228 



NA TURE 



[Jan. 8, 1885 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The Total Solar Eclipse of 1914, August 20-21.— 

 There have been given in this column, at various times, par- 

 ticulars of the track of the central line in a number of the total 

 eclipses of the sun that will occur during the next thirty years. 

 To these may be added similar notes on the eclipse of August 

 20-21, 1914, which is a return of that of July 29, 1878, so 

 extensively observed in the United States. The elements of 

 this eclipse are very approximately as follow : — 

 G.M.T. of Conjunction in R.A. 1914, August 20, 23I1. 55m. p. 



R.A 149 45 361 



Moon's hourly motion in R.A. ... 33 7 '5 



Sun's ,, „ ••• 2 189 



Moon's declination ... ... ■■• 13 9 4 2 ' 2 N. 



Sun's ,, ... 12 19 29-1 N. 



Moon's hourly motion in declination 15 i6"0 S. 



Sun's ,, ,, ,, ••• 497 S. 



Moon's horizontal parallax ... ... 59 '7 '6 



Sun's ,, ,, ... ... 87 



Moon's geocentric semi-diameter ... 16 II'O 



Sun's ,, „ „ ■■• 15 5I' 1 



Hence it will be found that the 



Total eclipse begins in long. 120 42 W., lat. 71 21 N. 



,, ,, at oh. ,, 20 E. „ 70 42 N. 



„ ,, ends ,, 70 26 E. „ 23 52 N. 



In traversing the European continent, the central line runs 

 through the points 



Long. Lat. Long. Lat. 



12 33 E. ... 6548N. ! 3033E. ... 50 35^- 

 14 39 ,, ... 64 32 ,, I 32 53 ,, ... 4S 2 „ 

 22 44 58 23 ,, I 39 12 ,, ... 41 23 ,, 



27 30 ,, ... 53 48 ,, 46 28 ,, ... 34 5 2 .. 



The first of these points is close upon the coast of Norway, at 

 the Island of Alstahoug, and on making a direct calculation for 

 it, the totality is found to commence at oh. 54m. 19s. local mean 

 time, continuing Im. 59s., with the sun at an altitude of 37^, 

 and this will be about the most favourable position for obser- 

 vation. 



The Minor Planets. — That part of the Berliner Astrono- 

 misches Jahrbuch for 1887, containing its speciality, the ephe- 

 merides of the small planets for 1885, has been issued in advance 

 of the publication of the volume. There are approximate places 

 for every twentieth day of 237 out of the 244 now known, with 

 accurately calculated opposition-ephemerides of 19. The most 

 reliable elements of the orbits of these bodies to No. 237 in- 

 clusive are appended. AZthra continues at a distance of less 

 than I'o from the earth until February II, and if the orbit had 

 been more closely determined, would have afforded a favourable 

 opportunity of applying the method of finding the solar parallax 

 suggested by Prof. Galle, as the planet has been a ninth magni- 

 tude at this opposition. Eva, Siephania, and Agathe, also 

 approach the earth during the present year, within her mean 

 distance from the sun ; on August 10 Stiphania will be at a 

 distance of only 076, magnitude Ili. 



Aitlna has the least perihelion distance of the group, I '604, 

 while Andromache, with a considerable excentricity, has the 

 greatest aphelion distance, 4726, so that the orbits of the 244 

 planets extend over a space of 3122, the earth's mean distance 

 from the sun being taken as unity. The longest period of revo- 

 lution occurs in the case of Hilda ; it is yet doubtful which has 

 the shortest period ; No. 149 Medusa is credited with it at 

 present, but until this member of the group has been re-observed, 

 the point is perhaps doubtful. The most recently detected 

 planet appears to have the shortest revolution next to Medusa, 

 judging from the elements in the last circular of the Berliner 

 fahrbuch. 



The Brightness of Saturn. — Dr. G. Miiller, of the Obser- 

 vatory at Potsdam, notifies in a recent number of the A Jr. no- 

 mische Nachrichten, that since the year 1878 he has made 

 regular photometric observations on Saturn, the main result of 

 which he states to be, that when the earth is at an elevation of 

 26 above the plane of the ring, the planet's light is 2'4 times 

 greater than when the earth is in that plane, or, in other « ords. 

 that the brightness of Saturn's rings, when the earth is 26° from 



their plane, amounts to 58 '3 per cent, of the brightness of the 

 whole Saturnian system. 



Encke's Comet. — This comet appears to have been re- 

 observed both in Europe and the United States ; a somewhat 

 doubtful observation by Dr. Tempel at Florence shows that the 

 predicted elements will require probably but small correction. 

 Taking aberration into account, the calculated position on 

 December 13 differed from that observed, + l'"i in right as- 

 cension, and + l'"2 in declination ; the theoretical intensity of 

 light on this date was 0193. In 1S52, when the perihelion 

 passage occurred a week only later than in the present year, the 

 comet was first observed on January 9, the intensity of light 

 being o"228. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

 The lectures given under the auspices of the Paris Geographi- 

 cal Society last spring were so successful, that they are to be 

 resumed this year. The first will be given by M. Janssen, on 

 January 13, on the universal meridian. The others will be, by 

 Prof, de Lapparent, on January 27, on the formation and deve- 

 lopment of the earth's crust ; February 3, M. Bouquet de la 

 Grye, the oceans ; February 10, Dr. Hamy, man ; March 3, 

 M. Himly, the conquest of the globe ; March 10, M. Levasseur, 

 the riches of the globe ; March 24, M. Louis Simonin, the 

 great lines of navigation ; March 31, M. Michel, railways and 

 their relation to geography. These lectures are not free even 

 to members, the charge for the course to such being fifteen 

 francs, and twenty francs to outsiders. Some of the lectures 

 will be illustrated with projections on the screen, and the 

 success of the enterprise is so assured that a third series has 

 already been arranged for in 1886. 



Mr. H. H. Johnston writes as follows to the Times: — 

 " The Kilimanjaro Expedition which I have just undertaken has 

 resulted in a pleasant and healthy sojourn in one of the most 

 beautiful and interesting regions in the world. I arrived at the 

 mountain in the beginning of June, and settled first in Man- 

 dara's territory, on the southern slopes. Here I built a small 

 town of about twenty houses and passed four months in collect- 

 ing and making numberless excursions right and left. The 

 climate was that of a Devonshire summer, provisions were 

 abundant, cheap, and of great variety, and I was only fearful 

 lest this delightful region might become to me a Capua, and 

 deter me from the more important work that awaited me at a 

 higher level than could be attained within the limits of Man- 

 dara's kingdom. Accordingly, when I had received from the 

 coast a reinforcement of hardier men, 1 established myself at a 

 height of 11,000 feet, and here built an even larger village than 

 my settlement at Moshi. This was on a splendid site. A 

 mountain torrent dashed past our circle of pretty thatched 

 cottages, which surmounted a grassy knoll above the stream ; 

 to the south of us spread a wondrous prospect of sun-lit plains 

 and distant rivers — a veritable map of Eastern Africa — and to 

 the north rose the unspeakably grand summits of the mountain 

 mass — Kibo, a dazzling dome of virgin white, and Kimawenzi, 

 a piebald peak of black, jagged rocks, seamed and flecked with 

 snow. From this settlement I constantly ascended as far as I 

 was able in one day's journey, but the difficulties which lay in 

 the way of a complete ascent of either peak arose from the im- 

 possibility of inducing any of my followers to accompany me 

 beyond 14,000 feet, for above this altitude they suffered so 

 keenly from cold and mountain sickness that no persuasion or 

 bribes would induce them to ascend any higher, far less to carry 

 any of my impedimenta. Consequently, I could never get 

 beyond a certain distance from the settlement, the cold 

 not permitting me to risk the chance of being benighted 

 in the .'now. I reached, however, an altitude of 16,200 

 feet, a little more than 2000 feet from the summit of Kibo, 

 (iS.Soo feet high). I found warm springs at 14,400 feet, 

 detected no signs of glacial action, and w as somewhat disap- 

 pointed with the paucity of plants growing at the snow line. 

 Birds were very rare above 10,000 feet, and very abundant below. 

 Lizards and chameleons existed (and frogs also) up to the very 

 snow. Hyraxes (the hyrax is the coney of Scripture) were 

 common between 8000 and 13,000 feet, and I fancy are repre- 

 sented by a new species. Buffaloes and elephants ascended to 

 14,000 feet. The thunderstorms that frequently rage round the 

 upper slopes of the mountain are terrific, and the wind at times 

 is so violent that no one can keep their feet. The natives who 



