14 
NATURE 
[May 7, 1885 
In the middle of September it will have attained the value at 
which observations have been already made. 
This comet was first observed by Méchain on January 9, 1790. 
It was rediscovered by Mr. Tuttle at Cambridge, U.S., on 
September 5, 1858: from the observations made in this year its 
period was ascertained to be about 13 8 years, so that the comet 
had completed five revolutions since it was found by Méchain, 
without having been perceived. According to Clausen’s calcu- 
lations it was in perihelion on the following dates :-—1803, 
November 7; 1817, May 18; 1830, December 6; and 1844, 
June 28. It approaches nearest to the orbit of Jupiter in helio- 
centric longitude 264°, or at a true anomaly of about 144°, when 
its distance from the planet’s orbit iso’8. At the comet’s last 
passage through this point in July, 1873, the distance from Jupiter 
was as great as 89. 
Subjoined are the elements of the orbit for 1871, expressed as 
usual in the catalogues, and with a slight correction to the pre- 
dicted time of perihelion passage, which the observations showed 
to be required :— 
Perihelion passage, 1871, December 1°7974 G.M.T. 
Longitude of perihelion ... 116 4 36 Mean 
7 ascending node 269 17 12 Equinox, 
Inclination a 54 17 O 1870 
Fecentricity, <.. 0 :--" =. 0°8210540 
Log. perihelion distance 070128823 
»» semi-axis major : 0°7601603 
The corresponding period of revolution is 5044°7 days, or 13°812 
years. 
ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 
WEEK, 1885, MAY 10-16 
(For the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 
Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here 
employed. ) 
At Greenwich on May to 
Sun rises, 4h. 13m. ; souths, 1rh. 56m. 12"Is. ; sets, igh. 35m. ; 
decl. on meridian, 17° 4q4' N.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 
toh. 50m. 
Moon (New on May 14) rises, 2h. 28m. ; souths, Sh. 24m. ; 
sets, 14h. 31m. ; decl. on meridian, 1° 30’ S. 
Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian 
h. m. h. m. h. m. Pa 
Mercury 355 IO 51 17 47 TO) AN. 
Venus 4 25 Er 3 19 41 17 38 N. 
Mars Be B42 10 44 Melo) ey rise 3) NIE 
Jupiter II 25 mS) Ane a. On 57 2s) asap N 
Saturn 6) 7 TAs MS (24) 2223) 22 15N. 
* Indicates that the setting is that of the following day. 
Occultations of Stars by the Moon 
Corresponding 
angles from ver- 
May Star Mag. Disap. Reap. tex to right for 
inverted image 
he h. m. h. m. ° ° 
11... 44 Pisclum ... 6 ... 3 27 nearapproach... 160 — 
16) gO aur 9.16 T8 31 19 27 ... 137 208 
Phenomena of Fupiter’s Satellites 
May h- im, | May h. m. 
Io... 20 46 II. occ. disap. 14 - Ig 46 LI. tr. ing. 
oie ty) eeleateseine. 22 6 I. tr. egr. 
21 58 IV. occ. disap. | 15 - 20 27 ‘I. ecl. reap. 
22 
22 
25 __ I. occ. disap. 
35 III. ecl. reap. 
The Occultations of Stars and Phenomena of Jupiter's Satellites are such 
as are visible at Greenwich. 
May h. 
iD... iO Mercury stationary. 
Dit! sae 2) Mercury at greatest distance from the Sun. 
NG" weet hae! Mercury in conjunction with and o° 21’ 
south of the Moon. 
13 4 Mars in conjunction with and 2° 4’ north 
of the Moon. 
52 9 Mercury in conjunction with and 2° 27’ south 
of Mars. 
14 18 Venus in conjunction with and 3° 47 
north of the Moon. 
16 15 Saturn in conjunction with and 4° 2’ north 
of the Moon. 
GEOGRAPAICAL NOTES 
WE regret to learn that the well-known African explorer, Dr. 
Gustav Nachtigal, died on April 24, on board the German gun- 
boat A/éwe, off the west coast of Africa. Dr. Nachtigal was born 
at Eichstadt in 1834, and was trained to the medical profession. 
In 1862 he went to Algiers on account of his health, and in 
1868 he started on his memorable journey into the heart of 
Africa, visiting the territories of Bornu, Baghirmi, Wadai, 
Darfur, Kordofan, emerging at Khartoum in 1874. This work 
placed Dr. Nachtigal in the front rank of African explorers. At 
the time of his death, it is well known, he was looking after the 
interests of Germany in connection with its recent annexations 
in West Africa. 
THE death is announced from Konigsberg of Dr. Karl 
Zoppritz, Professor of Geography in the University there, and 
well known as the author of the reports on the progress of geo- 
physics and of African exploration in Behm-Wagner’s Geogra- 
phical Year-Book. 
On Monday last a lecture was delivered at the Alexandra 
Palace by Prof. A. H. Keane, on ‘‘ The Lapps: their Origin, 
Type, Affinities, Social Usages,” in connection with the com- 
pany of Lapps who have recently arrived in London and pitched 
their tents on the slopes of Muswell Hill for the summer 
months. The group consists of seven persons, mostly members 
of one family, from the Karasjok district in Finmark, Norway, 
and belongs to the ‘‘ mountain” or nomad division of the race. 
As these ‘‘ Mountain Finns,” as the Norwegians call them, are 
of much purer descent than the ‘‘ River” and ‘‘Sea” Lapps, 
who have given up their nomad life and now reside in settled 
communities either along the riverain tracts or on the sea coast, 
they afford ethnologists a favourable opportunity of studying the 
type of these primitive inhabitants of the Arctic regions of 
North-West Europe. They are accompanied by six reindeer, 
and two native dogs used for tending the herds, and have also 
brought with them specimens of the three kinds of sledges still 
in use, and some of the famous snow-shoes with which they 
travel with such surprising velocity over the frozen surface of 
the ground. The average height appears to be about five feet 
(extremes, 4°10 to 5°4 in.); but in some other respects the 
type seems to have deviated considerably from the Mongolic, to 
which it fundamentally belongs, and has been assimilated, espe- 
cially in the colour of the hair and eyes, in the complexion and 
shape of the nose, to the surrounding Norse populations. But 
the lecturer seemed disposed to attribute this assimilation rather 
to like climatic influences than to actual intermixture, of which 
there is no direct evidence. 
AT the last meeting of the Geographical Society of Paris, 
M. Thouar described in detai] the observations made by him 
during his recent journey in search of the remains of the un- 
fortunate Crévaux expedition in the Northern Chaco. These 
were divided into notes on the flora and fauna, with specimens 
of the dialects of the Tobas, Matacos, and Chiriguanos, a 
description of the dress, ornaments, implements, utensils, &c., 
of the Tobas and Chiriguanos, anthropological details of the 
same tribes, an itinerary from Tarija to Asuncion, with 
numerous meteorological observations, and two documents be- 
longing to the Crévaux mission. He added a study on the 
Peruvian and Bolivian affluents of the Amazon. With refer- 
ence to the statement (recently quoted in NATURE) that certain 
members of the mission were still alive amongst the Indians, 
M. Thouar stated that this information should be received with 
the greatest reserve, because the date to which it referred was 
prior to his own sojourn on the frontier, which he traversed 
from north to south when no one gave him any such information. 
Since his return to France he has received directly from Bolivia 
numerous communications from Dr. Gianneccini, who lives on 
the frontier ; in the e nothing is said on the subject. A monu- 
ment to Dr. Crévaux is to be unveiled at Nancy on June 13. 
THE Geographical Society of Paris has awarded a gold medal 
(La Rouquette’s prize) to the well-known Danish Government 
publication on Greenland, ‘‘ Meddelelser om Grénland,” in which 
are from time to time published the results of the Danish scien- 
tific expedition exploring that continent. The same honour has 
befallen Danish subjects twice before, viz. Lieut. Graak, for his 
explorations of the east coast of Greenland ; and Messrs. Breds- 
dorff and Olsen, for their map, ‘‘Esquisse d’une Carte oro- 
graphique de I’ Europe.” 
