4 
bs - 
: 
2 
E ~ could thus be accounted for. We conclude, therefore, that the 
comet of 1772 was not that of Biela. 
2, The first comet of 1818 is regarded by Dr. Weiss as a 
robable member of the Biela group.* This body, discovered 
By Pons, was visible only four days. Its elements, as computed 
by Pogson, have a striking resemblance to those of Biela’s 
comet, the longitudes of the ascending nodes differing by only 
1. There can be little doubt that it was connected, in its 
origin, with the comet of Biela. 3 
3. The companion of Biela, observed in 1846 and 1852, is 
another comet of the same cluster. The fact that several 
cometary masses move in orbits almost identical, may afford a 
plausible explanation of the division of Biela’s comet. Was 
one member of the group overtaken by another as they were 
‘approaching perihelion in 1845, and was their separation after 
imperfect collision the phenomenon observed at that epoch ? 
4. The comet detected by Pogson, at Madras, on December 
2 and 3, 1872, may hive been another member of the same 
family. Its perihelion passage occurred nearly three months 
after the time computed for that of Biela. Prof. Newton has 
remarked *+ that so great a lengthening of the period could not 
probably be explained by planetary perturbation. 
M. Hoek has shown { that certain comets have been asso- 
ciated in groups before entering the solar domain, When 
the members of such cometary systems are widely separated, 
they may pass round the sun in very different orbits. The 
comets, however, which constitute the Biela cluster must have 
entered our system at small distances from each other, since 
their orbits are nearly coincident. These orbits, between longi- 
tude 255° and 265°, pass within no great distance of that of 
Jupiter. The group had perhaps made its first perihelion pas- 
sage in a parabolic orbit, Receding from the sun, it fell under 
the controlling influence of Jupiter ; the comets had various 
positions:in relation to the planet, and hence the orbits resulting 
from the attraction of the latter were slightly different. 
We might regard the comet of 1772, the companion of Biela, 
and Pogson’s comet of 1872, as probably identical, but for the 
small increase of distance between the two Biela-comets in the 
interval from 1846 to 1852. ‘The period would be about 2456 
days. 
That the comets of this cluster have been moving in their pre- 
sent orbits but a comparatively short time is rendered probable 
by the fact that no two of the members hitherto detected have 
become widely separat-d, and that, notwithstanding the fre- 
quency of the return to perihelion, the meteoric déyis is much 
less diffused than in the case of other known streams. 
Were all the members of this cluster originally united in a 
single comet, or did they evter the solar system as a group? To 
this question, perhaps, no satisfactory answer can yet be given. 
It seems probable, however, that the united masses would have 
formed a somewhat conspicuous object, too brilliant to have en- 
tirely escaped observation. « DANIEL KiIRKwoopD 
B:oomington, Indiana, April 15 
Earthquake in Dumfries 
WHILE sitting in my lonely house in a retired but beautiful 
glen of Dumfriesshire, I was aroused on the evening of Wednes- 
day 16th current, at ten minutes to ten o’clock, by one of the 
most singular noises ever I had listened to. The tone of it was 
somewhat like thunder, but it did not rise and fall in pitch. It 
las'ed, perhaps, for twenty seconds, and was accompanied by a 
slight tremor. At first I thought it was a two-horsed carriage 
coming, and at a lumbering pace, and then, with some hesita- 
tion, I took it for thunder, but next day I found that it was 
generally recognised as an earthquake. The shaking was very 
perceptible in some localities. It extended through the parishes 
of Closeburn, Morton, Penpont, Glencairn, and Tynron, over a 
length, I am safe to say, of ten miles. Dr. Grierson of Thorn- 
hill Museum felt it as a rude shock. In Tynron village there 
was some alarm, as one family thought it was the wall of the 
churchyard that had fallen, On December 24, last year, a similar 
shock was felt in some parts of Upper Nithsdale. Although I 
_have resided for many years in Dumfriesshire, these are the only 
occasions on which there was any surmise of an earthquake. 
The local papers have said almost nothing about it, but I am 
sure this will interest some of your readers. 
Tynron School, April 23 
* Astr. Nach., No 1710. 
+ American Journal of Science, April 1873. 
} Monthly Notices of the R,A-S., vol, xxv. p, 243. 
J. SHAW 
NATURE 
East India Museum 
ALLOW me to make yet another suggestion (in addition to 
those of P.L.S. and Prof. Newton), with regard to the disposal 
of the natural history collections at the India House. It seems 
to me to be one of the greatest popular delusions, that specimens 
of natural history necessarily require lofty halls and spacious 
galleries for their preservation and exhibition ina useful manner. 
Thold, on the contrary, that, with few exceptions, they far 
better serve educational and scientific purposes when arranged 
in ordinary apartments. All the scientific work in the British 
Museum is done in small rooms ; and the palatial galleries with 
their crowded myriads of specimens and miles of glass cases, 
however instructive they may be (or might be made) to the 
public, are a positive hindrance to scientific work. Iam very 
much mistaken if all the India House natural history collections 
might not be suitably placed in two or three ordinary sitting 
rooms, and so arranged in cabinets and boxes as to be far more 
convenient for reference and study than they have ever been. 
The rent of a moderate-sized house in an airy situation, say 250/. 
with an equal sum for the salary of an efficien: Curator, and a 
small grant for cabinets and the necessary books of reference, 
is all the expense required to make this interesting collection 
completely accessible to all who wish to consult it. Every 
one interested in Indian natural history would then visit it. It 
would again receive gifts of collections from travellers, Indian 
Officers, and other persons interested in the natural history of 
the East ; and its increase in value from this source alone might 
go far towards furnishing a tangible equivalent for the expense 
incurred, while it would certainly render the collection a better 
representation of the Indian fauna than it is at present, and more 
worthy ofa place, at some future time, in the proposed grand 
Indian Museum. 
Such a modest establishment would also, I believe, do much 
good by showing at how small an expense a really useful 
scientific museum may be kept up, and would thus encourage 
the formation of local museums in cases where 20,000/, or’ 30,000/, 
cannot be raised for a buil' ing. It would not, of course, be a 
show museum for the uneducated public to wander and gaze in ; 
—the Brit sh Museum serves that pur; ose. But it would prove 
greatly superior to any such mere exhibition, as a means of 
furnishing definite information on Indian zoology, and enabling 
any intelligent inquirer to obtain some idea of the many wonder- 
ful and beautiful forms of life which characterise, what is at 
once the smallest and the richest in proportion to its extent, of 
the great zoological regions of the globe. 
ALFRED R. WALLACE 
It will be greatly to be regretted if even your suggestions are 
adopted asa remedy for the presen neglect, and the claims of 
scientific men and of the public at large for a Government 
museum be abandoned. It is very desirable for Indian interests 
that the Museum shall be, as before, connected with the Indian 
department. 
It is quite true accommodation in the sky-parlours, with casual 
access by a lift, is given for the industrial collections so well 
conducted by Dr. Forbes Watson, and which collections, as 
chairman of the Indian Committee of the Society of Arts, I feel 
bound to contend for as of great value to England and to 
India. 
There is no solid ground for letting the Government go, 
They acquired in the like way the property of the Levant Com- 
pany, and attempted to shirk the rights and obligations, but 
were compelled to maintain the public buildings, churches, hos- 
pitals and burial-grounds at Constantinople, Smyrna, &c. It 
must be owned they constantly attempt to evade the obliga- 
tions. 
They are now engaged in paying off the stock of the old East 
India Company, of which they have acquired the territory, 
houses, property, prerogatives, &c., and they must simulta- 
neously accept every obligation, pecuniary and moral. 
This was a museum for the service of England and the service 
of India, and there is no reason why it should not be kept up. 
There is, it is true, a growing licence in this day for representing 
us as usurpers and oppressors of India, whereas the peace, pros- 
perity, and progress of India have been created by us, and were 
we to withdraw, would be destroyed by the sanguinary conflicts 
of the various races of conquered and conquerors constituting the 
populations. 
We ought to stand on ourright to share in the prosperity of 
India as a prerogative belonging to us. Besides, for the benefit 
of India, the collections are kept up by Englishmen, for there i; 
"aed 
