August 27, 1885 | 
for this remark. On December 21, according to Halley’s ele- 
ments, the distance of the comet from the earth was only 0°14; 
on January 3 it had increased to 0°42. 
The fact that the place of the ascending node of the comet of 
1698, as it is printed in Halley’s ‘‘Synopsis of Cometary 
Astronomy,” is 180° in error, or, in other words, the place of 
the descending node has been given for that of the opposite one, 
furnishes a hint that it is not safe to accept a single calculation 
of the orbit of any of the earlier-computed comets without 
examination. 
ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE — 
WEEK, 1885, AUGUST 30 TO SEPTEMBER 5 
(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 August 30 
Sun rises, 5h. rim. ; souths, 12h. om. 23’0s.; sets, 18h. 49m. ; 
decl. on meridian, 8° 52’ N.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 
17h. 26m. 
Moon (at Last Quarter on Sept. 2) rises, 20h. 28m.* ; souths, 
3h. 15m. ; sets, 10h. 12m. ; decl. on meridian, 8° 11’ N. 
Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian 
h. m. h. m. fy me ant, 
Mercury. OF Qo .<. 12) 17 18 33 2 28N. 
Wentseeres S007) e550) 57, 19) 47 Se 24709. 
Mars ee ONSGte ss. OAS 17 (O-e nt) 220 50aNe 
Jupiter 5 48 L228" .:., EO) Sieve. 7a Onn 
Saturna SnAg wee 7 G2 x. TON T: sesgnazosuNs 
* Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding day. 
Occultations of Stars by the Moon 
Correspoading 
Sept. Star Mag. Disap Reap angle = oe 
inverted image 
h. m h. m. th ea 
Css LaurL Be bien p22 neil 22 52 62 247 
MGs wat <c5. ess 4 222 oe Ist 82 227 
2 ce, ECR ie fop: 5 23) Wa 23032 . 117 189 
I ... 81 Tauri... ... 54 ... 23 9 near approach 333 — 
HeeeROs MARTH fn, <= j08 J...) 23,21) 22." (Ol The. B2OR284 
2 .., Aldebaran I... I 40 near approach 154 — 
2a rEM MAU <6) ss 22) 342... 23 20) =.) Samar 
Sue Bra. 1728: ....6 OMIBics (Ov4S 5) Or288 
4... 26Geminorum.. 53 .... 4 57 near approach 146 — 
5 ... 68Geminorum... 54 ... 0 58 near approach 323 — 
+ Occurs on the following day. 
The Occultations of Stars are such as are visible at Greenwich. 
” Sept. h. 
Zoos as) Mercury in inferior conjunction with the 
Sun. 
Alwcs 183 Saturn in conjunction with and 4° 17’ north | 
of the Moon. 
Ciesnoweany / Mars in conjunction with and 5° 33’ north 
of the Moon. 
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
SAD news has been received from the Dutch African Expe- 
dition ; its leader, Mr. D. D. Veth, died from disease on May 
1g, in the camp on the banks of the Kala-Kanga River, between 
Benguella and Humpata. This is a real loss for science as well 
as to his venerable father, Prof. P. J. Veth, who has given his 
whole industrious life to scientific work. 
THE Austrian Government, with the consent of the Porte, has 
undertaken to make a geographical survey of the Albanian coast, 
with a view to preparing new maps. Two Austrian gunboats 
have accordingly left for Corfu with officials of the Chart De- 
partment on board. Here they will be joined by the Turkish 
officers, under whose superintendence the survey will be made. 
IT is stated in the latest Z7ga@uzungsheft to Petermann’s Mit- 
theilungen, that there are in Peking four institutions at which 
astronomical and meteorological observations have been made 
for a number of years : (1) the Chinese Observatory, called Kaazz 
samz tai, which has existed for about six centuries. In 1674 the 
Jesuits provided it with new astronomical instruments, without 
lenses, which are well preserved to this day. It is situated on 
the eastern wall of the Manchu town. 
NAT OGRE 
403 
Northern Church, the Collegium: Gallorum, near the Imperial 
palace. Here in the middle of the eighteenth century the 
Jesuits erected an observatory, and made many astronomical 
observations, amongst them the transit of Venus of June 3, 
1769. Besides these Pere Amiot made meteorological observa- 
tions for six years, from 1757 to 1762. (3) The Russian Lega- 
tion, near the southern wall of the Manchu town. The astro- 
nomer Fuss, who made a great journey between 1830 and 1832 
from St. Petersburg to Eastern Siberia, and by Kiachta to 
Peking, at the orders of the Academy of Sciences of St. Peters- 
burg, spent seven months here, and organised astronomical, 
geographical, magnetic, and meteorological observations. (4) 
Beguan, about 300 metres from the north-eastern corner of the 
wall surrounding the Manchu city. Here the members of the 
Russian missionary body, and the native Christians under their 
-direction, carried out a series of magnetic and meteorological 
observations between 1841 and 1860. In 1864 this Observatory 
was separated from the missionary establishment, and in 1867 
the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences selected Dr. H. Fritsche 
for its director, a position which he held for sixteen years. For 
twelve of these he lived in Peking, while the other four were 
spent for the most part in journeying through the Chinese 
Empire and Siberia, in order to inspect the meteorological 
stations and the three magnetic observatories at Ekaterinburg, 
Barnaul, and Nerchinsk, to establish new stations, and specially 
to obtain astronomical, geographical, and hypsometric observa- 
tions in as large a number of places as possible. His investiga- 
tions into the meteorology of Eastern Asia were published 
by the Academy in 1877, and he now publishes in the 
Erginzunesheftabove alluded to the results of his sixteen years’ 
observations in other departments. He describes his numerous 
journeys in China, Mongolia, and Manchuria, and gives a mass 
of data with regard to the latitude and longitude of places, and 
their heights above the sea-level. There are also, in the second 
part of the paper, a large number of measurements connected 
with earth magnetism. ‘The title of the paper, which is a long 
one, and represents a vast amount of travel and labour, is “ Ein 
Beitrag zur Geographie und Lehre vom Erdmagnetismus Asiens 
und Europas,” von Dr. H. Fritsche, Petermann’s Mittheilungen 
Ergincungsheft, No. 78. 
In the current number of Petermann’s Mitthetlungen the prin- 
cipal article is an account, historical and geographical, of *‘a 
lava desert in the interior of Iceland,” and the largest lava area 
in Europe. The ‘“‘desert” in question is situated in that part 
of the plateau in the interior which lies between the Vatnajokull 
and the rivers Skjalfandafljot and Jokulsa. It is known to the 
inhabitants of the neighbouring coasts as Odadahraun. The 
author, Th. Thoroddsen, describes his journey from Myvatn in 
detail.—Prof. Nell explains Fischer’s perspective projection for 
maps, and gives a map of Asia on this system ; while Herr 
Flegel describes his journey in 1879 with the Henry Venn expe- 
dition up the Pico Grande from the Cameroons. 
Tue Zeitschrift of the Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde at Berlin 
(Band 20, Heft 3) is almost wholly occupied with an account by 
Herr Schmidt of the travels of the friar Rubruk between 1253 
and 1255 into the heart of Central Asia, and to the borders of 
China. This remarkable journey is described and explained 
with much painstaking learning. The only other contribution 
to the number is a table of lengths of the principal Russian rivers 
from General Tillo’s survey. 
From the latest reports the Australian New Guinea expe- 
dition appears to have progressed satisfactorily so far. The 
Government of Queensland had offered to hold frequent com- 
munication with the party by means of the steamer A dvance, 
with a view of obtaining information of the progress of the work 
of exploration. A branch of the Geographical Society of 
Australasia is to be formed at Brisbane. 
A PARLIAMENTARY blue-book (Corea, No. 3, 1885) lately 
published contains the report of a journey made by Mr. Carles, 
the Vice-Consul at Seoul, from that place to Phyong Kang, 
where some gold mines exist. These lie to the west of the 
main road between Seoul and Gensan, and were stated to be of 
greater extent than any existing in Corea. They are in the 
Phyéng Kang district, in the neighbourhood of the town of 
Pai-namou-tjang, about 100 miles from the capital. Part of the 
road lay across a vast lava-field, which appears to exceed in 
extent even the largest in Iceland. Between Chhol-won and 
Pai-namou-tjang, a distance of 40 miles, there is only one 
(2) Bethang, or the ' break in its bed, which Mr. Carles attributes to the action of 
