140 



NA TURE 



\june 8, 1882 



his journey in the Atlas and the Northern part of the Algerian 

 Sahara; the Rev. Thos. Walefield's fourth journey to the 

 Southern Galla country ; and Capt. Paiva de Andrada's Zambesi 

 Expedition, 1881. We learn that the Search Expedition for 

 Mr. Leigh Smith is now organised, and will be commanded l.y 

 Sir Allen Young. The expedition will leave this month. 



From a letter of Consul H. E. O'Neill in the June number of 

 the Geographical Society's Proceedings, it would seem that the 

 "snow-clad Irati " spoken of by Messrs. Maples and Goldfinch 

 as reported to exist in the country south-east of Lake Nyassa, is 

 probably a delusion. Mr. O'Neill was close to the mountain, 

 which he estimates at not more than between 5000 to 6oco feet 

 above the sea. 



Miss Ellen M. Taylor has compiled a very u<eful guide- 

 book to Madeira, under the title of " Madeira : its Scenery, 

 and How to See It" (Stanford). She gives the very kind of 

 information intending visitors are likely to want, and the posses. 

 sion of which will save them much trouble. While Miss Taylor 

 draws largely on existing authorities, she also oives the results 

 of her own experience. Her list of trees, flowers, ferns, and 

 seaweeds will be useful to the amateur naturalist. 



The first paper in the June number of Pit ft matin's Mitl/ui- 

 lungen is on M. Cbarnay's expedition to the ruins in Central 

 America, by Herr Fred. Kofler. Dr. Hermann J. Klein has 

 an article of much interest on " Some Volcanic Formations in 

 the Mcon," in which he suggests that the lunar surface ought to 

 be carefully examined by geologists, in order to discover the 

 exact condition of things as compared with terrestrial geology. 

 There is a short account of Oschanin's exploration of Karategin 

 in 1878, and a very useful paper by Herr B. Hassenstein, on the 

 geographical and cartographical literature of the Indo-Chinese 

 border-lands, with a map of the Tibetan and Indo-Chinese 

 border-region. 



The last number of the Ixvestiaal the Russian Geographical 

 Society (vol. xviii. fasc 2), contains a gocd many valuable papers. 

 We notice among them the preliminary report on the geological 

 exploration of the former beds of the Amu-daria, by A. E. 

 Hedroitz ; a paper by M. Mousketc ff on his geological exph ration 

 of the Caucasus ; a description of an excursion to Seraks, by 

 P. M. Lessar, with a map of the route between Askabad and 

 Seraks ; a notice by A. Regel of his journey to the Karategin 

 and Darvaz, dated KaJa-i-Khumb, with a map ; on the sandsof 

 Ferghana, by M. W. Malakhoff, and a variety of small notices. 

 We are glad to learn that the lavtstia will have a special depart- 

 ment, " Polar News," devoted to all that concerns the exploration 

 of Polar regions ; it will be under the direction of Baron 

 Wrangel . 



We learn from the Issvestia cf the Russian Geographical 

 Society that Dr. A. E. Regel has returned from his jcurney to 

 Karategin and Darvaz to Samarkand, and is preparing for a new 

 journey to the Pamir. 



Prof. NordenskjoLD has telegraphed to the Mayors of 

 Tromsci, Hammerfest, and Yardo, on behalf of Herr Oscar 

 Dickson, of Gothenburg, asking them to acquaint skippers 

 leaving for the Arctic Sea, with the rewards offered by Herr 

 Dickson for the Discovery of the Eira, viz. 225/. to be paid to 

 the one who may first relieve Mr. Leigh Smith or any of his 

 companions ; 140/. to the one who may first discover and give 

 information in writing of the crew of the Eira, of a later date 

 than November 1 last, 56/. for the first information, by tele- 

 graph, addressed to Kerr Oscar Dickson, that any one of the 

 crew of the Eira has been found, or a letter from either of a 

 later date than that of November I last. 



The German Antarctic expedition, consisting of Dr. Scbrader 

 and six companions, have sailed by the Hamburg mail steamer 

 for Monte Video, thence by Imperial corvette to the island of 

 South Georgia, to establish a scientific station for meteorological 

 observations. They will remain twelve months. 



At the last meeting (May 30) of the Russian Geographical 

 Society, the Secretary said that a telegram received from Irkutsk 

 announces the possibility of establishing seven new meteorologi- 

 cal stations in the far north, namely, at Verkhoyansk, Orlensk, 

 Witimsk, Olekminsk, Kirensk, Nokhtuisk, and Preobrajensk, 

 besides the station already established at the mouth of the Lena. 

 The necessary instruments will be forwarded immediately by the 

 Central Meteorological Observatory. At the same meeting, M 



Rykatcheff made a communication on tides in the atmosphere. 

 He proved the correctness of the theory of Laplace w ith regard 

 to atmospherical tides by the discussion of a very great number 

 of anemometrical observations. 



Prok. Lenstri'im, Secretary of the Meteorological Commis- 

 sion of the Society of Science in Finland, anxious that Finland 

 may participate in the Circumpolar observations, has offered to 

 erect a station at Sodankylci (67° 20' N., 26 40' E.), which pro- 

 posiiion has been accepted by the President of the International 

 Congress, Dr. H. Wild, of St. Petersburg. 



THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY 



T "HE annual visitation of the Royal Observatory took place 

 ■*■ on Saturday, when the Astronomer-Royal, Mr. W. H. M. 

 Christie, presented his report. 



"The Report," Mr. Christie states, "here presented, refers to 

 the period of twelve months, ending May 20, 1SS2, a fixed 

 'late being taken, conveniently near to the visitation day. Sir 

 G. B. Airy resigned his office on August 15, 18S0, and a portion 

 of the observations here referred to were made under his super- 

 intendence. There seems to be no occasion to separate these 

 from the remainder, as the cour.-e of observation which Sir G. 

 II. Airy has carried cut for so many years has been continued 

 without essential alteration in its main features." 



Of the Transit of Venus instruments the Report states, two 

 transits, three altazimuths, five 6-inch equatoreals, two photo- 

 heliograph mountings, nine clocks, and one Transit of Venus 

 model have been sent to Mr. Stone at Oxford for use in the 

 forthcoming Transit of Venus, and three transits, an altazimuth, 

 a photoheliograph, ami two clocks are at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, where they will be available for the Transit of Venus. 



A series of pendulum observations was made in the record 

 room last autumn by Major Herschel, K.E. 



After giving details as to the u ual astronomical observations, 

 the altazimuth, and other matters, Mr. Christie goes n to speak 

 of the spectroscopic and photographic observations : — 



■' During the twelve months ending Ma) 1 20, 1SS2, the sun's 

 chromosphere has been examined with the half-prism spectro- 

 scope on 36 days, and on every occasion prominences were seen. 

 On one day a detailed examination of the whole spectrum of the 

 chromosphere was made at 24 points on the sun's limb. Several 

 prominences have shown great changes in the course of two or 

 three minutes, and large displacements or contortions of the 

 bright lines, indicating very 1 apid motions of approach or reces- 

 sion have been noted. In particular, a prominence examined on 

 May 13, 1882, was observed to rise through a space of about 30' 

 in less than two minutes, being at the rate of about no miles a 

 second, whilst the C line showed a displacement towards the red 

 gradually increasing from Ij to 11 '4 tenth metres, corresponding 

 to a motion of recession increasing in two minutes from 36 to 

 330 miles a second. Thirteen sun-spots have been examined on 

 20 days with reference to the broadening of the lines in their 

 spectra. The strong black lines or hands in the part of the 

 spectrum between b and F, first noticed in the spectrum of a 

 spot on November 27, 1SS0, have been generally observed to be 

 present in the spectra of spots during the last twelve months, 

 besides several fine lines in the same region of the spectrum to 

 which there is nothing corresponding in the solar spectrum. For 

 the determination of motions 1 f stars in the line of sight, 177 

 measures have been made of the displacement of the Fline in 

 the spectra of 41 stars, 68 of the b l line in 19 stars, and 9 of the 

 b t line in 5 stars. Of the 61 stars observed, 15 had not pre- 

 viously been examined, and the total number of stars of which 

 the motions have been spectroscopically determined, is now' 106. 

 In the case of three of the stars observed in the last year, a dis- 

 persive power equivalent to that given by sixteen prisms of 6o° 

 has been used. A c- mparison of the successive determinations 

 of the motion of Sinus indicates a progressive diminution from 

 about 22 miles a second in 1S77 and 1878, to about 7 miles a 

 second or less this year, and as other stars do not show anything 

 similar, it appears likely that the change is due to the orbital 

 motion of Sirius. Further observations will, however, be re- 

 quired to ettle the point. The spectrum of Comet b 1881, was 

 examined on six nights, that of Comet c 1881, on three nights, 

 and that of Comet a 1SS2, on three nights. The spectra of the 

 first two objects showed the usual cometary bands corresponding 

 to those of the first spectrum of carbon, and a continuous spec- 

 trum from the nucleus and brighter portions of the head. Comet 



