Sept. 25, 1884] 



NA TURE 



5i9 



There is unfortunately now no doubt that Phylloxera has 

 begun to appear in Rhenish Prussia. The districts of Heimers- 

 lieim and Lohrsdorf in the valley of the Ahr are hopelessly 

 infected and considered lost. Every effort is being made to 

 prevent the pest from spreading. 



The Japanese appear to be determined to render themselves, 

 as far as possible, independent of foreign countries. They 

 have, says the Pharmaceutical Journal, established in Tokio a 

 factory for the production of pharmaceutical chemicals on a large 

 scale. A company with a capital of about 40,000/. has been 

 formed for this purpose. Of this amount the Government has 

 contributed one-half free of interest for twenty years, besides 

 making a free grant of land and erecting the necessary 

 buildings. A similar company is taking up the utilisation 

 of the waste sake from the native breweries in the manu- 

 facture of alcohol, and the manufacture of bleaching- 

 powder on a laige scale has been commenced. Whether 

 with the object of " protecting " the first of these enterprises or 

 not does not appear, but we learn from the same authority that 

 an increased tax has been placed in Japan on imported patent 

 medicines, and the nature of the articles to which this has been 

 extended is stated to have largely affected the import of some 

 chemicals into that country. Santonin, which was at one time 

 much in request among the Japanese, decreased 20,000 ounces 

 in import last year, although the price was lower ; on the other 

 hand, the consumption of quinine showed an increase. 



In a paper read before the Vaudois Society of Natural 

 Sciences, M. Schnetzler explained the results of his studies on 

 the colour of (lowers. He argues that only one colouring sub- 

 stance exists in plants, and that the various colours of flowers arc- 

 only due to the modifications made in this substance by the acids 

 or alkalis contained in the plants themselves. 



A victory has been gained by Van Rysselberghe in Belgium 

 by the solution of the problem of transmitting a telegraphic and 

 a telephonic message along the same wire at the same time. A 

 trial of this has been made at the Antwerp Universal Exhibition, 

 where concerts held in important towns in Belgium were heard ; 

 the transmission being made with ordinary instruments along 

 ordinary telegraph lines and with earth returns. 



M. CoLLATJ iN has observed a curious phenomenon connected 

 with hailstones. He observed, on some occasions, that two or three 

 seconds after they had fallen they sprung into the air again, to a 

 height of 0-25 m. or 0'30 m., as if they had been struck upwards 

 by the earth. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Green Monkey (Cercopithecus callitrichus 6 ), 

 a Ludio Monkey (Cercopithecus ludio) from West Africa, pre- 

 sented by Mr. A. Bowden ; an Australian Fruit Bat (Ptenpus 

 poliocephalus) from Australia, presented by Capt. C. D. Long ; 

 a Tawny Owl (Synium a/uco), British, presented by Miss H. 

 Freeman ; a Coypu Rat (Myopotamus coypui) from South 

 America, presented by Mr. Frank Parish, F.Z. S. ; two Black- 

 billed Tree Ducks (Dendrocygna arbored) from Antigua, West 

 Indies, pre-ented by Mr. C. Arthur Shand ; a Blackcap (Sylvia 

 atricapilld), British, presented by Mr. II. Keilich ; a Spanish 

 Terrapin (Clmmys leprosd), South European, presented by 

 Master A. Brierly ; a Horned Liza'd (Phrynosoma corniitum) 

 from California, presented by Mr. Alfred R. Wa'lace, F.Z. S. ; 

 an Indian Python (Python molurus) from Ceylon, presented by 

 Mr. A. A. Dalmege, F. R.G.S. ; a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus 

 siiiicus) from India, two North African Jackals (Canis anthus) 

 from Spain, deposited ; two Half-collared Turtle Doves ( Turtur 

 stmitorquatus), two Triangular-spotted Pigeons (Columba guinea), 

 two Bronze-spotted Doves (Chalcopeliachalcospilos),i<mx Harlequin 

 Quails (Coturnix histrionkd), an Allen's Porphyrio (Hydro nia 



alleni) from West Africa, received on approval ; a Levaillant's 

 Cynictis (Cyniclis penicillata), three Long-fronted Gerbilles 

 (Gerbillus longifrons), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Figure ok Uranus. — In a note communicated to the 

 Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Prof. Millosevich collects the mea- 

 sures of Uranus which have been made by various observers, 

 and adds the results of several series made by himself at the 

 Observatory of the Collegio Romano. While the recent mea- 

 sures of Schiaparelli at Milan are in accordance with those of 

 Madler at Dorpat, as regards a very sensible ellipticity, most 

 observers have failed to recognise, or at least have not referred 

 to, any measurable quantity, amongst them Engelmann, Vogel, 

 Lassell, Marth, and Kaiser. It is a point which might be ex- 

 pected to be readily settled if large tele-copes were brought to 

 bear upon it, and particularly if the double-image principle of 

 measurement were employed. 



The Lunar Eclipse on October 4. — During this eclipse 

 the moon will be in a somewhat bare part of the sky, and with 

 one exception no star brighter than the tenth magnitude will be 

 occulted while she is immersed in the earth's dark shadow, or 

 between 9h. 16m. and ioh. 48m. One of the tenth magnitude, 

 of which an accurate position is given in vol. vi. of the Bonn 

 Observations disappears at 9I1. 33m. 35s. and reappears at 

 ioh. 37m. 54s., the angles being respectively 137° and 271 ; No. 

 800 of Weisse's Bessel, oh. R.A., disappears at ioh. 35m. 24s. 

 at loo°, but does not reappear till 1 ih. 45m. 35s. (30S ) when the 

 moon will have begun to emerge from the shadow ; this star is 

 estimated 9 m. by Bessel. The times are for Greenwich. 



Olbers' Comet of 1S15. — In Nos. 2613-14 of the Astrono- 

 mische Nachticht, >> Prof. Krueger has printed the sweeping- 

 ephemerides for this comet calculated by Herr Ginzel of Vienna, 

 at least between the dates October 1 and January 1. Although 

 the epoch of perihelion passage directly resulting from the com- 

 putation of the perturbations during the present revolution does 

 not fall before December 1SS6, the discussion of the observa- 

 tions in 1815 left an uncertainty of ± i"6 year in the time of 

 revolution at the instant of perihelion passage in that year, and 

 it may be well to commence a search for the comet forthwith ; it 

 is to be remarked, however, that, should it reach perihelion in 

 midwinter in these latitudes, it is not likely to pass unobserved, 

 the intensity of light being then at a maximum, and the comet at 

 a high north declination. 



The Comet of 1729. — " La Comete de 1729 est de toutes 

 les cometes, observees jusqu'en 17S0, celle qui a ete vue a la plus 

 grande distance du Soleil et de la Terre," writes Pingre in his 

 " Cometographie." Upwards of a century has since elapsed, 

 and yet no comet observed in the meantime has had a perihelion 

 distance at all approaching that of the comet discovered by Pere 

 Sarabat at Nismes on July 31, 1729. The comet was seen until 

 the end of January following, and was observed by Cassini until 

 the 18th of that month. From some of his observations newly 

 reduced, Burckhardt calculated both parabolic and hyperbolic- 

 orbits which were first published in the Connaissance da Temps 

 for 1821. Recently, employing Burckhardt's reductions of 

 Cassini's observations on September 3, November 10, and 

 January 16, Mr. Hind has found the following parabolic 

 elements : — 



Periheli m passage, 1729, June 16-15422 M.T. at Paris 



Longitude of perihelion 321 2 46-1! Mean 



,, ascending node ... 310 37 S'3 Equinox 



Inclination 77 4 6'o ) 1730-0 



Logarithm of perihelion distance.. 0-607513 

 Motion — direct 

 By which the middle observation is represented within 16" in 

 longitude and 10" in latitude. The distances from the earth and 

 sun at the times of the three observations are : — 



1729 Sept. 3 .. From Sun, 4-107 ... Frjm Earth, 3-142 

 Nov. 10 ... ,, 4'240 ... ,, 4'339 



1730 Jan. 16 ... ,, 4-439 ••■ >. 5''3 2 

 The distance in perihelion is 4-05, the earth's mean distance 

 from the sun being taken as unity. The comet of 1747 had a 

 perihelion distance of 2 -198, which is the nearest approach 

 to that of the comet of 1729; it was a very exceptional and 

 extraordinary tody. 



