384 



NA TURE 



[August 15, 1901 



In the BoUettino of the Italian Geographical Society, Signer 

 Cesare CipoUetti continues his papers on the Argentine Re- 

 public, dealing with the regions of the Rio Negro and the Rio 

 Colorado. Appended to a note on the Italian sphere of influ- 

 ence in Africa is a map showing the boundaries of the colony of 

 Eritrea, compiled from official sources. 



A TAPER by Herr S. Puchleitner in the Mittheilungen'oi the 

 Vienna Geographical Society, on the glacial period in the 

 Southern Carpathians, gives an excellent summary of recent 

 research in this region, and more especially of de Martonne's 

 valuable work on cirques. Dr. Kur Hassert publishes an 

 account of his journey through Montenegro during the summer 

 of 1900, in the same number. 



Peteriiianu s Mittheiluiigen contains an article on the mag- 

 netic work to be undertaken by the German South Polar Expe- 

 dition, by Dr. Bidlingmaier, the meteorologist and magnetician 

 of the expedition. It includes the official programme of 

 observations on the term days, and of the international scheme 

 of cooperation, whereby it is hoped to obtain synoptic charts 

 showing the magnetic condition of the whole globe on these 

 days. Dr. Hans Gazert, the doctor of the Expedition, also 

 contributes a paper on the bacteriological problems to be 

 investigated. 



A NUMBER of the Ahkandltiiigen of the \'ienna Geographical 

 Society, just issued, contains a paper on the contrasts in climate 

 on the east and west coast regions of continents in extra-tropical 

 latitudes, by Dr. Ludwig Coellen. The author arranges the 

 results of observations, chiefly obtained from tables published 

 by Buchan, Hann and Woeikof, in such a way as to clearly 

 bring out the salient points of difference ; but it may be doubted 

 if the selection of individual stations on which his generalisa- 

 tions are based is always satisfactory. We note that the direct 

 influence of ocean currents is properly relegated to a secondary 

 place. 



In a former paper on barisal guns, &c., in the province of 

 Umbria {Boll. Soc. Sismol. Ital., vol. iii. 1897, pp. 222^234), 

 Dr. Cancani attributes these phenomena to endogenous causes. 

 He continues the subject in the last number of the same journal 

 <vol. vii. 1901, pp. 23-47), describing similar noises which 

 have been observed in the districts round Isernia and Cosenza 

 and in Umbria and Latium. In the latter case he argues that 

 the sounds were neither of artificial nor of atmospheric origin ; 

 and, as slight tremors were noticed in some instances to accom- 

 pany them, his views receive considerable support from the 

 recent observations. 



Memoirs and notes upon many aspects of polar exploration 

 are included in the " Antarctic Manual " prepared for the use 

 of the members of the British Antarctic expedition. Mr. George 

 Murray, F.R.S., is the editor of the manual, and Sir Clements 

 Markham, K.C. B. , contributes a preface in which he surveys 

 the contents, and remarks that the volume "is presented to 

 the expedition by the president and council of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society," so that the Royal Society is not officially 

 concerned with the work. Among the subjects of papers in the 

 volume are : — ice nomenclature, astronomical data, tidal obser- 

 vations, pendulum observations, terrestrial magnetism, climate, 

 wave observations, the aurora, atmospheric electricity, chemical 

 and physical notes, geology, volcanoes and volcanic action, ice 

 observations, the collection of rocks and minerals, zoology, 

 botany, sledge-travelling, geography, and an Antarctic biblio- 

 graphy. The manual thus contains in a compact form practically 

 all that is known about South Polar regions, and also records of 

 experience in Arctic exploration. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Crab-eating Raccoon (Procyon caiicii_ 

 NO. 1659, VOL. 64] 



vonis) from South America, presented by Mr. George Lance- 

 field ; a Wild Swine (Sus scrofd) from Persia, presented by Mr. 

 B. T. Ffinch ; a Cardinal Grosbeak (Cardinalis virginiaiun), 

 two Bluebirds {Sialia wilsoni) from North America, presented 

 by Colonel Ashburner ; a Golden Eagle (Aijiiila clirysaclos) 

 from Scotland, presented by Mr. J- Monro Walker : two Stone 

 C-ar\evi%(.Ediiiieiints scolofax), British, presented by Mr. A. E. 

 Chaplin ; an Orange-cheeked Waxbill (Eslrelda melpoda) from 

 West Africa, presented by Mr. W. S. Primley ; a Kinkajou 

 {Cercoleptes caudivotvulus) from South America, deposited; a 

 Hoffmann's Sloth {Cholopus hoffmanni) from Panama, pur- 

 chased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Encke's Comet. — A telegram sent out from Harvard 

 College Observatory announces that the first observation of this 

 periodic comet was made by Prof. Wilson at Northfield, on 

 Monday evening, August 5. 



The determination of position was as follows : — 



R.A. = 6h. 2m. 2'Ss.1 (1901). August 5d. gh. 25m. 3s. 



Deck = -f 31° 42' 30"/ G.M.T. 



Oi5SERV.\TlONS OF Mars. — In the BiiUetiii dc la Soc. 

 Astronomiijue de Frame (1901, pp. 345-3551, MM. Flammarion 

 and Antoniadi give an account of their new observations of the 

 planet Mars made at the Juvisy Observatory during the period 

 1900 October 23 and 1901 July 6. Two charts are given, one 

 showing the northern hemisphere as a polar projection, the 

 other giving the zone from -fSo" to -50' lat. on Mercator's 

 projection. 



Tables are given show'ing the varying dimensions of the North 

 Polar snow-cap, which at the summer solstice had a diameter of 

 about twenty degrees. The charts are described in detail, 

 showing the differences from former observations. Attention is 

 again drawn to the half-tone shading which apparently extends 

 over the northern hemisphere from the pole to latitude 45°, 

 limited towards the south by the region containing the canali. 



At Juvisy, fifty canali have been seen, forty-six of which agree 

 with the observations of Schiaparelli, and one from the list of 

 Cerulli. Only three cases of gemination have been noticed, the 

 most prominent being Cerberus and Casius, which were visible 

 without difficulty. The Styx was also suspected of duplicity, 

 but the components were not sharply separated. 



Variations of the Magnetic Needle. — M. Souleyre 

 commences a discussion of the possible causes of the variations 

 of the magnetic needle, and in his first article outlines the pro- 

 duction of currents and other disturbances in the solar corona 

 by the action of the planets, these reacting on the supposed 

 electrical constitution of the corona and other solar surround- 

 ings. The extension of the theory to explain the periodicity of 

 sunspots, terrestrial magnetic storms and aurorce is then presented, 

 special attention being given to the effect of planetary disturb- 

 ance {Bull. Soc. Ait. de France, 1901, pp. 362-370). 



Variation of Eros. — Supplementing his recent note, M. 

 Andre furnishes a few further particulars concerning the form of 

 light-curve and amplitude of the determined variation, in Coiiiptes 

 rendtis (cxxxiii. pp. 324-326). When observed on the same even- 

 ing, the minima of two orders were not quite identical. The form 

 of the light-curve in the neighbourhood of the minima did not 

 sensibly change during the observations, but a considerable 

 degree of change has occurred about the points of maxima. A 

 table is included showing the amplitudes of the variation ob- 

 served on nineteen evenings during February, March and April, 

 1 901, ranging from 2*o magnitudes to zero. 



Orbits of Algol Variables, RR Purris and V Purpis. 

 — Dr. A. W. Roberts has computed the characteristic features 

 of the orbits of these two variables from observations secured at 

 his private observatory, Lovedale, South Africa. Of the two 

 variables, V Puppis is specially interesting from the fact that it 

 is a spectroscopic binary, so that more refined measurements 

 in the line of sight may possibly enable the absolute masses of 

 the system to be determined. 



RR Puppis.— 



R.A.= 7h. 43"^. 3is.|(^ .0). 

 Deck =-4176 i 



