NATURE 



{Jan. 27, 



We have received the first number of the Revista of the 

 Society of Instruction of Oporto. There are various papers 

 bearing on education, and one by Mr. E. J. Johnston on tlie 

 Phanerogamous Flora of Oporto. Tire number of English 

 names on the list of this Society is remarkable ; the first name 

 among [the Foundation Members is that of Isaac Newton, fol- 

 lowed jby W. C. and A. W. Tait ; there are several Aliens, a 

 Johnston, several Kendalls and Coverleys, F. C. Ra-.ves, 

 Henrique Rumsey, a Grant, a Hastings, and an Archer. This 

 no doubt indicates the close commercial relations between Oporto 

 and England. 



It is known that Leverrier, urged by gi'o%\ing infirmities and 

 apprehending that he would not live to accomplish his great 

 work on the theory of Saturn, left a part of his calculations un- 

 completed, convinced that this would exert no real influence 

 on the total result. But M. Gaillot, the director of the Calcula- 

 tion Service of the Paris Observatory, felt it a duty to fill up the 

 gap left by the late director of the observatory and to revise the 

 whole of his work. We are happy to state that, as far as the 

 revision has gone, the accuracy of the conclusions published by 

 the great astronomer is demonstrated, and none of the neglected 

 terms will exert any appreciable influence. 



We take the following from the Allniry Banner (New South 

 \Vales) : — It has long been a matter of popular belief that the 

 great kingfisher was an enemy of the snake, perpetually warring 

 upon the tribe in general, aud never happier than when dining 

 on serpent an iiaturel. It is not often, however, that even 

 persons habitually residing in the bush have so good an oppor- 

 tunity as that afforded a few days since to Mr. Christian Westen- 

 dorff of Jindera, for observing the laughing jackass when in the 

 act of bagging the game referred to. Mr. Westendorft' i\as 

 engaged with anotlier man in clearing some land, and in the 

 course of the day's operations it became necessary to shift a large 

 log. For this purpose levers were applied to each end, and 

 after some straining the log was rolled from its resting-place. 

 The very mojient it commenced to move a laughing jackass, 

 which had hitherto been taking a deep but unobtrusive interest 

 in the proceedings, made a swoop down from the limb of an 

 adjacent tree, and seized a large snake which had been lying 

 under the log. The snake was gripped_by the back of the neck 

 (if snakes can be said to have necks) and b jrne away to the bird's 

 previous perch, where the unfortunate reptile was banged against 

 the bough until the body separated from the head and fell to the 

 ground. The jackass then dropped the head, and seizing the 

 bjdy sailed away in triumph with his prize. Whether the bird 

 had seen the snake go under the log and was watching for it to 

 come forth again, or whether it knew by instinct that the reptile 

 was there, is a question that may be left for naturalists to deter- 

 mine ; but we are credibly informed that as soon as the log was 

 shifted, aud before Mr. Westendorff or his companion had any 

 idea of a snake being in their neighbourhood, the jackass was 

 down and had made good his seizure. 



The Russian Technical Society has created a special branch 

 which will devote its attention to aeronautics, especially to the 

 popularisation of all brandies of aerouaulics, to recent researches 

 on this field, to the meteorology of the higher regions of the 

 atmo.phere, and to the study of the applications of aerostatics to 

 military purposes. 



We note from the Deutsche Induslrie-Zeitung that during 

 1879 some 140 tons of amber were obtained at the coast of the 

 Baltic, of which the mine at Palmnicken yielded seventy-five 

 tons, and the digging-engine at Schwarzort the remainder. 

 About fifteen tons were gathered by nets and picked up on the 

 shore. Some 3000 people (including women and children) gain 

 their living by gathering amber. 



At the end of 1880 the Berlin Electro-technical Union 

 numbered no less than 1575 members, 1246 of whom are 

 foreigners. 



A NUMBER of Celtic tombs were recently discovered near 

 Lichtenwald, on the frontier betn-een Styria and Carniola, not 

 far from Cilli. Several of them were opened, and numerous urns 

 -A-ere found in them. A few objects of more interest have been 

 sent to the local museum at Cilli. 



The well-known Hungarian arch^ologist, Herr Wilhelm 

 Lipp, continues the excavations of the ancient burial-ground 

 discovered by him at Kessthely. The cost is borne by the 

 Budapest Archeeological Society. These tombs are rich in 

 bronze and iron objects dating from the fourth and fifth 

 centuries. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Brorsen's Comet in 1S42. — In September, 1846, it was 

 pointed out by Mr. Hind (Aslron. Nach. No. 5S2) that the 

 comet of short-period discovered by Brorsen at Kiel on February 

 26 preceding must have approached very near to the planet 

 Jupiter about May 20, 1842, possibly within 0*05 of the earth's 

 mean distance, and it was surmised that an entire change of 

 orbit might have been produced at that time. In 1857 D'Arrest 

 examined this point more closely, applying the formulae of the 

 Mkatiique Celeste to determine the elements prijr to the encounter 

 with the planet. His results were published in Astron. Nach. 

 No. 10S7. Adopting good ele.nents for 1S46, but without 

 taking account of perturbations, since the comet left the sphere of 

 activity of Jupiter after the near approach, he inferred that the 

 closest proximity occurred May 20"6924 Berlin mean time, the 

 distance between the two bodies being then 0'05ii2; that for 

 April I9'5 the inclination of the comet's orbit was 40° 51', or 

 10° greater than in 1846, and that the perihelion distance was 

 greater than I '5, instead of o'65 at the time of Brorsen's dis- 

 covery, and it was considered that the comet would not be visible 

 when the radius-vector was much over unity ; hence, perhaps, 

 our ignorance of its existence before the year 1846. Thus the 

 question has remained until within the last two years. Our 

 object now is to record the results of a much more complete 

 investigation of tlie effect of the comet's encounter with Jupiter, 

 by Herr Harzer, fjrming the subject of an inaugural dissertation 

 ill the University of Leipsic in 1S78. He adopts the definitive 

 elements of Prof. Bruhns for 1846, with a small correction tc 

 the mean motion indicated by the observations at the comet's re- 

 appearance in 1S68, and calculates backward with great care the 

 perturbations of Mercuiy, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and 

 Saturn to 1S42, July i6'5, when the distance from Jupiter was 

 0'305 ; the total perturbations in the interval 1S46, February 25*5 

 — 1842, July i6"5 are as follows ; — Mean anomaly, - 1° 58' 32"'6 ; 

 mean sidereal motion, -1- 4" '39 1 ; longitude of perihelion, 

 -I- 9' 52''-8 ; ascending njde, 4- 24' 35"'4 ; inclination, 

 -f l°48'3i"'4; angle of eccentricity, -H 56 3o''o. From the 

 echptical co ordinates of the comet with respect to Jupiter at the 

 latter date and the variations of these relative co-ordmates, the 

 hyperbolic elements of the o.bit about the planet are obtained 

 and the perijove is found to have taken place May 27-28488 

 M.T. at Berlin, when the distance was 0'0547I4. The hyper- 

 bolic elements are assumed to 1842, April 7'5, when the distance 

 between comet and planet was o'30334, and the radius of the 

 sphere of attraction 0'27i4g. Tue elements are then again 

 referred to the sun, and thus the following figures defining the 

 comet's orbit before this near approach to Jupiter, result : — 



Epoch, 1842, April 7-5 Berlin M.T. 



135 o 58-0 

 HI 50 206 1 



103 42 I2'8 > iS46'o 

 46 iS 57-4) 

 49 32 lo-o 

 686"-2S3 

 0-4756809 

 07151810 



The only very striking difference from D'Arrest's figures, which 

 were confessedly a rough approximation, is in the perihelion 



Mean anomaly 



Longitude of perihelion ... 

 ,, ,, ascending node 



Inclination 



Angle of eccentricity 



Mean daily motion 



Log. semi axis major 

 Perihelion distance 



