8 



a = 170 16 i7-3> 18950 



i = 2 59 24 ■9/ 



<p = 40 22 17-6 



M = 502" -654 

 log a — o'565825 

 log 1/ = O' II 2686 

 Period = 7 '059 years. 



Epheiiuris for Berlin Midnight. 

 1895. aapp. 5 app. Bright- 



h. m. s. o / ness. 



Oct. 2 ... I 24 7 ... -F4 329 



4 ... I 24 41 ... 4 23-9 ... 0-62 



6 ... I 25 9 ... 4 15-3 



8 ... I 25 31 ... -^4 71 ... 0-56 



:o ... I 25 50 ... -i-3 595 



12 ... I 26 6 ... 3 525 ... o'5o 



14 I 26 19 ... 3 462 



16 ... I 26 31 ... 3 40-6 ... 0-44 



18 ... I 26 42 ... 3 35-8 



20 ... I 26 53 ... 3 31-9 ... 038 



22 ... 1 27 5 ... 3 29-0 



24 ... I 27 19 ... 3 270 ... 033 



26 ... I 27 35 ... 3 25-9 



28 ... I 27 53 ... -f3 257 ... 029 



It will be noticed that the comet is diminishing in brightness, 

 and on October 12 will only be half the brightness at the time of 

 discovery, .August 20. 



7V1RC.INI.S. — Of the many double-star orbits which have 

 recently been computed by Dr. See, of Chicago, none presents 

 more features of interest than that of 7 Virginis. This famous 

 double star has been very persistently observed since its dis- 

 covery in 1718, but none of the orbits previously determined are 

 consistent with the most recent observations. Including some 

 of his own measures. Dr. See finds the following elements 

 {Astronomical /ournal. No. 352): — 



P = I94'0 years ... SI = 50^4 



T= 1836-53 „ ... i = 31-0 



c = 0-8974 .) ■•• A = 270-0 



a = 3"-989 ... « = 1-8557 



.Apparent orbit : 



Length of major axis = 6" -824 



,, ,, minor axis = 3"-530 



Angle of major axis = 1 40° -4 



,, ,, periastron = 140^-4 



Distance of star from centre = 3" -062 



A comparison of computed and ob.serve<l places shows, 

 according to Dr. See, that these elements are probably the most 

 exact yet found for any binary star. It will l>e seen from the 

 figures given that the line of nodes coincides w ith the minor 

 axis of the real ellipse, which is also the minor axis of its projec- 

 tion ; and, owing to the small inclination, the apparent ellipse 

 is only slightly less eccentric than the real ellipse, so that the 

 foci of the two ellipses nearly coincide. Dr. See points out that 

 one of the consequences of this disposition of the orbit is to 

 make the movement of the radius vector in the apparent orbit 

 very little different from that in the real orbit, so that y \'irginis 

 furnishes the best lest we have for the exactness of the law of 

 gravitation in stellar systems. " If there is any deviation from 

 the Keplerian law of areas, it must be extremely slight. There- 



