88 



NA TURE 



\_N0V. 2 2, 1883 



which the Ferroux borer was worked ; while on the western 

 side pumped water was pressed through pipes to the tension of 

 over a hundred atmospheres, to work the Brandt turning borer, 

 which cuts cylindrical blocks of rock from the mountain. The 

 eastern entrance to the Arlberg Tunnel — namely, St. Anton — is 

 1300 metres above the level of the sea, while the western 

 entrance is only 1215 metres, by which difference a good venti- 

 lation of the future railway tunnel seems secured. The vaulting 

 and all other necessary works will be finished at the latest on 

 August I, 1884. 



A MEETING has been held at Chester, presided over by the 

 Duke of Westminster, to take steps to provide the city with a 

 museum, which is intended to be a centre of scientific informa- 

 tion for Cheshire and North Wales. North Wales was repre- 

 sented at the meeting by the Duchess of Westminster, Earl 

 Grosvenor, and Sir Robert Cunliffe, Bart. ; the Chester Natural 

 Science Society by its president, Prof. T. McKenny Hughes ; 

 and the Chester Archaeological Society by Dean Howson and 

 Mr. H. ToUemache, M.P. It was decided that the building 

 should accommodate both these societies and the School of Art. 

 The Duke of Westminster announced his intention of giving the 

 greater part of the proposed >ite, and 4000/. towards the build- 

 ing fund. 



The Council of the New University College of South Wales, 

 at Cardiff, have resolved to try to raise 3000/. for mechanical 

 laboratories. 



The inaugural meeting of the International Electrical Asso- 

 ciation took place in Paris on th; 15th in the large hall of the 

 Societe d'Encouragement. M. Cochery was voted by acclama- 

 tion Honorary President, and M. Berger Acting President. The 

 number of adhesions exceeds 1000. 



The following is an illustration of what private enterprise 

 may effect for the benefit of science. When the Swedish ship 

 Monari was leaving Sweden last year for Australia the second 

 officer on board applied to the Zoological Museum at Upsala for 

 the loan of a trawl and some vessels for preserving natural liistory 

 objects. The results have been a collection of some I20 species 

 of fish, so of insects, some birds, and about 100 varieties of tlie 

 lower sea fauna of the Pacific, which have now arrived at 

 Upsala. 



On November 2 the Imperial Russian Academy of Science 

 celebrated its hundredth year with great ceremony. Count 

 Tolstoy, the President and Minister of the Interior, acted as 

 chairman. 



Mr. Gamel of Copenhagen has placed the Dijmphna at the 

 disposal of Lieut. Hovgaard for an Arctic expedition next year. 



At the Royal Institution Prof. Dewar will give six lectures at 

 Clu-istmas (adapted to a juvenile auditory) on "Alchemy in 

 Relation to Modern Science." Before Easter, 18S4, courses of 

 lectures will be given by Mr. R. Stuart Poole, Professors 

 McKendrick, Pauer, Tyndall, and Henry Morley, Capt. Abney, 

 and others. The programme of the Friday evening arrangements 

 will be issued shortly. 



A slight shock of earthquake was felt on Friday at Malaga. 

 A shock was also felt at Chios on the 1 6th. An earthquake 

 occurred on the 19th at Vallo della Lucernia in the province of 

 Salerno, Italy. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include an Ourang-outang {Simla sa'.yra <J ) from 

 Borneo, presented by Mr. William Cross ; a Grey Ichneumon 

 (Herpestes griseus) from India, presented by Mrs. F. R. Flindell ; 

 a Hobby (Falco subbuleo), captured at sea, presented by Mr. C. 

 Heat ; six American Box Tortoises ( Terrapene carinata), a Stink- 



pot Terrapin (Aromochelys odorala], seven Spotted Lizards (Hoi- 

 brookia maculata), a Long-nosed Snake {Hdaoion nasicus), two 

 Striped Snskts (TropiJonolus sirtalis) from North America, pre- 

 sented by Mr. Samuel Garman, C.M.Z.S. ; a Common Viper 

 ( Vipera buns), British, presented by Mr. W. H. B. Pain ; a Greater 

 Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacalua gahrita) from Australia, a 

 Cerastes Viper ( Vipera ca'astes) from Egypt, deposited ; a Sykes's 

 Monkey (Ccrcopithecus albigularii) from East Africa, a Negro 

 Tamarin [Midas tirsuiiis) from Guiana, an Indian Badger 

 {Arctonyx collaris) from Assam, two Pere David's Deer [Ccrvus 

 davidianus) from Northern China, a Downy Owl (Pulsatrix tor- 

 qua/a) from South America, purchased ; a Sambur T)ea (Cervus 

 aristotdis), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Brorsen's Comet. — Of the known comets of short period, 

 two will arrive at perihelion in 1884, viz. D'Arrest's on January 

 13, and Brorsen's about September. The former has beea 

 sought after for several months, but hitherto, so far as we are 

 aware, without success, and there now seems a probability that 

 (as indeed was rather to have been anticipated) it will pass 

 unobserved at this return. The second comet was discovered by 

 Brorser, an amateur at Kiel, on February 26, 1S46, and ten days' 

 observations sufficed to show that its period of revolution was 

 about five and a half years : it afforded one of the most striking 

 instances of a close approximation to the period being deduced 

 from a short course of observation, Mr. Hind having inferred a 

 revolution of S'SI9 years from observations between February 28 

 and March 10 (Aslron. A'ach., No. 557), while the exact period 

 at the time is now known to have been 5'56S years. The comet 

 has been since observed at its returns in 1S57, 1S6S, 1873, and 

 1879, though missed in 1S51 (perhaps through some c infusion 

 as to the date of perihelion passage), and a^ain in 1S63. The 

 ephemeris for the lait appearance in 1S79 was prepared by Prof. 

 L. R. Schulze of Dobeln, after the calculation of planetary 

 perturbations since the return in 1873, the perihelion passage 

 being fixed to March 30'077i Greenwich M.T. The computed 

 positions differed considerably from those observed, as » as shown 

 in M. Otto Struve's comparison with his own observations 

 (Bulletin de V Acadi-ntie des Sciences de St. Petershourg, t. v.), and 

 these differences led him to remark: — " Eiiie Anderung in der 

 angenommenen Perihclzeit wiirde fiir sich allein wahrscheinlich 

 nicht geniigen." It will be found, however, at the end of April 

 or beginning of May. The errors may be removed by the assump- 

 tion of a later time of perihelion passage ; or by taking it March 

 30-5418 Greenwich M.T., a difference of -H 04674d. from the 

 computed epoch. Thus for the observation on April 30, we 

 find, taking the differences in the order (c - o) :— 



By ephemeris -t- im. 385. ... -I- 43' '8 



With corrected perihelion - om. 6s. ... -f o''2 



The mean siderol motion determined by Dr. Schulze for 1879 

 w ould, tt ithout perturbation, bring the comet to perihelion a^^ain 

 about 1SS4, Sept. 14-5, at which time it would be situate in 

 about right ascension 154° with 14" n >rth declination, distant 

 from the earth r4l, consequently rising more than two hours 

 before the sun. The conditions are therefore likely to approach 

 those under which the comet was observed in 1873. 



Some six months after the di-covery of this comet in 1S46 

 attention was directed by Mr. Hind (Astron. Nach., No. 5S2, 

 and in a note to the Royal Astronomical Society) to the near 

 approach which it must have made to the planet Jupiter in May, 

 1S42, a first calculation indicating that on May 20 the distance 

 between the two bodies was less than o'Oj of the earth's mean 

 distance from the;un. This point was more closely examined 

 by D'Arrest from improved elements in 1857 (Astron. Nach., 

 No. 10S7) ; he found that the closest proximity occurred May 

 20^6924 Berlin M.T., when the comet was distant from the 

 planet only O'05ll2, and, carrying his computation backwards to 

 the time when the comet entered the sphere of activity of 

 Jupiter, he assigned approximately its elements previous to 

 that time. A more elaborate investigation of the circum- 

 stances attending this near approach has been lately made by 

 Dr. Harzer, in an inaugural dissertation published at Leipzig 

 in 1848 ; he finds for the time of perijove passage, 1842, May 

 27'2S49 Berlin M.T., and for the distance o'0547i ; the ele- 



