Feb. 9, 1882] 
NATURE 
349 
P. Webster ; two Badgers (eles taxus) from Russia, presented 
by Mr. C. R. Meltzer ; a Cinereous Sea Eagle (Haliaetus albi- 
cilla), European, presented by the Hon, M, Finch Hatton ; two 
Common Barn Owls (Strix flammea), British, presented by 
Master Golden ; a Mountain Ka-Ka (JVestor notadilis) from New 
Zealand, deposited ; two Snow Buntings (Plectrophanes nivalis), 
two Mountain Linnets (Zimota /lavirostris), a Cirl Bunting 
(Emberiza cirhis), British, purchased. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 
THE OBSERVATORY OF MELBOURNE.—The sixteenth annual 
report to the Board of Visitors of this Observatory has been 
issued by the Director Mr. Ellery. The staff now consists of the 
Government Astronomer, the Chief Assistant, Mr. White, and 
three junior assistants, Mr. White takes charge of the meridional 
work, and on Mr. Turner devolves the observation, drawing, 
and photography in connection with the great telescope, and ob- 
taining daily sun-pictures with the photo-heliograph. The large 
telescope almost monopolises the services of a workman. The 
actual work with this instrument during the year ending June 30, 
1881, to which the Report refers, was performed on sixty-eight 
nights, twenty-four.of which were devoted to lunar photo- 
graphy, unfavourable weather, or bright moonlight is stated to 
have interfered on 125 nights, while eighty-two nights were 
occupied with the great influx of visitors to the Observatory, 
during the continuance of the Melbourne International Exhibi- 
tion. Twenty-two nebule of Sir John Herschel’s Catalogue 
were observed and sketched, with a new one, preceding No. 
3705 by rm. 7s., and 4’ 30” south. The majority of the nebulze 
observed agree well with Herschel’s description, but Nos. 4502, 
4510, and 5012 do not accord with his measures ; 3430 is found 
to be much more suddenly condensed in the centre, and 3734 is 
much fainter than he describes. The nebula surrounding 7 
Argis was carefully compared on three occasions with drawings 
of 1875, but no decided change could be detected. During the 
year, 175 photographs of the sun were obtained showing a marked 
increase of spots and disturbances of the surface. The magnetical 
and meteorological work and progress of intercolonial meteoro- 
logy are also subjects of the report. The Government had 
approved of the purchase of a new transit-circle more adequate 
to the requirements of the day than the existing instrument, and 
the necessary amount had been placed upon the estimates. 
THE OBSERVATORY OF CORDOBA.—Dr. B. A. Gould, writing 
on December 22, mentions that the first volume of the Cordoba 
astronomical observations was finished, and he expected to 
forward it to Europe during the ensuing week. A meteorological 
volume would follow immediately. 
THE GREAT CoMET OF 1881.—The following places depend 
apon the last ellipse calculated by MM. Duner and Engstrém of 
Lund :— 
At 12h. Berlin M.T. 
RA. 
Decl. 
In, Gory ° ‘ 
Feb. 11 0 10 15 +55 2:8 
13 © 14 24 54 57°6 
15 0 18 30 54 52°9 
17 O 22 34 54 48°5 
19 © 26 36 54 44°6 
21 ) ores y/ 54 41°0 
23 © 34 35 54 378 
25 © 38 32 54 35'1 
27 ON42 927) or... 54 32°7 
March 1 © 46 20 ... 54 30°6 
On the first date, the comet’s distance from the earth will be 
3'76, and on the last date 4°14, the earth’s mean distance from 
the sun being taken as unity. 
PROBLEMATICAL SUN-spoTs.—As a somewhat similar case 
to that recorded by Sir William Thomson in last week’s NATURE, 
we may recall an observation by Lichtenberg on November 19, 
1762, described in a letter from his brother in Zach’s A//gemeine 
geographische Ephemeriden, 1798, p. 260; the observation had 
been mentioned in Gétting’s Zaschenbuche for 1787, p. 121. 
In Lichtenberg’s diary he had entered the particulars as follows : 
On November 19, 1762, as, in company with a friend, v. 
PGllnitz of Reinheim, he was journeying from Wurzburg towards 
Erlangen early in the morning, one of great cold and thick 
vapours, their attention was directed at sunrise, by the con- 
ductor of the vehicle, to something upon the sun’s disk; he had 
not wholly risen in an unimpeded view, was of a blood-red 
colour, and, as usual, seemed magnified. Under these circum- 
stances Lichtenberg says he saw with the naked eye, to his no 
small surprise, a dark, well-defined spot, the diameter of which 
he estimated at more than a twelfth of the apparent diameter of 
the sun: ‘‘etwas unter dem Mittelpunkte gegen den nérdlichen 
Rand.” It is added ‘‘ Die vollkommen runde Gestalt und der 
vollig reine Ausschnitt liessen auch beim ersten Anblick schon 
etwas Anderes als ein gemeinen Sonnenfleck von seltener 
Grésse vermuthen. Er dauerte auch nicht lange, so sah ich 
deutlich, dass ich mich in meiner Meinung nicht geirrt hatte, 
denn der KGrper hatte seine Stelle merklich verdndert.” The 
journey to Erlangen was hastened in the hope of arriving there 
before the egress of the spot, and on reaching the town Lichten- 
berg says he hurried to Prof. Arnold to secure confirmation of 
his observation, but although immediate steps with that object 
were taken, the body was found to have passed off the sun, 
which appeared round and spotless. 
The brother who communicated these details to Zach, con- 
sidered that in conjunction with a diagram, it followed that the 
object had described a chord of nearly 70° on the solar disk in 
about three hours; the direction being from the north limb 
towards the south. 
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
THE French African traveller, M. de Sanderval, has re- 
turned to Paris from his expedition to Timbo. His principal 
object was to find the route which European travellers have 
searched for for more than a century, and which is destined even- 
tually to become the main route by which civilisation will 
progress from the coast to the Upper Niger and the Soudan. 
During his first journey in 1879 M. de Sandervyal obtained per- 
mission to construct a railway from the Iman of Timbo and grant 
of a district of 12,000 square kilometres. The maps and notes of 
the traveller will be presented to the Academy by M. de Lesseps, 
Atv the meeting of the Geographical Society on Monday last, 
Mr. Cuthbert E, Peek read a paper on the journey across Ice- 
land which he made last summer in company with Mr. E. Delmar 
Morgan and Mr. J. Coles. Mr. Delmar Morgan afterwards gave 
an account of an excursion which he made by himself to Askja, 
the only Englishmen who have visited it before having been 
Messrs. Watts and Licck. The interest in Mr. Peek’s expe- 
dition centres almost entirely in the fact that he had been 
entirely trained to the use of instruments, &c., at the Geographi- 
cal Society under Mr. Coles, the instructor, and the result shows 
that the system adopted is useful and effective. 
In the Geographical Society's Proceedings this month, the 
only papers are those read at the meeting of January 16, and 
alluded to in our issue of January 26. The map on which the 
routes of Mr. Thomson and the Rev. C. Maples are laid down, 
isa useful contribution to the geography of East Africa. A 
note on Mr, O’Neill’s journey in the interior of Mozambiqne 
dissipates all hopes which may have been formed that he had 
visited the snow-clad mountains there. Mr. O'Neill appears to 
have reached a point within sight of the lofty peak Namuli, 
said by natives to be capped with snow, but owing to clouds he 
could not verify this statement. Much useful information will 
be found collected together under the head of Pére Duparquet’s 
journeys in Ovampo-land. The remainder of this issue is 
largely devoted to foreign societies, among the reports of which 
will be found authoritative accounts of Dr. Stecker’s work in 
Abyssinia, and Mr. Poliakof’s in the Island of Saghalien. 
It is stated that Col. Prjevalsky intends shortly to start on 
another expedition to Tibet, and we hope that this time he may 
at length succeed in reaching Lhassa. 
Cot. VENIUKOF has furnished the French Geographical 
Society with some notes of Dr. Regel’s new journey in Central 
Asia, principally in Karategin and Darwaz, Flis explorations 
commenced on the banks of the Macha, near the Zarafshan 
Glacier, whence he went first to Garm, the capital of Karategin, 
traversing the mountains by the Pakshif defile, and descending 
into the valley of the Kizil-su by the little river Sor-bokh. 
From Garm he went to Kela-Khumb, traversing on the way the 
valley of the River Wakish or Wakhia, and the Kamchirak, 
Sagridesht, and Khubu-rabat passes, the first of which is 9500 
feet above the sea. Further on he followed the valley of the 
Oxus as far as the confluence of the Warij, which the natives 
