344 



NATURE 



[August io, i! 



notes, that I did not imagine there was anything unusual in the 

 circumstance. The voice is a shrill "chirp," and the whole 

 body and tail vibrate simultaneously with its utterance. 



Madias, July 9 SURGEON 



Halo 



With reference to the very interesting remarks which Prof. 

 Silvanus Thompson makes in this week's Nature on the 

 "halo" observed by me on the 16th as appearing over Dalkey 

 Hill, I ask leave to give the correct bearing of the direction in 

 which it was seen, L. 35 S. I may further remark that I never 

 have seen anything similar in this country, though I had con- 

 tinuous occasions of observing halos in the Bay of Biscay from 

 the coast. They seemed to be connected with dominating 

 easterly winds there. 



The weather during the week has been rainy and the tempera- 

 ture low for the season. J. P. O'Reilly 



Royal College of Science for Ireland, Dublin, July 28 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Spectrum of Wells' Comet. — Dr. B. Hasselberg, 

 of the Observatory of Pulkowa, in a letter to Prof. Tacchini, 

 dated June 30, describes his spectroscopic examination of this 

 comet, the results of which he shows to be of a very exceptional 

 character. The observations were made on the nights of Tune 

 4, 5, and 7. The brightness of the nights at Pulkowa in the 

 summer had influenced unfavourably his spectroscopic observa- 

 vations of the great comet of 1SS1, and the position of Well's 

 Comet was also a disadvantage, so that he had not expected a 

 prominent spectrum, and the more because observations by Prof. 

 Tacchini and Dr. Vogel at the commencement of April did 

 not promise much. His surprise was therefore the greater on 

 rinding a very bright and extended continuous spectrum of the 

 nucleus, with an excessively strong yellow line, of which the 

 micrc metrical measures proved the perfect identity with the 

 yellow line of sodium, line D of the solar spectrum. This was 

 a result altogether new in cometary spectroscopy, and the more 

 noteworthy because at the same time there were no traces of the 

 three ordinary bands of the spectrum. It is confirmed by Duner, 

 Bredichin, and Vogel. In the middle of May, on the contrary, 

 Vogei's observations show that the three bands were then pre- 

 sent, though faint, while of the sodium line there was not the 

 least trace. It is therefore necessary to conclude that during the 

 last fortnight of this month the spectrum of the comet had 

 changed in a manner of which the history of the science furnishes 

 no precedent. Dr. Hasselberg then explains his views of the 

 modus operandi of these changes, and concludes : — " Je crois, 

 done, que dans le cas actuel, la chaleur solaire n'a joue autre 

 role que de faire evaporer le sodium contenu dans la comete, et 

 que les phenomenes lumineux et spectraux observes ont ete pro- 

 voques et entretenus principaleinent par des deeharges electriques 

 mises en jeu sous l'influence du soleil." 



This comet is again under ob-ervation in Europe. ■ Prof. 

 Julius Schmidt observed it at Athens a- e irly as July 4 ; he gives 

 bis daylight observations in detail in No. 2447 of the Astrou. 

 Nacli., but the excellent meridian observations made at Albany, 

 U.S., render them of less importance than might otherwise 

 Jiave attached to them. 



Occultation OF A Star BY Jupiter. — The"star 4 Gemi- 

 norum, which has usually been considered a seventh magnitude, 

 but is 7 '4 in the Durchmttsteruug, will be occulted by th planet 

 Jupiter, on the morning of November 8, the phenomenon being 

 favourably observable at the observatories of the United States. 

 The apparent place of the star at the time, according to the 

 "Greenwich Catalogue" for 1864, is in R.A. 6b. 3m. 25s. -59, 

 'Deck -t- 23° o' 57"'S, and at conjunction in R.A. Nov. 7, 14I1. 

 12m., Washington M.T. it will be 5" south of the centre of the 

 planet according to Leverrier's position. Assuming the accuracy 

 -of the places, the immersion may be observed in this country. 



ISfOVA OrHircHi, 1S4S.— Prof. Holder obligingly writes from 

 the Washburn Observatory, University uf Wisconsin, on July 

 22 : — " In your note of May 4, iSS2, you ask for an estimate of 

 the magnitude of the Nova of 1848, whose position is (for 

 1880-0) R.A. i6h. 52m. 47s. N.P.D. 102 42'. I looked for 

 this object on July 18, and found it by help of your allineations 

 with three stars which I had copied in my observing list, but I 



had, however, no note of its magnitude. There are three faint 

 stars near it . — 



1. Mag. 13 in/ = 25°± 



2. ,, 135 :n/= i6o°± 



3. „ 14 in/ = 270° ± 



The Nova itself is between I2'5 and 3*0 mag. according to my 

 estimate, and has no colour. 



This estimate proves that no very sensible change has taken 

 place since 1875. 



Schroeter's Observations of Mars. — Prof. Bakhuysen 

 announces the publication of Schroeter's " Areographische 

 Beitriige zur genauern Kenntniss und Beurtheilung des Planeten 

 Mars," a work which he had designed to publish himself, and 

 had nearly completed at the time of his death, in 1816. The 

 manuscripts and copper plates were in the possession of H. 

 Schroeter, of Linsburg, near Nienburg on the Weser, a grand- 

 son of the astronomer, and Prof. Bakhuysen having heard, 

 through Dr. Terby, of Louvain, in December, 1S74, that he 

 had some intention of disposing of them to a scientific in- 

 stitution, took measures to obtain them for the Observatory at 

 Leyden ; the authorities in that University favourably received 

 the application made to them, and provided the necessary funds 

 for the purchase, and early in 1876 the Observatory was in pos- 

 session of the manuscripts of the " Areographischen Beitriige," 

 with fourteen copper plates belonging thereto. The publication 

 has been undertaken by the firm of E. J. Brill, of Leyden. 

 Two-thirds of the work appear to have been twice revised by 

 Schroeter himself, so that the greater part of it is issued in the 

 state which it was designed that it should be by the author. 

 Prof. Bakhuysen mentions in his "Prospectus" that he had 

 newly reduced Schroeter's observations for the position of the 

 axis of Mars, and found its longitude and latitude 352° 59' and 

 6o° 32', which is in nearer agreement with Oudemann's reduc- 

 tion of Bessel's few measures than with the recent determination 

 of Schiaparelli. 



KOREAN ETHNOLOGY 



AT a recent interview with Mr. Charles Marvin, M. 

 Semenoff, vice-president of the Russian Geographi- 

 cal Society, remarked that "every annexation in Central 

 Asia is a source of satisfaction to our scientific men. 

 Fresh fields are opened up for research, and all this must 

 naturally be of interest to persons devoted to science." 

 Some such thoughts will probably have occurred to most 

 ethnologists on hearing that Korea has at last broken 

 through the barriers of exclusiveness and concluded com- 

 mercial treaties both with England and the United States. 

 Foreigners will doubtless for some time be restricted to 

 the three treaty ports thrown open on the eastern and 

 southern coasts, and to Seul, the] capital, where British 

 and American political agents will reside. But the oppor- 

 tunities thus afforded of studying the interesting inhabi- 

 tants of this region cannot fail to be gradually extended, 

 until the whole peninsula becomes accessible to scientific 

 exploration. Meantime a few notes on the ethnical rela- 

 tions of the people to their neighbours will probably be 

 acceptable to the readers of Nature. 



The term Korea, now applied to the whole peninsula, 

 was originally restricted to the northern state of Koric, 

 the Chinese and Japanese forms of which were Kaoli and 

 Korai respectively. With the fusion of Korie\ Petsi, 

 San-kan, Kudara, and all the other petty states into the 

 present monarchy about the end of the fourteenth century, 

 the name of the northern and most important of these 

 principalities was extended by Japanese writers to the 

 whole country, while the monarchy itself, at that time 

 subject to China, took the official Chinese title of 

 Chaosien (Tsiosen), or "Serenity of the Morning," in 

 reference to its geographical position between the con- 

 tinent and Japan, the " Land of the Rising Sun." For 

 the inhabitants themselves there seems to have been no 

 recognised general name, although those of the southern 

 division were commonly designated in Japanese history 



