536 



NA TURE 



\April z, 18S4 



him for any sphere in life which he might intend to adopt. It 

 vvoiikl be time enougli to teacli military subjects when the candi- 

 dates for the army got into the military schools. Up to that time 

 their education should be general, and not special. The pro- 

 posed change was entirely with the view of inducing the public 

 schools, such as Wellington, Marlborough, and others, betides 

 Eton and Harrow, to co-operate with the authorities in the 

 endeavour to get rid of cramming." The Marquis of Salisbury 

 believed that ''^nothing would ever get rid of cramming so long as 

 there was a system of competitive examination. Cramming be- 

 longed to competitive examination. He ventured to say that 

 the Government were pursuing their object in rather a dangerous 

 way. If there was a difference between the great public authori- 

 ties and the public schools, the former should lead. With respect 

 to the question of English literature, he did not under.-.tand why 

 boys should not be expected to get a general knowledge of it in 

 the same way that they were expected to have a general know- 

 ledge of Latin literature. In France and Germany the language, 

 literature, and history of the country were systematically studied, 

 but we seemed to treat them as matters of no importance, or as 

 things which might be learnt in the nursery, or accidentally in 

 conversation after leaving school." 



The Ninth Annual Meeting of the members of the Sunday 

 Society was held at 9, Conduit Street, W., on Monday last, 

 Prof. W. H. Corfield, M.D., in the chair. The annual report, 

 which was read by Mr. Mark H. Judge, Honorary Secretary, 

 set forth the work of the Society during the past year. It re- 

 ferred at considerable length to the action taken in the House of 

 Lords, and pointed out that the policy embodied in the resolu- 

 tion proposed thi^ year by Lord Thurlovv at the request of the 

 National Sunday League differed from that advocated by Lord 

 Dunraven and other representatives of the Sunday Society in 

 both Houses of Parliament. Statistics of the Society's Sunday 

 Art Exhibitions were given. The movement in the provinces had 

 been successful at Newcastle on-Tyne, llie Public Library there 

 having been opened on Sundays by the Town Council. Mis 

 Grace the Duke of Westminster was elected President of the 

 Society. 



Two shocks of earthquake were felt at San Francisco in tlie 

 afternoon of March 25. The series of earthquakes which began 

 on the 25th ult. continues in the south of Hungary. In Vukovar 

 some slight shocks were again felt on March 27 at II p.m. On 

 the night of the 29th about sunset a pretty severe shock of earth- 

 quake was felt at Sinope and other places in the neighbourhood. 

 In the town of Costamboul some old buildings fell, but no lives 

 were lo-t. 



The Easter Monday and Tuesday excursion of the Geologists' 

 Asiociation this year will be to Lincoln ; on Saturday, April 26, 

 there will be an excursion to Guildford. 



The number of high-level meteorological stations has been 

 recently increased by the opening of a station at Poni, on the 

 Suram Pass of the Great Caucasus. 



Mr. Charles Smtth, Fellow and Tutor of Sidney-Sussex 

 College, Cambridge, to whose valuable treatie on "Conic Sec- 

 tions " we have already drawn attention, has prepared a new 

 elementary mathematical work which will bear the title, "An 

 Elementary Treatise on Solid Geometry." It will be published 

 almost immediately by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Malbrouck Monkeys (Cciropit/u-ais cyno- 

 Slims 9 9 ) from West Africa, presented by Me?srs. G. Somer- 

 ford and G. A. Zobel ; an Axis Leer (Cervus axis 9 ) from 

 India, presented by Mr. L. B. Lewis ; a Kosman'., Potto (Pno- 

 dklkus polio) from West Africa, presented by Capt. Grant 

 Elliott ; a Common Squirrel {Sa'unis zndgaris), British, pre- 



sented by Mr. P. Aug Hoist ; three Herring Gulls (Larus nrgeii- 

 talus), European, presented by Mr. S. Aloof; a Rose-crested 

 Cockatoo (Cacatua iiiolmrensis) from Moluccas, presented by 

 General Rundall, R.E. ; a Grecian Ibex {Capra cegagrus), 

 South-East European, presented by Mr. Thomas B. Sandwith ; 

 a Smooth Snake {Coronella Uvis), British, presented by Mr. W. 

 H. B. Pain ; a Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacaftia 

 galerila) from Australia, a Rose-coloured Pastor (Pastor roseus) 

 from India, deposited; a Leopard Tortoise (Testudo panlalis) 

 from South Africa, an Egyptian Cobra [Naia linje) from Africa, 

 purchased ; a White-fronted Lemur {Lemur a/iJ;/; <7«j), a Vulpine 

 Phalanger (Phalangista vulpina), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The Double-Star a Herculis. — Smyth, in his "Cycle 

 of Celestial Objects," attributes to Sir William Herschel the 

 discovery of the duplicity of this star ; but the companion was 

 detected two years earlier than Sir William's first observation, 

 and under somewhat curious circumstances. It was perceived 

 by Maskelyne while observing the meridian passage on August 

 7, I777> ^f"! o"ly seven days later Christian Mayer, also observ- 

 ing the transit of the star with his mural quadrant, noted it to 

 be double. The particulars are detailed in Mayer's work, " De 

 Novis in Co^lo Sidereo Phenomenis," published at Mannheim in 

 1779. He had communicated to Maskelyne a number of his 

 results bearing upon the double-stars ; and the Greenwich astro- 

 nomer, in replying towards the end of 1777, relates that he had 

 observed a simdar phenomenon in a Herculis on the date given 

 above, "et videns valde obstupui," he remarks, since he had 

 so often observed the star on the meridian without perceiving 

 the companion. Maskelyne considered it of the sixth magni- 

 tude, the principal star being estimated a third ; the latter he 

 judged to be reddish, .and the companion pale ; Mayer, who dis- 

 covered the smaller star on August 14, called it a seventh or 

 eighth magnitude. 



Adopting Sir George Airy's intervals for the transit-wires in 

 Maskelyne's instrument, we find from a number of transits of the 

 two components — 



For about I778'2 ... Aa ... -I- o'324s,, a5 ... - 2"'8o. 

 And hence the angle of position I20°'8, and the distance 5 "'47. 



Mayer's observations extend from August 14, 1777, to August 

 26, 1779- H''' differences of right ascension vary from o'75s. to 

 o"2s., and those of declination from 6" to i"'8, while his 

 estimates of the magnitude of the smaller star vary from 6 m. 

 to 8-9. 



Sir William Herschel's first measures were made on August 

 29i 1 779- Taking means of those made between this date and 

 1783'252, we find — 



Position, 1782-36 ... ii6°-9 Distance, i78o"33 ... 4"-88. 



Variable Stars. — Mr. Burnham, in a note to No. S45 of 

 his recently published Catalogue of 748 double-stars, remarks : 

 " The principal star is strangely wanting in many of the star 

 catalogues." It was observed by Lamont in zone 364, and 

 estimated 5 m. ; it does not occur in Lalande, D'Ageiet, or 

 Bessel. On Bremicker's Berlin map it is marked 7 m., and it is 

 6 m. in Harding's Atlas. In the Uranomclria Argentina it is 

 called 6 '3; Gould has no note upon it. We have also the 

 following estimates : — 



i879'345 Burnham 6-5 



— "549 Stone (Cincinnati) 7'5 



— 'S7S Burnham 65 



l8So'442 Stone 60 



— "520 Burnham 5'5 



1881-383 „ ; 6-5 



— -578 „ 6-8 



The star may perhaps vary from about the fifth to the seventh 

 magnitude, but systematic observation is wanted to decide. 

 Its position, brought up from Lamont to 1885-0 is in R.A. 

 I7h. 8m. 46-9S., N.P.D. 104° 27' 4". 



D'Ageiet 5057 (a star to which attention has been already 

 called in this column) deserves frequent examin.ation. It was 

 observed by D'Ageiet on July 26, 27, and 29, 1783, being twice 

 noted 6 m. and once 6*5. It was not observed either by Lalande 

 or Bessel, but in the Durchmusteriing we find it estimated only 



