Od. 7, 1880] 



NATURE 



541 



tigers taken, we presume, in the Zoological Gardens ; several 

 beautiful views taken of Siam, including a group of Laotian 

 huts. There are also several specimens of new apparatus used 

 in photography. 



' An important innovation has been made in all the French 

 colleges by Af. Ferry. Any pupil wishing to be promoted to a 

 superior class is obliged to pass an examination. The Govern- 

 ment is asking important credits for the rebuilding of the principal 

 colleges of Paris and the construction of new colleges outside of 

 the fortifications. 



Education is the title of a new international bi-monthly 

 magazine, devoted to the science, the art, the philosophy, and 

 the history of education. It is published at Boston, Mass., and 

 by Triibner and Co., London. 



A USEFUL exhibition is being held in Glasgow of apparatus 

 for the utilisation of gas, electricity, oils, &c., and of hydraulic, 

 architectural, mining, and sanitary appliances. 



Under the name of Tong-pang-chong a Chinese remedy for 

 skin diseases was brought to European notice some two years 

 since. The material as brought to this country appeared like 

 fragments of a woody root, and it was said to be produced by a 

 plant growing in Siam, from whence it is sent to Cliina, where 

 its use had become quite general. From subsequent information 

 received from China and from examination and comparison of 

 specimens sent to this country with those already contained in 

 the Kew Museum, there seemed but little doubt that the plant 

 which produced the Tong-pang-chong of the Chinese was 

 Rhiiiacanthus coinnninis, an acanthaceous plant. A good deal 

 of interest was attached to this remedy when it first came to 

 notice, since which time nothing has been heard of it until within 

 the last few weeks, when some of the material has been received 

 in this country, and is now in the possession of Messrs. Christy 

 and Co. of Fenchurch Street. Whether this consignment will 

 prove to be identical with Rhinacnnthus comninnis, and so prove 

 the accuracy of the preliminary determination \\ hich was made 

 from scant materials, or whether it will turn out to be produced 

 by a distinct plant will no doubt, shortly be seen. The remedy 

 is referred t ° in the Kem Garden Report for 1S77, p. 41. 



Herr Tornoe has published in the Sitzungsberichte der k. 

 Akademie der Wissensehaft zii IVisn (81, 924) a detailed account 

 of the estimations of salt in the Norwegian Sea, conducted by 

 him during the late Norwegian North Sea Expedition. The 

 paper is a valuable contribution to the physical history of the 

 North Sea. 



The monster python which is kept alive in the Antwerp 

 Museum having had inflammation of the jaw, a Belgian doctor 

 volunteered to enter its cage in order to cure it ; but the brute 

 attempted to suffocate the poor doctor, who was glad to escape 

 with his life. 



The Queenwood College Mutual Improvement Society seems 

 to be doing much to encourage the study of natural science 

 among its members. The Report of the Committee for the las' 

 5ummer term speaks highly of the various collections made for 

 the exhibition ; several useful papers were read and interesting 

 excursions made. 



In the report of the awards made by the difterent juries of the 

 Exhibition of Agriculture and Insectology at Paris it is stated 

 that a public company has been formed in Spain for the 

 rearing of the silkworm fed on the oak, and the number of 

 cocoons to be collected this year will probably amount to no 

 less than three millions. A special machine for weaving this 

 new silk has worked during the whole time that the Exhibition 

 has been open. A medal was awarded to an exhibitor for a 

 lamp speci.ally arranged to catch insects. It is suggested in the 



report that the same experiment should be tried by electric light 

 and a recent instance has been quoted to prove that it would be 

 really successful. A certain number of electric lights, for ordi- 

 nary illuminating purposes, were used this summer in the gardens 

 of the Meaux Exhibition, in the vicinity of the Forest of Fon- 

 tainebleau. No arrangements were made for catching the insects, 

 and they fell round the lamps, except a few that got admittance 

 through the holes of the regulator. The number of the latter 

 was so large that two of these lamps placed at a coffee stall in the 

 open air had to be removed, all the consumers being covered by 

 moths of every description. 



The piscicultural experiments at Ercildoune, Victoria, Aus- 

 tralia, have been unusually successful ; 9,100 ova were collected, 

 of which 2,000 were salmon trout. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Purple-faced Monkey {Semnopithecus leuco- 

 p-ymnus) from Ceylon, presented by Mr. Wm. CoUingwood ; a 

 Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus) from India, presented 

 by Mr. Henry Thimbleby; a White-cheeked Capuchin (Celrns 

 lunattis) from Brazil, presented by Mr. Henry Ch. Marckman de 

 Lichtabbell ; two Common Cr.anes [,Grus cinered), European, 

 presented by Mr. Norman W. Shairp ; a Rose Hill Parrakeet 

 (Platycerctis eximius) from New South Wales, presented by Mr. 

 Charles Porter ; a Common Chameleon (C/ia:iialeon vulgaris) 

 from North Africa, presented by Mr. Percy Day ; a West African 

 Python (Python selns) from West Africa, presented by Dr. F. 

 Speer ; a Bless-bok {Alcelaphus albifrons) from South Africa, 

 a Prince Albert's Curassow {Crax alberti) from Columbia, 

 deposited ; a Sulphur-breasted Toucan (Ramphastos carimtus) 

 from Mexico, purchased. 



VUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The Binary Star a Centauri. — Mr. W. L. Elkin, who 

 has been recently a student at the University of Strassburg, has 

 given, in a dissertation for the degree of Doctor, a new deter- 

 mination of the orbit of this remarkable star, in which he has 

 had the advantage of a fine series of measures executed by Sir 

 T. Maclear, Mr. W. Mann, and Mr. G. Maclear at the Royal 

 Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, collected and forwarded to 

 him by Mr. Gill. We subjoin his elements, which, though not 

 considered definitive, yet appear to represent the whole course of 

 micrometrical measures very satisfactorily. Mr. Gill's measures 

 in 1877 seem to indicate well the position of the companion 

 about its nearest approach to the principal star, which it was 

 feared at one time there would be danger of losing at this passage 

 of the periastre. For the sake of comparison the provisional 

 orbit deduced in 1879 by Dr. Doberck is annexed ; the most 

 noticeable difference is in the period of revolution. 



Elkin. Doberck. 



Passage of periastre iS75'97 i875'i2 



Node 25° 47' ^5^32' 



Node to periastre on orbit. 54° 47' 45 5° 



Inclination 79° 32' 79° 24 



Excentricity 0-5260 o"S332 



Semi-axis major i7"'So iS"'4S 



Revolution 77'42 ye^^rs ... 88-536 years. 



Mr. Elkin's orbit gives the following angles and distances : — 



iSSo-o ... Position 185-7 



iSSi-o ... ,, 192-4 



18820 ... ,, I96-I 



1883-0 ... „ 198-5 



1SS4-O ... „ 200-2 



Distance 4-79 



6-Si 



,, S-70 



,, 10-42 



11-9S 



For the absolute parallax of a., Centauri, he states that the series 

 of 156 altitudes observed on the same days, directly and by 

 refleclion with the Cape circle in the years 1856-60, assigns 

 + o"-79S ± o"-o68 ; Moesta from observations at Santiago had 

 found o"-SS. Although a large parallax, the largest perliaps yet 

 detected, may still be attributed to this star, it appears to be Mr. 

 Elkiu's conclusion that it yet remains to be determined within 

 veiy narrow limits. Probably Mr. Gill, with the aid of the 

 heliometer, may in due course give a good account of it. 



