April 15, 1886] 



NA TURE 



567 



the advantage of precisely simultaneous measures Is a point of 

 considerable importance when one of the stars is at a low alti- 

 tude which is rapidly varying. 



Discovery of Minor Planets. — Four new minor planets 

 were discovered in less than a week by Herr Palisa at the 

 Vienna Observatory — Nos. 254 and 255 on March 31, No. 256 

 on April 3, and No. 257 on April 5. All are about the 

 thirteenth magnitude. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 18S6 APRIL 18-24 



/"pOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

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



is here employed.) 



At Greenwich on April 18 

 Sun rises, 5h. cm. ; souths, llh. 5gm. l6'8s. ; sets, l8h. 59m. ; 



decl. on meridian, 10° 54' N. : Sidereal Time at Sunset, 



Sh. 46m. 

 Moon (Full) rises, iSh. 58m. ; souths, oh. 24m.*; sets, 5h. 42m.*; 



decl. on meridian, <f 13' S. 



Occupation of Star by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) 



Corresponding 



Star Mag. Disap. Reap. -e'-^J^j^-.V- 



inverted image 



: Virginis., 



21 4$ 



349 273 



Mars stationary. 

 Mercury stationary. 



Places of Comet Fabry. 

 R.A. Decl. 



Log A Eright- 



• April 18 



places of Comet Barnard. 



R.A. Decl. Log A 



The present week is one usually rich in meteors, but moon- 

 light will interfere with observation this year. The most inter, 

 esting shower, the Lyrids, radiant R.A. 274°, Decl. 34° N. 



April i8-20, has been poorly represented of late years. Several 

 radiants from Cygnus and Draco are usually active from April 19 

 to April 23. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

 The greater part of the contents of the current number of 

 Petermann's Miltheilungen is devoted to the geography of the 

 African continent. In the first paper (which is accompanied by 

 an excellent map) Dr. Chavanne describes his journey from the 

 Lower Congo to San Salvador and the Arthington Falls, as well 

 as other explorations in Portuguese West Africa. The position of 

 many hitherto unsettled points is now defined. The traveller 

 states that he paid particular attention to the question of the 

 population and its density. He counted the huts in the places 

 through which he passed, and endeavoured to obtain from the 

 natives details of the houses within 5 kilometres on each side of 

 his route, and he comes to the conclusion that the estimates of 

 some previous travellers are greatly exaggerated. Dr. Lenz 

 communicates some observations on the Congo, and Prof. 

 Kirchhoff writes a short but important article on the hydro- 

 graphy of the Muta Nsige. Dr. Karl Lechner gives the 

 history and present condition of what he styles a " language 

 island " in Moravia, a kind of oasis in this province of Slavs, 

 in which the German, or a kind of German, language has been 

 preserved by the people for centuries. The place is Wischau, 

 not far off the high road between Briin and Olmiitz. The 

 people call themselves Schwoben, and in the struggle for the 

 maintenance of their nationality tViey have been assisted by the 

 Tyrol and Bavaria. Dr. Miiller defends his edition of the 

 Arabian geography of Hamdani against the strictures of Herr 

 Glaser in his recent account of his Arabian journeys. 



The Verhandlungen (Bd. xiii. No. 3) of the Geographical 

 Society of Berlin contains an account by Lieut. Francois, of his 

 journeys in the southern basin of the Congo. He accompanied 

 the Wissmann Expedition to Kas-ai, and also Mr. Grenfell on 

 his journey on the Lulongo and Chuapa, and he describes some 

 of the incidents and observations of these journeys. Dr. Moritz, 

 who proceeded to Syria in 1884, on behalf of the Archeeological 

 Institute of Berlin, read a paper on the geographical experiences 

 of his journey. A brief communication from Dr. Sievers re- 

 counting his work in Columbia is also published. 



The Foreign Department of the Wiirtemberg Government has 

 invited the Governments of Austria, Bavaria, Baden, and 

 Switzerland to join in a common and simultaneous investigation 

 of the depths of Lake Constance, and the preparation of a 

 chart of it. The proposition is that a commission of specialists 

 from all these States should meet at Friedrichshafen to settle the 

 extent, methods, and time for the investigation. The Swiss 

 Assembly has welcomed the proposal, more especially as the 

 Swiss have already carried out a considerable part of the work 

 as far as their portion of the trade is concerned. 



Some time since we noticed the success of two officers 

 of the French navy, Capt. Reveillere and Lieut. Fesigny in a 

 daring attempt to ascend the rapids of the Meikong when the 

 river was in full flood. Tire Colonial Council of Cochin China 

 has now passed a resolution affirming the necessity for organising 

 a mission of engineers or naval officers to enter into a complete 

 and minute study of the Meikong rapids at low water. These 

 rapids are all that prevent access from the sea by the Meikong 

 to Hung-Tseng, Luang-Prabang, and beyond even to Kiang- 

 hung and the Shan States up to the Chinese border. 



Further details of Mr. Charles WinnecVe's plan of that 

 part of South Australia crossed by the overland telegraph, to 

 which we have already referred, are supplied in a late issue of 

 the Colonies and India. The survey shows that the distance 

 from Tennant's Creek eastwards over the rivers Buchanan, 

 Rankine, James, Herbert, and Milne, is 1626 miles. The 

 country continually rises from Port Augustus till Burt Plain on 

 the MacDonnell ranges — a distance of 1000 miles — is reached, 

 after which it falls gradually to the boundary. Mr. Winnecke 

 has included in his plan every camping-place along the telegraph 

 line. He asserts that Lake Eyre is a considerable depth below 

 the sea-level, a statement which he m.ide in 1877, but which 

 has been disputed. The highest point along the route was the 

 Burt Plains in the MacDonnell ranges, which are 2532 feet 

 above the sea-level, but the ranges themselves are several 

 thousand feet higher. The telegraph station of Central Austr.alia, 



