May i 7) 1883] 



NATURE 



65 



Dr. Pogge reached the Mukenge safely in September last, bring, 

 ing large collections with hi u. He had written and sent to 

 Malange for means for his return journey. 



A REPORT on the Peter Redpath Museum, Montreal, the 

 foundation of which was laid by the Marquis of Lome in 

 September, 1SS0, describes the opening ceremony in August, 

 during the meeting of the American Association. Mr. Redpath 

 in a very few words handed over the Museum to the University, 

 and speeches were made by the Chancellor, Dr. Carpenter, 

 Prof. Hall, and Dr. Dawson. Already collections have been 

 placed in the Museum, which promises to become one of the 

 first rank. 



The current number of the Agricultural Students' Gazelle, 

 edited by students at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, 

 contains an instructive article on Devonshire Orchards and Cider- 

 making, by C. B. Northcote, a member of the College. Miss 

 Ormerod contributes a paper on the Coffee Grub in Ceylon, em- 

 bodying our information on this pest up to the present time, from 

 information largely derived from a pamphlet by Mr. Haldane on 

 the subject. Mr. Rutherford gives a conci>e paper on the 

 Agriculture of the Cotswolds ; Prof. Garside one on Glanders, 

 adducing evidence that it is a germ disease due to a bacillus. 

 There is also an interesting and instructive collection of chemical 

 curiosities, answers to examination questions ; and in addition 

 reports on the experimental field plots, on the weather, on the 

 amount of chl ;rine in the rain water of the district, and on many 

 other more purely college matters. This magazine fully keeps 

 up to its advanced standard, and has a value in a circle far wider 

 than its immediate connection with the Agricultural Cullege. 



We have received the Proceedings of the Medical Society of 

 the Kazan University, which contains, besides purely medical 

 I apers, several valuable papers of general interest. We notice 

 among them a lecture, by Prof. Scherbakoff, on carbonic and 

 azulmic acids in the soil as a measure of the oxidation of its 

 organic constituents. It is known that since more attention has 

 been given to the sanitary conditions of different soils, Herr 

 1'ettenkofer has proposed to measure the amount of putrefied 

 organic matter in the soil by the amount of carbonic acid it 

 contains. Prof. Scherbakoff makes a complete analysis of the 

 chemical and putrefactive processes that are going on in the 

 soil, and comes to the conclusion that, unhappily, the carbonic 

 acid does not give a measure either of the oxidating capacity 

 of the soil or of the decomposition of the organic matter. 

 The same conclusion is arrived at with regard to azulmic acid, 

 which is formed only under the action of special ferments, as 

 appears from the classical researches of MM. Schlesing, Miintz 

 and Pasteur, so that oxidation of the organic elements of the 

 soil may go on on a large scale without azulmic acid appearing 

 as a result of the process. We notice also apaper, by M. Orloff, 

 on the influence of wet and dry chlorine upon different materials 

 when used for disinfection, the author giving the results of a 

 series of experiments on various linen, cotton, silk, and woollen 

 stuffs. The tables of diseases at Kazan and in several districts 

 of the province are also of great interest ; they show, for 

 in tance, that the number of cases of malarial fever is really 

 enormous, as it has reached, in the town of Kazan, the figure of 

 ^3,000 cases during five years. As to cattle and hor^e diseases, 

 their number is still more striking, as every year the province 

 1 .s;s no less than 4300 to 4600 head of horned cattle, to which 

 must be added sometimes — as in 1S77 — 3250 cattle and horses 

 exterminated by the Siberian plague. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus radialus) from 

 India, presented by Mr. F. J. Wicks ; a Ring-tailed Coati 

 (Nasua rufa), a Kinkajou (Cercoleptes caudivolvulus) from 

 Demerara, presented by Mr. Ernest Francis ; a Herrirg Gull 



{Laws argentatus), British, presented by Mrs. Andrews ; a 

 Smooth Snake (Coronella Itwis), European, presented by Mr. 

 W. A. B. Pain ; a Bateleur Eagle (Hetotarsus ecauJatus) from 

 Africa, two Germain's Peac >ck Pheasants (Polypleclrou germaini) 

 from Cochin China, purchased; a Bennett's Wallaby {Halma- 

 turus itnnitti), four Brown-tailed Gerbillus {Gerbillus crythrurus), 

 born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



D'Arrest's Comet. — The following approximate positions 

 of this comet are deduced from M. Leveau's elements : — 



At Greenwich Midnight 

 R.A. Deck Log. Distance from 



h. m. s. , Earth. Sun. 



May 25 ... 13 13 47 ... +13 8-9 ... 0-2983 ... 0-4312 

 27 ... — 12 51 ... 13 6"9 

 29 ... — 12 O ... 13 4-9 ... 0-3015 ... 0^4267 



31 ... — 11 15 ... 13 19 



June 2 ... — 10 35 ... 12 58-0 ... 0-3051 ... 04221 



4 ... — 10 1 ... 12 53-2 



6 ... — 9 34 ■•■ '2 47'° ■•• 0-3090 ... 0-4175 



8 ... — 9 13 ... 12 41-1 



10 ... 13 8 57 ... +12 339 ... 0-3132 ... 0-4128 



The Observatory of Rio Janeiro. — We have received 

 the Bulletin Astronomiijue el Mitiorologique de 1 ' Obscrvatcire 

 Imperial de Rio de Janeiro for January and February. In the 

 first number are observations of the nucleus of the great comet 

 of 1882 made hy M. Lacaille. While stationed at Olinda (Per- 

 nambuco) for the observation of the transit of Venus, he re- 

 marked on November 16 a small nebulosity 6° south of the 

 uucleus of the great comet : it was circular, and had a slight 

 central condensation. On November 20 he saw it again ; its 

 aspect was the same as on the previous day, it had the 

 sane right ascension, but its declination was 1° further 

 south. On November 22 and 26 i' was observed in the same 

 position as on the 20th. M. Lacaille believes that this small 

 nebulosity was no other than a fragment of the nucleus of the 

 great comet. On returning to Rio, he found on January 8, on 

 examining this nucleus with the 10-inch equatorial and power of 

 500, that it was highly elongated and subdivided into four small 

 nebulosities, the centres of which had the appearance of stars of 

 the twelfth magnitude. The aspect of the fourth as compared 

 with the others, was less condensed, but rather more lengthened 

 out. On the following night he was surprised to find that the 

 first nebulosity was no longer in the position that he had seen it 

 on the 8th, but that it was situate outside the elorgated nucleus, 

 and its centre had lost the appearance of a star of the twelfth 

 magnitude. The second nebulo ity was precisely in the position 

 of the day preceding. The fourth had sensibly approached the 

 third. On January 10 the four nebulosities retained the same 

 relative positions. Several days of cloudy weather followed, but 

 on January 15 he found that there was a fifth nebulosity in the 

 elongated nucleus. 1 hese changes are w ell shown in a litho- 

 graph accompanying M. Lacaille's observations. In the 

 February number of the Bulletin are observations of the same 

 comet, made at Athens by Dr. Julius Schmidt, as detailed in a 

 letter addressed by him to the Emperor of Brazil. It relates 

 chiefly to the nebulosities which were remarked by Dr. Schmidt 

 in the vicinity of the nucleus of the great comet on October 9, 

 10, and 11, his drawings showing the fantastic forms presented 

 by the nebulosities being lithographed. 



The Observatory of Moscow. — Volume IX. (livraison i.) 

 of Annates de V Olnervatoire de Moscoit, has been i-sued. 

 Amongst the contents are a short paper by M. Bredichin on the 

 resisting medium ; Researches on the first comet of 18S2 (Wells), 

 and observations of the minor planet Victoria, taken in connec- 

 tion with others to be made at the Cape and other southern as 

 well as northern observatories, as part of a plan organised by Dr. 

 Gill, for the determination of a new value of the solar parallax. 

 M. Bredichin compares the observed phenomena of the tail of 

 the first comet of 1882 with the indications of theory. 



Kiell on Tycho Brahe's Nova 1572. — It has often been 

 stated in our astronomic il text-books, that John Kiell, Professor 

 of Astronomy at Oxford, considered that the period of the 

 celebrated star in Cassiopeia in 1572, was "about 150 years," 

 or only half that which had been mov*. gei.erally assigned to it. 



