Feb. 1 8, I 



NA TURE 



377 



The work of the wedge has thus been made homogeneous with 

 that of the meridian photometer. The extensive use tlius made 

 of the wedge photometer seems to show that the instrument 

 used at Harvard College is not capable of the great degree of 

 precision which is claimed for that employed by Prof Pritchard. 

 To determine whether this difference is due to the form of the 

 instrument, Prof Pritchard has kindly undertaken to superin- 

 tend the construction of a wedge photometer made upon his 

 plan. The number of series of observations made during tlie 

 year with the meridian photometer is 202 ; the number of sepa- 

 rate settings somewhat exceeding 50,000. The accordance of 

 the results continues satisfactory ; the average deviation of the 

 separate measures of the standard circumpolar stars being o'i2 

 of a magnitude. The entire series of stars to be observed with 

 this instrument includes zones at intervals of 5° from the equator 

 to the pole ; the system adopted insuring a regular distribution 

 of stars down to the ninth magnitude. An important investiga- 

 tion has also been undertaken in stellar photography. A Voigt- 

 lander portrait lens of S inches aperture and 44 inches focus has 

 been mounted equatoriaily, and with this many photographs 

 have been taken of the trails left by a star wlien the telescope is 

 not driven by clockwork, polar stars as faint as the fourteenth 

 magnitude and equatorial stars of the sixth magnitude having 

 been thus photographed. Some most striking results have been 

 obtained with stellar spectra. By placing a large prism in front 

 of the lens, photographs have been obtained of stars as faint as 

 the eighth magnitude, in which lines are shown with sufficient 

 distinctness to be clearly seen in a paper positive. As all the 

 stars in a large region are thus photographed, more than a 

 hundred spectra have been obtained on a single plate. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 



WEEK 1886 FEBRUARY 21-27 



/'pOR the reckoning of time the civil d,ay, commencing at 



^ Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 



is here employed.) 



At Greenwich on February 2i 

 Sunrises, yh. 4m. ; souths, I2h. 13m. 48'03. ; sets, I7h. 24m. ; 

 deck on meridian, 10° 28' S. : Sidereal Time at .Sunset, 

 3h. 30m. 

 Moon (at Last Quarter on Feb. 25) rises, 2oh. 2m.* ; souths, 

 2h. 17m. ; sets, 8h. 19m. ; decl. on meridian, 0° 22' S. 

 Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian 



Mercury ... 7 13 

 Venus ... 6 i 

 Mars ... iS 48* 

 Jupiter ... 20 13* 

 Saturn ... 11 49 

 • Indicates that the risi 

 that of the following morn 



13 17 s. 

 3 51 S. 



7 24 N. 



o 22 S. 



22 44 N. 



ind the setting 



U Cephei o 52-2 ... 81 16 N. ... Feb. 21, 21 38 m 



„ 26, 21 17 711 



Algol 3 0-8 ... 40 31 N. ... „ 23, 5 47'" 



,, 26, 2 35 »i 



\ Tauri 3 54-4 ... 12 10 N. ... ,, 22, 20 28 tn 



,, 26, 19 20 7« 

 i Geminorum ... 6 57^4 ... 20 44 N. ... ,, 27, 21 30 >/i 

 U Monocerotis ... 7 25^4 ... 9 32 S. ... ,, 25, >/i 



S Cancri 8 37-4 .. 19 27 N. ... ,, 26, i 54 m 



W Virginis 13 20-2... 2 47 S. ... ,, 25, 5 o A/ 



5 Libra; 1454-9... 8 4S 25,23 2 m 



U Coronce 15 136 ... 32 4 N. ... ,, 26, 22 30 m 



U Ophiuchi 17 lo'S ... I 20 N. ... ,, 21, 3 55 m 



and at intervals of 20 8 

 W Sagittarii ... 17 578 ... 29 35 S. ... Feb. 24, 2 30 m 



8 Lyrte 18 459 ... 33 14 N. ... ,, 21, 2 30 w„ 



, , 24, 7 o A/' 



K Lyrce 18 51-9 ... 43 48 N , 25, A/ 



5 Cephei 22 249 .. 57 50 N. ... ,, 24, o o m 



M signifies ma.\imum ; iit minimum ; ut^ secondary minimum. 

 Mira Ceti, R.A. 2h I3'6m., Deck 3" 30' S., should arrive at 

 maximum about this time, but there seems a little uncertainty as 

 to the precise date. It is possible that it has already passed 

 the maximum. Its spectrum should be examined whilst it 

 remains bright. 



OccuUations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) 



Corresponding 

 Feb. Star Mag. Disap. Reap. ^^^^Z'l^S^UVr 



inverted image 

 h. m. h. m. o o 



21 ... Uranus — ... 5 53 ... 6 34 ... 51 334 



23 ... KVirginis \\ ... I 3 ... 1 20 ... 325 298 



25 ... 49 Librte 54 ... 2 13 near approach 313 — 



Feb. h. 



21 ... 2 ... Jupiter in conjunction with and 0° 8' south 



of the Moon. 

 24 ... 16 ... Mercury in superior conjunction with the 

 Sun. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Lieut. Wissmann, who was on his way back to Europe 

 from his last great journey in tlie Congo district, stopped at 

 Madeira for the benefit of his health, and has now returned to 

 Africa for further explorations. Lieut, von Fran9ois, who took 

 part in Lieut. Wissmann's expedition on the Kassai River, has 

 returned to Brussels. He reports that on June 16, 1884, he 

 started with Wissmann from Malange to the Lulua River ; thence 

 Wissmann turned northwards and founded the station of Lulua- 

 burg, while Fran9ois investigated the Mukenge district. As he 

 wished to regain Wissmann he built five large boats, in which 

 he reached Luluaburg on the Lulua. He also met Tchingenge, 

 the chief of the Balubas tribe, and Mulenda, one of the first 

 chiefs of the Camokas, who received him kindly. After con- 

 sulting Wissmann he travelled to the Kassai, which they as- 

 cended ; then, descending the Congo, they eventually reached 

 Leopoldville, after fifty days' journey. Afterwards Fran9ois 

 accompanied the missionary, Mr. Grenfeli, to the tributaries of 

 the Upper Congo. They first ascended the Lulongo (on the 

 right bank of the Congo), and then the Shuapa, which Stanley 

 names the Uranki. The Shuapa retains its n.ame for the whole 

 length of its course, a circumstance which does not often occur 

 in the Congo lands. It is a large river, navigable everywhere, 

 with extremely fertile banks, which for objects of navigation 

 even surpasses the Kassai. The inhabitants of Batua, on the 

 middle Congo, are a real race of dwarfs. The men have an 

 average height of I -30 metres, the women of I'lo metres; but 

 they are well developed and very warlike. When the travellers 

 ascended the river they were attacked by the inhabitants, while 

 on the return journey they were very well received. They also 

 discovered the Bussera, a tributary of the Shuapa. Further on 

 they examined the mouth of the Mobangi, a large tributary of 

 the Congo on its right bank. Grenfeli is of opinion that the 

 Mobangi and the Welle River, which has its sources in the 

 Southern Soudan, are one and the same river ; Francois, how- 

 ever, believes that the Mobangi is the continuation of the Nana 

 River, situated further to the north. Fran9ois slates that the land 

 of the Balubas is extremely fertile, no less than three harvests 

 annually being the rule. When exploring the Ka-ssai, Franfois 

 and Grenfeli found that this river, instead of joining the Uranki 

 (Shuapa), as Stanley supposed, flows into the Congo near 

 Kwamouth. The Leopold Lake flows into the Kassai at a 

 distance of about ij° from the Congo. The Lulongo runs 

 parallel to the Congo for a considerable distance on its northern 

 side. The two travellers discovered numerous other smaller 

 tributaries. 



A RECENT number of Cosmos contains an 'article by M. de 

 Morgan, who was employed by the Government of the Straits 

 Settlements to prepare a map of the State of Perak in the Malay 

 peninsula, on the Stone Age there. In the course of his work, the 

 writer had to visit the range of mountains forming the watershed 

 of the peninsula, and here came into contact with the Sakayes, 

 Seumangs, Rayats, and other pre-Malay Negrito tribes, as 

 nearly in their original state as they can now be found in these 

 regions. He refers to other tribes living in recesses of the 

 mountains, of whom he learnt from the Sakayes. The latter 

 call them "fire apes"; their language is said to have nothing 

 in common with Malay or Negrito dialects. M. de Morgan 

 received here two polished stone axes, which were said to be 

 made by the "fire apes." One w-as made of a fine-grained 

 yellow porphyry, and was 224 mm. in length, 53 mm. in breadth, 

 and 16 mm. thick ; the other was of a green quartz schist, and 



