246 



NA TURE 



\jfan. 10, I < 



Thk membera of the International Polar Commission will 

 meet in Vienna early in May next, where preparations for this 

 meeting are already being made. 



The death is announced of Dr. Wilhelm Gintl, an eminent 

 telegraph engineer, and formerly director of all Austrian tele- 

 graphs. He died at Prague on December 22, 1883, aged eighty 

 years. 



Lieut. Wohlgemuth, the leader of the Austrian Polar 

 Expedition, has read a paper on the results of the Expedition at 

 the last meeting of the Viennna Geographical Society ; 124 

 aurora: were observed, amongst which about ten were cro«'n- 

 shaped. Amongst the old lava streams and in the crevices of 

 the numerous craters of the island of Jan Mayen, Lieut. 

 Wohlgemuth found traces of a still progressing volcanic activity, 

 and three times observed well-marked subterranean shocks. 



A SERIES of ornithological observatories has been established 

 throughout Austria-Hungary at the instance of Crown Prince 

 Rudolf, with a view of paying special attention to the migrations 

 of birds, as well as to their breeding habits. The work done 

 by these stations is satisfactory enough ; yet it has been found 

 that a complete insight into the periodical movements of birds 

 cannot be obtained so long as similar stations are not spread over 

 the whole globe. The subject Is to form one of the principal 

 topics for discussion at the approaching Ornithological Congress, 

 which will be held under the auspices of the Crown Prince at 

 Vienna 0.1 April 16 next and the following days. 



At Cobern, near Coblenz, a Franconian burial-ground has 

 been discovered, containing many objects of interest, such 

 as ornaments, weapon, glass and clay vases, stones with 

 iii.=criplicns, &c. 



The Turin Acade^ny of Sciences has given a prize (4S0/. ) to 

 Mr. Hormuzd Kassam for his <Ji->coveriei in the domain of 

 A-syrian and Babylonian antiquities. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus siniciis 9 ) from 

 L.dia, presented by Madame Kettner ; two Rhesus Monkeys 

 [Macacus rliesus i 9 ) from India, presented by Mr. G. Glyn 

 Pctre, F.Z.S. ; a White-throated Capuchin [Ceius albifions 9 ), 

 a Crab-eating Opossum {Didelpit) s cancrivira) from the West 

 Indies, presented by Lady Brassey, F.Z.S. ; a Common Genet 

 {Gmetta vulgaris) from West Africa, presented by Capt. A. 

 North Daniel ; a Canadian Porcupine {Etithizm dorsatus) from 

 North America, presented by Mr. A. Glidden ; a Kink.-ijou 

 (Cercoleptes caiidivolvuhis] from Brazil, presented by Dr. Byres 

 Moir ; a Ring-hals .Snake (Sepedon lucmachates), a Robben 

 Island Snake (Coronella phocarum), an Egyptian Cobra [A^nia 

 hije), a Rhomb-marked Snake (Pianimop/iylax rhombcatus), a 

 Many-spotted Snake (Coronella mullitnaculata"), a Hissing Sand 

 Snake (Psam mop/iis sibilans), a Smooth-bellied Snake (Hoinalo- 

 sonia luirix), a Spotted Slo^'-worm [Aconlias jtieleagris) from 

 South Africa, presented by the Rev, G. H. R. Fisk, C.M.Z.S. ; 

 two Gold Pheasants (ThaumaUa picta 6 9) from China, two 

 Common Peafowls (Pavo cristaius i 9 ) from India, deposited ; 

 five Knots [Tringa canulus), a Common Guillemot [Loiiiz'ia 

 Iroile), British, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The Solar Motion in Space. — The recently published 

 volume of the Afemoirs 0/ the Royal Astronomical Society contai ns 

 a paper by Mr. W. E. Plummer, of the Oxford University Ob- 

 servatory, on the Motion of the Solar System. The data on 

 which the author has founded his discussion are the proper 

 motions of the stars in the southern hemisphere, as determined 

 by Mr. Stone in the Cape Catal )gue. The work is therefore 

 a repetition and extension of the inquiry conducted by the late 



Mr. Galloway, and it would [appear that the necessity of a re- 

 discussion was suggested to Mr. Plummer by the disco'dances 

 between the values of the proper motions there em])lcyed and 

 those given by Mr. Stone. To illustrate the uncertainty in the 

 result, particularly when based upon an in-ufificient number of 

 stars, the position of the apex of the solar system is first derived 

 from the same list of stars as that used by Mr. Galloway, but 

 with improved values of the proper motion. The more tru-t- 

 worthy result from these restricted data places the apex in the 

 constellation Ophiuchus some thirty degrees south of the gene- 

 rally received position. 



Incorporating, however, all the southern stars whose known 

 proper motions exceed one-tenth of a second (which raises the 

 number of stars employed to 274), a more accordant re-ult is 

 obtained. If the apparent magnitude be adopted a-^ a criteri m 

 of distance, and the irregularities of proper m itiin be supposed 

 due to the peculiar motions of the stars ihemselve-", the co- 

 ordinates of the apex are a = 270" S', S = -H 20° 20', and the 

 annual motion of the sun, viewed from the mean distance of the 

 first magnitude stars, subtends an arc of 1 " '690. Unfortunately, 

 if the correctiims computed on this supposition be applied to the 

 individual proper motions, the sum of the squares of the residuals 

 is slightly larger than the sum of the squares of the original 

 motions. 



.Selecting as a second hypothesis the suggestion that the dis- 

 tances of the stars vary inversely as their proper motions, the 

 position of the apex is given in a = 276' 8' and 5 = -I- 26" 31', 

 and the annual motion of the sun seen from the distance of stars 

 w'hose annual proper motion is about l"'5 seconds of arc, is 

 o"'926. Introducing the necessary corrections, the sum of the 

 squares of the proper motion in R. A. is reduced from I24""9 to 

 70" '4, and in declination from 54" '6 to 39" '3, a result that tends 

 to support the reality of the second hypothesis. 



The Late M. Vvon Villarceau. — Antoine-Fran93is- 

 Joseph-Yvon Villarceau was born at Vendome on January 15, 

 1S13. He first studied in the local college, and subsequently 

 went through the course of instruction at the Conservatoire in 

 Paris, where, in 1S33, he gained a first prize. In the same year 

 he priceeded to Egypt v-ith elicien David, and joined the 

 missi jn under Enfa;itin : in this way his attention was directed 

 to engineering. Returning to France in 1837 he was admitted 

 to the Ecole Centrale, which he left in 1840, being then first in 

 the Mechanical Section. Already possessed of an independent 

 fortune, in the years immediately following he was chiefly 

 occupied with mathematical studies, with the view to qualify 

 himself for the higher branches of mechanics and astronomy. 

 In 1845 his firt memoir upon comets, which w'as judged 

 worthy of insertion in the " Recueil des Savants Etr.angers,'' 

 brought him under the notice of Aragi, who, impressed with 

 the originality of his idea';, offered him, in 1846, a place at the 

 Observatory of Paris, to which establishment he was attached 

 until the close of his life, at first as assistant, a-jd since 1854 

 as titular astronomer. \'illarceau was the author of a large 

 number of memoirs upon mech.anical and geodetical sub- 

 jects, amongst others, on the stability of locomotives in 

 motion, and on the theory of arches, accompanied by extensive 

 tables and numerous practical applications, on the theory of 

 the gyroscope of Foucaolt, and the compensation of chrono- 

 meters ; he made geodetical determinations in France between 

 1861 and 1865, which led to several important deductions. 

 Amongst his earlier astronomical work was the development 

 and application of a new method of investigating the orbits 

 of the revolving double stars, which he api lied to ri Corona- 

 Borealis and other binaries ; this was followed by a memoir 

 on the determination of the orbit of a planet, founded oi\ 

 the method of Laplace. In 1S51, on the discovery l>y 

 D'Arrest of the short-period comet which bears his name, 

 Villarceau determined the orbit rigorously, and by means 

 of his predicted places the comet was again observed, in 

 1S57, by Maclear at the Cape of Good Hope. It was upo.i 

 his plans that, while Leverrier was in direction of the Ob- 

 servatory of Paris, the great equatorial in the west tower, 

 which constituted a notable advance in the construction of such 

 astronomical instruments, was erected. Villarceau died on 

 December 23. At the funeral discourses were delivered by Col. 

 Perrier in the name of the Acrdemy of .Sciences (of which Vil- 

 larceau had t)een a member, in the Section of Ilydro^jraphy and 

 Navigation, since 1867) ; by M. Faye in the name of the Bureau 

 des Longitudes ; and by M. Tisserand in that of the Paris 

 Observatory. 



