NA TURE 



[Dec. 3, il 



Meteor Shoatvys 

 The two principal showers of this week are the Taurids II., 

 radiant R.A. 80'", Peel. 23° N., nearf Tauri ; and the Geminids, 

 radiant near a Geminorum ; the former should be specially 

 looked for on December 6, the latter December 9-12. Fire- 

 balls have frequently been seen during the latter period. Another 

 shower froih Taurus, R.A. 56°, Decl. 6° N., near v Tauri ; and 

 another from Gemini, R.A. 108°, Decl. 20° N., near f Gemin- 

 orum, have also been sometimes observed during this week. 



Objects with Remarkable Spectra 

 257 Schj.— R.A. 2ih. 50m. 58s., Decl. 49° 57' '2 N. Mag. g'l 

 Secchi's fourth type. The dark band in the yellow is ab- 

 normally broad. 

 19 Piscium. — R.A. 23h. 40m. 31s., Decl. 2° 5l''o N. Mag. 6'2. 

 One of the finest examples of the fourth type of spectrum. 



Mr. Marth has called attention to the following conjunction 

 of Saturn with DM. 22° 1383, which should be watched, as it 

 may possibly prove to be an occultation ; — 



h. 



Dec. 9 ... 1 6 '4 *d with/ edge of ring, y = - 8-o 



i8'4 * 6 with centre of Saturn, y = - I2"2 



20 '5 *d with / edge of ring, j = - i6'4 



The magnitude of the star is 8'7. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

 The Invalide Russe publishes the following telegram from 

 Col. Prjevalsky from Pishpek, but dated Karakol, 2nd (N.S. 

 14th) November : — " Our voyage has ended happily, and with 

 the most encouraging scientific results." 



At the meeting of the Paris Geographical Society on the 20lh 

 ult., M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards in the chair, the return of M. 

 de Brazza was announced, as well as his promise to read a paper 

 before the Society on his journeys in the Congo. The President 

 also reported the return of M. Aubry from more than two years' 

 exploration in Choa and part of the country of the Gallas, 

 Danakils, and Somalis. During that time he determined the 

 course of the Haoiiach River and its affluents, the Mongueur, 

 Goudredet, and Ganjad, as well as the heights of various moun- 

 tains. He was also able to make numerous observations on the 

 geology, palaeontology, and mineralogy of the region. M. 

 Duveyrier stated that the altitude of Fez, which has never before 

 been determined, is about to be calculated by M. Feraud, by 

 the barometer, to within 10 metres. He has found it necessary 

 to make no fewer than 127 observations in order to obtain this 

 result. M. Coudreau referred to the latest stage of the dispute 

 between France and Brazil with regard, to the territory lying 

 between French Guiana and Pai-a. 



Tn-e. Bulletin (1885, No. 5) of the Belgian Society of Geo- 

 graphy contains a long paper by M. Leclercq on Mexico, which 

 is really a translation and resum^ of a recent Mexican publica- 

 tion. The present paper is arranged under the following 

 heads : — Situation and boundaries, institutions, political divisions 

 and population, ethnography, with an approximate census of 

 the Indian tribes, industries, railways, and other methods of 

 communication, orography, climate, and productions. It is 

 thus, it will be perceived, a tolerably complete account of the 

 Mexican States. 



The Boletin of the Geographical Society of Madrid for Octo- 

 ber (vol. xix. No. 4), is, as might be expected, mainly occupied 

 with the Caroline Island question. The only map attached to 

 the number is one of the Western Pacific from the Philippines 

 on the west and New Guinea on the south, including the Pelew, 

 Caroline, Marshall, Gilbert, and Ladrone or Marianne groups. 

 The first contribution is a letter from the Society by its author- 

 ised officers to the Government on the question, and claiming 

 the islands as belonging historically to Spain. 



It is stated that an accurate survey of the Island of Yezo, and 

 the neighbouring islands (especially the Kuriles), is to be made 

 by the Japanese Naval Department. It is anticipated that the 

 work will occupy four years. 



An Exhibition of Appliances used in Geogr.aphical Education 

 in England and on the Continent will be opened by the Royal 

 Geographical Society at 53, Great Marlborough Street, on 

 December 9, and will remain open till January 31. 



The latest numbers of the Verhandhmgen of the Berlin Geo- 

 graphical Society (Band xii. Nos. 7 and 8) contain papers by 

 Dr. Penck, on the mountain .systems of Central Germany ; and 

 by Dr. Schulz, on a journey from Port Natal to the Kalahari, 

 and especially the exploration of the Rivers Chobe and Cubango. 

 Dr. Rath (in No. S) contributes a geographico-geological study 

 of the Pacific regions of North America, and the substance of a 

 lecture by Dr. Buchneron the Cameroons is also given. 



A CORRESPONDENT with General Scratchley in New Guinea 

 reports that Mr. H. O. Forbes is going to attempt to reach the 

 summit of Mount Owen Stanley, 13,205 feet high, and hitherto 

 untrodden by the foot of man. Mr. Forbes will form a depot 

 camp at Sogeri, 25 miles inland, and survey, collect specimens, 

 &c., in tlie neighbourhood of the lower ranges. Next .-pring, 

 when the weather will be suitable, he will make the attempt to 

 climb to the highest point. He may, the correspondent says, 

 spend several years in New Guinea, for his wife is following 

 him, and his heart is thorougl-.ly in his work. 



The Swedish Society of Anthropology and Geography has 

 commissioned Baron .Schwerin, Professor of Geography at the 

 University of Lund, to proceed on a scientific expedition to the 

 Congo, the chief objects being to make geographical, meteoro- 

 logical, botanical, and zoological studies in the new State, and 

 to collect ethnographical objects. Barons Nordenskjbld and 

 Dickson have lent the Expedition a number of valuable instru- 

 ments. The Swedish Government have requested Prof Schwerin 

 to report on the commercial opportunities afforded on the Congo 

 and the position of Scandinavian subjects there. 



EXPLOSIONS IN COAL MINES^ 



T^HE address to which the members of the Society of Arts 

 were so good as to afford a favourable reception at the 

 opening meeting of last Session, was in great measure devoted 

 to topics suggested by the International Health E.xhibition of 

 that year. Wide as was the scope of that Exhibition, which 

 dealt not only with the necessaries and comforts of life, and the 

 promotion of bodily health in the feeding, clothing, and housing 

 of all classes, but also with the all-important subjects of physical 

 and mental training,- the E.xhibition of Inventions — which has 

 just terminated a prosperous and, I believe, a very useful career 

 — embraced a wealth of material for study which could bear 

 comparison, as regards extent and interest, with that presented 

 by any one of the great International Exhibitions of former 

 years, the initiation of which we owe to that illustrious Prince 

 whose memory the Society of Arts delights to honour. 



I have resisted the temptation to devote this evening to a brief 

 review of some of the chief matters of interest presented by the 

 most prominent sections of the Exhibition, because I entertain a 

 lively hope that a thorough examination of at any rate many of 

 these will afford topics for important communications to this 

 Society, and I consequently feel that it would be scarcely just to 

 those who may consent to devote themselves to their preparation, 

 were I to cull specially attractive matter from the mass of in- 

 formation opened up to the student by the achievements demon- 

 strated at the Exhibition. I therefore propose to limit myself in 

 this address to the treatment of some matters relating to only 

 one branch of a division of the Exhibition, namely, the class 

 which deals with machinery and appliances tiscd in mines. 



I venture to think that this class of subjects has claims to 

 special interest, because the mining industry ranks among the 

 most important sources of the wealth and cosmopolitan influence of 

 the Empire ; because its development and successful pursuit have 

 involved the utilisation of the resources of many branches of 

 applied science, and have taxed the talents and ingenuity of some 

 of our greatest mechanics, and most accomplished physicists and 

 chemists ; and, though last, not least, because the pursuit entails 

 the encountering of dangers and vicissitudes which will aptly 

 bear comparison with those involved in the careers of the soldier 

 and the sailor. Thrilling and harrowing accounts of great dis- 

 asters in coal mines direct public attention from time to time to 

 certain special dangers which the miner has to encounter, but the 

 annual reports of H.M. Inspectors of Mines show that there are 

 yet others to which miners in general are daily exposed, which, 

 although they do not attract public attention (partly because of 

 the very circumstance of their constant occurrence, and partly 

 because the sufferers by them meet their deaths in most cases 



> -Address of Sir Frederick Abel, Chairman of Council of the Society of .\rts, 

 delivered at the opening meeting, Nov. 18, 1885.— (Abstract by the Author.) 



