n6 



NA TURE 



{May 31, 1883 



were Sir Charles Dilke, Prof. Tyndall, and the Archbishop of 

 York. It is to be hoped that the public, and especially those 

 on whose skill and honesty our sanitary arrangements are de- 

 pendent, will take ample advantage of the opportunities offered 

 by the new museum. 



The seventh Congress of Russian Naturalists and Physicians 

 will be held this year at Odessa, from August 30 to Sept. 9. 



The district of Pergamos in Asia Minor is now so infested 

 with sparrows that applicition has been made to the Turkish 

 Government for aid against them. It will be remembered that 

 this district is subject to occasional invasions of rodents. 



The Marine Excursion Com uittee of the Birmingham Natural 

 History and Microscopical Society announce that, in response to 

 a wish expressed by many members, iheyhave arranged a second 

 excursion to Oban and the West Highlands of Scotland, similar 

 to that which proved so successful in the year 1SS1. The party 

 will leave on Friday, June 29 next, to reach Oban about 5 p.m. 

 on Saturday. The screw steam yacht Aerolite, of about sixty 

 ton-, has been hired of Messrs. R'jss and Marshall of Greenock 

 for a week, commencing Monday, July 2 ; facilities will thus be 

 afforded for dredging excursions 1 ot only in the district previously 

 worked, but also in distant localities. Arrangements are being 

 made for excursions to several places of interest in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Oban. 



The sixth annual meeting and conversazione of the Midland 

 Union of Natural History Societies will be held at Tamworth 

 on June 12 next. Excursions have been arranged for that day 

 and the 13th. The Darwin Gold Medal for 1SS2 will be pre- 

 sented to Prof. A. M. Marshall and W. P. Marshall, for their 

 paper on the Pennatulida. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Malbrouck Monkey (Ccrcopitnecus cynosurus) 

 from West Africa, presented by Mr C. D. Gordon ; two Grisons 

 (Galictis viitata) from South America, presented by Mr. Percy 

 Kenyon Slaney ; two Sloth Bears (Melursus labiatus) from 

 India, presented by Mr. F. A. Curteis ; a Surucucu or Bush- 

 master [Lachesis mulus) from Pernambuco, presented by Mr. J. 

 Y. Barkley ; a Common Chameleon (Chamteleon vulgaris) from 

 North Africa, presented by Mr. Henry W. Weguelin ; a Chim- 

 panzee [Anlhropopithecus troglodytes i ) from West Africa, two 

 Welsh Sheep (Ovis aria) from Wales, a Goffin's Cockatoo 

 (Cacatua gof/ini) from Queensland, five Margined Tortoises 

 (Testudo marginatus), thirteen European Pond Tortoises [Emys 

 euro/tva), South European, deposited ; a Common Seal {Phoca 

 vitnlina) from British Seas, a Grey-headed Porphyrio (Porphjrio 

 foliocephalus), a Corneal Worm Snake (Gongylophis conicus) 

 from India, purchased ; a Hybrid Tapir, ? (bred between 

 Tapirus roulini $ and Tapirits americanus ? ), born in the 

 Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Minor Planet, Andromache. — Among the small 

 planets mentioned in the last volume of the Berliner Astrono- 

 misckes jfahrbuch as having been observed at one opposition 

 only, though several oppositions have taken place since their 

 discovery, is No. 175, detected by the late Prof. Watson of Ann 

 Arbor, U.S., on October I, 1S77, and named Andromache. 

 The orbic has a considerable eccentricity, and the planet recedes 

 to a gre.uer distance fro.u the sun at aphelion than is the case 

 with any other member of this now numerous group so far calcu- 

 lated ; indeed at this point of its orbit it is distant from the sun 

 4-723 (the earth's mean distance being taken as unity), and only 

 o"594 from the orbit of Jupiter. There should be no great 

 difficulty in recovering this planet during the month of June or 

 July. According to the most accurate demerits calculated by 



Prof. Watson it will be in perihelion about July 25, and in 

 opposition a f .rtnight earlier, its computed intensity of light 

 being equal to that of a star of fully the ninth magnitude. lis 

 considerable south declination will give an advantage to a search 

 at one of the observatories of southern Europe. To facilitate 

 its reobservation we subjoin p .sitions deduced from the orbit 

 last published : — ■ 



At Greenwich Midnight 



The planet will probably be situated at some distance in R.A. 

 from these positions, which are only intended as a'i approximate 

 indication of its places. The last reference to a search for it 

 which we find in the circulars of the Berliner Jahrbuch, occurs 

 in No. I [8 (Correspondenz), 1SS1, March 3, where we read, 

 "Andromache innerhalb — 6m. 30s. bis -3m. 55s., und — 2m. 

 2us. bis -t-4m. 15s. vergeblich gesneht." A special rough 

 chirt of stars in the vicinity to the tenth magnitude inclusive 

 would be readily formed with the stars in the Bonn and Wash- 

 ington Zones as reference points. 



The Great Comet of 1SS2. — M. W. Fabritius of Kieff has 

 calculated the following elliptical elements of this comet from 

 two normal positions for September 9 and Octoher 6, and an 

 observation at Kb ijjsherg on M-irch 3 in the present year : — 

 Perihelion pas age, 1882, September 17-2753 M.T. at Berlin. 



276 28 40-1 ) M E 

 3^5 5S 4-J \ m2 \ 



Longitude of pci ihelion 



,, ascending node 



Inclination 38 o 44-7 



Log. (i-e) S'938209 



Log. semi-axis major 1-943548 



Log. perihelion distance 7-881757 



Motion — retrograde. 



The corresponding period of revolution is a little less than 

 S23 years, and as M. Fabritius attaches some weight to his result, 

 he thinks the comet must have appeared about the middle of the 

 eleventh century. 



We shall doubtless have in due cour e a thorough discussion of 

 all reliable ob-ervations ; those made since September 30, when 

 the disintegration of_ the nucleus commenced, will need special 

 treatment. 



The Obliquity of the Ecliptic. — In Nature, vol. xxvii. 

 p. 618, we quoted 23° 4l''l as the value of the obliquity of the 

 ecliptic at the as-igned epoch of Ptolemy's catalogue. With 

 reference to this statement Mr. W. J. Cockburn Muir, of 

 Melrose, N. B. , has made a discovery, on which he writes us as 

 follows -. — " In Nature of Apri, 26, at p. 618, I read that the 

 'obliquity of the Ecliptic' is 23° 41''!, and I wondered much 

 wdiat had suddenly happened in the Kosmos. So I took means 

 to ascertain fro n the Royal Observatory of Greenwich how the 

 record stands, and I am comforted to find that, by the determi- 

 nations in 1SS2, the earth's aws still remains at home — 

 23° 27' i6"'8." Our correspondent may be referred to any 

 elementary treatise 01 astronony. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Mr. Oscar Dickson's Greenland Expedition, under the 

 command of Baron Nordenskjold, sailed from Gothenburg in 

 the Sofia, 180 tons, 65 horse-power, drawing 10 feet, and of 1 1 

 knots speed, navigated by Capt. Nils^on and a crew of 13 men. 

 With Baron Nordenskjold are Dr. Nathorst, geologist; Dr. 

 Berlin, doctor and botanist ; Dr. Forsstrand, zoologist ; Dr. 

 Hamberg, hydrographer ; dlerr Kolthoff, zoologist ; Ilerr Kjell- 

 strooo, typographer and photographer; two Laplanders, two 

 Norwegian icemasters, and one harpooner. There is on board 

 a complete scientific equipment and 14 m mths' provisions for 

 subsistence on the inland ice. Eight or nine picked men accom- 

 pany Baron Nordenskjold. Count Stromfeldt, botanist; Dr. 

 Arpi, archaeologist and philologist ; and Herr Flink, mineralo- 

 gist, will disembark on the coast of Iceland for the purposes of 



