November 3, 1898] 



NATURE 



17 



existence of the Sea of Aral, and from the credit given to the 

 fanciful reports of the English merchant Jenkinson, who 

 travelled from Astrakhan to Bukhara in 1558. 



A COPY of the general report of the work carried on by the 

 Geological Survey of India for the period from January I, 

 l8g7, to April l, 1898, has been received. The headquarter 

 notes, forming the first part, announce amongst other things 

 the removal of the offices of the department to a new building 

 which affords improved accommodation, but the Director pleads 

 for transference of headquarters to a hill station. The second 

 half of the report gives short accounts of nine separate surveying 

 expeditions, including one on the north-west frontier by Mr. H. 

 H. Hayden, who was permitted to accompany the Tirah Ex- 

 peditionary Force. 



The September number of the National Geographic Magazine 

 contains papers on the growth of the United States, by W. J. 

 McGee : on the Bitter Root Forest Reserve, by Richard U. 

 Goode ; on Atlantic Estuarine tides, by M. S. W. Jefferson ; 

 and on the forest conditions of the State of Washington, by 

 Henry Gannett. Mr. McCree's paper traces the growth of the 

 States in area, population, wealth, railway-mileage, and carrying 

 trade since 1790, and shows that the history of the growth of 

 the United States is one of unequalled progress in all these ele- 

 ments, but, above all, in "development of a national character 

 in which individual enterprise and capacity are the most con- 

 spicuous traits." 



Four new parts of the second edition, revised, of "An 

 Illustrated Manual of British Birds," by Mr. Howard Saunders, 

 have been received from Messrs. Gurney and Jackson. Twelve 

 parts of the work have now been published, and eight more 

 have yet to appear to complete the work. 



A KiCHi.Y illustrated book for nature lovers is "An Elemen- 

 tary Botany " by Prof. George F. Atkinson, of Cornell 

 University, announced for early publication by Messrs. Henry 

 Holt and Co. Among the more than five hundred pictures are 

 many full-page landscapes in half-tone. 



Messrs. Archibald Constable and Co. will publish, early 

 in November, " The Life of the late Sir Charles Tilston Bright, 

 C.E., M.P.," wherein is included the story of the first Atlantic 

 cable, the first telegraph to India and the Colonies, and the 

 early land telegraphs of the United Kingdom. This work is 

 written by Mr. E. B. Bright and Mr. Charles Bright, brother 

 and son respectively of the subject of the memoir. The book, 

 which contains many full-page and text illustrations, as well as 

 photogravure plates, maps, charts, i&c. , will be published in two 

 volumes. 



Under the title of Sell's Commercial Intelligence a weekly 

 newspaper has been started with the object of publishing 

 authentic commercial intelligence, and developing British 

 trade. The periodical will do a useful service to British in- 

 dustry if it will show our manufacturers how technical education 

 and scientific research abroad have enabled other nations to beat 

 us in the markets of the world. The following note on a de- 

 crease in the exports of chemicals is interesting in this con- 

 nection : — " The American Consul at Liverpool points out that 

 the exportation of chemicals from the Liverpool districts to the 

 United States, has fallen from about nine million dollars in 

 1891 to a little under four million dollars in 1S97, and at the 

 present rate the exportations for 1898 will only amount to about 

 a quarter of a million dollars. He comments on the application 

 of electrolysis to chemical manufactures, and points out that 

 where electricity can be produced by water-power, as at 

 Niagara and many other places in the United States, the new 

 process will have a better chance of success than in England." 

 We are glad to see that a series of equivalents of British and 

 metric measures is commenced in the new journal. 

 NO. I514, VOL. 59] 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Drill {Cyiuwephalus leiicophacus) from West 

 Africa, presented by Mr. Alfred J. Dempster ; two Wild 

 Canaries {Serinus canarius) from the Canary Islands, presented 

 by Mr. W. H. S. Quintin ; two Tarantula Spiders (A/ygale, sp. 

 inc.) from the West Indies, presented by Mr. H. R. Taylor ; 

 a Common Hamster (Criceltis friiiuentariui), European; a 

 Matamata Terrapin (C/it'/yi yfw^/'M/a) from Brazil, deposited; 

 a Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristala) from North America, a Naked- 

 throated Bell-bird {Chasmorhynchus nudicollis) from Brazil, a 

 Common Boa {Boa constrictor) from South America, purchased ; 

 two Cockateels {Calopsttta novae-kollandiae), a Graceful Ground 

 Dove {Geopelia ciineata), a Spotted Turtle Dove [Turtiir 

 suratensis). bred in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



New Algol Variable. —A Kiel Circular (No. 14) tells us 

 that Mr. Sawyer has discovered a new variable of the Algol 

 type -I- 12° 3557. Its period is very short, amounting to 089 

 days ; the change in magnitude during this interval being 7 o 

 to 7'5. A minimum occurred on October 354 last, Greenwich 

 mean time. 



Comet Brooks. — Kiel Circulars Nos. 13 and 14 give the 

 elements of this comet as computed by Ristenpart and MoUer 

 on the one hand, and Hussey on the other. Those of the latter 

 were computed from observations made on October 21, 23 and 

 25, and are as follows : — 



T = 1898 November 23'I4 Greenwich M.T. 



c = 123 22 1 

 11= 96 10 l-i89S'0 

 i = 140 19 j 

 '/ = 07564 

 The ephemeris which accompanies these elements is only com- 

 puted up to November 8, so we give below the position of the 

 comet on that day for Greenwich midnight. 



R.A. = I7h. 44m. 52s. Dec. = + 12' 41'. 



The comet is rapidly decreasing in declination, and will be 

 found in the region south of A. and S Herculis, moving in the 

 direction but slightly to the west of a Ophiuchi. 



The Circular further states that the orbit of this new comet is 

 similar to that of Comet 1881 IV. This latter was discovered 

 by Schaeberle, and was visible to the naked eye for more than 

 two weeks in August, its tail being over 10° long on August 21. 

 Telescopically it was visible for a period of fourteen weeks. 



The Orbit of Castor. — Prof. Doberck, of the Hong Kong 

 Observatory, has recently been investigating the elements of the 

 orbit of Castor, or a Geminorum, as the components seem to 

 have been behaving rather differently from what computation has 

 destined them. The orbit, which was calculated in 1877, seems 

 to have been entirely upset by the fact that since 1887 the com- 

 ponents have been steadily approaching each other. With the 

 assistance of Mr. J. I. Plummer, Prof. Doberck has collected 

 all available observations and compared them with computed 

 elements (Astr. Nachr., 2168). From this he has formed the 

 normal places, which have led him to obtain the following 

 elements referred to the year 1900 : — 



n = 33° o' <; = 0-5909 



7 = 69 34 P = 318-23 years 



\ = 87 14 T = 1948-86 



a = 6" -605 

 From these Prof. Doberck has calculated an ephemeris for 

 the apparent places for the years 1900-1920, from which we 

 make the following extract : — 



/. Pos. angles Dist. Ao Ai 



