Dec. li, 1884] 



NATURE 



l 37 



received his chief education at the University of Gottingen, and 

 in carl)- life came to England. After that time he successively 

 held the post of assistant to the late Prof. Johnston at Edinburgh, 

 Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Agricultural College at 

 Cirencester, and Professor of Chemistry to the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society of England, and was well known as the author of 

 several works in theoretical and agricultural chemistry, such as 

 the "Chemistry of Food " and the " Chemistry of Manure." 



THE Journal of Botany for December contains a memoir of 

 the late George Bentham, accompanied by an excellent 

 photograph. 



We have received the prospectus of the Royal Agricultural 

 College, Cirencester, issued during the past month. The course 

 • if instruction provided in technical and scientific subjects appears 

 to be ample for the requirements of the agricultural students. 

 We are glad to notice that external examiners are appointed for 

 the final examination of students for the diploma, and also that 

 a Board of Studies, in which are several professors otherwise 

 unconnected with the College, exists. The number of students 

 is steadily increasing, and among them are several Indian 

 scholars sent by the Governments of Bengal and the North- West 

 Provinces. The Governments of the Indian Presidencies also 

 encourage some of their civil servants to pass through the College 

 course when on leave of absence in this country. 



On the subject of agricultural education, a correspondent 

 writes to the Times that a number of meetings have recently 

 been held in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire with a view to 

 the establishment of night classes during the winter for teaching 

 the scientific principles of agriculture. There is, he says, a 

 growing opinion among the more educated young men that 

 agriculture requires something besides Commissions and inquiries 

 and fair trade. It has been estimated that the annual waste 

 from careless and unskilful methods of managing manure 

 amounts to nearly five millions sterling. Add to this the 

 want of knowledge in the purchase of artificial manures and 

 their application, the waste of feeding-stuffs, the odd pieces and 

 corners of fields that might grow other things beside rank weeds 

 and couch-grass, and the waste of time in going to markets, 

 auctions, and fairs. No reduction of rent or local taxation, or 

 increased price of wheat, will, says this correspondent, do any- 

 thing for men who make no effort to improve their industry by 

 incn a d scientific knowledge. The natural history of the wire- 

 worm, the leather-jacket, the dissolving of bones, the building 

 up of plants, the judicious mixing of food, and many other things 

 which farmers would be the better for knowing can never be 

 acquired by what is called practical farming, and accordingly 

 these classes are commended to the consideration of all who take 

 an interest in the welfare and education of young men in rural 

 districts. 



I litions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Yellow Baboon {Cymcepkalus babouin i ), 

 .1 Ch 'ina Baboon 'Cynocephalus forcaiins '} ) from the East 

 Coast of Africa, presented by Capt. Edward June*, R.N.R. ; a 

 Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus i ) from India, pre- 

 sented by Mr. Geo. Airey ; a Bittern (Bolaurus sttllaris), 



British, presented by Mr. Robert Page; a Otter (Lulra 



) from South America, a Cat Fish (Amiurus catus) from 



North America, deposited; two Rock Pipits [Anthus obscurus), 

 British), a Passerine Owl {Glaucidium passerinuvi), a Crested 

 Titmouse (Paras oistatus) from Siberia, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



Wolf's Comet. — Herr Lehmann-Filhes of Berlin has made 

 a first approximation to the amount of perturbation experienced 

 by this comet at its near approach to the planet Jupiter in 1S75, 

 to which attention was directed in Nature (vol. xxx. p. 615). 



He adopts the orbit determined by Prof. Krueger upon obser- 

 vations extending over an interval of forty-eight days, and 

 applies the formula? of the " Mecanique Celeste" (liv. ix. 

 chap, ii.), which were first employed by Burckhardt in the case 

 of the celebrated Lexell comet of 1770. The following are the 

 elements deduced for perihelion passage in 1S6S, or the elements 

 defining the orbit of the comet previous to its close approach to 

 Jupiter ; we annex Prof. Krueger's orbit for the present appear- 

 ance for comparison : — 



Lehmann-Filhes, Krueger, 



1 1884 



Perihelion passage ... Sept. 24-6 M.T. Berlin ... Nov. 177922 



The longitudes in both orbits are reckoned from the mean equinox 

 1884-0. 



Prof. Krueger writes modestly as to the degree of accuracy of 

 his elements, which have been adopted by Herr Lehmann- 

 Filhes, nevertheless they were founded upon a fairly-wide 

 interval of observation as noted above. From the nature of the 

 problem, however, the orbit for 1S68 must be regarded as 

 roughly indicating the kind of track which the comet was then 

 following. And it is to be remarked that the perihelion distance 

 corresponding to the assigned values of excentricity and semi- 

 axis major is 3-327, which would account for such a comet not 

 having been observed while moving in the orbit of 1 868. Thus, 

 as in several previous cases, the comet appears to have been 

 brought within range of visibility from the earth by the powerful 

 attraction of the planet Jupiter. 



The Washburn Observatory, Wisconsin. — Vol. ii. of 

 Publications of this Observatory has been issued. Its main 

 feature consists in a reduction of the star-gauges of Sir William 

 Herschel, published and unpublished, or 6S3 gauges published 

 and 405 unpublished, Prof. Hoklen having been indebted for 

 the latter to Lieut.-Col. Herschel, R.E., who forwarded to him 

 a complete copy of a manuscript, by Miss Caroline Herschel, in 

 which they are given, and who was at the further trouble of 

 extracting from the Herschel papers in the library of the Royal 

 Astronomical Society the dates of the various sweeps. Also of 

 500 counts of stars from the published charts of Prof. C. H. F. 

 Peters, 983 counts from his unpublished charts and those of 

 Watson and Chacornac, and 78 1 from those of Palisa. Prof. 

 Holden states that he is now discussing these various gauges by 

 a graphical process, and that they promise to lead to very inter- 

 esting results, especially when they are supplemented by other 

 star-gauges covering the same ground and made by a larger 

 instrument. The volume further contains a list of ill new 

 double-stars and two new nebula;, with observations of red or 

 coloured stars between December 18S1 and the end of 1883, in 

 continuation of a list given in the first volume. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Reports have been received from M. Alfred Marche, who 

 is travelling through the Philippine Archipelago on a scientific 

 mission for the French Ministry of Public Instruction. During 

 June and July last he explored the archipelago of Calamienes, 

 situated to the south-west of Mindoro and to the north of Paluan 

 (Paragua) Island. This archipelago is composed of three large 

 islands, Busuanga, Calamienes or Culion, and Linacapan, and 

 about thirty smaller ones. M. Marche first visited Culion, the 

 inhabitants of which are Tagbannas, similar to those whom he 

 observed in a previous journey to Paluan. These form the 

 principal as well as the most ancient people of the peninsula, 

 and it is probable that formerly they occupied a much larger 

 area than they do now. A small number of them, more or less 

 Christianised, have submitted and built a village, to which, 

 however, they come as rarely as possible. The others are inde- 

 pendent, and are fetish- worshippers. In Culion there is but a 

 single Spaniard, the prie.t. After Culion, M. Marche visited 

 the island of Busuanga, where there were formerly Chinese 

 colonies engaged in collecting birds' nests, and in trepang and 

 pearl-fishing, both industries which no longer exist. In spite of 

 continual rains the traveller was able to make a large collection 

 of plants and of woods of all kinds. In Busuanga he came 



