14 



NATURE 



[M.w 7, 1896 



There can be no doubt that the Mont Mounier observa- 

 tory, started under such favourable conditions, and so 

 well supplied with instruments, will considerably assist 

 in the ad\ ance of science. 



DR. ADALBERT KRVGER. 



ASTRONOMERS in all observatories and of all 

 nationalities will have learned with regret of the death 

 of Dr. Kriiger, the Director of the Kiel Observatory, but 

 who, perhaps, will be more generally recalled as the 

 editor of the Astronomischc NaclirichtetJ, and gratefully 

 remembered for his services to that journal. From the 

 time that Schumacher, under the auspices of the Danish 

 Go\ernment, started the Naclniclitcn, no astronomical 

 journal has proved itself so indispensable, both as a 

 means for the publication of observations and the dis- 

 semination of astronomical knowledge, or contributed 

 more to its advance and progress. For that large class 

 of observations of which early publication is its greatest 

 value, but the details of which are a wearmess to most 

 editors, the As/r. Nac/i. has stood unrivalled, and its 

 general conduct has wisely preserved the broad lines on 

 which it was originally established. And with the pro- 

 gress of time, as the eagerness of observers has increased 

 with their numbers. Prof Kriiger has recognised the 

 necessity of still more rapid means of communication, 

 and by adding to his manifold duties that of the manage- 

 ment of the Bureau central dcs dcpccJics astronoiiiiques, 

 he has made still further demands on our gratitude, for 

 the ease and certainty with which astronomical dis- 

 coveries are sent all over the globe, and made available 

 to those who take advantage of the system he has 

 elaborated. Prof Fiirster, of Berlin, we believe, early 

 advocated the plan which has proved itself so useful, but 

 the details of the management have been wisely left in 

 the hands of the Director of the Kiel Observatory. 



But these services to science, rendered continuously 

 from 1880, when the death of Dr. Peters made vacant 

 both the positions which Dr. Kriiger has since filled so 

 admirably, should not put out of sight the fact that he 

 has been both a skilled observer and an ardent astro- 

 nomer. It is sufficient to recall here his more prominent 

 services, such as the share he took with the late Dr. 

 Schonfeld in the observation of the zones for the 

 Durchmusicrung at the Bonn Observatory : a work at 

 first voluntarily undertaken on his part, but later in 

 regular and active co-operation with Argelander and 

 Schonfeld. Here, too, during an absence of Dr. 

 Winnecke, which prevented the heliometer being used, 

 he began and earned to a successful issue the determina- 

 tion of the parallax of 70 Ophiuchi, in two very accordant 

 series. 



In r862 Dr. Kriiger was appointed Director of the 

 Helsingfors Obserxatory, in which the instrumental 

 equipment was probably insufficient. There he busied 

 himself with an inquiry into the orbit of Themis, with the 

 view of obtaining a more accurate value of the mass of 

 Jupiter, which the continued observation of that planet is 

 likely to afford. The result, published in the Proceedings 

 of the Finnish Society of Sciences, was to show that 

 Bessel's value of the mass of Jupiter, the then received 

 value, required to be increased by the 68/100,000 part, and 

 to give a value intermediate between that of .Airy and 

 Bessel, as derived from the motions of the satellites. 



From Helsingfors, Dr. Kriiger went to the Observatory 

 at Gotha, where he stayed five years, leaving that city to 

 take up his final position at the well-equipped Kiel 

 Observatory, m 18S0. For after the termination of the 

 Danish dominion in the Elbe Duchies, the observatory 

 had been enriched by the instruments from the old 

 observatory at Altona, and had been brought into closer 

 relations with the university. This position naturally 



NO. 1384, VOL. 54] 



carried with it the editorship of the Nachrichten, to which 

 allusion has already been made. It is true that since the 

 journal has been under his care, the words " Unter Mit- 

 wirkung des \'orstandes der.'\stronomischen Gesellschaft '' ' 

 have appeared on the title-page, but we imagine Dr. 

 Kriiger has enjoyed a free hand in its management, with 

 beneficial results to the journ.'d and to his own reputation. 

 In his capacity as Director, he has published many obser- 

 vations of comets, and prepared, or had prepared under 

 his own eye, the orbits and ephemerides of many of these 

 bodies. These computations have been occasionally 

 enriched by notices of a mathematical character, such as 

 the effect of perturbations by planets near the sun. He 

 has also occasionally given original observations of stars 

 observed with comets, and in many useful, if not brilliant, 

 ways, he has shown his capacity as a Director of an 

 observatory. His career has been marked by an energy 

 and industry, to which might be applied the words of 

 Schiller, " Beschaftigung die nie ermattet, die langsam 

 wirkt doch nie zerstort." 



NOTES. 



The first of the two annual conversaziones of the Royat 

 Society was helil last night, as we went to press. 



The Council of the British Association have resolved to 

 nominate Sir John Evans, K.C.B., Treasurer of the Royal 

 Society, for the presidency at the meeting which will be heW 

 next year in Toronto. 



The following fifteen candidates were selected on Thursday 

 last by the Council of the Royal Society, to be recommended for 

 election into the Society : — Sir G. S. Clarke, Dr. J. N. Collie, 

 Dr. A. M. W. Downing, Dr. F. Elgar, Prof. A. Gray, Dr. 

 G. J. Hinde, Prof H. 'a. Miers, Dr. F. W. Mott, Dr. J- 

 Murray, Prof. K, Pearson, Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, Prof C. 

 Stewart, Mr. W. E. Wilson, Mr. H. B. Woodward, Dr. W. P. 

 Wynne. The qualifications of the candidates will be found in 

 another part of this issue. 



The Surinam Toads (Pipa amcricana), at the Zoological 

 Society's Gardens, have recommenced breeding this year, and 

 two of the females may now be seen with their backs covered 

 with cells, in each of which an egg is located. The hitherto un- 

 explained mode in which the eggs are transferred into their cells 

 has been discovered, and the secret was divulged at the last 

 scientific meeting of the Society. 



Ax unnamed donor has given Harvard University 100,000 

 dols. to found a Chair of Comparative Pathology, the only one 

 of the kind in any leading American University. 



The generous hospitality alw.ays dispensed to British men of 

 .science by continental Governments beggars anything ever 

 done officially in England to welcome foreign visitors dis- 

 tinguished in science. We have already notified that the 

 summer meetings of the Institution of Naval Architects will be 

 held this year in Hamburg on Monday, June S, and the follow- 

 ing day. On Wednesday, June 10, the meetings will be trans- 

 ferred to Berlin, on the invitation of the Imperial Gerniarv 

 Government, and will be continued there during the remainder 

 of the week. With a public spirit which should put British 

 steamboat comjianies to shame, the Hamburg-American Com- 

 pany have generously offered to take the members over in a 

 body from Tilbury to Hamburg in their twin-screw Transatlantic 

 liner the Fiir:.t Bismarck free of charge. The steamer will 

 start either late on Saturday night, June 6, or else early on 

 Sunday morning, June 7, and will arrive in Hamburg in about 

 twenty hours after its departure. The meetings are receiving 

 the warmest support from the Imperial Government, and the 

 arrangements in Berlin are being carried out by the Imperial 



