August 28, 1884] 



NA TURE 



43i 



he will consent to remain. Nevertheless marked advance has 

 been made in certain directions. Apart from the employment of 

 all the modern military and naval inventions, native-armed steam- 

 ships have become common enough ; the telegraphs are rapidly 

 extending all over the country, and only last week a telegraph 

 office was opened at Pekin itself. Railways are to be intro- 

 duced gradually, and the correspondent narrates the story of an 

 attempt to work coal-mines on Western methods. The Kaiping 

 mines, which are specially referred to, have not been altogether 

 a financial success, on account of the difficulties of transport, the 

 necessity of constructing a rough canal for part of the way, and 

 the refusal of the authorities to permit of the regular employment 

 of steam locomotives between the mines and the nearest water- 

 way. Still the experiment is stated to be full of hope, for the 

 causes which have rendered it a loss to its promoters can be 

 remedied, it is said, by a stroke of the pen. 



A recent number of the China Review contains an article on 

 the Chinese and Japanese plants found in Normandy. During 

 a recent holiday in Europe the writer, M. Fauvel, was struck by 

 the quantity of exotic and even sub-tropical plants cultivated 

 there, and amused himself by searching for the Chinese and 

 Japanese species. The district examined was chiefly that round 

 Cherbourg. The paper describes first the trees and shrubs, 

 which are in a majority, and then refers to the herbaceous flowers 

 and plants, ornamental and useful. Among these were the 

 Camellia japonica, the Chamarops excelsa, or Chinese palm, the 

 deciduous magnolias of China, Paulownii imperlalis, wistaria, 

 the rhododendrons and azaleas of China and Japan, the Japanese 

 quince (Cydonia japonica), and many others, all of which will be 

 found noted in a paper which may be read with interest by many 

 who take but a limited interest in botany. 



Dr. Charles Clay contributes to the Chemical News of 

 August 8 an interesting reminiscence of Dalton. Dr. Clay was 

 a pupil of Dalton's, and he tells very graphically his adventures 

 in search of four bottles of fire-damp, for which he had to pro- 

 ceed from Manchester to Oldham. 



A grotto, from 8 to 10 metres high, has been discovered in 

 a rock, washed by the sea, in the Morbihan, by M. Gaillard. 

 IK- has since continued his researches, at low water, and found 

 some human bones, ancient earthenware marked withallegorical 

 figures, and coins believed to have been struck by the early 

 Gauls. 



The National Electrical Commission, Science states, met in 

 Philadelphia on August 7. It was decided that the Conference 

 to be conducted by the Commission will be called for Monday, 

 September 8, to be then continued from day to clay, as may be 

 found necessary. The invitations to the Conference will be 

 confined to physicists of eminence, and to experts in the prac- 

 tical management of electrical appliances and apparatus. It is 

 proposed to extend special invitations to prominent foreign visit- 

 ing electricians. It was also decided to issue a circular inviting 

 the conferees to submit a paper to be read before the Conference. 

 It is not definitely known what subjects will be discussed at the 

 Conference, but the following matters have been suggested : the 

 sources of electrical energy ; the theoretical conditions necessary 

 to the most efficient construction of the dynamo-electric machine 

 for the various purposes of practical work ; the electrical trans- 

 mission of energy ; the systems of arc and incandescent lighting ; 

 the theory of the electric arc, storage batteries, electro-metal- 

 lurgy ; lighthouses for the coast ; applications of electricity to 

 military and mining engineering ; lightning protection ; induc- 

 tion in telephone lines, and the problem of long-distance tele- 

 phoning ; the question of underground wires ; atmospheric elec- 

 tricity ; earth-currents and terrestrial magnetism ; photometry 

 and standards for photometric measurements ; the ratio of the 

 electro-magnetic to the electro-static system of units, and the 



electro-magnetic theory of light ; and finally, on account of the 

 pressing necessity for accurate and uniform electrical measure- 

 ments, it is probable that the question of establishing a National 

 Bureau of Physical Standards will receive proper attention. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens .during the 

 past week include a Gelada Baboon {Thtropithecus gelada 9) 

 from the Province of Amara, Abyssinia, presented by H. E. 

 Lidge, Mercha Workee, Abyssinian Envoy ; a Red-crested 

 Cardinal (Paroarii cucullata) from South America, presented 

 by Mr. John W. Miers ; an African Elephant (Elephas afri- 

 canin 1 ) from Abyssinia, deposited by Her Majesty the Queen ; 

 two Cape Hunting Dogs (Lycaon pictus) from South Africa, 

 two Picui Doves {Columbula picni) from South America, de- 

 posited ; a Common Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), British, 

 received in exchange. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Comet 1884 b (Barnard, July 16). — Herr Stechert of Kiel 

 has ascertained that the apparent deviation of the orbit of this 

 comet from a parabola, mentioned last week, is due to error in 

 the telegraphed position on the night of discovery, and that ob- 

 servations between July 23 and August 10, at Algiers and 

 Rome, are : well represented by the following parabolic ele- 

 ments : — 



Perihelion passage, 1SS4 August 18-18264 G.M.T. 



Longitude of perihelion 303 31 27 1 M.Eq. 



,, ascending node ... 357 40 19) 1884-0 



Inclination 6 52 12 



Log. perihelion distance 0*140670 



Motion — direct. 

 Small inclination and direct motion have long been considered 

 to favour periodicity, though we now have some striking excep- 

 tions. In the above orbit the comet, in approaching the sun, 

 passes very near to the orbit of the planet Jupiter ; thus, at 

 a true anomaly of 240 30', corresponding to heliocentric longi- 

 tude 184°, the distance of the two orbits is less than o'2 of the 

 earth's mean distance from the sun, and the comet is, at this 

 point of its track, 454 days before perihelion passage, or on the 

 last occasion in May 1883, when the planet was far distant. 



The following positions for midnight at Berlin have been 

 calculated by Herr Stechert : — 



R.A. N.P.D. L , og - d ' sta " ce 



from Earth 



Sept. 15 



19 21 4 



16 ... — 25-4 



17 ... — 29-3 

 IS ... — 33-2 



19 ••• — 37'i 



20 ... — 4o'9 



21 ... — 447 



22 ... — 48-5 



23 ... 19 52-2 



119 23 ... 98470 



"9 3 



118 43 ... 9-8548 



118 22 



118 1 ... 9-8629 



117 40 



117 19 ... 9-8713 



116 57 



116 35 ... 9-8801 



The above elements also give these positions : — 



„h. G.M.T. R.A. N.P.D. ^^^1. 



h. m. „ 



Oct. 20 ... 21 18-7 ... io5 55 ... 1-041 ... 1-656 

 Nov. 19 ... 22 29-9 ... 97 55 ... 1-504 ... 1-912 

 The intensity of light on October 20 is 0-34, that on Novem- 

 ber 19, o'I2, its value at discovery on July 16 being I'l6. 

 M. Perrotin has made the following observation : — 



M.T. Nice R.A. N.P.D. 



h. m. s. h. m. s. . 



August 15, 8 48 54 ... 17 13 6-79 ... 126 28 28-4 



He remarks : " La comete a l'aspect d'une nebulosite assez mal 

 definee de 1' 30" de diametre environ, presentant des granulations 

 brillantes vers le centre." 



Kepler's Nova of 1604. — Those who have taken interest in 

 the actual configuration of stars near the place of the famous 

 Stella nozia in pede Serpentarii will be aware that Chacornac has 

 a star of the tenth magnitude (or perhaps of the ninth, the 

 symbol being a little ambiguous) in a position near that of the 



