no 



NATURE 



\_ynne 



2, li 



to collect together typical collections of all materials of economic 

 value belonging to the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, 

 from the raw material through the various stages of manufacture, 

 to the final product or finished article ready for use. It is 

 intended that the following shall be more or less completely 

 represented :— Animal products; vegetable products; waste 

 products ; foods ; economic entomology ; economic geological 

 specimens ; educational apparatus and appliances ; sanitary and 

 hygienic appliances and systems ; mining, engineering, and 

 machinery ; agricultural tools, appUances, and machinery ; also 

 . soils, manures, &c. ; models, drawings, and descriptions of 

 patents ; ethnological specimens ; examples of historical furniture 

 and of artistic workmanship in iron and other metals; photo- 

 graphs, electrotype, plaster, and other reproductions of examples 

 of art workmanship where originals are not to be obtained. 

 Exhibition catalogues, trade journals, price lists, and descriptions 

 of new processes or industries. The acting secretary is Mr. 

 Charles R. Buckland. 



We have received the abstract of Transactions of the Anthro- 

 pological Society of Washington for the first two years of its 

 existence, ending January, 1881. It contains brief notices of 

 the meetings of the Society, the papers read, as might be ex- 

 pected, relating mostly to American Indians. A paper by Col. 

 Mallory, "On the Comparative Mythology of the Two Indias 

 (Asia and America) " shows that many resemblances exist between 

 them, arising solely, however, from the efforts of two quite 

 distinct primitive peoples to interpret the same natural pheno- 

 mena. Prof. Gill deals with the Zoological Relations of Man. 

 The principal papers, however, are the annual addresses of the 

 president, Mr. J. W. Powell, on the Evolution of Language, 

 as Exhibited in the Specialisation of the Grammatic Processes, 

 the Differentiation of the Parts of Speech, and the Integration 

 of the Sentence, from a Study of Indian Languages ; and on 

 Limitations to the Use of Anthropological Data. Mr. Powell 

 has also a long paper on " Wyandot Government— a Short Study 

 of Tribal Society." 



We have received a long letter from Mr. Gerald Massey on 

 our review of his " Book of the Beginnings," which we regret we 

 are unable to print. We should state, ho\\-ever, that the word 

 bottle,^. 49, col. I, line 17 from bottom, was a misprint for 

 beetle ; and the following extract froji Mr. Massey's work (vol. i. 

 p. 145) will show the sense in which he quoted Prof. Max 

 Muller : — "If the first man were called in Sanskrit Adima, 

 and in Hebrew Adam, and if the two were really the same 

 word, then Hebrew and Sanskrit could not be members of 

 two different families of speech, or we should be driven to 

 admit that Adam was borrowed by the Jews from the Hindus, 

 for it is in Sanskrit only that Adima means the first, whereas in 

 Hebrew it has no such meaning."— (Quoted from Max Midler's 

 "Science of Rehgion," p. 302). 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Chacma Baboon {Cynoccphalus po>-cariiis9) 

 from South Africa, presented by Mrs. Findlay; a Common 

 Marmoset (Hapale jacchus), a Black-eared Marmoset (Hapah 

 ienicillata) from South-East Brazil, presented by Mr. C. Stewart ; 

 a Two-spotted Paradoxure {Naiidinia biiwtata'i) from West 

 Africa, presented by Mr. W. H. Hart; a Bennett's Gazelle 

 {GazcUa bennetti) from Afghanistan, presented by Brigadier- 

 General Tamier ; a Globose Curassow {Crax globkera) froji 

 Central America, presented by Mr. Allan Lambert ; a Slow- 

 worm [Angnis fragilis), British, presented by Mr. G. Mengee ; 

 three Peacock Pheasants {Polyplectron chiiiqtiis <? <J 9 ) from 

 British Burmah, six Nuthatches (Sitta arsia), British, deposited ; 

 two Ring-necked Pheasants (Phasiainis lorquatus i ? ) from 

 China, two Swinhoe's Pheasants (Eiiplocamiis swinhoii i ?) 

 from Formosa, four Chilian Pintails {Dafila spinicauda) fro.n 



Antarctic America, an Antarctic Skua {Stcrcorarius antarcticus) 

 from tlie Antarctic Seas, a Dominican Gull (Lams dominicanus) 

 from the Falkland Islands, a White-marked Duck [Anas specu- 

 laris) from the Straits of Magellan, an African Wild Ass (Eqitus 

 ticniopusi) from Abyssinia, purchased; a Cashmere Shawl 

 Goat {Capra hircus), a Mouflon {Ovis musimon 9 ), born in the 

 Gardens ; three Variegated Sheldrakes (Tadorna variegata) bred 

 in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 A New Variable Star.— Prof. JuUus Schmidt publishes an 

 account of his observation of a star of from 8m. to 9m. in Canis 

 Minor on April i, which had not been remarked as late as 

 March 28, and of which not a trace was visible on the following 

 night. On November 25, 1879, Mr. Baxendell discovered a 

 star in Canis Minor of about 8'8in., and of a decided orange 

 colour, where the DurchmusteruHi; showed no star, which gra- 

 dually diminished, until on January n, 18S0, it was estimated 

 9'6. Prof. Schmidt gives the position of this star from obser- 

 vations at Athens and at Dunecht, with the places of two of 

 Bessel's stars as folio ,vs for l88o'o : — 



W.B., 7h. 1014 ... 7 34 :S-04 ... -I- 8 40 20-9 ... (b) 

 Baxendell's star ... 7 34 49-98 ... -h 8 39 30-1 ... (x) 

 W.B., 7h. 1029 ... 7 34 54-17 ... 4- 8 42 29'4 ... (3) 

 Examining this neighbourhood with a Si-feet refractor on the 

 evening of April i, he remarked a star (c) of between the eighth 

 and ninth magnitude, and by " eine Ordinaten-construction " fi-om 

 a diagram then mide, he judged its position for iSSo'o to be in 

 R.A. 7h. 34m. s6-4s., Deck + 8° 4i'-4. If these places are 

 reduced to the epoch of the Durchmusterung (i8S5'o) they will 

 stand as follows : — 



R.A. Ded. 



».,,,-.„ ,v... .without a greater 



' - 9 - 7 33 350 ... -fS44 4J error than o'-?. 



On April 2, at 8h., with the same refractor, not the slightest 

 trace of e could be discovered, and on taking tlie precaution to 

 examine the stars within a space of two minutes (time) preceding 

 and following the place by the previous night's observation, no 

 similar object was found : a star lom., wantin.; in Argelauder, 

 showed no motion in two hours. On April 3 and 4 Prof. 

 Schmidt was similarly unsuccessful. Baxenlell's star had been 

 compared with Bessel's two stars with the Cometen-Sucher 

 on eighty-six evenings between 1879, December 6, and 1881, 

 M.arch 28 (an instance, by the way, of the scrutinising system 

 of observation which the indefatigable a-trouomer of Athens is 

 accustomed to apply in his variable-star work) : on no occasion 

 was any object noted in the place of the star e. 



Prof. Schmidt has remarks upon this observation to the fol- 

 lowing effect : if the object had been a distant planet it would 

 have been found on April 2, 3, and 4 close to its place on April I. 

 If it had belonged to the group of minor planets it would have 

 been readily identified on one of the evenings the vicinity was 

 examined, by means of the Durchmusteriiiig, without knowledge 

 as to the direction of motion. If it were a variable star there 

 was a variation of light from 8'5m. to absolute invi-ibility in 

 twenty-four hours, which has never been remarked in any other 

 variable ; and lastly, if it were a N'trfa, of the class to which the 

 well-known .stars of 1S4S, 1S60, 1866, and 1876 have been 

 assigned, its illumination is limited to the interval between the 

 evenings of March 28 and April I, and therefore could have 

 extended only to four days. 



Referring the places of the objects obseived by Baxendell and 

 Schmidt to the star of 8'3m., No. 1029 of Weisse's Bessel, we 

 find- 

 Angle of position. Distance. 



For Baxendell's star 207'8 135 



For Schmidt's star I53'2 73 



Fellocktr's careful work for the Berlin Chart, Hour VII., does 

 not render any assistance in this case. One of our many amateurs 

 might advantageously take up the systematic and frequent obser- 



