162 



NA TURE 



\jfnne 15, i< 



' A Suspected Variable Star. — Mr. S. M. B. Gemmill 

 writes from Glasgow, expressing the opinion that (p Draconis 

 will prove to be a variable stir. For some time past he has 

 observed it to be almost equal to x in the same constellation, 

 whereas Groombridge and others had given a difference of one 

 magnitude. The " Dnrchmusterung " has 4-7 and 3-8 for these 

 stars respectively, and the first Radcliffe catalogue, for which the 

 magnitudes were very carefully estimated, has 4'4 and 37. Heis 

 assigns a difference of half a magnitude. Mr. Gemmill states 

 he has found a very slight fluctuation in iff 1 Draconis, which 

 seems to be periodic. Baily, in his notes to the British Cata- 

 logue, says : " This star is marked as of the 7th magnitude in 

 the British Catalogue ; but in the original entries it is designated 

 once as 4^, once as 3J, and once as the 5th." 



The University Observatory, Oxford. — The Savilian 

 Professor of Astronomy, director of the University Observatory, 

 has issued his annual report, which was presented to tbe Board 

 of Visitors on the 1st inst. It is mentioned that a somewhat 

 elaborate memoir is now printed in the Transactions of the 

 Royal Astronomical Society on the application of photography 

 to delicate celestial measurement. The inquiry into the relative 

 motions of some forty stars in the Pleiades has been brought to 

 a successful conclusion, the results agreeing generally with those 

 recently deduced by M. Wolf, of the Observatory at Paris, who 

 employed a very different instrument and method. A complete 

 survey of the relative brightness or magnitudes of all the stars in 

 the northern hemisphere reputed to be visible to the naked eye 

 has been commenced, and it is hoped that before the date of the 

 next report, all the stars brighter than the fifth magnitude, some 

 five hundred in number, will have been measured. The report 

 touches also upon the discordances between the observed degree 

 of brightness of Comet 1882 a, with the results deduced from 

 theory. The expenditure for the purposes of the Observatory, 

 has, it is stated been under the amount provided by Convocation ; 

 a sum of 600/. per annum is available for three years from 

 December last, and this the Savilian Professor considers will 

 probably suffice for the future efficient maintenance of the Ob- 

 servatory, the only difficulty that might arise relating to neces- 

 sary repairs, &c. , of the present instruments, or the addition of 

 new ones that may be needed. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



M. Lessar's paper on his excursion from Askabad to Saraks 

 (Izvestia, vol. xviii. fasc. 2) will be read with pleasure by those 

 who are interested in the topography, inhabitants, and social 

 conditions of this country. With regard to natural science, we 

 notice the result of the levelling which was made along the line 

 of the Transcaspian railway ; it proved, that contrary to what 

 was presumed, the country does not have a general slope from 

 east to west. At the Aidin wells there are several places situ- 

 ated below the present level of the Caspian, and all the tract 

 between this place and the present shore of the Caspian — M. 

 Lessar states — cannot be regarded as the former bed of a river ; 

 it was probably the bottom of a very large gulf of the Caspian, 

 which extended towards the east. It is most probable — he adds 

 — that a levelling between the Tekke oasis and Khiva or Bokhara, 

 will also show in the sand-steppes many tracts situated below the 

 level of the Caspian, as has been found in the Sara-kamysh 

 depression ; audit will prove that the Mnrghal and Tejent could 

 not flow into the Oxus, but flowed into the Caspian, much ex- 

 tended at that time towards the east. We notice in the same 

 paper a remark with regard to termites; their hemispheri- 

 cal moulds, one to two feet in diameter, are very numerous in 

 certain localities ; numberless galleries are discovered under 

 these moulds, which galleries are peopled with ants and with 

 termites, about half an inch long, of an amber-colour ; they 

 cover the brushes and pieces of wood with numberless pipes in 

 clay, and totally destroy them. The buildings of the Trans- 

 caspian railway have much to suffer from the attacks of the 

 termites. 



We have received from Mr. Fisher Unwin several of his 

 useful " Half-Holiday Handbooks." They are all for the dis- 

 tricts around, and easily accessible from London. They are 

 really handy, in paper covers, easily carried in the pocket, and 

 well printed. Considering their low price, they contain a grent 

 deal of varied information and many useful and well-executed 



illustrations. Besides the objects which attract the ordinary 

 tourist, they give a fair amount of information concerning the 

 natural history of the districts to which they refer, and 

 illustrations of the principal flowering plants, and occasional 

 geological curiosities. We have no doubt these "Handbooks " 

 will meet with a wide sale ; and we trust they will be 

 the means of encouraging hard-worked Londoners to ex- 

 plore the beauties and natural productions of the interesting 

 district aronnd the metropolis. The districts so far included 

 in the series are Richmond, Bromley and Keston, Kingston-on- 

 Thames, Tunbndge Wells, Greenwich andJBlackheath, Reigate, 

 Croydon to the North Downs, Dorking. With the exception of 

 Kingston, they have all maps and bicycle routes. As a general 

 accompaniment to these, there is one volume devoted to geologi- 

 cal rambles and tours, with twenty-five illustrations and sketch- 

 maps. 



" Die Afrika-Literatur in der Zeit vo:i 15CO bis 1750 N.Ch." 

 is the title of a small volume by Prof. Philipp Paulitschke, pub- 

 lished by Brockhausen and Brauer of Vienna. It consists of the 

 titles, with other bibliographical information, of 1 212 works and 

 papers and maps on Africa, published during the period em- 

 braced. These are arranged under five headings — General, 

 North, West, South, and East Africa. Prefixed is a short, 

 scholarly, and useful introduction on the growth of our know- 

 ledge of Africa from 1500 to the time of the great map reformer, 

 D'Anville. The great utility of such a work must be obvious 

 to all, and geographers owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. 

 Paulitschke for the great trouble he has been at in compiling the 

 list, involving, as it must have done, extensive research and cor- 

 respondence. No doubt omissions will be found that can be 

 supplied in subsequent editions, but the work could scarcely 

 have been better done. We should be glad to know on what 

 authority Dr. Paulitschke states that Lobo's " History de 

 Ethiopia" was published at Coimbra in 1859. In the great 

 Portuguese Bibliography there is no mention of its publication, 

 except as embodied in Tellez's " Historia Geral" of 1660. 

 The translation into French by Legrand was made from MS. 

 Under North Africa is given Sir Peter Wyche's " Short Rela- 

 tion of the River Nile," which should have been under Eat 

 Africa, as it is really only a translation of part of Lobo's narra- 

 tive published by the Royal Society in 1669. But these are 

 comparatively small matters. 



Dr. Friedrich Embacher's "Lexikon der Reisen und 

 Entdeckungen " is a little work that will be welcome to all inter- 

 ested in the history of geographical discovery ; it is published 

 at Leip-ic at the " Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts." It 

 seems to be one of a long series of reference books (" Meyer's 

 Fach. Lexika") relating to different subjects. Dr. Embacher's 

 volume is neat and well printed ; contains brief notices of the 

 leading geographical explorers, from the earliest times down to 

 the present day, including even those now living ; for example, 

 there is a long notice of Stanley, and another of Prjevalsky. 

 The first part is followed by a sketch of the progress of 

 exploration in each of the great divisions of the world. The 

 work seems to us to be done with great care, and the biblio- 

 graphical references will prove very useful. The only omission 

 of importance is the name of Mr. Darwin, which, since the work 

 includes the names of Sir [. D. Hook r, the late Mr. Belt, and 

 even the late Dr. Leared, surely ought to have found a place. 



From Ferdinand Hirt of Breslau, we have received a volume 

 of " Geographische Bildertafeln," edited by Dr. Oppel of 

 Bremen, and Dr. Ludwig of Leipsic, with the co-operation of 

 several specialists. This is only the first part, and is devoted to 

 general geography. It consists of a series of carefully selected 

 and arranged pictures, illustrating everything that ought to come 

 under the general subjec, which, in the German acceptation, 

 seems to be a very wide one. There are in all, twenty-four 

 sheets, containing a varied selection of illustrations of such 

 subjects as the general surface of the earth and instruments of 

 measurement, the geological periods, geological faults, mountain 

 types, glaciers, volcanoes and hot springs, hills ?nd plains, 

 islands and coasts, oceans and seas, harbours natural and arti- 

 ficial, rivers, navigation, charts and meteorology, woods and 

 forests, ethnography, scenes and means of travel, the chase, 

 and so on. The utility of such a collection of pictures is evi- 

 dent. The selection seems to us to be carefully made, many cl 

 the illustrations being from well-known books of travel. As a 

 supplement to any text-book of geography, it would be of great 

 service, and would be sure to be welcome to the pupil. 



