Oct. 5, 1882] 



NATURE 



55i 



and stone, brought there by devotees. Behind this, 

 again, is another figure of Buddha, erect, and in the act 

 of giving a blessing. From Muang Fang Mr. Bock 

 went to Tatong, a small Ngiou village on the River 

 Mekok, which is here only 150 feet across. This stream 

 he followed down to its point of junction with the 

 Mekong, which is twice as wide here as the Menam at 

 Bangkok. Ascending the Mekong, Mr. Bock went to 

 Chen Tsen and Chengmai', where again he had difficul- 

 ties with the natives, who destroyed nearly all his collec- 

 tion of animals, &c. Hence he returned down the valley 

 of the Mekong, and ultimately reached Bangkok on 

 June 14. 



THE COMET 



MERIDIAN observations of the comet which was 

 first detected in this country by Mr. Ainslie 

 Common, at Ealing, at 10.45 am - on September 17, 

 were made at the (observatory of Coimbra on the 18th, 

 19th, and 2o:b, and the following first approximation to 

 the orbit has been deduced from them by Dr. Hind : — 



Perihelion passage September I7'I047, M.T. at Greenwich. 



Longitude of perihelion 271 395 



„ ascending node 347 44'6 



Inclination 37 9"6 



Logarithm of perihelion distance 809201 



Mi >tion — retrograde. 



These elements bear a striking resemblance to those of 

 the great comet of 1S43 and 1880, and it hardly admits of 

 a doubt that we have here a return of that body, which 

 will have experienced an amount of diminution of velocity 

 at the perihelion passage on January 27, 1880, sufficient 

 to cause the last revolution to occupy oniy two years and 

 eight months, and which if experienced to the same 

 extent on the 17th of last month, may bring the comet 

 round again in October 1883. 



The comet was perceived in the forenoon of September 

 18, at many places in the South of France, Spain, 

 Portugal, Italy, &c. From Nice we read: — "Toute la 

 ville a admire aujourd'hui (September 18), pendant cinq 

 heures, un astre ndbuleux brillant vers 3 a l'ouest du 

 soleil." It was seen a day earlier at Reus. M. Jaime 

 Pedro y Ferrier reports : " Le dimanche, 17, a ioh. du 

 matin, les habitans s'arretaient avec e'tonnement sur les 

 places pour admirer la comete visible pres du soleil vers 

 i°'5 a l'ouest. Elle dtait si brillante qu'on l'apercevait 

 a travers de le"gers nuages. En l'examinant a l'aide 

 d'une jumelle munie d'un verre noir, on distinguait la 

 queue qui s'allongeait en s'elargissant." The comet was 

 observed at 1 [ a.m. on September 22, by Prof. Ricco, 

 with the refractor of the Observatory at Palermo : its 

 approximate position at noon was in R.A. Ilh. 5m. 39s., 

 and Decl. — 1° 51', according to a communication in the 

 Gioriiale di Sicilia of the 24th, from Prof. Cacciatore, 

 director of the Observatory ; it was not then visible with- 

 out a telescope, but on the following morning, shortly 

 before sunrise, it was visible to the naked eye, exhibiting 

 a very distinct nucleus, and a tail about 6 C in length, 

 leaning towards the south. 



A circular from Prof. Krueger, editor of the Astrono- 

 mische Nachrichten, states that the comet was observed 

 at Vienna on September 28, at 17I1. 15m. Vienna mean 

 time, in right ascension 161° 28', and declination -5° 51'. 

 Prof. Auwers observed it at St. Vincent, on his voyage 

 from Hamburg to Punta Arenas, to take part in the 

 observation of the coming transit of Venus. Signor 

 Luciano Toschi found it very distinct to the naked eye 

 at Imola, in Italy, on the morning of the 25th, the 

 apparent length of the tail being equal to the distance 

 between Sirius and k Ononis, which assigns it an extent 

 of more than 15 . 



The Coimbra meridian observations, to which refer- 

 ence has been mide, furnish the following places : — 



Greenwich M.T. Right Ascension. Declination. 



+ 1 22 24 

 + 24 38 

 -O 25 32 



Sept. i8 - oio52 ... 11 30 58 

 19-00166 ... 11 21 59 

 '9-99437 •■ » 15 24 



It appears probable that between the time of Mr. 

 Common's observation on the 17th, some hours before 

 the perihelion passage and the meridian observations at 

 Dun Echt and Coimbra on the following day, material 

 perturbation of the elements defining the position of the 

 plane of the orbit may have taken place ; at any rate, the 

 above orbit deviates considerably from the Ealing ob- 

 servations. Assuming that the comet is identical with 

 that discovered by M. Cruls at Rio de Janeiro on the 

 morning of September 12, and that he has obtained a 

 good series of observations of position on the following 

 days, it will be interesting to compare the elements de- 

 duced from them with those calculated upon observations 

 made subsequent to the perihelion passage. 



From a circular which wc have received from the Ob- 

 servatory of Palermo, it appears that Prof. Cacciatore 

 utilised the appearance of the comet in an unwonted 

 manner ; we read : " Mentre l'ltalia tutta commuovesi 

 per la grande sciagura toccata ai nostri fratelli delle pro- 

 vincie venete e lombarde, ed in ogni regione constituis- 

 consi con nobile e patriottico slancio comitati di soccorso 

 per venire in aiuto a tanti mali, a secondare il pietoso 

 intento, l'Osservatorio aprira la sue sale all' alba del 26 

 alle ore 5 precise, a quei genorosi visitatori, che versando 

 una contribuzione di L. 200 vorran godere del sorpren- 

 dente spettacolo osservandolo al grande e magnifico 

 nostro Refrattore. Siam certi che la sperimentata filan- 

 tropia della classe agiata di Palermo non rendera vano 

 l'appello dell' Osservatorio. Per tal guisa l'apparizione 

 di questa cometa, che in altri tempi sarebbe stata segnata 

 come foriera dell' ira divina, e causa delle attuali miserie 

 verra invece registrata come apparizione benefica alia 

 umanita." 



[Since the above was in type, we learn by a communi- 

 cation from Mr. David Gill, dated Royal Observatory, 

 Cape of Good Hope, September 11, that the comet was 

 remarked by Mr. Finlay, the First Assistant, at 5I1. a.m. 

 on September 8, or four days before it was found by M. 

 Cruls. at Rio de Janeiro. An exact determination of 

 position on the following morning gave — 



Cape M.T. R.A. Decl. 



Sept. 8, at 17 13 58 



'44 59 5 1 "4 



-o 45 30-0 



Observations were made on the morning of discovery, 

 but the comparison star was not identified with certainty. 



Prof. Ricco reports marked changes in the spectrum of 

 the comet from day to day, from Palermo observations. 



In the New York Daily Tribune of September 21, the 

 identity of this comet with that of 1S43 and 1880 is 

 pointed out by Prof. Lewis Boss] 



T ( 



SPECTROSCOPIC WEATHER DISCUSSIONS 



O readers of Nature who have attended years ago 

 to Mr. Norman Lockyer's most accurate quantitative 

 determinations, by spark spectroscopy, of the relative 

 proportions of silver and gold in certain alloys ; and to 

 Prof. Hartley's similar quantitative analyses more recently 

 by photographed spectra of the strength of different solu- 

 tions of metallic salts — there need be no difficulty in 

 allowing, that if a meteorological spectroscope can ordi- 

 narily show the standard fact of watery vapour being in 

 the atmosphere, it may also, by a little extra nicety and 

 tact in its use, be able to quantify to some extent the 

 proportions of such aerial supply of water-gas at different 

 times, and so to become, in conjunction with the natural 



