504 



NATURE 



[September 20, 1S94 



On the title-page to the second edition of the " Manual of the I 

 Geology of India," recently noticed in Nature, the name o( 

 the author of thi: edition alone appears. The Government of 

 India, on ths circuai5tancebein» broajht to their notice, have 

 ordered the title-page in question to be cincelled, and a revised 

 title-page, with the namij of the original authors of the work 

 inserted, to be substituted. 



We are informed that Mr. J. Nisbet, some of whose books 

 on Forestry were recently reviewed in these columns, has under- 

 taken to contribute a series of short articles on "Birds in 

 Relation to Forestry " to the Xatur.al History Department of 

 the Yorkihire IWekly Pest. 



The syllabus of the Manchester Municipal Technical School 

 and Municipal School of .\rt, for the session 1S94-5, has just 

 been issued, and may be obtained from the director and secre- 

 tary, or the Guardian Printing Works, Manchester. A'tention 

 is drawn to several new subjects and courses of instruction, 

 among which we may mention — honours classes in theoretical 

 mechanics, applied mechanics and steam, a course of lecture; 

 in hygiene, and special courses in magnetism and electricity for 

 telegraph employes. 



The fifth annual report of the Miisouri Botanical (iarden, 

 covering the year 1S93, has just come to hand, and forms a 

 handsome volume. The year under review seems to have been 

 a very satisfactor)' one for the garden, bo'.h from a financial and 

 scientific standpoint. In addition to the reports of the officers 

 of the Board and of the director, the volume contains several 

 scientific papers, some of which are illustrated ; there ate also 

 several well-executed pro;es3 illustrations of objects of interest 

 in the garden. 



We leam from the abstract of the P/wt-tiiings of the Linnean 

 Society of New York for the year ending March 27, 1894, 

 that at the annu.al meeting, held on the date mentioned, there 

 were 136 resident and 35 corresponding members. At the 

 beginning of the year the society had on its roll 37 resident 

 and 37 corresponding members. Daring the year 29 papers 

 were read, and 214 publications were added to the librarv. 



Messrs. J. and.V. CiifRCHiLL have sent us the new edition 

 — the third — of the translation, by T. II. Waller and II. K. 

 Procter, of Kohlrausch's " -\n Introduction to Physic.1l Measure- 

 ments." The present edition is translated from the seventh 

 German edition, and contains nearly four times the number of 

 pages than the first German edition, which appeared in 1S69. 

 The tables have been corrected to the present state of knowledge, 

 and a good deal of new matter has been embodied in them. 



A Macazi.se entitled the .■imerican Hislorica! A'<s;isUr hi% 

 been started this month in Philadelphia, the special mission of 

 which is to form the medium of inquiry and communication be- 

 tween the memb;ri of various .\merican patrio.ic associations, to 

 chronicle their proceedings, and to preserve in its pages matters 

 of historical value and of personal interest to their members ; 

 it bears, therefore, the subtitle of "Monthly Gazette of the 

 Patriotic-Hereditary Societies of the United Slates of America." 

 The magazine i* tastefully prinlcl on good paper, and several 

 successful process illustrations grace its pages. 



The Journat of the Royal Horticultural Society dated 

 Augast hu just reached us, and contains, in addition to the 

 usual extracts from the Proceedings of the .Society, the lollowing 

 papers : — " The Cedar of Goa," by Dr. M. T. .Masters, !•'. R.S. ; 

 " The Deciduous Trees and .Shrubs of Japan," by James H 

 Veitch ; " Rare Trees and Shrubs in the Arnold Arboretum," 

 by Maurice de Vilmorin ; " Hybrid Narcissi," by the Rev. G. 

 H. Englehear. ; " Botanical Exploration in Borneo," by F. 

 W. Burbidge ; "Flowering Trees and Shrubs," by George 

 Nicholson. 



NO. 1299, VOL. 50] 



Messrs. Dulau and Co. have issued part xxxiv. of their 

 catalogue of zoological and p-aK-eontological works, containing 

 descriptions ot the books on mammalia offered lor sale by 

 them. 



We have received from Dr. F. Krantz, Rhenish Mineral 

 Oflice, Bonn-onthe Rhine, a catalogue of minerals, and plates 

 of minerals for exhibiting optical phenomena, which he has for 

 sale. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Common Marmoset (Hafale jacchiis) from 

 South-east Brazil, presented by Mr. J. C. Alleyne ; a Boschbok 

 (Tragilaphus sylvattcit;, 9 ) from South Africa, presented by 

 Mr. J. E. Matcham ; a Silver Pheasant {Eiit-locamus 

 nycthemcriis, 9 ) from China, presented by Mr. Thomas 

 Harris; a Larger Hill-Mynah (Gracula iiileiiiicJia) from 

 India, presented by Mr. Charles E. Brooke : a Cape Bucephalus 

 {BiiceJ>i'ia!us eaf-ensis) horn South Africa, presented by .Mr. .\. 

 W. Arrowsmith ; a Common Chameleon {CAtiWu-Jijii z'ii'giiiis'< 

 from North .-Vfrica, presented by Mr.G. T. Elphick ; a Slowworm 

 (.higiiis fragilis), British, presented by Mr. G. H. Morton 

 .Middleton ; a Malbrouck Monkey {Ceicopithcctis cyncstirns, 9 ) 

 from West Africa, a Blue-fronted .\mazon (C/irysotis •tstiva), 

 from South America, twenty Painted Terrapins (C/cw«;'i/<V/ij) 

 five Stink-pot Terrapins {Aromodniys odora/a), an American 

 Box Tortoise ( Terra fcne carinata) from North America, 



deposited ; a Hedgehog {ILrinaieus, sp. inc.) from India, 



a Mitred Guinea Fowl [Xiiiiiida niilrala) from Mad.igasc.ir, a 

 Bull Frog (A'aiia eates/'iaiia) from North .\merica, puichased. 



OUJi ASTRONOMICAL COLUMX. 



The Semi-j\nxi'AL Variation of Meteors. — "It is a 

 saying of Arago," wrote Prof. A. S. Herschel thirty years ago, 

 "founded upon observation and confirmed by constant expe- 

 rience in later years, that the Earth encounters more shooting 

 stars ingoing from aphelion to perihelion than in going from 

 perihelion to aphelion." The fact of this semi-annual variation 

 in the number of meteors has since been confirmed by many 

 observers, and has also furnished a subject for much discussion. 

 Mr. G. C. Bompas summarises the state of knowledge on the 

 matter in the current number of the Monthly Xo'.iccs of the 

 K. .V.S. , and criticises the explanation believed to account for 

 the facts of observation. The theory accepted by most ob- 

 servers is that the semi-annual variation referred to is due to the 

 planetary motion of the Earth, just as the horary variation it 

 due to the Earth's rotation. It will at once be seen that obser- 

 vations in the southern hemisphere supply a lest of the validity 

 of this explanation ; for the greater number of meteors should 

 appear in the southern hemisphere from January to June in 

 each year — that is. when that hemisphere is in front of the Earth's 

 orbital motion. From June to December, when the northern 

 hemisphere is in (rout, we encounter a larger number of meteort 

 than during the first half of the year. There can be no doubt 

 ihat the change in the position of the Earth's axis relatively to 

 her motion does really tend to incre.ise the number of shooting 

 stars seen in the second half of the year in the northern hemi- 

 sphere, but Mr. Bompas thinks that this cause is insufficient to , 

 account for the very large increase observed, viz. from two to 

 tlirce times the number observed in the first half of the year, 

 lie has examined the meteor observations made by Dr. Neu- 

 niayer at the Melbourne Observatory from 1S5S to 1863, and 



j he finds that the variation is not reversed, but follows the same 

 law as in the northern hemisphere, the hourly number of 



' meteors seen in the second half of the year exceeding the 

 number seen in the first half. It seems, therefore, that some 

 cause further than that hitherto assigned must help in producing 

 the semiannual variation of meteors. The whole discussion 

 leads Mr. Bompas to sulnnit : (I) That the explanation hitherto 

 adoptc<l of the semi-annual variation of meteors is inadequate ; 

 (2) that the variation is connected with and mainly clue to the 

 cosmical motion of the solar system ; (3) that it renders highly 

 prvbable the cosmical origin and motion of meteors. 



