114 
NATURE 
[Dec. 1, 1881 | 
A veERY hopeful Report has been published by the Winchester 
College Natural History Society. This is its Fifth Report, 
though the Society has been in existence ten years, It has not 
been thought necessary to publish any account of the doings of 
the Society for five years, though we are assured that it has been 
none the less doing good work. This is what is wanted, and 
the present report bears evidence that the Winchester Society is 
in a healthy and fairly vigorous condition. The sectional reports 
are good, and the Society has formed some very fair collections. 
THE Berlin Philosophical Society, founded in 1843 by the 
disciples of Hegel, but now numbering amongst its members 
men of the most various philosophical creeds, has applied the 
surplus of funds recently collected for a monument in memory of 
Hegel to the foundation of a Hegel Institution, the object of 
which is the furtherance of philosophical research. The Society 
has just issued the following prize theme : ‘‘A critical and his- 
torical account of the dialectical method of Hegel.” The treatises 
may be written either in German, French or English, and must 
be sent in before December 31, 1883. The prize is 450 marks 
(22/.). 
A NEW natural history serial will soon be published by Enke 
of Stuttgart. Its editor is Dr. Georg Krebs of Frankfort on the 
Maine, and its title, Humboldt, Monatsschrift fiir die gesammten 
Naturwissenschaften, 
THE ‘“‘ Encyklopzdie der Naturwissenschaften,” published by 
Trewendt of Breslau, is now well advanced. Part 25 contains 
the seventh instalment of the Dictionary of Zoology, Anthro- 
pology, and Ethnology, and only brings it down to Diésfoma. 
Parts 26 and 27 contain the eleventh and twelfth (the concluding) 
instalment of the Handbook of Mathematics, 
Dr. Nacorsky, having measured the capacities of lungs 
of 630 boys and 314 girls in the schools of the district of 
St. Petersburg, now publishes the results of his investigation 
in a Russian medical paper, the Surgeon. He has found that the 
capacity of lungs, in relation to the weight of the body, is 65 
cubic centimetres for each kilogramme of weight in boys, and 
57 cubic centimetres for girls, The law of Quetelet being that 
with children below fifteen years of age, the weight of the body 
is proportionate to the square of the height, Dr. Nagorsky has 
found that it is proportional to 2°15 of the same; whilst the 
capacity of lungs is proportional to 24th of the height for boys, 
and to the square of the height for girls. Dr. Nagorsky’s re- 
searches will soon be published asa separate work. As to the 
relation between the weight of man and the capacity of lungs, 
it is tolerably permanent, and its variations are mostly due to 
differences in the amount of fat in the bodies of different men. 
IN our article on the Geological Congress (NATURE, Novem- 
ber 10) in the table of terms, in the first column of p. 35, the 
_ word Cycle should be Zre (cra). 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus lalandii) from 
South Africa, presented by Mr. R. M. Edger; a Blackbird 
(Turdus merula), two Song Thrushes (7urdus musicus), a 
Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), two Skylarks (Alauda arvensis), a 
Greenfinch (Zigurnis chloris), two Chaffinches (Fringzlla celebs), 
two Common Quails (Co/urnix communis), British, presented by 
Mr. Edward Lawrence; a Black-winged Peafowl (Pavo nigri- 
pennis) from Cochin China, presented by Mr. J. Marshall ; a 
Common Kestrel (7inunculus alaudarius), British, presented 
by Mr. A. Lidbury ; a Grecian Ibex (Capra @gagrus) from 
South-East Europe, four Orange-cheeked Waxbills (Zstre/da 
melpoda), two Common Waxbills (Zstrelda cinerea) from West 
Africa, two Maja Finches (/unta maja) from Malacca, a Black- 
headed Finch (AZunia malacca), an Indian Silver-bill (A/unia 
malabarica) from India, a Song Thrush (7urdus musicus), 
British), a Blue-crowned Parrakeet (Zanygnathus Juzonensis) 
from the Philippines, a White-eared Conure (Conurus leucotis) 
from Brazil, deposited ; a Bar-tailed Godwit (Zimosa lapponica), 
two Razorbills (4/ca torda), two Common Lapwings (Vanellus 
cristatus), two Golden Plovers (Charadrius pluvialis), two Knots 
(Tringa canutus), a Red-throated Diver (Colymbus septen- 
trionalis), British, purchased ; a Spotted Ichneumon ( Herpestes 
auropunctatus) from Nepal, a Geoffroy’s Dove (Peristera 
geoffroit), two Brazilian Teal (Querguedula brasiliensis) from 
South America, two Mandarin Ducks (dix galericulata) from 
China, received in exchange. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 
THE SATURNIAN SysTEM.—In a memoir publi-hed in t. xxvii, 
2me partie, of Mémoires de la Société de Physique et d’ Histoire 
Naturelle de Genéve, entitled ‘‘ Recherches sur Saturne, ses An- 
neaux et ses Satellites,” M. Wilhelm Meyer, assistant-astronomer 
at the Observatory of Geneva, presents results of his observations 
made with the 1o-inch refractor, the gift of Prof. Plantamour to 
the establishment, during the opposition of 1880. They consist 
of measures of the rings and equatorial and polar diameters and 
observations of the satellites Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, 
and Titan, with elements deduced from them. M. Meyer was 
not certain that he had observed Mimas in 1880, but in a note 
he mentions that on the night of September 4, 1881, which was 
“une des plus belles, quant a la diaphanité de l’atmosphére,” he 
obtained an undoubted observation of it; at 13h. 13m. 27s. 
Greenwich mean time it was distant 311 from the centre of 
Saturn, exactly in the plane of the ring on the preceding side, 
or, as he expresses it, x = — 311, y=0. 
For the outer diameter of ring A he finds 40’*47 for the mean 
distance of Saturn, which, like other measures with the filar- 
micrometer (employed for all the measures at Geneva) is in 
excess of the results given by the double-image micrometer ; 
Kaiser found the outer diameter with the latter 39’°47. Con- 
sidering the difficulties attending measures of this class with the 
filar-micrometer, preference, no doubt, is to be given to the 
double-image principle, though without much practice there may 
be a tendency to c/ip the measures made with the instrument. If 
it were preferred to take something like a general mean of the 
reliable measures to this time, the outer diameter of the ring 
would be found to differ little from 39’°75. 
M. Meyer has referred all his times to the meridian of Green- 
wich, because, as he says, it is that adopted by Mr. Marth in the 
calculation of his elaborate ephemerides of the satellites, to 
which he acknowledges his obligations. 
We subjoin the elements of the four satellites interior to Titan 
which were measured at Geneva :— 
ENCELADUS Tetuys DIone RHEA 
Epoch ow: «oe «. Oct 8:0 %. Oct. 27" Oct. 27°0 +. Oct. 27° 
Mean long. ... « 5 18°3 aus 300 22 155 s2 309 42°9 
Peri-Saturnium .. 181 45°3 +. 204 68 180 16°8 .. 239 26°0 
Wades jcccmn. 127 59 «» 113 57°6 124 17'O os 127 4°5 
Inclination ats SB'OU aan 7 OF « 6 415 6 36°2 
Eccentricity ... «. 0°066235 ... o'006847 . 07016888 0°01 4657 
“ a“ a“ a“ 
Semi-axis major «. 34°29, wwe 248 wwe 54758 a 75°97 
dhm ss dhms dhm s. dhm s, 
Tropical revolution 1 8 52 40°5...1 21 18 8°4..2 17 40 54°I+-4 12 25 25'4 
The node and inclination are referred to the plane of the ter- 
restrial equator. 
The separate values of the mass of Saturn which M. Meyer 
deduces from his observations are discordant. 
THE LUNAR ECLIPSE ON DECEMBER 5.—The eclipse of the 
moon next Monday evening, though very nearly total, will not 
be actually so, the magnitude being 0°973. The first contact 
with the shadow occurs at 3h. 28m., but the moon does not rise 
at Greenwich till 3h. 50m. The middle of the eclipse occurs at 
sh. 8m., and the la-t contact with shadow at 6h. 49m, The 
shadow enters upon the moon’s surface at about 60° from the 
N. point of the limb towards the east. The fifth magnitude 
star « Tauri is occulted at Greenwich at 6b, 23m., before the 
shadow is off the disk. 
On October 13, 1856, there was a lunar eclipse of similar 
character, magnitude 07994. 
VARIABLE StTars.—R Leporis. According to Dr, Julius 
Schmidt’s observations during the interval 1865-1875, the mean 
