162 
NATURE 
- 
[Fune 18, 1885 
‘cannot be said until a thorough examination by an expert has 
been made. 
ACCORDING to the San Francisco Courter the great glacier of 
Alaska is moving at the rate of a quarter of a mile per annum. 
The front presents a wall of ice 500 feet in thickness ; its breadth 
varies from three to ten miles, and its length is about 150 miles. 
Almost every quarter of an hour hundreds of tons of ice in large 
blocks fall into the sea, which they agitate in the most violent 
manner. ‘The waves are said to be such that they toss about the 
largest vessels which approach the glacier as if they were small 
boats. The ice is extremely pure and dazzling to the eye; it 
has tints of the lightest blue as well as of the deepest indigo. 
The top is very rough and broken, forming small hills, and even 
chains of mountains in miniature. This immense mass of ice, 
said to be more than an average of a thousand feet thick, 
advances daily towards the sea. 
If is contemplated to use the electric light in Algiers for 
night work during harvest time, in order to escape the heat, 
which is almost murderous for Europeans, and is an obstacle to 
their carrying on agricultural work. 
THE borings undertaken for scientific purposes in the shaft 
situated near the railway station of Koetzschau, about five miles 
from Liitzen (Germany), have now reached the depth of 1500 
metres. Observations of temperature are now being made in 
the shaft. 
Tue Norwegian Government has voted a sum of 5o/. to Dr. 
O. J. Olsen for the prosecution of his studies of wild edible 
mushrooms. 
THE education of girls in Russia does not appear to stand 
very high. According to the MMeskow Viedomoski only 21 
children out of 100 attending school were girls. The proportion 
varies with the religion. Thus, of Protestants the number was 
greatest, viz. 45°4 per cent.; of Jews, 34°1 per cent. ; and of 
Roman Catholics, 14°4 per cent. The number is lowest amongst 
Greek Catholics, viz. 12°3 per cent. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a White-fronted Capuchin Monkey (Cebus 
albifrons 8) from South America, presented by Mr. E. Luxmore 
Marshall; a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus 6) from 
India, presented by Mr. A. R. Brown ; a Martinique Gallinule 
(lonornis martinicus), captured at sea, presented by Mr. G, S. 
We 1b; two Grey-breasted Parrakeets (Bolborhynchus monachus) 
from Montevideo, presented by Miss Buist ; a Red and Blue 
Macaw (Ava macac) from Brazil, presented by Mr. J. W. 
Beswick Purchas ; a Yellow Conure (Comzzas solstitialis) from 
Venezuela, presented by Mr. Albert H. Nicholson ; a Barn Owl 
(Strix flammea), British, presented by Mr. W. Ostle; an 
“Esculapian Snake (Coluber e:culapii) from Central Europe, 
presented by Miss Lenox Conyngham ; a Domestic Sheep (Ov/s 
aries, var. 8) from Somali Land, deposited ; two Larger Tree- 
Ducks (Devdrocygna mejor) from India, two Gould’s Monitors 
{Varanus gou'di), two Great Cyclodus (Cyclodus gigas), two 
Carpet Snakes (Morelia variegata), three Diamond Snakes 
(Morelia spilotes) from New South Wales, received in exch "ge ; 
a Japanese Deer (Cervus sika), three Pigmy Hogs (Poreula 
salvania), born in the Gardens. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 
CoMETARY Orxits.—Prof. J. G. Galle has formed a most 
useful and very complete catalogue of orbits of comets which 
have been calculated since the publication of the third edition 
of Olbers’s ‘‘ Methode zur Berechnung der Cometenbahnen” in 
1864. This catalozue appears in Nos. 2665-66 of the 4strono- 
mische Nachrichten. Yn one table are collected orbits of comets 
before 1860, which have been more definitively determined during 
the past twenty years, with a few orbits of ancient comets com- 
puted for the first time or founded upon better data, including 
those observed by Toscanelli ; in a second table are contained 
the most reliable orbits of all comets discovered since the year 
1860. The elements are given in an approximate form only, 
but in the notes accompanying each table reference is made to 
the place of original publication. Prof. Galle’s 7ésamé will be 
of much service to the student in this branch of a tronomy. It 
appears to have been drawn up on the suggestion of Prof. 
Kriiger, seeing that there was no immediate intention of pub- 
lishing a fourth edition of Olbers’s celebrated treatise. Five 
newly-detected comets of short period figure in the second 
table. 
BINARY STARS.—-The following calculated angles and dis- 
tances of several of the more rapidly revolving double-stars will 
serve to indicate how nearly measures made about the present 
time are represented by the best available orbits :— 
Star Epoch Pos. Dist. Authority 
a ji for orbit 
¢ Caneri 1885'0 62°0 0'93 ... Seeliger 
1886°0 57°6 0°95 
n Coron Bor. 188505... 173-9 o'6r .... Doberck 
1886°5 1822 0°65 
¢ Herculis 1885°5 90°3 1°49 ... Doberck 
1886°5 8503) cen ESO. 
w? Herculis 1885°5 285°6 ... 080 ... Doberck 
1886°5 296°5 0°76 
Dubjago’s orbit of 8 Delphini (Burnham 151) gives for 1885°6, 
Pos. 238°°1, Dist. 0”*28. 
TycuHo’s NovA OF 1572.—Some years since it was shown by 
Prof. Wolf that this object was observed by Lindauer at 
Winterthur on November 7, 1572, and it is equally certain that 
it was seen by Maurolycus at Messina at its meridian transit on 
the following evening, though there appears to be some con- 
fusion between altitude and declination in his published de- 
scription. It was not seen by Tycho until November 11. 
In 1808 the Abbé Scina, in a work printed at Palermo, en- 
titled ‘‘ Elogio di Francesco Maurolico,” referred to his observa- 
tions of this star, apparently given in the first instance in a 
special treatise written by Maurolycus (Fudicium de nova stella), 
to which Lalande alludes in his Bibliography, and subsequently 
in 1613 in a life of the astronomer written by his nephew. Ac- 
cording to Clavius, Maurolycus thus records his first observation 
of the star: ‘‘Hanc ego stellam in hoc Messanz horizonte 
observans in meridiano extantem circa tertiam noctis horam 
reperi altitudinem ejus esse 62. Unde conjecturam feci eam 
locari quasi, in summitate circuli arctici, ut distet hic a meo 
vertice per gradus 28, ac proinde ab zquatore per gradus 664 
fere, quoniam Messanz latitudo habet gradus 383, et eam sitam 
in puncto, in quo colurus zquinoctiorum secat arcticum cireulum, 
aut ipsi puncto vicinissimum.” 
According to Argelander the place of the star for 1573’0 was 
in right ascension oh. Im. 52s., declination 61° 464; the 
sidereal time at mean noon at Messina on November 8 was 
15h. 49m. 50s., and consequently the star was on the meridian 
at 8h, 10m. 41s. mean time, or at 8h. 24m. 46s. apparent time, 
3h. 24m. after sunset, and, the latitude of Messina being 38° 11’, 
the meridian altitude was 66° 25’, which was the distance from 
the equator given by Maurolycus. Nevertheless the Abbé Scina 
did not agree with Piazzi’s suggestion that there was a typo- 
graphical error in Clavius, and that 614° should be substituted 
for 664°. The only alternative, however, would point to an 
error of 4° or 5° in the observation (or estimation), and Scina 
writes of Maurolycus at this time that he was ‘‘tres-avancé en 
age (il avait alors 78 ans) dépourvu d’instrumens, accabla d’in- 
firmités.” . . . Zach sought unsuccessfully for the special work 
by Maurolycus, as well as for his ‘‘ Life” by his nephew ; 
Lalande gives no particulars of the former, and hence recourse 
has to be had to Clavius, who, as stated above, made some 
extracts from the Fudicium. 
ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 
WEEK, 1885, UNE 21-27 
(For the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 
Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here 
employed. ) 
