Dec. 31, 1885] 



NATURE 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 



WEEK 1S86 JANUARY 3^9 

 (For the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here 

 employed. ) 



Al Greenwich on January 3 

 Sun rises, 8h. 8m. ; souths, I2h. 4m. 48'8s. ; sets, l6h. 2m. ; 

 decl. on meridian, 22° 48' S. : Sidereal Time at Sunset, 

 22h. 55m. 

 Moon (New on January 5) rises, 6h. 7m.; souths, loh. 36m.; sets, 

 I5h. 3m. ; decl. on meridian, 18' 12' S. 



Ja 



Phenomena of /iipitei^s Satellites 

 Jan. h. m. 



I 13 IV. eel. reap. 6 ... 6 58 I. occ. reap. 



4 ... I 29 II. eel. disap. 7 ... I 51 I. tr. ing. 



4 ... 6 44 II. occ. reap. 7 ... 4 6 I. tr. egr. 



5 ... 6 29 III. eel. disap. S ... i 26 I. occ. reap. 



5 ... 7 23 I. tr. ing. 9 ... I II III. tr. ing. 



6 ... I 46 II. tr. egr. 9 ... 4 o III. tr. egr. 

 6 ... 3 31 I. eel. disap. 



The Phenomena of Jupiter's Satellites are such as are visible at Greenwich. 



Saturn, January 3. — Outer major axis of outer ring 46""6 i 

 outer minor axis of outer ring2o"'5 ; southern surface visible. 

 Jan. h. 



9 ... 2 ... Mercury at greatest elongation from the Sun, 

 23° west. 



Meteor Shoivers 

 Meteors have been olsserved during this week in former years 

 from the following radiants : — Near & Aurigce, R, A. 93°, Decl. 

 43° N. ; R.A. 145°, Decl. 5° N. ; R.A. 150°, Decl. 67° N. ; and 

 R.A. 181°, Decl. 35° N. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

 The current numheroi Petermann's Mitlheilungen contains an 

 account of Ilerr Menge's second journey in the Somali Penin- 

 sula, accompanied by an excellent map showing the courses of 

 both journeys. The traveller's meteorological observations and 

 measurements, worked out by Dr. Schmidt of Go'.ha, are 

 appended to the paper. Dr. Paulitschke's account of his 

 journeys to Harar and amongst the Northern Gallas is concluded 

 in this number. It contains a mass of interesting information of 

 all descriptions with regard to this region. In an appendix a 

 sketch is given of the scientific results of the journey, arranged 

 itnder the heads — astronomical and magnetic observations, topo- 

 graphy, anthropology and ethnography, and natural history. 



The Bulletin of the Paris Society of Geography just pub- 

 lished (3'= triniestre, 1S85) contains the full text, with maps, of 

 Dr. Heis's journeys amongst the Laos. M. Errington de la 

 Croix, under the title of "Seven Months in the Tin Country," 

 describes the method of working the tin-mines of Perak, in the 

 Malay Peninsula. The only other paper in the number is one 

 of great interest by M. Pinast on certain explorations of his in 



the State of^Panama, especially in the regions around the 

 Chiriqui lagoon, and the districts inhabited by the Guaymi 

 Indians. 



The last Erg'anzungsheft, or supplementary number of 

 Peteniia nil's Alittheilungen, is a lengthy account by Dr. Boas of 

 his journeys during 1883 and 1884 in Baffin Land. It is divided 

 into four main parts : an account of the journey from day to 

 day, worked into a naiTative ; the history of past discoveries in 

 the same region ; geography ; and, lastly, anthropo-geography. 

 One appendix contains along list of Eskimo place-names in 

 Baffin Land, with their meanings ; another gives a number of 

 astronomical observations at various stations. The work is 

 accompanied by two maps, one of Cumberland Sound and 

 Cumberland Peninsula ; the other represents the distribution of 

 Eskimo tribes in Baffin Land. 



The current number of the Proceeiings of the Vienna Geo- 

 graphical Society (Bd. xxviii. No. 11) contains a paper entitled 

 " Shamanism in Upper Austria," by Dr. Zehden. The district 

 specially referred to is the wide granite plateau which forms the 

 watershed between Bohemia and Upper Austria, and the paper 

 describes the old superstitions and practices still surviving 

 amongst the comparatively primitive people who inhabit the 

 district. The application of the term " Shamanism " to these 

 in the bulk is curious, and somewhat questionable. Shamanism 

 is the form of Buddhism ("Northern Buddhism ") prevailing 

 amongst the Mongols and Thibetans, the Shaman, or priest, 

 being one who has overcome all his passions. It is said to be a 

 word of Hindu origin. The Pope of this sect, which differs 

 from the Buddhism of India and Ceylon more in state and 

 power than in doctrine, is the Dalai Lama at Lhassa. It has 

 an enormous literature, which is described as the dreariest in 

 existence. Like every other form of religion, and perhaps more 

 than most religions of civilised peoples, it has its superstitious 

 practices and beliefs ; but there appears no more excuse for 

 transferring this name from Thibet and Mongolia to Austria, and 

 applying it to superstitions there, than for calling the latter 

 Babj'lonian, Chaldean, or something else that has no connection 

 whatever with them. The number also contains further letters 

 from Dr. Lenz, in charge of the Austrian expedition to the 

 Congo. 



A TELEGRAM was received in Berlin on the 27th inst., an- 

 nouncing the death of Dr. Biittner, a German explorer travelling 

 in Bonnyland, in Africa. The deceased, like Livingstone, wa s 

 formerly engaged in missionary work in South Africa. 



TEMPERATURE OF THE SURFACE OF THE 

 MOON 



TN a memoir on this subject presented to the U.S. National 

 Academy of Sciences by Prof. S. P. Langley, the author 

 concludes by reviewing as follows our sources of information, and 

 weighing the imperfect and contradictory results each has brought 

 us : — 



(i) Direct Measurement of Lunar Heat as compared with 

 Solar. — Our direct comparison indicates that we receive nearly 

 the whole proportion of solar energy from the full moon that we 

 should expect to get from a diffu-.ive disk of the same angular 

 aperture. This heat must in reality be partly diffused and 

 partly radiated, and we do not know (from the present observa- 

 tions) in what proportions these two kinds enter. So far as the 

 observation itself is reliable, we may, however, infer that our 

 atmosphere is permeable to most of the lunar heat of either 

 kind, but the method is unfortunately subject to such large 

 sources of constant error, that we cannot derive great confidence 

 from the apparent agreement of difterent observations or even of 

 different observers. It may be said, however, to create a 

 certain presumption that the earth's atmosphere is diather- 

 manous to heat of lower wave-length than has been heretofore 

 supposed, and of lower wave-length than appears to reach us 

 from the sun. 



(2) Comparison of Moon's Heat with that of Leslie Cube. — If 

 we may draw any inference from this class of observations it is 

 that the sunlit surface of the moon is not far from the freezing 

 temperature, but not so far below as we might expect to find 

 that of an absolutely airless planet. 



(3) Transmission of Lunar Heat by the Earth's Atmosphere. — ■ 

 Our observations indicate a not materially greater co-efficient of 

 transmission for lunar heat than for solar ; and though their 



