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Dec. 14, 1882 | 
NATURE 
161 
THE French official paper publishes an avrété from the Minister 
of Public Works requiring that all trains be furnished with 
continuous brakes, and if po sible automatic. 
THE inundation of the Seine, which had reached a level of 
about 64 metres above the summer season, and has caused many 
disasters, has terminated abruptly by the cold weather which has 
set in with the new moon. 
Ar the last meeting of the St Petersburg Society of Natu- 
ralists, M. Beketoff reported that the expedition for the explora- 
tion of the Altai sent out during last summer was very successful, 
MM. Sokoloff, Polenoff, Nikolskiy, and Krasnoff have returned 
with very rich botanical, zoological, mineralogical, and geological 
collections. He added also that the appeal of the Society for 
botanical collections (addressing them to the St. Petersburg 
University) had been responded to. No less than eighteen very 
good collections had been received, among which one by the 
scholars of all Realschulen of ,Western Siberia merits special 
attention. 
Ir is worthy of note that snow fell on Sunday in Madrid to 
the depth of one foot. It is said that no such weather has been 
experienced in the Spanish capital for twenty years. 
THE diaries, pocket-books, cards, and the other useful and 
beautiful things issued by Messrs. De La Rue for the coming 
year are in all respects equal to those of which we were able to 
speak so highly last year. It would be difficult to imagine any- 
thing more beautiful of their kind than the cards, and what with 
Japanese beauties, flowers, birds, and insects, they might be 
utilised for giving the young ones a liking for natural history. 
The astronomical and other useful information contained in the 
diaries is as full and accurate as ever, and adds greatly to their 
value in our eyes. 
AMONG the articles in the Companion to the British Almanac 
for 1883 are ‘‘ Halley’s Comet,” by Mr. W. T. Lynn; “Modern 
Fish Culture” and “Fishery Exhibitions,” by Mr. J. G, 
Bertram ; ‘‘ Insects Injurious to Agriculture,” by Mr. W. E. A. 
Axon; ‘‘Electric Lighting,” by Mr. L. T. Thorne; ‘‘ The 
British Museum,” by Mr. Charles Makeson ; and a brief sketch 
of the Science of the Year, by Mr. J. F. Iselin. 
HARTLEBEN, of Vienna, has sent us a catalogue of German 
works, some of which might commend themselves to those who 
may wish to entice their young friends to the study of German. 
A GERMAN translation is announced: of Dr. Ingvald Undset’s 
** Study in Comparative Prehistoric Archeology” ; Meissner, of 
Hamburg, is the publisher, and the last number (23) of Globus 
contains an abstract of Dr. Undset’s researches into the first 
appearance of iron in Northern Europe. 
THE last number (vol. xvii. part 1) of the Yournal of the 
North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society contains a 
short article by Dr. Guppy, R.N., on the Geology of the Neigh- 
bourhood of Nagasaki, and a few notes on the South Coast of 
Saghalin, by Mr. Anderson. The principal paper, occupying 
180 pages, is on Annam and its Minor Currency, by M. Toda, 
Besides the portion devoted to numismatics, the author gives a 
short historical and geographical account of Annam, which 
should be valuable at the present time, when public attention is 
being strongly drawn by political events to these regions. Of 
the remaining papers, one, by Mr. Giles, discusses Chinese 
Composition ; the other, by Dr. Hirth, describes a manuscript 
work written at the end of the last century, referring to the 
manner in which the Customs dues on foreign goods were then 
levied at Canton. It is called the ‘‘ Hoppo” book, ‘‘ Hoppo” 
being the title popularly given, even now, by foreigners to the 
principal native chief, or commissioner, of Customs at Canton, 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Bonnet Monkey (MZacacus radiatus ? ) from 
India, presented by Mr. W. Percy Laing ; a Black-headed Lemur 
(Lemur brunneus 6), a Black Lemur (Lemur macaco 2?) from 
Madagascar, presented by the I Company 3rd Battalion King’s 
Royal Rifles; two Leopards (Felis pardus 6 2) from India, 
presented by Lady Bras:ey; a North African Jackal (Cavzis 
anthus) from Tunis, presented by Capt. W. F. Wardroper ; two 
Mexican Sousliks (Spermophilus mexicanus 3 ?) from Mexico, 
presented by Mrs. Simmonds ; a Great Kagle Owl (Budo maxi- 
mus), European, presented by Mr, R, Leigh Pemberton; a 
Martinique Waterhen (Porphyrio martinicus) from Venezuela, 
presented by Mr. F. L. Davis; a Common Squirrel (Scizrus 
vulgaris), British, presented by the Hon. L. W. H. Powys ; two 
Raccoon-like Dogs (Vycterentes procynides) from North-Eastern 
Asia, purchased. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 
CoMEr 1882 6.—A number of very beautiful photographs of 
the great comet have been received from Mr. Gill during the 
past week. Several of them are remarkable for the amount of 
delicate detail that is brought out. Mr. Gill writes: ‘‘ These 
photographs are interesting, not only as pictures of the comet, 
but they appear to me to show the possibility of making, with 
very little labour, a photographic Durchmusterung of the hea- 
venus.” One of them taken on November 8 was exposed two 
hours, and shows all the 8th magnitude stars and the curious 
envelope extending 4° or 5° beyond the nucleus. This envelope 
was barely visible eitber to the naked eye or in the telescope. 
Both Mr. Gill and Dr. Elkin had made a careful search for 
the cometary body seen within a few degrees from the nucleus of 
the great comet, by Prof, Julius Schmidt at Athens. 
We have more than once pointed out that calculations based 
upon such observations as were available here at the time of 
writing, indicated sensible disturbance of the comet’s motion at 
the perikelion passage. It is right, therefore, that we should 
state at once that this inference is hardly countenanced by calcu- 
lations made by Mr. Finlay and Dr. Elkin at the Cape, who 
have had the advantage of more numerous, and probably in 
general more accurate and uniform series of observations. Mr. 
Gill writes: ‘‘ The great comet is a puzzle. The whole question 
of its orbit now turns on which point of its nucleus should be 
observed. So long as the nucleus was single, z.e. from Septem- 
ber 8 to September 28, Dr. Elkin has been able to represent its 
motion by parabolic elements within 3” of observation. But 
after September 28 matters change; the head begins to break 
up. What we took for the principal nucleus is no longer the 
centre of gravity. Finlay and Elkin’s original elements are now 
nearly 2’ out. Elkin’s subsequent elements founded on observa- 
tions September 8 to 28, give a place corresponding nearly with 
the end of the elongated nucleus (about 14’ long) furthest from 
the head. Now (November 21) the nucleus is getting very ill- 
defined. We have done the best we can in the matter, and 
shall continue the best observations we can, as long as the comet 
is visible.” 
Comet 1882 ¢(Barnard, September 10).—From an approxi- 
mate orbit calculated by Mr. Hind, and communicated to Mr. 
Gill at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, which 
reached him on November 11, this comet was found the same 
evening, and was observed on the meridian on several days up 
to November 19. The first position from a lower transit is as 
follows :-— 
R.A. Decl. 
Noy. II 12h. 53m. 21s.°74 —65° 57’ 28'°3 
Mr. Gill’s observations will allow of a much better determina- 
tion of the orbit of this comet, than could have been made from 
the European observations alone; the comet arrived at peri- 
helion on November 13. 
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
Mr. JOSEPH THOMSON sailed yesterday for Zanzibar as leader 
of the Geographical Society's Expedition to Mount Kenia and 
the East Coast of the Victoria Nyanza. Mr. Thomson expects 
to be away for two years. 
