546 



NA TURE 



j August 7, 1884 



; - . . , 1 1 1 1 1 : ■ ■ ■ i t( mperatui esb) this m hod with greal accuracy, the 

 from <:>"<> 1 to 17 ; and he 



millimetres thick, tl 

 I 

 ould be still 1: 

 if antimony and bismuth wire, were used. 



The last number (12) of the _/ 

 the Royal Asiatic Societ) paper on 



Malayan Ornithology, by Capt. Kelham, and an official report 

 by Mr. L. Wray, of Perak, on gutta-producing : ■■ 

 Maxwell writes on "Shamanism in Perak," the term in this 

 'the incantations and ceremonies em- 

 ployed by the Malays to cure the sick. But surely Shamanism 

 in its home in Thibet is something mure than this. Mr. Fer- 

 guson contribute ion the curious changes which con- 

 sonants undergo in passing from one Malay dialect to another. 

 The papers, properly so called, conclude with a report on the 

 Meteorology of the- Straits. In the Annual Report of the 

 Council of the Society we notice that it is intended to republish 

 in a collected form valuable papers published in the Eastern 

 Archipelago at one time or another, but now either out of print 



u difficult of access ; also a text-book of the geography of the 



region, under the editorship of members of the Society, and a 



ton map of the Malay Peninsula, on a scale of a quarter of 



an inch to a mile, upon which all new information will be 



ntered from time to time as exploration ad\ u 



Several honorary promo: j, recently made by 



I re ni h Government for scientific services. Dr. Cornelius 

 Herz, director of La Lumib en nominated 



Commander in the Legion d'llonneur at the request of M. 

 Cochery, Minister of Postal Telegraphy, for his works on Elec- 

 The Minister of Public Instruction has appointed Madame 

 Camille Flammarion an officer of the Academy for having 

 acted as a secretary to her husband in all his work in connection 

 with astronomy. The Municipal Council of Paris has decided 

 that one of the new streets of the Thirteenth Arrondissement 

 shall be name'! Giffard, in commemoration of the inventor of the 

 injector. 



An experiment has been made in Vienna which pi 



lights special prei tutions must be taken 



oid any risk of fire. A lamp having been enveloped with 



paper and lighted by a current, tin : . 1 was sufficienl 



tire to the paper, which burnt out and L the 1 imp to 



explode. 



1 idero Palace 

 death of Diderot, the celebrated French 

 philosopher, who was also a man of science in Ids time and 

 iditi a ol 1 lie famou - Encyclopedia. 



THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus Monkey (Macacus rhesus 9) from 

 India, presented by Miss A. E. Sturge; .1 Bonnet Monkey 

 (Afacacus inhus $) from India, presented by the Rev. T. 

 Rickards ; a Common Fox (Cants vulpes), British, presented by 

 Mr. Thomas I.egg ; a King Vulture (Gypagus papa) from South 

 America, presented by Mr. August Strunz ; two Red-tailed 

 Buzzards {Btiteo borcalis) from Jamaica, presented by Mr. 1>. 

 Morris; a Martinique -Waterhen (fonornis martinicus), captured 

 at sea, presented by Mr. A. Jones; two Jackdaws (Corvus mone- 

 dula), British, presented by Mrs. Frank ; a Kestrel ( Tinnunculus 

 . British, presented by Mr. G. Westrup ; a Crested 

 Curassow (Crax aleclor), an Anaconda (Eunectcs mm inns) from 

 British Guiana, presented by Mr. G. II. Hawtayne, C.M.Z.S. ; 

 1 t Irey Amphisboena (Blanus cinereus) from Portugal, presented 

 by Mr. \V. C. Tait, C.M.Z.S.; a Golden-crowned Conure 

 (Coxurus aureus) from South-East Brazil, deposited ; a Black 



ii 1 nbill (Sphagolobus atratus) from West Afii 

 three-quarter bred Mesopotamia D 



i i / \ ■ • ulga; ■ ii ■: 1 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 [Tie New Comet. — A circular issued from Dun Echt on 

 fuly 31. contains the following approximate elements of the 

 comet discovered by Mr. Barnard on July 16, calculated by Mr. 

 ' Chandler of Harvard College Observatory : — 



Perihelion pas 1 | \ugust 17-63 G.M.T. 



Longitude of perihelion 



,, ascending node 



Inclination 



Logarithm of perihelion distance 

 Motio 



302 4 



357 5- 

 7 2 



The comet will probably be observable in this court 



perihelion passage, as will appear from the subjoined po 

 resulting from Mr. Chandler's orbit : — 



!2 h. G.M.T. R A. N P. I 1. 1 list Intensity 



h. in. ,, from ! ■ 



aber 3 .. iS 27-2 ... 123 8 ... 0682 . 1 

 ,, 7 .. 18 44'2 ... 122 6 ... 0701 ... 098 



11 ... 19 o'2 ... 120 5S ... 0722 ... 0-91 

 15 ... 19 15-9 ... 119 46 ... 0747 ... 0-83 

 At discovery on July 16 its distance from the earth w 

 and that from the sun I .4S0, consequently the intensity of light 

 was 1 -16. 



The supposition that this comet had been observed at Mel- 

 bourne, Madras, and the Cape, arose from a mistake in tele- 

 graphing. '. Igiers) calls it " nebulosite sans queue ; 

 condensation centrale. " 



■ iMETS IN 18S5. — Dining next yearthree comets 

 of shorl period will return to perihelion. Encke's comet 1 due 

 in March, probably in the 



I 1881. The next is Tempel's comet, 1S67 II., in 

 .1 which it is not possible to assign the timi 



age without the calculation of tire perturbations due 



traction of Jupiter, near which planet the comet was 



: tring the last half of the year 1S81 ; the least distance 



1 bodies having been about o"57 in October. The 



third cornel referred to is Tuttl irved in 1S71, the 



perihelion passage probably in Septembei oi October. 



riable-Star in Aquarius.— Attention has been 



already directed in this column to a star, the position of which 



foi (884-0 is in R.A. 22I1. 29m. 48s., N.P.D. 98° I2''4, on the 



variability from the ninth magnitude to invisibility, or 



below the twelfth magnitude. Mr. Knot: In just 



bservation which confirms the variation of the star, as 



notified by Mr. Hind some thirty years since. On August 1, 



by the method of gauging, Mr. Knott found its magnitude 117. 



9m. according to the Markree /ones on October 27, 



1 on -lis wis estimated 9-5 at Bonn. It was 



cor idered a ninth magnitude, probably in August I S55, at the 



Mr. Bishop's observatory. Generally it seems to have been 



aboul U'5m. There is some reason for supposing that it does 



not continue very long at maximum. Argelander was inclined 



to think that there was a mistake as to the variability of this 



star, but the evidence in favour of it appears now to be too 



b' thus set aside. It has not been included in Schon- 



italogues of known or suspected variables. 



Ptolemy's 301 1 • vurus. — In Sufi's "1 



of the Stars," according to Schjellerup, we read: "Ptolemy 

 has reported that there are in this constellation (Centaurus) 

 thirty-seven stars, but in reality there are only thirt; 

 thirtieth is wanting." The star is No. 964 of Daily's edition of 

 Ptolemy's Catalogue, and is rated 7, the twenty-ninth star im- 

 medi itely preceding (t Centauri) being called 8. From Ptolemy's 



and lal les we find that the thirtieth star followed 



the twenty-ninth o° 34' in R.A. and i° 10' to the south of it. 

 Q Centauri follows £ 26 ,- S, and is south 1° 5'7 ; it is estimated 

 57 m. in Gould's Uranometria, but is a double-star, the com- 

 ponents 6J and 7J. Notwithstanding the difference in bright- 

 ness, the approximate agreement of positions seems to point to 

 Q Centauri as Ptolemy's thirtieth star. 



