Jan. 27, 1 88 1 ] 



NA TURE 



299 



distance, which, as will be seen, is found to be much smaller, 

 indeed not one-half as great, by Herr Harzer. 



The author of this very able dissertation remarks upon the 

 similarity of the elements he has deduced for Brorten's comet 

 before the near approach to Jupiter, to those of the first comet 

 of 1798, discovered by Messier on April 12 and observed by 

 him till May 24 ; this comet was comi-Uted by Burckhardt and 

 Olbers. Herr Harzer finds, however, that it is not probable 

 Messier's observations will admit of an orbit widely different 

 from a parabola. He considers there is reason to conclude that 

 the orbit of 1842 was impressed upon the comet by a close 

 approach to Jupiler in 1759-60, and that another change may be 

 similarly produced in 1937, as hinted by D' Arrest. 



Herschel's First Observation of Uranus. — We ere 

 now close upon the centenary of the discovery of Uranus on 

 March 13, 1781. Perhaps some readers may be interested in 

 the following e.Namination of the first evening's measures of 

 distance and angle of position from a small star, with which 

 Herschel compared the planet till March 21. In his " Account 

 of a Comet," for as such the planet was announced in a commu- 

 nication to the Koyal Society read on April 26, he gives the 

 distance from the small star " 2' 48" by pretty exact estimation 

 true to 20"," and the angle "0° o' by superficial estimation, 

 hable to an error of 10° or 12°," this angle corresponding in our 

 present system of double-star measures to 270°, or preceding on 

 the parallel : this distance and angle are for loh. 30m. at 

 Bath. 



By Prof. Newcomb's pretty accurate "provisional theory," 

 we find the p!ace of Uranus for 1781, March 13, at loh. 30m. 

 M.T. at Bath, or loh. 3gm. 20s. Greenwich M.T., to be as fol- 

 lows : — True R. A. 5h. 3Sm. 4777s., true Decl. 4- 23° 32' 58"'3, 

 and the corrections to apparent place are -o'32s. and — o"'2 ; 

 the log. dist;,nce of the planet from the earth being r27742. 

 It is clear f n m this that Herschel's star, which he calls a, is 

 No. 1576 ill Riimker's Cai.alogue (the firs.! impression of 

 oh.— 6b.), where it is estimated a tenth magnitude ; Argelander 

 in the Dmchmusterung has 9'o. The mean place accurately 

 carried back to I78x"0 was — 



R.A. sh. 36m. o*8ss. Decl. -I- 23° 32' 3"7. 



For this date and hour we find, in the notation of the Nautical 

 Almanac — 



Log A. -i'2709. Log B. -I- o' 347 3. Log C. -f7'7iio. 

 Log D. — o'897i. 

 Whence the apparent place of the star was — 



R.A. 5h. 36m. 084s. Decl. -f 23° 32' ii"'6. 

 Consequently the calculated distance of planet from star is 

 3' lo"'2, and the angle of position 2S4°'2, agreeing as nearly 

 with Herschers estimates as under the circumstances can be 

 expected. At his next observation on March 17 the distance 

 by observation was 42" ; the computed distance 54". 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



The last meeting of the Russian Geographical Society was 

 very animated, owing to the jire-ence of Prof. Nordensl.jold. The 

 great hall of the Society was crowded, and the explorer of the 

 northern seas was greeted with loud cheers. The president of 

 the Society, M. Semenoff, opened the meeting with a speech of 

 welcome in which he sketched the long series of expeditions 

 undertaken from Europe to Siberia since the year 1553, when 

 Willoughby directed his three ships to the White Sea, and paid 

 for his undertaking with bis life. Prof. Nordenskjold replied in 

 a short speech, referring to the expeditions which w ill start next 

 spring for the exploration of the Siberian shores ; and Prof. 

 Lentz made a communication on Polar meteorological stations 

 and on their importance for science. 



Orenburg was the first town which enjoyed the pleasure of 

 hearing the story of Col. Prjevalsky's journey told by himself. 

 On his passage through this town, on January 2, the traveller 

 gave a lecture on the adventures of his journey to Tibet, which 

 we have already told. From Orenburg M. Prjevalsky started to 

 visit his relations at Smolensk, whence he proceeded to St. 

 Petersburg, reaching it at the same time as his companions and 

 his collections, which were at the beginning of January on their 

 way from Orsk to Orenburg. 



Dr. Lenz, the German traveller who lately accomplished the 



feat of reaching Timbuctoo from the north, has arrived at Bor- 

 deaux, and is expected at Berlin soon to give an account of his 

 explorations. 



There are at present sixty-five geographical Societies in the 

 world. The oldest of these is thrt of Paris, founded 1821 ; 

 there is also a Society of Commercial Geography at Paris, 

 founded 1873. Besides these France has geographical societies 

 at Lyons, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Montpellier, Rouen, Nancy, 

 Bergerac, Perigueux, Rochefort, Klont-de-Marsan, Agen, Apinal, 

 Rochelle, Douai, Dunkirk, St. Omer, Lille ; and one is about 

 to be founded at Bar-le-Duc. The Berlin Geographical Society 

 was founded in 1828, besides which Germany has similar societies 

 at Frankfort, Darmstadt, Leipsic, Dresden, Munich, Bremen, 

 Halle, Hamburg, Friberg, Metz, Hanover ; other societies are 

 in formation at Halberstadt, Magdeburg, and Jena. The 

 London Geographical Society, the only one in England, was 

 founded in 1S30. The next oldest society (after Frankfort) is 

 that of Rio Janeiro, founded 1838; then Mexico, 1839; St. 

 Petersburg, 1845 ; in Russia there are besides — societies at Tiflis, 

 Irkutsk, Vilna, Orenburg, Omsk. The other societies are those 

 of the Plague, 1S51 ; New York, 1S52 ; Vienna, 1856 ; Geneva, 

 1858; Rome, 1867; Buda-Pesth, 1872; Amsterdam, 1873; 

 Bucharest, 1875 ; Lisbon, 1875 ; Madrid, Antwerp, Brussels, 

 Copenhagen, Lima, all 1876 ; Stockholm and Quebec, 1877 ; 

 St. Gall, Berne, Oran, 1878; Tokio, 1879; Buenos Ayres, 

 Algiers, and Oporto, 1880. 



The Hamburg firm of C. Woermann has sent Mr. Hermann 

 .Soyaux to the 1- rench colony of Gaboon in order to try to culti- 

 vate the coffee-tree of Liberia at that place. Soyaux has now 

 been at Gaboon fi.r two years, and has there established the 

 Scibomge farm, which is situated about a day's march inland 

 from the Gaboon River, on the Awandu River, which flows in a 

 north-easterly direction into the Bay of Corisco. He now 

 employs some 100 negroe*. Many thousand coffee-trees have been 

 imported from Liberia, and have been planted, and experiments 

 have also been made with sowing, the beans, so that at the 

 beginning of 1SS2 the first coffee-harvest is confidently expected. 

 The Hamburg firm suppcrts the undertaking in a most efficient 

 manner by sending engines, implements, &c. , and experiments 

 are also pending to introduce and acclimatise horses and mules. 

 Mr. Soyaux makes meteorological observations for the Leipsic 

 Ob. ervatory and natural history collections for the Hamburg 

 Museum. 



In the current number of Les Missions Catlwliqucs we find 

 appended to a letter from Mgr. Cluzcl, the Apostolic Delegate 

 in Persia, some notes on the Kurds, which are just now of con- 

 siderable interest. These notes deal with the origin of the 

 Kurds, their country, language, present condition, religion, 

 manners and customs, &c. 



Though no doubt much geographical information respecting 

 the Philijipines may be obtained from Spanish works, there is 

 but little readily accessible to the English reader. It may there- 

 fore be well to call attention to a useful resume furnished by 

 H.M.'s Consul at Manila in his commercial report for 1S79. 

 He gives some brief particulars respecting each of the twenty-one 

 provinces into which the principal Lland of Luzon is divided, 

 and afterwards deals with some of the other chief islands. The 

 interior of the Island of Mindoro, immediately south of Luzon, 

 he tells us, is not explored, but is supposed to contain much 

 mineral wealth. In the Visayan group much of the interior of 

 Negros, Samar, and Paragua is likewise not explored. Capt. 

 Pauli adds that the archipelago is believed to contain l2co 

 islands nf all sizes. The report is accompanied by an outline 

 map, on which the principal islands are shown, as well as the 

 division of Luzon into provinces. 



M. LuCEREAU, a member of the Paris Geographical Society, 

 has been killed by natives on his exploring expedition in Eastern 

 Africa. lie had started from Aden in June last in order to 

 reach the Upper Nile by crossing the territory inhabited by the 

 Gallas Negroes. 



The Bulletin of the International Geographical Institute at 

 Berne has w iih the new year begun a new series on a larger 

 scale than the previous issue. In the first number the contents 

 of previous issues are resumed, the chief novelty being a fine 

 map of the South Polar regions, on linen, in connection with 

 the proposed Italian expedition. We cannot yet see exactly 

 what place this Bulletin fills in geographical journalism. 



