70 



NATURE 



{Nov. 27, 1873 



Lalande for Venus and Mercury, showed with the obser- 

 vations very great errors which the theory of Laplace 

 promised to eliminate, or at the very least to diminish. 

 It was to the solution of these questions that Laplace 

 directed the forces of the Bureau, and it was to their 

 practical execution that he applied the resources which 

 the budget granted him. 



" To accelerate the work, the different parts were dis- 

 tributed to various members of the Bureau. The tables 

 of the moon, on account of the constant use made of them 

 in astronomy and navigation, were those which it was of 

 special importance should be completed promptly ; but 

 the length of the researches, the magnitude of the calcu- 

 lations, which so complicated a theory required, only per- 

 mitted the hope to be cherished that in the distant future 

 errors might be made to disappear which had gone on 

 increasing from day to day. This was the occasion of 

 making an appeal to all astronomers, national and 

 foreign, who might have sufficiently advanced works upon 

 the lunar tables. With this object the Bureau des Longi- 

 tudes was authorised to ofter a prize." * 



This prize of S,ooo francs was awarded by the Bureau to 

 an astronomer of Vienna, Biirg, whose tables, based upon 

 2,500 observations, made at Greenwich from 1765 to 

 1795, were deemed the most accurate and convenient. 

 At the same time, Delambre published new tables of the 

 sun ; Bouvard, pupil of Laplace, whom he had assisted in 

 the publication of the MLcaiiiguc cckiie (Laplace resigned 

 to him entirely the detailed investigations and astronomical 

 calculations), published NoiivclU's Tables des planetcs 

 Jupiter et Saiiirne (1S08), a new edition of which he 

 brought out in 1824, to which were added tables of 

 Herschel's planet, Uranus ; Delambre published his 

 Tables ccliptiques des satellites de Jupiter (according to 

 the theory of Laplace and the totality of the observations 

 made from 1662 to 1S02) ; Burckhardt, a German astro- 

 nomer, whom the conquests of Napoleon had given to 

 France, published new Tables de la lune (1812), which, in 

 the estimation of some astronomers, took the place of 

 those of Bi^irg. 



However, the impulse given by the splendid works of 

 Laplace Was not confined within the French frontiers. 

 In Italy, a celebrated astronomer, Francisco Carline, 

 published, in 1810, new tables of the sun, which were 

 soon employed everywhere except in France.f In 

 Germany, a man of Science, who was at one and the same 

 time an eminent lawyer, a distinguished captain, and an 

 excellent astronomer, Bernhard von Lindenau, published, 

 according to Laplace's theory, tables of Venus, Mars, and 

 Mercury. J 



Unfortunately these excellent works, due to the power- 

 ful initiative of Laplace, were not made use of in the 

 publication of the Conitaissance des Temps. 



In 1808, Delambre, one of the most eminent French 

 astronomers, undertook the direction of the Conitaissance 

 des Temps. No essential change was made in the work 

 till I Si 7; at that time the right ascension of the moon, 

 which had until then been calculated only to a minute, was 

 given to a second for noon and midnight. Sailors could 

 thus determine the longitude of their ships with more ex- 

 actness ; and astronomers, instead of finding in the 

 Connaissancc des Temps only the indication of the time 

 at which they ought to observe our satellite, could thus 

 .compare the results of their observations with those which 

 the tables gave, and prepare the material for their im- 

 provement. Finally, in 1 820, were introduced the diffe- 



• Report of the Burenu des Longitudes, 1800. 



t " Esposizione di un nuovo methodo.di construiie le Tavole Astromifiche 

 apphcato alle Tavole del Sole" (Milan, 1810). 



t " Tabula; Veneris nova et corrects ex thcoria gravitatis, darisutiii de 

 Laplace^ et ex observationibus recentissimis in specula astronomica Seeber- 

 gensi habitis erects:" (Gotha, iSio). "Tabula; Martis nova: et corrects; 

 ex theoria gravitatis. clnrisshiii de La/>lace, et ex observationibus recen- 

 tissimis erecia:" (Essenbcrg, iSn). " Investigatio nova orbitjc a mercuric 

 circa soli descriplx, accedunt Tabula; PlanetK ex Elementis recens repertis 

 el thcoria gravitatis, il/iistrissiiiii ./i.- i:<i//rtn- constructa; " (Gotha, 1S13). 



rences in right ascension and in declination of the sun, 

 differences useful in calculating the preceding co-ordinates 

 at an hour other than that of noon. This was still 

 another advantage to sailors. 



But these improvements were of very little consequence 

 in comparison with those which astronomy, geography, 

 and navigation demanded. Germany was the first to 

 set an example in this direction, and the Royal Astrono- 

 mical Society of London, after a long and learned discus- 

 sion, came to the conclusion that they were necessary. 

 Moreover, besides being incomplete, the Conitaissance des 

 Temps was full of errors from beginning to end, errata 

 being found even among the errata themselves. Radical 

 reforms were indispensable ; but to make this clearly 

 evident, we must return to the history of the " Nautical 

 Almanac " and the Berlin " Jahrbuch." 



{To be continued.) 



MAN IN THE SETTLE CAVE 



T TNTIL the appearance of Mr. Tiddeman's paper in 

 ^ Nature, vol. ix. p. 14, I had not fully reahsed 

 the important issues which, according to him, depend upon 

 the proper identification of the fragment of bone from the 

 Victoria Cave to which he refers ; nor was I aware that 

 he was about to commit me in such very absolute terms 

 to the opinion that it was human, but of this, as it turns 

 out, I have no reason to complain. 



Looking, however, at the apparent gravity of the state- 

 ment, and knowing, also, that opinions might, and as I 

 believe did, differ as to the origin of the bone, I have been 

 induced to go into the matter again, and am now in a 

 position to affirm that there is no room for the slightest 

 doubt on the subject. 



Mr. James Flower, the excellent and estimable articu- 

 lator to the College of Surgeons, to whom I am under 

 many obligations for assistance in such questions, and 

 who at one time suggested, and had almost convinced 

 me, that the bone was elephantine, has, after much 

 search, found amongst the Museum stores of human 

 osteology, s. fibula which places the question beyond all 

 doubt, and fully confirms the opinion I had come to, 

 especially after seeing the Mentone skeleton, that the 

 Victoria relic, pre- or post-glacial as it may be, is human. 

 It is further important as showing that bones of the same 

 conformation may occasionally be met with at the pre- 

 sent day. Geo. Busk 



Harley Street, Nov. 14 



NOTES 



Dr. a. Dew-Smith and Francis M. Balfour of Trinity 

 College, Cambridge, have been nominated by the Board of 

 Natural Science Studies, in accordance with the grace of the 

 Senate (May i, 1873), to study at the Zoological Station at 

 Naples under Dr. Dohm, until the end of July 1874. 



At the General Monthly Meeting of the Royal Institution to 

 be held on Monday first, a President will be elected in the room 

 of the late Sir Henry Holland, Bart. 



Professor Tr quair, of the Royal College of Science in 

 Dublin, has been appointed to the Keepership of the Natural 

 History Museum in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art. 

 This gentleman was formerly one of the Demonstrators to the 

 Professor of Biology in the University of Edinburgh, and is the 

 author of several important contributions to Science. 



Mr. W. F. Barrett, F.C.S., has been appointed Professor 

 of Physics to the Royal College of Science, Dublin, in succession 

 to the late Professor W. Barker. We feel sure that this appoint- 



