i6o 



NA rURE 



{Dec. 1 6, 1886 



containing thus, vvitli the first Armagh Catalogue, a complete 

 record of all the meridian work accomplished at the Observatory 

 since 1827 ; for the results published in the Transactions of the 

 Royal Dublin Society in 1872, and forming a catalogue of looo 

 stars, have been incorporated in the present work, as there were 

 numerous unpublished observations of many of the stars there 

 given. 



The R. A.'s of the present Catalogue depend on the standard 

 stars of the Nautical Almanac^ four or five of which were ob- 

 served on each night, whilst the N.P. D.'s depend upon observa- 

 tions of the nadir point, the adopted being 54° 21' I2"70. Dr. 

 Robinson's investigation of the division-errors of the circle 

 (Mem. R.A.S., vol. ix.), and also his refraction-tables (Armagh 

 Catalogue, pp. 834-35) have been used. The details of the 

 construction of the refraction-tables, which may be considered 

 as identical with Bessel's, are given in the Transactions of the 

 Royal Irish Academy, vol. xi.\. The places of the stars are 

 reduced to the epoch 1875 'O, with Struve's constant, but proper 

 motions were never taken into account. The Catalogue, which 

 is very clearly printed, and forms a very compact and neat- 

 looking volume, contains for each star its number in Lalande, 

 its magnitude, generally from the DM., its mean R.A. and 

 N. P. D. for 1875 'o, together with the annual precession, the 

 number of observations, the epoch and references to other 

 modern star catalogues, this last column being very complete. 

 The secular Variation has been omitted. The introduction also 

 contains a comparison between the present Catalogue and Prof. 

 Grant's Glasgow Catalogue of 6415 stars, not only because it was 

 deduced from observations made nearly at the same time as the 

 Armagh observations and depended in R..\. on the Nautial 

 Almanac stars, but also because it had already been rigorously 

 compared by Prof. Auvvers with his " Fundamental Catalogue." 

 From the comparison of 539 which the two catalogues have in 

 common, it would appear that the Armagh and Glasgow Cata- 

 logues, though perfectly independent of each other, are in fair 

 agreement, so far as N.P. D.'s are concerned. But the R. A.'s 

 appear less satisfactory, as considerable discordances are evident. 

 These Dr. Dreyer thinks may be readily accounted for, partly by 

 the one-sided character of the instrument, partly by the conjecture 

 that perhaps the azimuth found by observing the meridian mark 

 may not be strictly applicable on the opposite (south) side of the 

 zenith. The comparison with Auwer's " Fundamental System " 

 gives a similar result, the N.P. D.'s agreeing much better than 

 the R.A.'s. The probable error of a single observation found 

 from 4CX) observations of 80 stars between 30° and 100° N.P. D. 

 was R.A. it o-o8is., N.P.D. ± o"-S5. 



Great credit is due to Mr. Faris for his perseverance in con- 

 tinuing and reducing the observations during thirteen years, and 

 to the present Director for his energy in completing and publish- 

 ing the entire results, which will not fail to be a useful addition 

 to our star catalogue. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 



WEEK 1886 DECEMBER 19-25 



/"pOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 



^ Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 



is here employed. ) 



At Greenwich oti December 19 



Sun rises, 8h. 4m. ; souths, I In. 57m. 21 '55. ; sets, I5h. Som. ; 



decl. on meridian, 23° 26' S. : Sidereal Time at Sunset, 



2ih. 43m. 



Moon (one day after Last Quarter) rises, oh. 42m. ; souths, 



6h. 52m. ; sets, I2h. 51m. ; decl. on meridian, 1° 8' S. 



Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian 



20 ... 15 ... Jupiter in conjunction with and 3° 24' south 



of the Moon. 



21 .•• — ... Sun at greatest declination south ; shortest 



day in northern latitudes. 



22 ... 14 ... Mercury at greatest elongation from the Sun, 



22" west. 



Variable Stars 

 Star R.h. Decl. 



h. ra. o , h. m. 



U Cephei o 52-2 ... 81 16 N. ... Dec. 23, o 44 m 



Algol 3 o'8 ... 40 31 N , 24, 4 9 ffi 



^ Tauri 3 54-4 ... 12 10 N. ... ,, 20, 6 42 m 



,> 24, 5 35 m 



U Monocerotis ... 7 25^4 ... 9 32 S. ... ,, 22, M 



W Virginis 13 20'2 ... 2 47 S. ... ,, 24, 21 30 m 



5 Librae 14 54-9 ... 8 4 S. ... ,, 20, 20 33 m 



,, 23, 4 24 m 



U Coronte 15 I3'6 ... 32 4 N. ... ,, 20, 19 57 m 



,, 24, 6 48 m 



V Ophiuchi ... 16 2o'4 ... 12 10 .S. ... ,, 24, Af 



R Scuti 18 414 ... 5 50 N. ... ,, 22, M 



5 Cephei 22 24-9 ... 57 50 N. ... ,, 23, 2 20 J/ 



M signifies maximum ; tft minimum. 

 Meteor-Showers 

 Ursa Major supplies a couple of radiants at this season — one 



near 1, R.A. 131°, Decl. 48° N., the other near a, R.A. 157", 

 Decl. 64° N. December 19 and 21 are fireball dates. 



Mercury ... 6 3 



Venus 8 25 



Mars 10 o 



Jupiter 2 S3 



Saturn 17 35* 



10 26 



12 14 



14 2 



8 3 



I 39 



14 49 ■•■ 18 54 S. 



16 3 ... 23 58 S. 



18 4 ... 22 4 S. 



13 13 ... 10 31 s. 



9 43 ... 21 38 N. 



* Indicates that tlie rising is that of the preceding 

 Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) 



Corresponding 

 Dec. Star Mag. Disap. Reap. ^"f'" ^r";" ■■;?;• 



19 ... 7 Virginis... 

 19 ... B.A.C. 4277 



1 50 



2 55 



rted 1 



2 34 ■■■ 74 170 



3 21 ... 100 148 



SANITARY PROGRESS DURING THE REIGN 



OF THE QUEEN'' 

 TN opening the meetings of the One Hundred and Thirty-third 

 Session, it appeared to me that, as we are entering upon the 

 jubilee year of the Queen's reign, it might be interesting to take 

 stock, as it were, of the progress which has been made by the 

 nation in some one of the branches of usefulness to which the 

 proceedings of this Society have contributed ; and it occurred to 

 me that the most fitting subject to select would be that of the 

 progress which has been made in sanitation during Her Majesty's 

 I reign. 



The year 1838 was the first complete year of registration. 



The first report of the Registrar-General brought forward the 

 sanitary condition of different parts of the country, and of differ- 

 ent classes of the population. Disease was as prevalent amongst 

 the labouring population in rural villages as it was in the most 

 crowded and filthy districts in towns, and, on the motion of 

 the Bishop of London, the House of Lords, in August 1839, 

 presented an address to the Queen, begging her to direct an 

 inquiry into this prevalence of disease. From this period may 

 be said to date that great social and sanitary movement which 

 has tended so largely to ameliorate the moral as well as the 

 physical condition of the people of this island, and which forms 

 one of the most prominent features of the Queen's reign. 



The Poor-LawCommiisioners were directed to report upon the 

 condition of the labouring classes ; and the direct evidence of 

 much preventable disease, which the records of disease and death 

 furnished from all parts of the coimtry, formed the basis on 

 which the Commission founded their recommendations. In 

 towns, the people were crowded in courts and alleys ; they 

 swarmed in cellars which were neither ventilated nor drained. 

 In 1S37, it was calculated that one-tenth of the population of 

 Manchester, and one-seventh of the population of Liverpool, 

 lived in cellars. 



The dead were buried in overcrowded churches, chapels, and 

 churchyards in the middle of towns. The rural districts were no 

 better. 



In the towns this condition of things arose from the great 

 increase of population which had been taking place for some 

 years previously, coincident with the rapid expansion of our 

 trade and manufactures, coupled with the absence of legislative 

 provisions to meet the new exigencies which had arisen, and with 

 which the older laws, in consequence of that increase, were 

 unable to cope. 



But there were other active causes. For instance, the Com- 

 missioners state that parochial administration operated mis- 

 chievously in degrading the habitations of the labouring classes, 



' Abstract of Address by Capt. Douglas Galton, C.B., F.R.S., at the 

 opening of the Session of the Society of Arts. 



