Ayt'. lo, iSSo] 



NATURE 



65 



A NEW destructive insect is recorded from America ; Cdonia 

 inda, a beetle wliich, according to the American Naturalist, was 

 harmless, feeding 011 the sap of freshly cut maple-trees, has 

 within two or three years become very abundant and destructive 

 in different parts of New England. During the past summer it 

 collected in great numbers on green corn, ' ' eating the kernels 

 and partly destroying a field in Middleboro, Mass." 



Favourakle reports reach us as to the thriving condition of 

 the Botanical Gardens, Teradeniya, Ceylon, under the direction 

 of Dr. Trimen, who recently succeeded Dr. Thwaites. In the 

 experimental nurseries, our contemporary the Colonies says, good 

 work was being done. Every effort was being made to extend 

 the cultivation of Cinchona, the export of which for the season, 

 up to the date of latest advices, had been 1,135,236 lb. In the 

 district of Kotmale report represented the india-rubber tree as 

 flourishing, and the export of its valuable juice from the colony 

 may, it is hoped, be eventually looked upon for supplementing 

 the falling off in export of this valuable article from the forests 

 where it is indigenous. 



The Colonies and India draws attention to the riches of the 

 New Zealand forests in their indigenous timbers. Though the 

 woods of New Zealand, like those of Australia, are by no means 

 unknown in this country, owing to the assistance afforded for 

 making their acquaintance through the various International 

 Exhibitions, they are nevertheless almost unknown in commerce 

 in consequence of their extreme hardness and the cost of freight 

 in bringing such heavy material so long a diitance. Our contem- 

 porary thinks that the timbers "will become of much greater 

 value when it is more generally known when to cut and how to 

 season them." We are told that experiments in this direction 

 are being made in order to test their value for various purposes. 

 Several of the best woods are enumerated, and it is said of the 

 " Matai " (Podocarpus spicala) that Mr. Buchanan "reports 

 having found a tree of this species prostrate on a piece of land 

 near Dunedin, which from various circumstances was estimated 

 to have been exposed for at least three hundred years in a dense 

 damp bush under conditions most favourable to decay. It was 

 still however sound and fresh." 



Mamhiee Apples (Mainmea amerieana) are, we understand, 

 being exported in quantities from the West Indies to New York. 

 The result of the experiment is being watched with some 

 interest. 



In the last number of the A'czwtc d'.lntJiropologie has appeared 

 not only an excellent photograph of the late Dr. Paul Broca, but 

 also a biographical sketch and a complete list of his various 

 contributions to science. His contributions to medical science 

 commence in 1S47, and his first anthropological memoir bears 

 date 1S50; from these dates to the time of his death this 

 "Bibliographic" is a record of both untiring industry and 

 scientific production, which will be remembered as long as 

 anthropology remains a science. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Solar Eclipse oI' December 31. — Although the 

 eclipse of the sun on the last day of the present year will not in 

 any part of these islands amount to six-tenths of the sun's 

 diameter, it is nevertheless as large a one as will be visible until 

 May 2S, igco, and only that on the morjiing of June 17, 1S90, 

 w ill compare with it in magnitude in the interval. The Nau'ical 

 Almanac furnishes the results of direct calculations for Green- 

 wich, Edinburgh, Dublin, Cambridge, Oxf.rd, and Liverpuol. 

 If to the results for the former three observatories we ap|)ly the 

 very convenient Littrovv-Woolhouse method of distributmg the 

 predictions, we shall have the following formulas for finding 

 Greenwich mean times of first contact, greatest phase and Inst 

 contact, and the magnitude of the cclip-e at any place within or 

 near to the area comprised : — ■ 



First contact ^ I 41. 14 - [g'gSgi] L -1- [9-6113] M 

 Greatest phase = 2 36.32 - [97942] L 4- [9'3S38] M 

 Last Ci.ntact = 3 28.63 - [9"46l8] L + [87599] M 

 Where the latitude of the place is put — 50° -I- L, and M is the 

 longitude from Greenwich in minutes of time reckoned positive 

 to the east, and negative to the \\est. Quantities in square 

 brackets are logarithms. 



Or the following may be substituted with sufiicient accuracy, 

 the factors of L and M being now numbers : — 

 h. m. 



First contact = I 41.14 - 0-98 L 4- 0-41 M 



Greatest phase ... = 2 36.32 - o'62 L + 0-24 M 



Last contact == 3 28.63 - °'29 L + o'o6 M 



and the magnitude will be = 0-368 -f o"oi3 L - o-oo2 M. 

 If we test these formula; upon Oxford, the latitude of which is 

 51° 45' 36", longitude 5m. 2"6s. W., we have then L = -1- 176', 

 and M = - 5 ■04m; then for first contact the expression 

 becomes ih. 4I-I4m. 4- 176 X - o-gS - 5-04m. X 0-41 = 

 ih. 4fi4m. - 172m. - 2'07m. = ih. 37'35m. Greenwich mean 

 time, or applying the longitude - 5'04m. = ih. 32-3m. agreeing 

 with the Nautical Almanac, and similarly for the other phases. 

 The differences from direct calculations will be within o-2m., if 

 the place is not too distant. 



The Dunecht Comet. — There appears to be no doubt now 

 that the comet discovered by Mr. Lohse at Lord Lindsay's Ob- 

 servatory on November 7 is the same as that detected by Mr. 

 Lewis Suift at Rochester, N.Y., on October 11, which had not 

 been previously observed in Europe, The elements, according 

 to the calculations of Mr. S. C. Chandler, jun., of Boston, U.S., 

 and those of Dr. Copeland and Mr. Loh e at Dunecht, have great 

 resemblance to the elements of the third comet of 1S69, disco- 

 vered by M. Tempel, and there seems a probability that he may 

 thus be found to have detected no fewer than four comets of 

 comparatively short period. If the revolution of this comet 

 should prove to be performed in a little less than eleven years 

 it will be found that it must approach very near to the orbit of 

 Mars shortly befort the descending node, and, which is of more 

 importance, within 0'4 of the earth's mean distance, from the 

 orbit of Jupiter in about heliocentric longitude 257°. Mr. 

 Chandler sends us elements calculated from approximate posi- 

 tions on October 21, 25, 28, and in his letter dated November 2 

 points out their great similarity to those of the Comet 1869 III., 

 and in a ciicular received from Lord Lindsay we find an orbit 

 com|,uted from Dunecht observations on November 7, 9, and 10 ; 

 we have thus for comparison : 

 Comet of 1880. 



Chandler. 

 Nov. 7714 



Copeland 

 and Lohse. 



. Nov. 6-6I27 



Node 



Log. q 



Motion, 



Comet of 1S69. 



Bruhns. 

 Nov. 207168 



41 4ro ... 40 24 10 41 17 13 



295 25-4 ... 300 49 41 I 292 40 29 

 7 217 ... 7 22 13 ; 6 55 o 



0-04262 ... 0-0433r4 | 0-042416 ^ 



Direct. Direct. ! Direct. 



Mr. Chandler's T is for meridian of Washington, the other 

 two for that of Greenwich. An ephemeris which he adds 

 proves the identity of Swift's comet with that found by Mr. 

 Lohse. . J. . .. 



It may be remarked that, taken as a whole, there is a distant 

 resemblance to the elements of the comet of Biela. 



INTRODUCTORY LECTURE TO THE COURSE 

 OF METALLURGY AT THE ROYAL SCHOOL 

 OF MINES ' 



THE distinguished metallurgist who has held this lecturership 

 since the foundation of the Royal School of Mines, con- 

 cluded the introductory lecture he delivered more than a quarter 

 of a century ago = by pointing out to the students who were then 

 beginning their cour-e that "in proportion to the success with 

 which the metallurgic art is practised in this country will the 

 interests of the whole population, directly or indirectly, in no 

 incon-iderahle degree be promoted." This is a fact that none of 

 his students are likelv to forget. . 



Looking tiack on the actual adv.ince of this country during the 

 • By Prof. W. Chandler Roberts, F.R.S., Chemisi of the Mint. Con- 

 densed by the Author. , „ s 



" Records of the School of Mines, vol. 1. pt. i (i332) p. 127. 



