'58 



NATURE 



[August 24, 191 1 



The following is a continuation of the ephemeris pub- 

 lished by Dr. Ebell in No. 4517 of the Astronomische 

 Nachrichten, and on the accompanying chart the apparent 

 path of the comet among the stars is approximately 

 shown ; the new elements, upon which these positions 

 depend, give October 27 as the time of perihelion 

 passage : — 



Ephemeris (12/;. M.T. Berlin). 



ion a (true) 6 (true) log r log A mag. 



h. m. „ 



Aug. 24 ... 20 41-9 ... +46 438 ... 0-1552 ... 9/8033 ... 8 - o 



„ 26 ... 20 2S'5 ... +48 30-6 



„ 28 ... 20 13-4 ... +50 140 ... 0-1345 ... 9-777° ... 7-8 



» 30 ■•• «9 56-5 •■■ +5 1 5 2 "' 



Sept. 1 ... 19 377 ••• +53 224 ... 0-1125 ... 97542 ... 7-6 



„ 3 ... 19 16-9 . . +54 42-0 ... o-ioio ... 9-7444 ... 7'5 



,, 5 ... 18 54-3 ... +55 48-2 ... o-oS9( ... 9-7357 ... 7'4 



,, 7 ... iS 29-9 ... +56 38-2 ... 0-0768 ... 9-7282 ... 7-3 



,, 9... 18 4-1 ... +57 9-6 ... 0-0641 ... 9-7220 ... 7-2 



„ 11 ... 17 375 ■•• +57 20-4 ... 00510 ... 9-7172 •- 7'i 



„ 13 ... 17 10-6 ... +57 9-4 ... 0-0374 ... 97136 ... 7"° 



It will be noted that on August 26 the comet will pass 

 very near to <■> Cygni (magnitude 4-9), and on September 10 

 within a few minutes of { Draconis (magnitude 3-9). 



The New Canals on Mars. — It will be remembered by 

 readers of these columns that, during the last opposition of 

 Mars, Prof. Lowell claimed to have discovered conspicuous 

 canals which reference to the large accumulation of earlier 

 observations showed to be new ; they were not to be found 

 on any of the earlier drawings. 



Telegraphing to the Kiel Centralstelle, Prof. Lowell now 

 states that these two new features near Syrtis are still 

 visible. The importance of establishing the novelty and 

 permanence of such conspicuous " canali " as these appear 

 to be cannot be overrated. 



A Quickly Moving Comet-like Object. — Dr. Franz re- 

 ports the observation at Breslau on July 22 of a rapidly 

 moving nebulous object, which may have been a comet 

 very near to the earth. At 13I1. 4m. (M.E.T.), the posi- 

 tion of this object was = 4(1. 15.0m., 8 = -|-20 36' 

 (18550), and during an interval of six minutes the R.A. 

 altered by about 3m., while the declination remained the 

 same. This nebulous-looking body was of about the sixth 

 magnitude and about 6' in diameter, not unlike the Kiess 

 comet which had been observed just before. 



The observers at Kiel searched unsuccessfully on July 23 

 for an object answering to the conditions named by Dr. 

 Franz, and Dr. Graff was equally unsuccessful at Berge- 

 dorf on July 24 ; both he and Dr. Franz were clouded out 

 on July 23 (Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 45 17). 



Observations of Nova Lacert^e. — A number of magni- 

 tude and position observations of Nova Lacertae appear in 

 No. 4509 of the Astronomische Nachrichten. Prof. Eginitis 

 shows that the colour of the star changed from red to 

 bluish-white during the period January to March, its 

 magnitude meanwhile decreasing from 7.9 to 89. M. 

 Luizet shows that this change of colour was very rapid 

 during the first six weeks, and then the colour became 

 nearly constant. Herr Jost's observations of magnitude 

 show very small oscillations up to the end of February, 

 and then a nearly constant diminution until the beginning 

 of May. 



At the Simeis Observatory Prof. Beljawsky made an 

 elaborate investigation of the nova's magnitude as shown 

 on various photographs taken through different coloured 

 screens. The results, together with the measures of posi- 

 tion, are given and discussed in No. 41 (vol. iv., No. 5) 

 of the Mitteilungen der Nikolai-Hauptsternwarie r» 

 Pulkowo. 



Prominences Observed on \run. 28. — In view of the 

 total eclipse of the sun on April 28 last, Prof. Ricc6 made 

 special arrangements for the visual and photographic 

 observations of prominences at Rome and Catania, and 

 now publishes the results in No. 4. vol. xl., of the Memorie 

 di Istrofisica ed Astronomia. There was a large promin- 

 ence in position-angle 4S (\. through F..). and lesser ones 

 at j6°-42°, 163 — 168 (given as io2 -ioS° on the figure 

 panying the article), and 2q4°-3oo°. 



NO. 2l82, VOL. 87] 



A Star with Considerable Proper Motion. — Mr. 

 Baldwin reports, in No. 4513 of the Astronomische Nach- 

 richten, that the observations made at Melbourne Observa- 

 tory show the star C.P.D. — 7o°447 to have a large proper 

 motion amounting to —0.0711s. in R.A. and +1.214" in 

 declination. The position of the star, for 1900-0, is 

 5h. 45m. 41.036s., — 70 12' 50-91", and it was observed 

 at Melbourne in 1S92 and 1907. 



AN ASTRONOMICAL SURVEY OF SOME 

 PEMBROKESHIRE CIRCLES. 

 'PHE Rev. W. Done Bushell first directed the attention 

 of the members of the Cambrian Archaeological 

 Association five years ago to some monuments in Pem- 

 brokeshire as illustrative of Sir Norman Lockyer's findings 

 elsewhere, and a well-illustrated paper of fifty-two pages, 

 published in the journal of that association, shows that, 

 so far as Wales is concerned, the archaeologists wish to 

 give this " new thing " a hearing. 



The author confines himself to ten groups of monu- 

 ments on the southern slopes of the Prescelly Hills, cover- 

 ing a tract of land seven miles from east to west. As 

 during the last five years he has made repeated visits to 

 the district, he has gathered almost heartrending evidence 

 of the progressive destruction of ancient monuments. 

 " There were at Eithbed until very recently three circles, 

 and probably three cromlechs also were associated with 

 them. They are now no more. The largest was 

 destroyed, we know not when or how " (pp. 17, 18). 

 " We find this circle duly given in the earlier edition of 

 the 25-inch Ordnance Map ; it is entirely absent from the 

 later edition issued in 1908." The author was able to 

 trace its outline. "It has an average diameter of no less 

 than 150 feet." " Two other circles . . . have both of 

 them been wilfully destroyed," one in 1905 and the other 

 in 1909. " These circles, with the accompanying crom- 

 lechs, must have formed a very noble and important group 

 before they were thus demolished." The author, fortu- 

 nately, had photographed some of the monuments before 

 they were destroyed. Last year he recognised some of the 

 temple materials in an " ugly house which stands close by, 

 a veritable monument of shame " (pp. 19, 20). All 

 archaeologists will, of course, deplore such vandalism ; but 

 the significance of the loss is well expressed in the author's 

 remark : — " We may add that the existence of three circles 

 in immediate contiguity suggests, as in the case of the 

 Hurlers and elsewhere, adjustments rendered necessary by 

 precession " (p. 22). 



At Cil-y-maen-llwyd, in the same district, an observer 

 about the year 1738 saw " a circle of mighty stones very 

 much like Stonehenge in Wiltshire, or rather like the Roll- 

 rych Stones in Oxfordshire " (p. 38). There remains just 

 one of the mighty eighty stones. 



Of the existing remnants of temples second to few in 

 Britain, the author has secured most useful angular 

 measures. He acknowledges the assistance of his son, Mr. 

 Warin F. Bushell, and of Lieut. -Colonel Tupman, in pre- 

 paring the plans given. A useful declination table for 

 lat. 52 by the latter is given as an appendix. The paper 

 is an admirable illustration of wmat may be done with 

 little trouble in every district towards recording the testi- 

 mony of the stones, the speediest and most effective method 

 of outwitting the vandals. Photographs are good, plans 

 are better, but measures are indispensable. 



Given trustworthy data, we can put up with any deduc- 

 tions. Some of the author's opinions are tolerable only on 

 such ground. Because of the difficulty in these latitudes 

 of observing any celestial bodies right on the horizon, he 

 is inclined to think that the alignments had only a cere- 

 monial use. Early man, he thinks. " did not require the 

 aid of an astronomer " (p. 44). " Nor would so many 

 observation-circles have been required had their prime 

 object hern, as has been suggested (Lockyer, ' Stonehenge,' 

 p. 17). the determination of the seasons. England has 

 many churches, bul only one Greenwich " (pp. 45, 46). 

 Yet in a passage cited the author speaks of " adjustments 

 rendered necessary by precession." Such, how 

 some opinions which the author puts forth as " alterna- 

 tives to any premature acceptance of Sir Norman Lockyer's 



