118 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[May 2, 1898. 



mammals haa gone side by side with the progressive 

 dependence of the young on the mother. 



At the same time, the formation of spores with a strong 

 protective coat became a necessity under the new conditions, 

 and the accessory assistance of the elaters became of much 

 value in securing the wide dispersal of the spores. 



In the liverworts we have, in fact, an indication of a 

 tendency on the part of the spore-bearing generation to 

 assert itself as an independent plant. It will be our 

 business in our future studies to try to discover what has 

 been the result of this tendency, and along what lines it 

 has acted. 



NOTES ON COMETS AND METEORS. 



By W. F. Denning, f.b.a.s. 

 New Comet. — A bright comet was discovered by Mr. 

 C. D. Perrine, of the Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, 

 on the night of March 19th. The position of the comet 

 was at R.A. 319" 39', Dec. 10° 43' N., and it was moving 

 rather quickly to the north-east. Its brightness was esti- 

 mated as of the seventh magnitude, the diameter of the 

 coma was two minutes, and it had a tail about one degree 

 in length. Elements were computed by Kistenpart and by 

 Hussey and Perrine, from which it appeared that the comet 

 had just passed its perihelion, and was receding from the 

 sun and earth. From observations between March 19th 

 and 31st, Kreutz, of Kiel, gives the following elements : — 

 Perihehon passage 1898, March, 17-37558 



Longitude of perihelion ... 310 8 11-7 

 Longitude of ascending node 262 33 59-6 



Inclination 72 27 48-1 



Perihehon distance ... 1 -098(3 



The perihelion place of the comet occurred, therefore, at a 

 distance of about nine millions of miles outside the orbit of 

 the earth. The position of the comet will be as follows : — 



Ephemeris by F. Mijller, for Berlin, Mean Midnight. 



Distance iu 



R.A. Decimation. millions of 



h. ni. s. ° ' miles. Briglitness. 



Mar 4 hi IC -h51 574 177 47 



„■ 8 1 15 -h53 14-7 182 042 



„ 12 1 30 25 -hSi 16-3 188 038 



„ 16 1 57 IS -1-55 2-5 193 0-33 



„ 20 2 17 30 +55 36-6 198 030 



„ 24 2 36 52 -H55 69-9 204 0-27 



., 28 2 .55 20 -h56 14-1 209 0-24 



June 1 3 1.J 49 +56 205 214 022 



.,5 3 2 J 19 +56 20-7 219 20 



„ 9 3 44 51 +56 15-8 224 18 



„ 13 3 .59 25 +56 70 229 'Oie 



On April 80th the comet will be placed three degrees 

 south of the star X, Cassiopeiaj (magnitude 3-7). On May 

 Cth it will be two degrees south of S Cassiopeiae (magnitude 

 4-4), and for a few nights, about May 18th, wiU be very 

 near the great star cluster in Perseus. 



Enche's Comet. — This well-known periodical comet will 

 pass its perihelion on May 24th, but will not be visible at 

 that time, as it is near l Tauri, and only about twenty 

 degrees east of the sun. In June the comet will move 

 rapidly southwards, and will approach the earth to within 

 about twenty-three millions of miles on July 3rd, so that 

 it will be a fairly conspicuous object to observers in the 

 southern hemisphere. 



Cometdrij ]>iscoveri). — At the last meeting of the British 

 Astronomical Association, on March 30th, Mr.Crommellin, 

 of the Greenwich Observatory, made some remarks rather 

 derogatory to English observers in regard to discoveries 

 of comets. His strictures appear to be quite justified by 

 the facts, for there is no reason why nearly all the prizes 

 in this field should be carried off by Americans. In view 



of the large number of capable observers, it is certainly a 

 very remarkable circumstance that so few comets are 

 discovered in this country. The climate cannot be blamed 

 for it. Either observers do not thoroughly pursue the 

 work of sweeping or there mast be something wrong with 

 their instruments or methods. The work itself is easy 

 and requires no great skill, the chief things essential to 

 success being patience and perseverance. But a man's 

 individual observational capacity comes in as an important 

 factor, for small, faint, and difficult comets would again 

 and again elude detection by a poor observer. It is hoped 

 that some English amateurs will give their earnest 

 attention to this department. They would find it equally 

 interesting, and in the end more profitable, than observing 

 the moon, planets, and double stars. 



Recent Fip.eb.\lls.. — On March 29th, 8h. 51m., a fine 

 slow-moving meteor, not quite as bright as Jupiter, waa 

 observed by Mr. A. King, at Leicester. It had the appear- 

 ance of a bright green star, followed by a red tail three 

 and a half degrees in length. Its path was from 124^" 

 + H° to 97^" — 12°, and duration of flight about equal 

 to four and a half seconds. 



On April 4th, lOh. 35m., a very brilliant meteor was 

 seen by Mr. J. H. Preston, of Fishponds, near Bristol. 

 It fell in a very oblique path from east to west. The 

 nucleus appeared to be of the size of a fairly large orange, 

 and at the end of its flight it apparently exploded into a 

 large number of fragments. 



On April 5th, lOh. 15m., a large meteor, brighter than 

 Venus, and with a remarkably slow movement, was 

 observed by the Kev. T. E. R. Phillips, at Yeovil. He 

 says : " It was of a beautiful golden yellow or orange 

 colour, and left a train of sparks behind. One can hardly 

 conceive of what its splendour would have been had there 

 been no moon. It travelled through a hundred degrees of 

 longitude so far as I traced it, and I probably missed the 

 beginning and certainly missed the ending, as the meteor 

 dropped behind some houses. Owing to the brilliant moon- 

 light it was diflicult to determine its position with accuracy. 

 I first caught it near i; Leonis, and followed it as far as a 

 point a little below S Herculis. The duration of flight was 

 twelve to fifteen seconds, and position of the path from 

 154° -I- 17° to 260° + 22°." The same object was seen by 

 Mr. Vaughan Cornish at Bournemouth. He gives the 

 time as lOh. 17m., and says the meteor was quite as bright 

 as Venus at her maximum. The nucleus had a sensible 

 diameter and a deep yellow colour. It threw off a short 

 train. The observed part of the path was very nearly 

 vertical, and extended over about twelve degrees, ending 

 three degrees to the right of Vega, and about half a degree 

 lower than that star. " The finish up of the meteor was 

 like that of a burning body being extinguished ; it did not 

 end with a burst." Mr. P. M. Ryves, of Stone, Stafford- 

 shire, also witnessed the appearance of the meteor, and 

 gives the time as lOh. 10m. He describes it as travelling 

 from south-west to south-east in a very nearly horizontal 

 flight, and with extreme slowness. There wis no train, 

 but a fragment behind and in front. The duration was 

 from twenty to thirty seconds, but may have been much 

 more as he did not see the beginning. The exact path was 

 from 151° -9° to 199°-19°. 



From a careful comparison of these observations it 

 appears that, when first seen, the meteor was situated at a 

 height of eighty-nine miles above a point in the English 

 Channel about twenty-five miles south-east of Dartmouth. 

 Moving very slowly to the north-east it entered upon the 

 English coast near St. Alban's Head ; then, successively 

 passing over Bournemouth, Southampton, Alton, and 

 Aldershot, it finally disappeared at an elevation of twenty- 



