6o6 



NA TURE 



[April 24, 1884 



II1C Government of Erivan. Altogether, the mortality is, how- 

 i-\er, very great, and it is compensated only by a great number 

 of births. As to the density of population, the 224,221 square 

 kilometres occupied by the Northern Caucasus have 10-3 in- 

 habitants per square kilometre, which figure reaches as much as 

 13 "6 in Transcaucasia (248,445 square kilometres), where the 

 density of population is the same as in European Russia. The 

 Governments of Kutais (the valley of the Rion), Erivan, and 

 Tiflis have respectively 33"6, 20-8, and I7'8 inhabitants per 

 square kilometre. 



Among the recent additions to Chinese scientific literature are 

 translations of Margutti's " Elementary", Chemistry " and Fre- 

 senius's " Chemical Analysis." These works have been trans- 

 lated into Chinese by M. Billequin, one of the professors of the 

 Jung Wen Kwan, or Foreign College, at Pekin. 



The Secretary of State for India in Council has appointed 

 Mr. David Hooper, F.C.S., of Birmingham, to the Nilgiri 

 Government Cinchona Plantations in the Madras Presidency. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Ludio Monkey {Cercopithecus liidio) from 

 \Vest Africa, presented by Mr. F. W. Robinson ; a Macaque 

 Monkey (Macacus cynomolgns 6 ) from India, presented by Mr. 

 E. Drew ; a Vulpine Phalanger (P/mlangisla vulphia) from 

 Australia, presented by Mr. J. C. Martin ; a Central American 

 Agouti (Dasyprocta isthmica) from Central America, presented 

 by Mr. Hugh Wilson ; a Herring Gull {Lafits argeniatus], 

 European, presented by Mr. Thomas Daws ; a Common Viper 

 ( Vipera berus), British, presented by Mr. H. German ; a 

 Burchell's Zebra (Equus burchdti 9 ) from South Africa, three 

 Michie's Tufted Deer (Elaphodiis niichianus i ? 9 ), four 

 Darwin's Pucras {Pucrasia darwini <J <J d 9 ), an Elliot's 

 Pheasant [Phasianus ellioti i ) from China, deposited ; three 

 Corn Buntings (Emberiza miliaria), British, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



Southern Comets. — Dr. Oppenheim of Berlin has pub- 

 lished elements of the comet discovered by Mr." Ross of Elstern- 

 wick, Victoria, on January 7, founded upon the Melbourne 

 observations in Astron. Nacli., No. 2579, though, as he remarks, 

 they were calculated with difficulty, owing to the existence of 

 three oversights in the seven positions there given ; hence their 

 connection for an orbit would involve a troublesome tentative 

 process. The position for January 17 is in error nearly two 

 degrees. 



Mr. Tebbutt has also computed elements from his own obser- 

 vations at Windsor, New South Wales, on January 19, 23, and 

 28, which represent closely the observation on February 2, the 

 last he was able to obtain, the comet having become very faint ; 

 on January 19 he had considered it just beyond naked-eye 

 vision. He remarks upon the discordance of his elements with 

 those calculated by M. Barachi of the Melbourne Observatory, 

 and observes: "I cannot account for these discrepancies, unless 

 there be some error in the Melbourne data." We subjoin both 

 orbits : — 



Oppenheim 



Tebbult 

 Perilielion Passage, 1SS3, Dec. 25-30038 



De 



3027 



Longitude of perihelion 125 44 24 ... 125 46 12 



,, ,, ascendingnode 264 24 o ... 264 25 14 



Inclination 65 o 55 ... 65 o 51 



Log. perihelion distance ... 9'49I046 ... 9^49094 



Motion retrograde. 

 The time of perihelion passage is for the meridian of Greenwich, 

 and the longitudes are referred to the mean equinox of 1884 'o. 

 It will be seen from the close agreement of the two orbits how 

 completely Dr. Oppenheim succeeded in eliminating the Mel- 

 bourne errors from his work. 



In a communication to the Obseivatoij of the present month 

 Mr. Tebbutt refers to a notice in the Sydney journals copied from 

 a Tasmanian newspaper, reporting that a bright comet liad been 

 seen at New Norfolk at 4 a.m. on December 27, bearing about 

 east, and a few degrees above the horizon ; lie had searched for 



it in the morning sky without success. In the Sydney Morning 

 Herald of March 5, Mr. Tebbutt writes: — "Within the past 

 few days I have received, through Commander J. Shortt, R.N., 

 the Meteorological Observer at Hobart Town, communications 

 respecting a fine comet which was seen in Tasmania on Decem- 

 ber 25 and 27 in the morning sky. It is described as rising 

 above the eastern horizon a few minutes before the sun ; and I 

 am strongly inclined to the opinion that this is no other than the 

 comet whose elements I have just communicated " (the comet 

 found by Mr. Ross). There are difficulties, however, in the way 

 of accepting this identification, judging from such information 

 as we have to hand. The great increase of light near perihelion 

 passage is not explained by the elements of the comet of 

 January 7, which by theory would only have possessed five 

 times the intensity of light that it had at the first Melbourne 

 observation on the evening of Januaiy 12. 



The Observatory of Palermo. — In Pubblicauoni del 

 Real Osservatorio di Palermo, anni 1882-83, Prof. Cacciatore, 

 the director, has collected a large number of interesting observa- 

 tions made chiefly in the year 1882. Prof. RiccJj's astro-physical 

 observations of the planet Jupiter extend from December l88l to 

 June 1883, and his descriptions of the appearance of the disk are 

 accompanied by eighteen well-executed tinted lithographs. An 

 extensive series of observations of the great comet of 1882, 

 also illustrated, follows ; it was last perceived with difficulty on 

 April 7, 1883. After the conjunction of the comet with the sun 

 it was again sought for ; with a power of 1 10 on the refractor, 

 and in the best condition of atmosphere, the search was unsuc- 

 cessful on three evenings in September. There are other 

 cometary and planetary observations and an appendix with the 

 meteorological results obtained at the auxiliary station of Val- 

 verde. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

 The meetings of the International Polar Conference began in 

 Vienna last week under the presidency of Herr Heinrich Wild, 

 the Director of the Physical Central Observatory of St. Peters- 

 burg. In his address the President praised the great merits of 

 Count Wilczek with regard to Polar research, referred -to the 

 lamented death, since the 1 ast conference, of the Secretary 

 of the Polar Commission, Capt. Hoflmeyer of Co])enhagen, and 

 finally gave an outline of the work done since the St. Petersburg 

 meeting by the various expeditions and observing stations. Herr 

 R. Mliller, Director of the Hydrographic Office at Pola, was 

 elected secretary in the place of Capt. Hoffmeyer, deceased. 

 The principal subject discussed at the first meeting was the deter- 

 mination of the minimum extent to which each expedition party 

 is bound to work out and publish its own observations at its own 

 expense, and the establishment of a universal form of publica- 

 tion of results for their easier comparison. First of all the 

 meteorological observations were discussed in this regard. 

 The debate turned on the uniform way of noting down the obli- 

 gatory observations at each station, i.e. the observations of tem- 

 perature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind, clouds, hydro- 

 meteors, rainfall, and temperature of the ground, snow and ice. 

 Among those who have arrived at Vienna are the following : — • 

 M]\L R. Lenz (Professor at the St. Petersburg Technological 

 Institute), II. Mohn (Director of the Christiania Meteorological 

 Institute), R. H. Scott (Director of the London Meteoro- 

 logical Office), Lieut. P. H. Ray of Washington, Lieut. E. 

 von Wohlgemuth (Vienna), Herr Wijkandcr, Prof. Guido Cora 

 (Turin University), Capt. Dawson (Chief of the Fort Rae 

 Expedition), Dr. Giese of Hamburg (Chief of the German 

 Antarctic Expedition), H. Paulsen of Copenhagen (Chief 

 of the Danisli Polar Station at Godthaab), Lieut. Payen 

 (Paris), Dr. Snellen (Director of the Utrecht Meteorological 

 Observatory), Aksel S. Steen (of the Christiania Meteorological 

 Institute), Count Hanns Wilczek (Vienna). The following 

 were expected to arrive shortly : — Prof. G. Neumayer of Ham- 

 burg (Director of the German Seewarte), Prof. E. Mascart 

 (Director of the Paris Meteorological Central Bureau), Dr. 

 136rger (of the Kiel Marine Observatorj'), Prof. Lemstrbm 

 (Helsingfors), E. Riese (Chief of the Finnish Polar Station at 

 .Sodankyla). 



The Si. Pelersburger Zei/ung contains the following details con- 

 cerning the expedition which Col. Prjevalsky is now leading in 

 Thibet. The points of departure of the expedition were Kiakhta 

 and Ourga. From thence it was to go to Tsaidam by Alashan 

 and Koko-Nor. In Tsaidam, at the foot of Burkhan Buda, it 



