April 26, 1883 | 
the comparison is made, a difference which is probably due to 
influence of temperature, as already pointed out in 1783 by 
Saussure. The matter, however, has never yet received thorough 
investigation. The cause of the elongation of the air in conse- 
quence of an increase of moisture remained also unexplained. 
It might be explained now, however, as it is known that the air 
contains water in a liquid state in its microscopical cavities. 
Thecurvature of the surfaces of these microscopical meniscuses, 
which depends upon the tension of the vapour that incloses the 
air, must influence the tension on its surface and therefore change 
its length. Both these causes can be expressed mathematically, 
at least for the simplest cases, and if we admit a state of equi- 
librium we can easily see that the tension of the meniscuses on the 
surface of the air is a function of the relative moisture, and is 
proportionate to the logarithm of the moisture. The elongation 
of the air would thus be a function of the relative moisture of 
a capillary constant, of the coefficients of elasticity of the air, 
and of the suspended weight. 
Dr. ARNOD DoDEL PorrT has recently published the final 
part of his incom, arable ‘‘ Atlas der pbysiologischen Botanik.”’ 
The six plates which constitute it illustrate: Cys¢ostra barbala, 
I. Ag. (a genus of sea wracks), the archegonium and antheridium 
of Marchantiz (one of the Liverworts), Pins larictio (third 
plate), Lavatera trimestris, two plates (a genus of Malvacez), 
and Datura stramonium, L. (the common thorn-apple). To- 
gether with the plates is published the final part of the descriptive 
text. 
IN the current number of the Annales de l’Extréme Orient, 
M. de Lucy-Fossarien draws attention to the interesting fact in 
connection with education in Japan, that a large part of its 
development is due to private assistance. In the past five years 
forty-two millions of francs have been given voluntarily by 
private persons for the extension of education. Even this large 
sum, however, is probably less than the value of the land, houses, 
&c., given in particular districts for the use of schools. 
THE tenth annual Report of the Museum fiir Vélkerkunde, at 
Leipzig, has just been published, and gives an interesting account 
of the flourishing condition of this excellent ethnographical in- 
stitution. The Emperor of Germany again contributes a large 
sum to the funds of the Museum, and the Crown Prince of 
Austria has become a member of the institution; the collections 
have been largely increased, and there are no less than 106 gentle- 
men at work in various parts of the world extending the connec- 
tions of and acquiring material for the Museum. 
AN earthquake was observed at Tashkend on March 31, at 
7 a.m. The shocks were of considerable violence. In the 
Etna district the voleanic phenomena continue. A violent earth- 
quake occurred at Riposto on the 5th inst., and on the following 
day oscillations were felt also at Catania, Paterndé, and Randazzo. 
A thick volume of steam emanates from the crater as well as 
from lateral openings. At Salinella the mud crater had resumed 
its activity and had caused considerable destruction of property. 
Dr. Paut GussrELpr of Berlin, the eminent traveller who 
started for South America some time ago in order to make geo- 
logical and other scientific researches in the Cordilleras, reports 
that he is well satisfied with the results of his journey, and that 
he had discovered a glacier of the first order in the style of the 
Aletsch glacier. The glacier is between fifteen and twenty miles 
inlength. Dr. Giissfeldt has measured many summits trigono- 
metrically, made a collection of alpine plants (amongst them a 
wild potato from above the glacier), and another of geological 
specimens. On December 31 he intended to leave for the 
Argentine Republic ; thence he proposed to return to Maipu, 
and then investigate the Aconcagua district. 
NATURE 
617 
A NUMBER of unusually bright and large meteors were ob- 
served at Prossnitz (Austria) and other places in the neighbour- 
hood on the evening of March 13 last, between 6 and 11 p.m. 
Some lit up the whole sky and lasted five or six seconds. No 
trace of any meteoric stone has as yet been discovered. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Leopard (Felis pardus 2) from India, pre- 
sented by Mr, A. P. Marsden; an Ocelot (Fe/és pardalis) from 
South America, presented by Mr. C. G. Leith ; a Ring-tailed 
Coati (Masea rufa) from South America, presented by Mr. E. 
Dance; two Porto Rico Pigeons (Co/wmba corensis) from the 
West Indies, a Common Boa (oa constrictor) from Brazil, pre- 
sented by Mr. C. A. Craven, C.M.Z.S.; an Osprey (Pandion 
haliaetus) from Australia, presented by Dr. Plummer ; a White- 
bellied Sea Eagle (Haléaetus leucogaster) from Australia, pre- 
sented by Mr. E. P. Ramsay, C.M.Z.S.; three Common Rheas 
(2hea americana) feom Monte Video, presented by Mr, John 
Fair; a Green Turtle (Chelone viridis) fron the West Indies, 
presented by Mr. Fleetwood Sandeman; a Leopard (Felis 
pardus &) from India, a Small Hill Mynah (Gracula religiosa) 
from Southern India, a Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo 
(Cacatua galerita) from Australia, a Gannet (Sz/a bassana), 
British, deposited ; an ‘Iceland Falcon (Falco islandus) from 
Iceland, purchased. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 
ScHMID?’s VARIABLE STAR NEAR SPICA,—On June 6, 1866, 
Dr. Julius Schmidt remarked to the south and east of Spica a 
conspicuous star which he estimated 5*4m., and which was 
wanting in Argelander’s Uranometria, It was brighter than the 
neighbouring reddish-yellow star, 68 Virginis. He found its 
place for 18660, K.A. 13h. 27m. 33s., Decl. —12° 31/°5. It is 
Lalande 25086, estimated 6°7 on May 10, 1795, and Piazzi 
XIII. 126, called 8m. in the catalogue, but 7 and 6°7 in the 
Storia Celeste. It was not observed by Bessel nor Santini, but 
occurs in Lamont’s Zone 355, 1846, May 22, wien it was rated 
8m. In Bremicker’s Berlin Chart it is 7m., and 6°7 in Heis, 
But a special point of interest about this object is Schjellerup’s 
inference that it is identical with the 19th star in Virgo in 
Ptolemy’s Catalogue, as indicated in a note at p. 160 of the 
translation of the Catalogue of Abd-al-Rahman al-Sifi, which 
the Persian astronomer says was of the smaller fifth magnitude, 
nearer the sixth, though Ptolemy ealls it ‘‘ absolutely of the 
fifth.” In Baily’s edition of Ptolemy’s Catalogue in vol. xiii, of 
the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, the star in ques- 
tion is No. 515, and there identified with 687 Virginis : it is 
called 6 voriwrepos THS Eroutyns mAevpas. Schjellerup, trans- 
lating from Al-Siif, says: ‘‘ La 19° est la méridionale du cété 
postéerieur du quadrilatére, apres a@/-simak, sinclinant vers le 
sud ; elle est des moindres de la cinquieme grandeur ; Ptolémée 
la Jit absolument de cinquiéme, mais elle est plus prés de la 
sixieme. Entre elle et a/-stmdék vers le sud-est, il y a environ 
une coudée et demie et entre elle et la 17° il ya la méme dis- 
tance. Avec al-simdk et la 17° elle forme un triangle isoscéle, 
cette étoile étant au sommet. La latitude de cette étoile, in- 
diquée dans le livre de Ptolémée, se trouve erronée, parce que, 
au ciel, elle se fait voir autrement qu’elle ne tombe sur le globe. 
Car, d’aprés cela, elle devrait se faire voir au nord d’a/-simék, 
tandis que, en verité, elle se trouve au sud.” Al-simak is Spica, 
and the 17th star appears to be 76 Virginis. Baily in his Cata- 
logue places the 19th star in longitude 178°, with 3° o' south 
latitude, but in a note he points out that in the edition of 
Ptolemy, published by Liechtenstein at Venice in 1515, the 
latitude is 0° 20’ and orth ; with the remark, ‘‘The star 68 
Virginis agrees with the position given by Ptolemy; but it is 
difficult to make it accord with the description, as being in the 
‘latus sequens’ of the quadrilateral figure.” 
Both the variable and 68 Virginis are found in Mr, Stone’s 
Southern Catalogue, the epoch of which is 1880, The auxiliary 
quantities for the reduction of positions for this year to the 
assigned epoch of Ptolemy’s Catalogue, the first of Antoninus, 
are, in the usual notation— 
Bye. 1089) 4793 AG ose AQT OLS ee 0) 0 On AOU, 
