Feb. 25, 1886] 



A'^ TURE 



397 



carbonised. As to the jet of water, Prof. Weber rejects the 

 hypothesis of a sudden generation of vapour forcing up water 

 from the street. Another explanation offered is that the light- 

 ning, passing through the window to the street, generated a 

 vortex of air about itself with vacuum in the interior, through 

 which the water was driven as through a tube. A third hypo- 

 thesis remains, viz. that a conical irombe struck the street, was 

 reflected, and passed through the window in the form of a jet 

 of water. In this case the lightning would merely have accom- 

 panied or preceded the trcmbe. Prof. Weber seeks further 

 light on such phenomena. 



On the evening of January 9 a very fine display of the aurora 

 borealis was seen in the southern parts of Norway. 



A MAGNIFICENT meteor was seen by the station-master at 

 Leangen Station, in the north of Norway, on January 16, at 

 S. 15 a.m., it being still dark. He states that the meteor first 

 looked like a small star, but, approaching with great velocity, 

 soon attained the size of a cheese-plate. It had a dazzling white 

 light, very like the electric, and w.as clearly visible, being below 

 the clouds in the upper part of the sky. When it had passed 

 the zenith and reached the eastern horizon, it sepai-ated into 

 several parts, which gradually became extinguished. It left a 

 trail for a few seconds, brownish-yellow in colour. Another 

 meteor, to which we referred last week as having been seen at 

 Aas, near Christiania, at 5.30 p.m. on January 5i was also seen 

 in various other parts of the province of Smaalenene, even as far 

 south as Frederikshald, near the .Swedish frontier (distance from 

 Aas about 100 kilometres = 63 miles). It appeared there in the 

 constellation Taurus, at 5.15 p.m., and moved in a north- 

 westerly direction. It left a long bright trail, and its passage 

 was, according to some, accompanied by a faint hissing. 



On New Year's Eve an earthquake was felt in the central 

 parts of Norway, particularly at Elverum and Loiten, where the 

 houses ^hook. Anothershock was felt in the province of Chris- 

 tiansand, at about 4 a.m. on January 16, followed by vivid 

 flashes of lightning. In several houses the doors sprang open, 

 and furniture, &c., was moved. A girl w.is thrown out of bed 

 in one place. The barometer was very low at the time, but 

 remained the same as on the previous day. 



Prof. Lommel has recently described {PVied. Ann. i) an 

 aerostatic balance for determining the specific gravity of gases. 

 It is useful for lecture experiments. Under one scale of a 

 balance is hung, by means of a wire, a closed glass balloon, 

 which is inclosed in a glass vessel having in its cover a small 

 hole for the wire. This vessel has a side tube, with stopcock, 

 near the bottom. Tlie instrument being b.alanced while air is 

 in the vessel, another gas is allowed to stream in and displace 

 the air, whereupon the balloon rises or sinks according as the 

 gas is heavier or lighter than air. By adding weights in one 

 scale or the other equilibrium is restored, and one finds how 

 much more or less a volume of gas equal to that of the balloon 

 weighs than the same volume of air at the same temperature 

 and pressure. 



We have received the Calendars of the University College of 

 Aberystwith and Cardiff for the Session 18S5-86, and the 

 reports of work in both cases are very satisfactoiy, showing, as 

 they do, a considerable increase in the number of students, and 

 in the general scope of the educational work. We have 

 examined with especial interest the Aberystwith Calendar, for 

 it will be remembered that during last summer the College 

 there was almost wholly destroyed by fire. The Council met 

 the situation by taking a large hotel, where the work of the 

 institution is carried on apparently without any serious incon- 

 venience. The Principal of this College calls attention to a 

 question which requires the careful consideration of the responsi- 



ble authorities of the three University Colleges of Wales, and 

 which, for the sake of the equitable distribution of the prizes and 

 scholarships of these institutions, it is to be hoped may speedily 

 be settled. Principal Edwards points out the danger that 

 healthy and legitimate rivaliy between the Colleges is in danger 

 of degenerating into a bid for students by the offer of money 

 bribes, and he quotes the case of a student who wandered from 

 one to the other, taking scholai'ships at all three by recom- 

 mencing his course at each in succession. There is apparently 

 no regulation preventing a graduate of one beginning as an 

 undergraduate at each of the others, and carrying off the prizes 

 to the disadvantage of bond-fide students. Unfortunately, the 

 negotiations which have been undertaken to prevent this grave 

 abuse have hitherto proved unsuccessful, but it behoves the 

 authorities concerned to prevent this misapplication of money 

 so nobly subscribed for education by all classes of the Welsh 

 people. Two very interesting and suggestive t.ables will be found 

 at page 25 of the Aberystwith Calendar. The first gives the 

 ages of the students : 76 are over 20 years of age, 22 over 25, 

 and 5 over 30. The second contains the occupations of the 

 parents, and shows in the most marked way the struggles which, 

 to their infinite credit, Welsh parents make to educate their 

 children. This trait in the Welsh character is well known, but 

 we have not seen it exhibited in this definite, concrete manner 

 before. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Bonnet Monkey {Macacus sinicns 9 ) from 

 India, presented by Miss Douglas ; a Chacma Ba'ooon (Cynoce- 

 phalus porcarius ? ) from South Africa, presented by Mr. F. 

 Radclifle ; a Ring-tailed Coati {Nasua rufa 9 ) from South 

 America, presented by Miss A. Pagella ; an Orange-winged 

 Amazon {Ckrysotis atnazonica) from South America, presented 

 by Mr. G. F. Richards ; two Feline Douracoulis (Nyclipilhecus 

 vocifa'ans), two Silky Marmosets (Midas rosalia], a Razor-billed 

 Curassow (Mi/ua ttiberosa), a Mantled Buzzard (Leucopternh 

 palliata) from Brazil, a Raccoon {Procyon lotor) from North 

 America, purchased ; a Collared Fruit Bat {Cynonycteris collaris), 

 born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The New Star in the Great Nebula in Andromeda. — 

 As the Nova in Andromeda was the first object of its kind to 

 which accurate photometric methods of observation were ap- 

 plied. Prof Seeliger of Munich has taken the opportunity of 

 investigating whether the observed variations of brightness 

 throw any light on the physical history of the phenomenon If 

 we suppose that the surface-temperature of a "new" star is 

 suddenly increased by an enormous quantity, and, in conse- 

 quence, the brightness increased to a corresponding extent, and 

 assume that the latter is proportional to an arbitrary power, n, 

 of the temperature, then the light curve constructed from the 

 observations will be a curve which represents the «th power of 

 the successive temperatures of a cooling body. Prof .Seeliger 

 has deduced an expression for the temperature of a sphere at 

 any lime, /, on the assumption that the sphere is homogeneous 

 with respect to the conduction of heat, that at the time/ = o it 

 has the same temperature throughout its interior, and that the 

 temperature of the surrounding medium is zero. If, then, /; 

 be the brightness corresponding to a temperature 9, we have 



9 = h" , and using Pogson's scale for tran-forming brightness 

 into stellar magnitude, there results a formula for the magnitude 

 of the cooling star at any time. For the purpose of comparing 

 his formula with Herr .M tiller's photouietric observations of the 

 Nova, extending from 1S85 September 2 to October 13, Prof 

 Seeliger assumes that « = I, and that the epoch for which 

 / = o is 1885 August 27d. Sh. Berlin M.T. He also uses quite 

 approximate values for the constants involved in his formula, 

 the more accurate determination of which would be a work of 

 difficulty. Under these circumstances he gets a veiy fair agree- 

 ment between the observed and computed values, which would. 



