114 



NA TURE 



[December i. 1904 



Messrs. George Bell and Sons have published a revised 

 re-issue of " Cities and Sights of Spain," by Mrs. Aubrey 

 Le Blond (Mrs. Main). This handbook for tourists is meant 

 as a supplement to the ordinary guide-book, and the inform- 

 ation supplied shows that the writer has an intimate first- 

 hand knowledge of the country. The advice as to hotels, 

 expenses, what to do and what not to do, is of just the kind 

 to be of assistance to visitors to Spain, of which country 

 the writer says, " no other part of Europe offers so varied 

 and attractive a field to nearly every type of traveller." 

 The appearance of this re-issue is particularly opportune 

 just now, since astronomers and others will be visiting 

 Spain next year to view the total eclipse of the sun, as the 

 central line of the eclipse runs in a direction N.W. to S.E. 

 across that country. Mrs. Le Blond's book may be com- 

 mended to those scientific visitors who will have time to 

 visit some of the beauty spots of the land in which their 

 observations will be made. 



We have received vol. xxxvi. of the Transactions and 

 Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, which contains 

 details of the work of the year 1903. The transactions are 

 divided into five sections — miscellaneous, zoology, botany, 

 geology, and chemistry and physics. The total number of 

 papers contributed in these subjects reaches fifty. Among 

 the contributions to the miscellaneous section may be 

 mentioned several statistical studies by Prof. H. W. Segar 

 and an exhaustive consideration of Maori marriage customs 

 by Mr. Elsdon Best. The president of the institute, Captain 

 F. \V. Hutton, F.R.S., is the largest contributor to the 

 section of zoology. He describes a new fish, two new flies, 

 a new blow-fly from Campbell Island, and has papers on a 

 new Weta from Chatham Islands and on the occurrence of 

 the curlew sandpiper {Ancylochilus siib-arqiiaius) in New 

 Zealand. Prof. Benham writes of a new species of leech 

 (Hirudo antipodum) recently discovered in New Zealand, 

 of the Oligochaeta of the New Zealand lakes, and of an 

 apparently new species of Regalecus (R. parkeri). Prof. 

 Park contributes to the section of geology five papers on 

 different aspects of New Zealand geology. Of the six 

 papers in chemistry and physics, three are the work of Mr. 

 J. S. S. Cooper. The proceedings, which make up the 

 second part of the volume, provide interesting particulars 

 of the year's work of each of the seven scientific societies 

 affiliated to the New Zealand Institute. The volume as a 

 whole demonstrates conclusively that the men of science in 

 New Zealand are doing successfully their part to extend the 

 bounds of natural knowledge. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Astronomical Occurrences in December : — 

 Dec. I. loh. 9m. to I2h. 8m. Tran.sit of Jupiter's Sat. III. 

 ,, lOh. 22m. Minimum of Algol (^ Persei). 

 ,, I3h. 56ni. to I4h. Sm. Moon occults 7) Virginis 



(Mag, 40). 

 4. 7h. iim. Minimum of Algol (fl Persei). 

 8. I3h. 43m. to I5h. 45m. Transit of Jupiter's Sat. III. 

 10-12. Epoch of Geminid meteoric shower (Radiant 

 108= + 33°). 



11. I2h. cm. Saturn in conjunction with Moon (Saturn 



3'2S'S.). 



12. ih. Juno in conjunction with Moon (Juno 0° 49' S.). 



13. loh. 19m. to iih. 12m. Moon occults \ Aquarii 



(Mag. 3-9). 

 ,, 2ih. om. Mercury at greatest elongation (20° 30' E.). 

 16. Ijh. Jupiter in conjunction with Moon (Jupiter 1° 



47' N.) 

 20. 6h. ini. to 7h. 4m. Moon occults 7 Tauri (Mag. 3.9). 

 „ lih. 25m. to llh. 58m. Moon occults 9' Tauri (Mag. 

 3-9). 

 NO. I 83 I, VOL. 71] 



Dec. 20. I2h. 2im. to I3h. 31m. Moon occults B.\C 1391 

 (Mag. 4-9). 

 „ I5h. 19m. to l6h. 12m. Moon occults a Tauri (Mag. 



i-i) 

 21. 2ih. om. Uranus in conjunction with Sun. 

 24. Sh. 54m. Minimum of Algol (3 Persei). 



26. 9h. 2m. to 9h. 13m. Moon occults A Leonis (Mag. 



4-6). 



27. 5h. 43m. Minimum of Algol (j8 Persei). 



,, 2ih. Venus in conjunction with Saturn (Venus o'' 

 48' S.) 



28. loh. Neptune in opposition to the Sun. 



29. I2h. om. Neptune's Satellite at max. elong. west 



(distance 17"). 



Encke's Comet (1904 h). — No. 3980 of the Astronoinische 

 Nachrichten contains the results of further observations of 

 Encke's comet. 



Prof. Millosevich, observing at the Roman College Observ- 

 atory at 6h. 26m. 15s. (M.T. Rome) on November 7, deter- 

 mined the position of the comet to be 



a (app.) = 22h. 50m. 39-93S., 8 (app.) = -|-22° 19' 2o"i, 

 and recorded the object as an extraordinarily difficult one 

 with the filar micrometer of the 39 cm. equatorial ; no 

 nucleus could be definitely seen. 



On November 15 Herr Moschick, using the 6-inch tele- 

 scope of the Konigstuhl Observatory, Heidelberg, found the 

 comet to be a very faint and diffuse object with a doubtful 

 nucleus. The position at I3h. 12m. (Konigstuhl M.T.) was 

 a (app.) = 22h. 13m. 37-6s., 5 (app.)= -I- iS° 14' 26". 



The following is a corrected ephemeris, by M. JCaminsky, 

 given in the November number of the Observatory : — 

 Ephemeris {Berlin Midnight). 

 1004 R.A. Pec. 



On the last mentioned date the comet will be a little 

 north of « Aquilas, and owing to its proximity to the sun 

 in right ascension will be a difficult object to observe. 



As pointed out by Dr. Smart, the comet will approach 

 very near to Mercury in January, and it is hoped that an 

 opportunity of testing the mass of Mercury, by observations 

 of the comet after the approach, will therefore be available. 



V.4Ri.\TioNS ON the Moon's Surf.ace. — In No. 4, 

 vol. liii., of the Harvard College Observatory .innals Prof. 

 W. H. Pickering publishes a number of photographs illus- 

 trating the changes which take place in the regions about 

 the lunar crater Eratosthenes during the commencement, 

 the duration, and the passing of sunlight on that region of 

 the moon's surface. 



There are sixteen figures in all, the longest interval of 

 time between the taking of any two successive figures being 

 1-6 days, and it is hoped that, by publishing these together 

 with the detailed descriptions by Prof. Pickering which 

 accompany them, the w-ork of other selenographists may 

 be greatly facilitated, by the possession of the knowledge 

 of what to look for. 



The mean diameter of the crater of Eratosthenes is 37 

 miles, that of the floor 28 miles, and measures of the 

 shadows cast indicate that the western wall has a height 

 of 12,000 feet, whilst the indicated height of the eastern 

 wall is something less than 15,000 feet. 



As evidence in favour of the vegetal origin of these pheno- 

 mena. Prof. Pickering suggests that although water could 

 not exist at the low pressures obtaining on the lunar surface, 

 vet it might be retained in the soil by capillary attraction 

 and thence feed the vegetation, which at each return of 

 sunlight would develop and thus cause the changes illus- 

 trated in the photographs. 



Celestial Photography at High .■\ltitudes. — An interest- 

 ing account of the work performed by Prof. Payne and Dr. 

 H. C. Wilson during their sojourn at Midvale (Montana), 

 illustrated by reproductions of two of the photographs 



