NATURE 
[ Fune 25, 1885 
Occultations of Stars by the Moon 
Corresponding 
angles from ver- 
June Star Mag. Disap. Reap tex to right for 
inverted image 
h. m. h. m. 9% 
30)... '£3\Gapricorni... (0) =...) ) 10 D7 tor 239 
7 ... 14 Capricorni... 5 I 36 2422) 158 233 
uly 
2s) BsAn G77 7a no310\ mies MISES 7a acak ODO) 99 302 
Phenomena of Jupiter's Satellites 
June h, m July h. m. 
29 20 26 (I. tr. ing. 2 ... 22 35) lllnacesreap: 
22 46 I. tr. egr. 3... 20 28 IV. ecl. reap. 
B0N)..-) 20/56 | I. ecl. reap. 
The Occultations of Stars and Phenomena ef Jupiter's Satellites are such 
as are visible at Greenwich. 
July 3, 23h.—Sun at greatest distance from the Earth, the 
distance being one-sixtieth part greater than the mean distance. 
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
THE Royal Geographical Society have decided to send out 
another African expedition. This time the region to be explored 
is one of more than usual interest, and the method of procedure 
will be considerably different from that which has been hitherto 
usually followed. We have had many lines run through Africa 
in all directions, and what is now needed is the leisurely study 
of the continent in detail. This is what will be done by the 
expedition which will leave England in August next, under Mr. 
T. Last, who, as a lay agent of the Church Missionary 
Society, has done admirable work in the Zanzibar interior. Mr. 
Last, after making up his caravan at Zanzibar, will proceed 
south to Lindi, to the north of the mouth of the Rovuma River. 
Thence he will proceed to the confluence of the Rovuma and 
Lutende Rivers, and fix the longitude of the junction—an 
important geographical point not yet settled. He will then 
go on in a generally south-westerly direction, and, before reach- 
ing the north end of Lake Shirwa, turn southwards and make 
for the Namulli Hills, which, with other new features in this 
region, were discovered by Consul ONeill in the end of 1883. 
Here Mr. Last will establish himself and make a detailed study 
of the whole region in all its aspects. He will make a com- 
plete survey of the surrounding country, its topography, its 
people, its botany, economic products, climate, and languages. 
When this is completed Mr. Last will fenter the valley of the 
Likugu River, which rises in the neighbourhood of these hills, 
and follow it down to the coast of Quizungu, whence he will 
travel south to Quilimane or north to Angoche, and thence to 
Mozambique. Mr. Last will make a special point of collecting 
all possible information concerning the country he passes 
through, its changes ; its people, their customs, languages, &c. ; 
the climate, its sanitary conditions, and its suitability for the 
introduction of European and other economic plants. 
THE last number of Petermann’s AW77tthetlunmgen contains the 
conclusion of Herr Schunke’s account of Kaffraria and the 
eastern borderlands of Cape Colony ; the Panama Canal, with a 
map, by the Editor ; the German possessions on the Slave coast, 
also with a map, by Herr Langhans ; the latest explorations in 
Costa Rica, by Dr. Polakowsky. This last is specially interest- 
ing. It is a continuation of a paper, published two years ago, 
and describes ten additional journeys to various parts of 
Costa Rica by Dr. Thiel the bishop. It is unfortunate 
for science that this ecclesiastic, whose energy in educating 
his flock and whose thirst for scientific investigation are alike 
remarkable, should have been expelled by the Costa Rican 
Government, and that in such haste that he was compelled to 
leave behind him all his journals, collections, scientific observa- 
tions, &e. He travelled and lived much amongst the various 
tribes of Indians, and studied their dialects, the antiquities, and 
ethnology of the country. He is at present visiting the eastern 
coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras in order to collect Indian 
antiquities and the remnants of Indian languages. The same 
paper also contains a report of a journey in Costa Rica by Padre 
Fernandez. 
A CORRESPONDENT writes to Ausland from Santiago to 
correct a mistake as to a reported discovery of a glacier in Chile. 
The glacier in question is called the Ada glacier, and occupies | 
the upper end of the Cajon de los Cipreses, a branch of the 
valley of Cachapual. Ina note which appeared in the fourth 
number of Aws/and this year and was copied from the Proceed- 
ings of the Royal Geographical Society, the discovery of this 
glacier was attributed to Dr. Giissfeldt. Some years previously 
the same discovery had been ascribed to Mr. Charles Wiener. 
The fact is, the correspondent states, the glacier has been known 
to the visitors to the baths of Cauquenes for the last twenty years 
at least. MM. Wiener and Giissfeldt, like other visitors to the 
baths, had had their attention called to it, and each in turn was 
consequently credited with its discovery. 
THE French Minister of Public Instruction has published a 
report which he has received from M. Chaffanjon, a professor in 
Guadeloupe, giving an account of his mission on the Orinoco. 
In order to investigate fully the hydrography of the river he has 
often found it necessary to travel far away from the banks on 
both sides, and he has thus been able to survey the former beds. 
He has also obtained the materials for a geological map of the 
region and for a description of the phenomena attending the 
formation of this part of the earth’s crust. Hitherto we have 
had only vague ideas respecting the Indian races, because they 
were without history or ancient remains. Prof. Chaffanjon has 
discovered in five different places inscriptions and pictures in 
granite, which he has carefully copied. He has collected a 
crowd of ethnological objects amongst the Caribs, the Panaies, 
and the Mapoyes. He hopes also to be able to fill certain gaps 
in the zoological and botanical collections in the Paris Museum. 
The report is accompanied by a sketch on a scale of 1 to 660,000 
of the course of the Orinoco between Caicara and Ciudad 
Bolivar, which gives a considerable number of names new to 
geography. 
THE Berlin Geographical Society has decided to erect a 
monument at the burial place of the late Dr. Nachtigal, at Cape 
Palmas, andall Germans are invited to send contributions to the 
fund for this purpose. 
ELECTRICAL DEFINITIONS, 
NOMENCLATURE, AND NOTATION* 
W!tTH the rapid progress that has lately been made in 
electrical science and its applications, there has sprung 
up a new and fast-increasing class of practical electricians. 
These, partly from necessity and partly from well-meant respect, 
have adopted and applied the old terms and expressions which 
appeared suitable to their predecessors, as well as coined not a 
few new ones, until now their vocabulary is in considerable con- 
fusion, and, as all must admit, requires sifting and reform. 
Nothing is more tantalising and perplexing than the different 
modes of expression and symbols used by different authors, and 
sometimes by the same author, to explain and interpret one and 
the same thing or result. All this might be avoided if an in- 
ternational system of definitions, nomenclature, and notation 
was agreed upon and legalised. The rapidity with which the 
new definitions of the ohm, ampere, and volt (issued and legal- 
ised last spring at Paris by the International Congress of Electri- 
cians) were universally adopted, shows this. These definitions 
should be still further extended to other electrical units. They 
should embrace a suitable system of notation, whereby electri- 
cian could represent in symbols and letters, terms, expressions, 
and formulze of common occurrence, in a similar manner to that 
adopted by chemists in connection with chemical elements and 
their combinations. Last session the author promised a commu- 
nication to the Society on this subject, and, being again re- 
minded by the Secretary of his unfulfilled promise, he now sub- 
mits a few of the more apparent instances where ambiguity or 
want of uniformity exists, with suggestions, in the hope that a 
discussion may follow, and that a Committee of this Society may 
be formed to consider and draw up a series of definitions, 
nomenclature, and notation that would be generally acceptable. 
The proposed Committee might then confer with the French 
Committee, also with a similar Committee appointed by the 
British Association, and, finally, this important question should 
be referred to the International Congress of Electricians, in order 
that they may legalise and issue their decisions in a similar 
manner to that adopted by them in the case of the ohm, the 
ampere, and the volt. Undoubtedly, if such a course were 
adopted, most beneficial results would accrue to all concerned. 
« Paper read before the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians 
on May 14, 1885, by Prof. Andrew Jamieson, C E., F.R.S.E., Member. 
Principal, College of Science and Arts, Glasgow. 
i 
