Feb. 5, 1885] 



NA TURE 



3- 



Tem PEL'S Comet, 1867 II. — Reference has been already 

 made in this column to the impossibility of making any reliable 

 prediction of the track of this comet at its approaching return, 

 without a calculation of the perturbations since it was last ob- 

 served in 1879, owing to its having passed pretty near to the 

 planet Jupiter in 1S81. It appears from a communication to the 

 Astro/mmische Nachrichten that M. Raoul Gautier, of Geneva, is 

 engaged upon a determination of the effect of the planet's 

 attraction, and hopes to furnish observers with an ephemeris 

 which may enable them to find the comet without difficulty. 

 M. < lautier states that up to the time of minimum distance of the 

 two bodies (0-55) in October 1881, a retardation of thirty days 

 in the epoch of next perihelion passage had been caused by the 

 planet's action, and it is not to be expected that the comet can 

 arrive at perihelion before the end of June or beginning of July, 

 though without perturbation it would have beers due at the 

 beginning of May. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 



WEEK 1885, FEBRUARY 8-14 

 (For the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here 

 employed.) 



At Greenwich on February S 

 Sun rises, 7I1. 29m. ; souths, I2h. 14m. 25 - 6s. ; sets, 17I1. Om. 

 decl. on meridian, 14° 50' S. : Sidereal Time at Sunset 

 2h. 1 6m. 

 Moon (2 days past Last Quarter) rises, 2h. 20m. ; souths, 

 6h. 59m. ; sets, nh. 34m. ; decl. on meridian, 16 .14' S. 

 Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on Meridiai 



Mercury ... 6 39 



Venus ... 6 38 



Mars ... 7 36 



Jupiter ... 18 I* 



Saturn ... ti 46 



10 45 



10 48 



12 18 



1 6 



19 49 



14 52 ... 21 26 S. 



14 58 ... 20 49 s. 



17 o ... 15 39 S. 



8 n ... u 48 N. 



3 52* ■•■ 21 ii N. 



Indicate? that the rising is that of the preceding, and the setting that of 

 the following nominal day. 



Feb. 



9 



Phenomena oj 'Jupiter' 's Satellites 

 Feb. h. m. 



h. m. 



4 27 I. eel. disap. 



6 59 I. occ. reap. 



■9 S3 HI- °cc. reap. 



I 56 I. tr. ing. 



4 16 I. tr. egr. 



22 55 I. eel. disap. 



1 25 I. occ. reap. 



2 45 II. eel. disap. 



«4 



6 5 II. occ. reap. 



20 22 I. tr. ing. 

 22 41 I. tr. egr. 

 19 51 I. occ. reap. 



21 26 II. tr. ing. 

 o 21 II. tr. egr. 

 5 54 III. tr. ing. 



19 12 II. occ. reap. 



11 ••• 12 ... Mars in conjunction with the Sun. 



12 •■• o ... Mercury in conjunction with and 0° 44' south 



of Venus. 



12 ••• 9 ••• Mercury at greatest distance from the Sun. 



13 •■■ I0 ••• Venus in conjunction with and 5° 9' south 



of the Moon. 

 '3 ■■• IJ ••• Mercury in conjunction with and 5° 58' south 

 of the Moon. 



Note. — In the two preceding weeks the word left in the head- 

 ing of the last column of the " Occupations " should have been 

 right. The angles are understood to apply, as usual, to the 

 inverted image. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



The Commission which was originally appointed to investi- 

 gate the possibility of a maritime canal across the isthmus of 

 Krao, in the north of the Malay Peninsula, has continued its 

 exploration in this unknown region. It is composed of M. 

 Delonell, accompanied at first by M. Paul Macey, Mr. I > 

 an English engineer, and a Siamese commissioner. Their 

 second visit to the place was made in the spring and summer 

 of last year. After ascending the peninsula from the isthmus 

 of Krao to 7 13' N. latitude, and visiting the Samuil Islands, 

 the most interesting and least known of the archipelagoes in the 

 Gulf of Siam, the expedition penetrated the peninsula to the 

 height of Singora, f 14' N. latitude, where they discovered the 



existence of a State, Sam-Sam, composed of mestizos, or half- 

 caste Malays and Siamese, the former haunt of pirates and 

 semi-independent of Siam. By wide and deep channels which 

 enter far into the country, the party were conducted to a large 

 inland sea, called Tale-Sab, which they were the first Europeans 

 to visit. This was found to be about 6 metres in depth, and 

 45 miles long by 12 wide, of a curious configuration, with small 

 islands covered with the nests of sparrows. The water is 

 fresh during the north-east monsoon, but brackish during the 

 south-west ; it separates the peninsula properly so-called from 

 the island of Tantalam (or Ko Yai in Siamese) by a number of 

 arroyos, which stretch from Singora in the south to Lacon in the 

 north. The party landed at Taloung on the west side, at 7° 40' N. 

 latitude, where a Sam-Sam rajah supplied them with elephants 

 to cross the peninsula. They crossed a large plain under rice 

 cultivation to the borders of Klong Taloung, then reached the 

 chain of Louatlg Mountains, which forms the end of the penin- 

 sula, and then descended the Tsang River, which flows into the 

 Bay of Bengal. Three visits in all were made to these regions 

 during the year, and the States of Tsang, Taloung, Lacon, 

 Singora, and Stouil were thoroughly explored. The engineers 

 have already made their geological reports of the whole regions, 

 and certain specimens which have been analysed at the School 

 of Mines in Paris shows that deposits of auriferous quartz, tin, 

 and iron exist in this terra incognita. Numerous ethnographical 

 observations were also made on the Sam-Sam, their government, 

 and habits of piracy. 



Mr. A. R. Colquhoun has published a notice in the Eastern 

 journals with regard to his projected exploration of the Shan 

 States. His colleague, Mr. Holt Hallett, alter consulting with 

 him concerning the further exploration and survey of Siam and 

 the Shan country, has left China for Bangkok, in order there to 

 hold an interview with the King of Siam on the subject. lie 

 will thence proceed to Rangoon and Calcutta, to report to, and 

 consult with, the Chief Commissioner of British Burmah and 

 Lord Dufferin. From Calcutta Mr. Hallett will proceed to 

 London to submit his reports to the Royal Geographical Society 

 and the Chambers of Commerce which have supported the 

 exploration survey. Any exploration on the southern frontier 

 of China, such as was intended to be included, is for the present 

 out of the question, owing to the unsettled condition of the 

 frontier regions. The continuation of the explorations in Siam 

 and the Shan country depends on the result of Mr. Hallett's 

 visit to Siam and India. A preliminary report has been drawn 

 up by Messrs. Colquhoun and Hallett, dealing with the first 

 year's operations, which will be published on Mr. Hallett's 

 arrival in England. 



At the meeting of the Geographical Society of Paris on the 

 23rd tilt., M. Mascart president, M. Thouar, known for his 

 journey in search of the remains of the Crevaux expedition, 

 announced that he is about to start on his fourth journey in 

 South America. His project is to ascend the Paraguay, and 

 study the delta of the Piicomayo, where Crevaux perished, and 

 then to investigate the possibilities of a trade route between 

 Bolivia and the Paraguay. M. Thouar will then carry out the mis- 

 sion with which he is charged by the Bolivian Government — viz. in 

 company with some engineers and naturalists, to study the whole 

 of Bolivia from scientific, industrial, and commercial points of 

 view. — M. Cabres described someepi-odes of a j iurBey which he 

 recently made to Bokhara ; and M. Key presented to the Society 

 a new map of the north of Syria, designed by M. Thuillier. 



Under the title of " Un' Estate in Siberia fra Ostiacchi, 

 Samoiedi, Sirieni, Tatari, Knghisi e Baskiri " (Florence, 18S5), 

 Signor Stephen Sommier describes a voyage which he made 

 down the Obi from its confluence with the Irtish to its mouth in 

 the Arctic Ocean. He made during the journey interesting 

 observations on the course of the river, and on the temperature 

 of the water. Towards the end of July the mean temperature 

 was iS IJ above zero, even at the mouth of the river, and in 

 August it was still + io". These have much importance for the 

 question of the navigability of the Kara Sea. Under the influ- 

 ence of these masses of warm water, the coast ice should melt, 

 and consequently the icebergs which have in recent years blocked 

 the straits giving access to the Kara Sea cannot be of great 

 extent. The most important part of the volume, however, is 

 that devoted to the anthropology and ethnography of the Ostiaks 

 and Samoyedes. On the course of the Obi are groups of habita- 

 tions where travellers are supplied with rowers, and each time 

 Signor Sommier changed his men — about a hundred times in 



