Feb. lo, 1 88 7] 



NA 7 URE 



353 



Efi/umcris for Berlin MiJiiight 



R.A. 



Decl. 



log A 



log I 



Brlght- 



Feb. 12 20 4 I +37 2S'2 0-33827 0'26i27 083 

 16 20 16 44 39 50-3 034157 026929 

 20 20 29 54 42 12-3 0-34566 027733 074 



24 20 43 32 44 302 0-35051 0-2S538 



25 20 57 3S + 46 434 0-356^3 0-2934I 0-66 

 The brightness on January 24 is taken as unity. 



The Rousdon Observatory. — We have received Mr- 

 I'eek's report on the astronomical work done at the Rousdon 

 Observatory, Lyme Regis, in 1886. During the year, 146 

 nights were available for observation, the most cloudy month 

 having been February, and the clearest December. Selected 

 lists of lon.;;-period variable stars .".re under systematic observa- 

 tion with the 6'4-inch equatorial. The following comets have 

 also been observed ; 18S5 </ and e, l886 a, b, c, c, and / The 

 great nebula in Andromeda is under regular observation. We 

 would suggest to Mr. Peek the propriety of publishing the 

 observations of cometary positions at as early a date as is 

 possible ; their value is much increased by speedy publication. 



Minor Planet No. 264. — This asteroid has been named 

 Libussa by Prof. Peters, of Clinton, U.S.A., the discoverer. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENO\TENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1887 FEBRUARY 13-19 

 { I7OR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 

 is here employed. ) 



A I Greenwich on Fchruary 13 

 Sun rises, 7h. 20m. ; souths, I2h. 14m. 25-55. ; sets, I7h. Sai. ; 

 dec), on meridian, 13° 21' S. : Sidereal Time at Sunset, 

 2h. 42m. 

 Moon (at Last Quarter February 15) rises, 22h. 48m.* ; souths, 

 4h. 27in. ; sets, <)\. 55m. ; decl. on meridian, ^' 5' S 

 Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian 



6 22 ... 38 305 

 2 6 ... 52 202 



• Indicates that the rising is th.^t of the preceding evening and the setting 

 that of the following morning. 



OccuUations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) 



Corresponding 



Keb. Star Mag. Disap. Reap. ^ngles from ver- 



" ^ ^ tex to right for 



inverted image 



h. m. h. m. 



13 ... 94 Virginis ... 6 ... 5 26 



14 ... \ I.ibrx 6 ... I 4 



Feb. h. 



13 ... 12 ... Jupiter in conjunction with and 3° 43' south 

 of the Moon. 

 Variable Stars 

 Star R.A. Decl. 



h. m. . , h m 



U Cephei o 523 ... 8t 16 N. ... Feb. 15, 20 58 »i 



S Piscium I 117... 8 20 N. ... ,, iS, M 



R .\rietis 2 9-7 ... 24 32 N. ... ,, 15, M 



Algol 3 0-8 ... 40 31 N. ... ,, 13, 18 50 m 



f Geminorum ... 6 57-4 ... 20 44 N'. ... ,, 13, 4 a A/ 



R Bootis 14 32-2 ... 27 14 X. ... ,, 17, M 



! Libra: 14 54-9 ... 8 4 S. ... ,, 17, o 57 m 



U Coronae 15 136 ... 32 4 N. ... ,, 14, I 37 m 



V Corons 15 455 ... 39 55 N. ... ,, 14, M 



U Ophiuchi 17 lo'S ... 1 20 N. ... ,, 15, 2 41 tn 



and at intervals of 20 8 



T Herculis 18 48 ... 31 o X. ... FeD. 18, M 



S Lyra; 18 459 ... 33 14 N. ... ,, 20, 22 o A/ 



R Lyr.-e 18 51-9 ... 43 48 N. ... ,, 13, w 



S Cephei 22 250 ... 57 50 N. ... ,, 13, 4 o >ii 



R Cassiopeia; ... 23 527 ... 50 46 N. ... ,, 15, .1/ 



M signifies maxi"'^ • 



Meteor- Showers 

 On February 17, a radiant near v Herculis, R.A. 238°, Decl. 

 48° N. On February 20, from Coma Berenices, R.A. 180°, 

 Decl. 33° X.; and another from near p Herculis, K..^. 263°, Decl. 

 36° N. Other radiants of the week : — Near K Draconis, R. A. 

 165°, Decl. 73° N., and near j3 Ophiuchi, R.A. 260°, Decl. 0°. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



In a private letter from Mr. H. M. Stanley, published yester- 

 day, he says that when he reached Cairo he found that all the 

 political authorities and experts there were oppoed to the 

 idea of his taking the Congo route. They thought that 

 as the Expedition was to be armed with several hundred 

 Remingtons and a machine-gun of the latest invention it wa^ to 

 be an offensive force, conducted after strict military rules, and 

 that Mr. Stanley wouid therefore meet witli no insuperable diffi- 

 culties either by the Karagwe or by the Masai route. On this 

 point he undeceived them, and he also showed that if serious 

 fighting were necessary his men would be wholly unable to 

 meet j^reat masses of native warriors. Besides, the probable 

 result of a struggle with Uganda would be that Mr. Mackay, 

 the missionary, and the French Bishop and Fere, now in 

 Mwanga's power, would be murdered. The total length of each 

 land journey is given by Mr. Stanley as follows : — Congo route : 

 Mataddi to Stanley Pool, 235 English miles ; Stanley Falls to 

 Lake .\lbert, 360 English miles — total 595 English miles. 

 Karagwe route : Zanzibar to Lake Albert, 950 English miles. 

 Masai route : via Taveta, Kenia, and Turkan, 925 English miles. 

 Mr. -Stanley also calculates the length of the various routes by 

 days, assuming that only an average of six miles could be made 

 daily. Congo route : land journeys, 99 days ; Zanzibar to 

 Congo, by steamer, 20 days ; Lower Congo, by steamer, 3 days ; 

 Upper Congo, by steamer, 35 days. Total, 157 days. Karagwe 

 route: land journey, 156 days. Masai route: land journey, 

 154 days. 



Tnii most important contribution to the new number of the 

 Btiiutiii of the Paris Geographical Society is tlie series of maps 

 of the River Ogove in West Africa, by Lieut. Mizon. These 

 maps, which are on the scale of about i kilometre to an inch, 

 and refer to the whole course of the river as surveyed by Lieut. 

 Mizon, are executed with much care. In the lirief text which 

 accompanies the maps, the author describes his method of obser- 

 vation, and gives the positions of some of the more important 

 points. M Jamkowski contributes an article on Fernando Po, 

 in which he gives some welcome information on the curious 

 people known as Bubis, who inhabit the mountainous districts 

 of the island. Other papers in this number are on the 

 " Ksour " of Bouda (West Sahara), by M. Chatelier ; two 

 papers on Tonquin, by Lieut. Gouin ; and a paper on the expedi- 

 tion of General de Bussy in the Deccan in the eighteenth century. 



In the Bulletin of the .\merican Geographical Society, No. 2, 

 1886, Commander H. C. Taylor, U.S.N., describes the various 

 projects which from time to time have been advanced for the 

 construction of a canal across Nicaragua, and attempts to s.how 

 that this is the most favourable route for a canal between the 

 Atlantic and Pacific. Dr. G. E. Ellis gives an interesting ra/zm/ 

 of the history of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1670-1870. 



Lake Tahoe, long regarded as the deepest fresh-water lake 

 in the United States, must no>v take the second pKace. Capt. 

 C. E. Dutton, of the U.S. Geological Survey, made, in July 

 18S6, a series of soundings at Crater Lake, Oregon, with unex- 

 pected results. The mountain wall that sumunds the lake is 

 9(X) feet high ; the average depth is 150D feet, and the maximum 

 1996. 



To the Januaiy number of Petennann's Mittciluugcn, Dr. 

 Theobald Fischer contributes the first part of a study of the 

 coasts of North Africa, in which he attempts to account with 

 precision, on geological and meteorological bases, as well as by 

 the action of the sea, for the various features of the North 

 African coast. The present instalment deals mainly with the 

 Algerian and Tunisian coast, and the investigation forms 

 part of a detailed study which Dr. Fischer is making of the 

 whole Mediterranean co.asts. The paper is accompanied by 

 maps, while another map illustrates the distribution of languages 

 in Germany and Austria, the accompanying text being by Prof. 

 F. Held. Dr. Possewitz contributes a paper on the laterife 

 outcrops in the Island of Banka. 



