ynne 20, 1872] 



NATURE 



149 



circumstances, was a conspicuous object. The statement 

 of the Chinese historian that "it appeared nearly as large 

 as a Tow measure,"* though somewhat indefinite, cer- 

 tainly justilies the conclusion that its magnitude has 

 greatly diminished during the last 500 years. The meteors 

 moving in the same orbit are doubtless the products of 

 this gradual separation. 



9. The bipartition of Bitla's comet in 1845, as well as 

 the non-appearance of the two fragments in 1865, when 

 the circumstances were favourable for observation, are too 

 well known to require more than a passing notice. 



The comet of Hallcy, if we may credit the descriptions 

 given by ancient writers, has been decreasing in brilliancy 

 from age to age. The same is true in regard to several 

 others believed to be periodic. The comet of A.D. 1097 

 had a tail 50° long. At its return, in March 1840, the 

 length of its tail was only 5°. The third comet of 1790 

 and the first of 1825 are supposed, from the similarity of 

 their elements, to be identical. Each perihelion passage 

 occured in May, yet the tail at the former appearance was 

 4° in length, at the latter but 2V. In short, instances are 

 not wanting of this apparent gradual dissolution. It 

 would seem, indeed, extremely improbable that the par- 

 ticles driven off from comets in their approach to the sun, 

 forming tails extending millions of miles from the prin- 

 cipal mass, should again be collected around the same 

 nuclei. 



The fact, then, that comets and meteors move in the 

 same orbits is but a consequence of that disruptive pro- 

 cess so clearly indicated by the phenomena described. 

 In this view of the subject, comets — even such as move 

 in elliptic orbits — are not to be regarded as permanent 

 members of the solar system. Ttieir debris, however, 

 thus scattered through space, and subject more or less to 

 planetary perturbation, may casually penetrate the at- 

 mosphere, producing the phenomena of sporadic meteors. 

 Daniel Kiricwood 



l^EVVTOyS MANUSCRIPTS AND BIRTH- 

 PLACE 



ALL Trinity men will, like myself, regret that Lord 

 Portsmouth's gift, recorded in NATURE of June 6, 

 should have been made to the library of Newton's Uni- 

 versity instead of to that of Nenton's College. Surely for 

 many reasons Trinity library is the most fitting deposi- 

 tory for the Newton manuscripts. A catalogue of these 

 papers is given in Collet's "Relics of Literature, 1823," 

 pp. 190-194, consisting of eighty-two manuscripts, said to 

 cover nearly eight thousand pages, mostly quarto or folio, 

 besides six note-books, and many letters to Newton in 

 English, French, and Latin. Unfortunately many of 

 these papers relate to biblical or theological subjects. 



When Dr. Pellet, by request of Newton's executors, 

 examined these papers with a view to pubhcation, he 

 condemned all but five. These were : — 



a 56 half sheets in folio, Dt: liJoiu Corporutn. 



\-i 31 half-sheets in folio, being parado.xical questions 

 concerning Athanasius (sic). 



y 12 half-sheets folio, an abstract of chronology, and 

 92 half-sheets folio, the chronology. 



5 144 quarter-sheets, and 95 half-sheets folio, being 

 loose mathematical papers. 



f 40 half-sheets folio, the " History of the Prophe- 

 cies," in ten chapters, and part of eleventh unfinished. 



Of these 7 was to have been printed, and a, /3, and parts 

 of S and € were to be reconsidered. 



While on this subject, permit me to add an account 

 of the present state of Newton's birthplace sent me by a 

 lady at Stoke Rochford, where Newton attended a dame's 

 school before going to the free school at Grantham : — 



" Woolsthorpe, the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton, is 



* Willi.ims's " Chinese Obscrv.iticns of Comets," p. 73. 



about h.alf-a-mile westward from Colstcrworth, and nine 

 miles from Grantham. It has been thoroughly repaired by 

 its present owner. At the top of the staircase, in a room to 

 the left, Newton was born on Dec. 25, 1642. Over the 

 fireplace is a small white marble slab recording the fact, 

 with the well-known lines parodying Genesis i. 3. The 

 only things in this room which remain unchanged since 

 Newton's time are the door, which is massive, and rather 

 ornamental in its workmanship, and a small cupboard 

 close to the fireplace, the door of which is curiously 

 carved. In another room a singular piece of furniture, 

 made of wainscoting, stands in one of the corners, which 

 looks like a small apartment taken from the main room. 

 It is said to have contained Newton's books, instruments, 

 &c. Above the door in front there is a shield with cross- 

 bones, and a few woids to denote that the house was the 

 birthplace of Newton. The sun-dial which Newton made 

 and put upon the south side of his house was sent to the 

 British Museum seme thirteen or fourteen years ago." 



C. M. Ingledy 



NOTES 



We are informed that Dr. Sharpey, who has for so many 

 years filled with such great advantage to Science and personal 

 distinction the post of Biological Secretary to the Royal Society, 

 has recently sent in his resignation of that appointment. There 

 is a very gtncral hope among Fellows of the Royal Society that 

 Prof. Iluxley may allow himself to be nominated as his suc- 

 cessor. 



At the meeting of Convocation of the University of Oxford, 

 held last week, the honorary degree of D.C.L. was conferred 

 on the following gentlemen : — Samuel David Gross, M.D. and 

 LL.D., Profc-ssor of Surgery in the Jeaffreson Medical College 

 of Philadelphia ; SirBenj. Collins Brodie, Bart., M.A., F.R.S., 

 late Wayntlete Professor of Chemistry ; George Burrows, M.D., 

 of Caius College, Cambridge, F.R.S., President of the Royal 

 College of Physicians of London, and formerly President of the 

 General Medical Council. 



The choice of the electors of the Waynflete Professorship of 

 Chemisty at Oxford, vacant by the resignation of Sir B. C. 

 Brodie, has fallen on Prof. Odling, F.R.S., who at present holds 

 the position of Fullerian Professor of Chemistry to tlie Royal 

 Institution, and Examiner in Chemistry to the University of 

 London. 



Me. Edwin R.\y Lankester, B.A., late junior student 

 Christ Church, has been elected to a Natural Science Scholar- 

 ship at Exeter College, Oxford. Mr. Lankester was elected to 

 the Burdett Coutts Scholarship in 1869, and to the Radcliffe 

 Travelling Fellowship in 1S70. There were four candidates. 



In accordance with the intimation which we gave last week, 

 Mr. G. B. Airy has been gazetted a K.C.B., a graceful acknow- 

 ledgment of the claims of representative men of science to recog- 

 nition by the State. 



We have to record the death, on the i6th inst., in his S2nd 

 year, of Colonel W. II. Sykes, F.R.S., M.P. for Aberdeen. 

 He was a distinguished officer of the East India Company, and 

 occupied the post of chairman of its Board of Directors at the 

 time of the surrender of its Imperial functions. Colonel Sykes 

 was always a firm friend to scientific research, and was himself 

 possessed of no mean scientific attainments. 



Messrs. C. F. J. Yule and W. J. Sollas have been elected 

 to Foundation Scholarships for proficiency in Natural Sciences at 

 St. John's College, Cambridge. Each has been twice placed in 

 the first class in the College Examination in Natur.il Sciences, 

 and Mr. Sollas obtained in 1S70 the exhibition of 50/. per 

 annum offered by the College for competition to students in 

 Natural Science not yet members of the University. 



