May 31, 1877] 



NA TURE 



93 



imitations. The magistrate, Mr. Newton, was therefore 

 to a considerable extent justified in stating that the designer 

 of the map seemed to have constructed it out of his own brain, 

 and he virtually dismissed the summons. 



From the report read at the annual meeting of the Netting. 

 ham Literary and Philosophical Society, we see that it now has 

 352 membeis of various classes. The Society has had several 

 scientific lectures during the session, and we are specially glad to 

 see that the Natural Science Section is in a flourishing condition, 

 having had twenty-nine meetings and excursions during the 

 session, at which papers were read on various subjects of scien- 

 tific interest. 



The Societe Francaise de Navigation Aerienne, an institution 

 which has been approved by the Minister for Public Instruction, is 

 to organise a collective exhibition at the Champ de Mars. It will 

 include any means of propelling and governing in the air. Any 

 instrument which has proved efficacious in some degree will be 

 admitted if its dimensions are not too large, or by model, if 

 otherwise. Any apparatus for making aerial observations, or 

 helping aeronauts in any way will be admitted. The collection 

 will also include maps, books, manuscripts, and newspapers 

 relating to aerial navigation. 



We have received from Dr. Warren de la Rue a small 

 pamphlet containing two sets of tables which must prove of 

 great use to most scientific workers. There are tables for the 

 reduction to o' centigrade of a mercury column observed with a 

 glass scale divided into millimetres, and tables for the reduction 

 of millimetres (mercurial pressure) to thousandths and miUionths 

 of an atmosphere, and I'icc versii. These tallies are printed for 

 private circulation. 



An important Russian work has just been published by Prof. 

 Inostrantsef — "Geological .Sketch of the Povyenetz District, 

 Government Olonetz, and of its Mines." This large volume 

 (750 pp.), being the result of seven years' explorations, contains 

 detailed reports on the travels of the author, an orographical 

 description of the district (the surface of which exceeds that of 

 Switzerland), an interesting chapter on the metamorphisni of 

 the green slates, and a sketch of the glacial formations. It is 

 accompanied by maps, engravings, and chromolithograplied 

 plates representing microscopical cuttings of rocks. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include an African Turkey Buzzard (Biiteo Uichardus) 

 from Africa, presented by Mr. A. Anderson, F Z. S. ; two 

 Rendall's Guinea Fowls {Nitmidarcndalli)\xo\n Bogos Country, 

 Abyssinia, presented by Capt. Burke, %.%. Arcot ; three Carpet 

 Snakes {Mordia variegata) from Australia, presented by Mr. 

 J. Moseley ; a Guianan Crested Eagle (Moip/tnus giiianeiisis) 

 from the Upper Amazons, a Green-necked Pea-fowl (Pa7o 

 sfici/er) from Java, two Barred-tailed Pheasants (Phasianiis 

 recvesi] from North China, a One- wattled Cassowary (Casuarius 

 uniappendkulaiiis) from New Guinea, a Great-headed Maleo 

 (Megacefihahn maleo) from the Celebes, purchased ; an In- 

 convenient Curassow (Crax incotmnoda) from South Americi, 

 deposited ; a Derbian Wallaby (flalmaturus derbianus) born in 

 the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Comets Observed by Hevelius. — Of the eight comets 

 observed by Kevel, better known as Hevelius, at Danlzic, with 

 such degree of precision as could be attained with his instru- 

 ments, the observations of two only have been reduced with the 

 aid of modern places for comparison stars, &c., and in these two 

 cases only have we other orbits than those calculated by Halley, 

 which appear in his Synopsis Astrononiuv Cotnetuir. The obser- 

 vations of the comet of 1664 have been discussed by Herr 



Lindelof, with the view of ascertaining whether any support were 

 afforded by them, to a conjecture of identity of the comet, with 

 the first comet of 1853 ; and those of the comet of 1683, were 

 similarly reduced by Mr. W. E. Plummer, in his examination of 

 the elliptical tendency of the orbit indicated by the computations 

 of Prof Clausen, who had previously recalculated a few of the 

 observations. There remain the comets of 1652, 1661, 1665, 

 J672, 1677, and 1682; Mechaiu's reduction of the observations 

 of the second of these bodies nearly a century since, will hardly 

 be considered final. 



The observations of the comets of 1672 and 1677 were pub- 

 lished in the second volume of the Machiiia Co;Iestis, and in small 

 special treatises. This second volume of the great work of 

 Hevelius, as is well known, is extremely scarce, the whole of the 

 impression, with the exception of such copies as had been already 

 presented to astronomers having been lost in the fire which 

 destroyed the observatory, library and papers of Hevelius on 

 September 26, 1679. The copies thus saved were [so few in 

 number, that as Lalande remarks " On pent regarder cet ouvrage 

 comme un manuscrit ; " and the special treatises to which we 

 have alluded are perhaps of equal difficulty of access. The ob- 

 servations of the comets of 1652 and 1661 were printed in the 

 Comdographia, not a work of very great rarity, as well as in the 

 scarce volume of the Machina Ca-lestis ; those of the comet of 

 1665 also appear in this volume, in a special treatise, and in the 

 Prodromiis Cometuus, while^ those of the comet of 16S2 

 (Halley's'comet) are found in Annus Cliinaetericus, and have been 

 fully utilised. 



A new reduction and discussion of the observations of the 

 comets of 1652, 1661, 1665, 1672, and 1677, is certainly a desi- 

 deratum, and important assistance in this direction might be 

 afforded by a republication of the original observations of 

 Hevelius from some quarter where the scarce volume is accessible. 

 Madler remarks upon a certain degree of resemblance between 

 the elements of the comet of 1672 and those of the comet of 1S12, 

 which is shortly expected to return to perihelion ; and it has 

 been pointed out in this column that Halley has given the de- 

 scending in place of the ascending node, for a comet observed in 

 1 686 — an oversight which has found its way into all catalogues 

 of cometary orbits hitherto published, so that a re- computation 

 of the orbits of the five comets we have mentioned, which now 

 rest upon the figures of the Synopsis Astronomm; Comelicie is 

 wanted, if only for verification. 



"The Observatory." — The second number of this new 

 periodical is before us. Mr. David Gill continues his paper on 

 " The Determination of the Solar Parallax ; " we have the first 

 part of an article giving the substance of a lecture recently 

 delivered at Gresham College, by the Rev. E. Ledger, on "The 

 Scintillation or Twinkling of the Stars," which has long been an 

 obscure subject ; Mr. Marth continues his Ephemerides for aid- 

 ing physical observations of the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter ; and 

 there is also a report of the proceedings at the last meeting of 

 the Royal Astronomical Society, including the discussion on the 

 papers read, which, as was mentioned in a previous notice, it is 

 intended should form a feature of the publication. We think 

 every one who is competent to judge of the actual state of the 

 case will agree in the opinion expressed at p. 55, whUe remark- 

 ing on Mr. Todd's extension of Damoiseau's Tables of Jupiter's 

 Satellites to the end of the present century, that "the time has 

 hardly yet come for the formation of entirely new Tables." So 

 far as regards the necessary observations, it must be admitted 

 that they are being followed up with vigour at several observa- 

 tories. The first binary star orbit on p. 58, refers to ^ Scorpii 

 (I, Libra; of Flamsteed), not to CLibrfe ; the error, however, is 

 made in the Astron. N'aclirichkn, whence the orbit is taken. 



L'Et£ de la Saint-Martin et les Etoiles Filantes.— 

 In No. 493 of the Bulletin Hebdomadaire of the French Scientific 



