\ 
Oct. 22, 1885 | 
NATURE 
611 
ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 
WEEK, 1885, OCTOBER 25-31 
(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 October 25 
Sun rises, 6h. 44m. ; souths, 1th. 44m. 7'5s.; sets, 16h. 45m. ; 
decl. on meridian, 12° 16’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 
Igh. 2m. 
Moon (two days after Full) rises, r7h. 32m.*; souths, oh. 46m. ; 
sets, 8h. 11m. ; decl. on meridian, 12° 52’ N. 
Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian 
h. m. h. m. h. m. Sd 
WEErCULY.. 07, TO, .<cs, 22) 0-7 EGHSO econ EAL 2255 
Venus BREQUS ON snes) ©T4ugS sce IS'20) Q.. 24 54) 9% 
Mars pom Ome tere) 7820) sen TA HD! SS 15) Z0UN. 
Jupiter BEES) sO 2) ccs E549 2.33 Ne 
Satum ... 20 13* Aart 1220) eo P22UT7ING 
* Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding day. 
Occultations of Stars by the Moon 
Corresponding 
angles from ver- 
Oct. Star Mag. Disap. Reap, ‘tex to BEnUion 
inverted image 
h. m h. m. ° * 
Brees BolT. 987 6% 25, 3) 10 410 <3. 137 303 
26... B.A.C. 1256 ...6 ... 22 3 nearapproach 151 — 
Bae BeATGnIO30. 10%... 10) O25  F 6 51 249 
Zou sCancr! pea .--1 10 225 rae 2260p on DES con 
Phenomena of Fupiter’s Satellites 
Oct. h. m. Oct. h. m. 
Zeger se OGcereAp | 20) ...0 (6) (0) DV occ. disap, 
250. 6132 I. tring: 29 6 10 _ I. occ. reap. 
Pam es a7 Ll. eck disap. ||-30 3) 9) Leth eer: 
The Occultations of Stars and Phenomena of Jupiter's Satellites are such as 
are visible at Greenwich. 
Oct. h. 
BS? Fess 07, Saturn in conjunction with and 4° 8’ north 
of the Moon. 
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 
A RECENT Blue-book (Siam, No. 1, 1885) contains a report 
by Mr. Archer, of the Consular service in Siam, on silk-culture 
in the province of Kabin, which lies on the eastern side of the 
Siamese delta, at the foot of the mountains separating the 
Meinam valley from that of the Meiking. In the course of his 
journey Mr. Archer came across certain Laos settlements, of 
which he gives an interesting account which is deserving of nete, 
on occount of the very little known of the Laos. He says the 
settlements in the provinces of Pachim and Nakon Nayok are, 
as it were, the south-western outposts of the Laos race, which 
forms the bulk of the population of Eastern and Northern Siam, 
but they are ‘‘phung khao,” or ‘‘ white-bellied,” and therefore 
distinct from the ‘‘ black-bellied,” or inhabitants of the Chieng- 
mai provinces. They are not, however, the original inhabitants 
of these provinces, but captives from Muang Kalassin, a province 
to the north east of Korat, formerly dependent on Wien Chan, 
who, after the war waged successfully by the Siamese against 
that ancient kingdom about sixty years ago, were transported to 
and allowed to settle in the country extending from the province 
of Nakon Nayok to that of Battambong. This country consists, 
for the most part, of a series of slight and gradual elevations and 
depressions, the dwellings, gardens, and any other plantations 
being generally situated on the former, whilst rice is cultivated 
in the latter. The population is sparse, and consequently the 
greater part of the country is covered with jungle. The inhabit- 
ants are exceedingly indolent, and appear unable to exert them- 
selves to procure more than enough rice for their bare sustenance. 
Their mode of living is of the simplest description, and their 
country being far from any commercial centre and outside any 
trade route, hardly any foreign goods, with the exception of cotton, 
are to be found amongst them. All Laos tribes, however, are 
not characterised by such indolence. Those living in the pro- 
vinces closer to Korat are much more active, and devote more 
attention to agriculture, especially to the rearing of silkworms. 
This is stated to be due to the latter having a poorer soil at a 
higher altitude, which compels the inhabitants to devote more 
attention to silk-producing as a means of livelihood. 
Mr. Coutts TROTTER read a paper at the Aberdeen Meeting 
of the British Association ‘‘On Recent Explorations in New 
Guinea,” bringing up to date the information he laid before the 
Section two years ago. It deals with certain hydrographical 
and other physico- geographical questions on which light has 
been lately thrown by Mr. Chalmers’s journey, and by the ascent 
of the Amberno River, and points to the conclusions to be drawn 
from certain temples, with a special priesthood and objects of 
worship lately discovered—implying an order of religious ideas 
quite foreign to the Papuan mind. As regards the natives of 
New Guinea, he believes the conflicting jurisdiction, and 
different views as to the mode of dealing with them, must be 
prejudicial to their interests. 
THE Arctic steamer d/evt returned to Halifax on October 18 
from Hudson Bay with the observation party who have spent 
fifteen months there testing the practicability of that route for 
navigation from the Canadian north-west to Europe. The result 
of the observations shows that the average temperature is not 
so low as was expected, nor so low as the average winter tem- 
perature in the North-West. The lowest monthly average was 
30° below zero. The ice observations show that the Hudson Straits 
and Bay are navigable by properly built and equipped vessels for 
from three to four months—from July to October. While this 
report is somewhat favourable, doubts are expressed in Canada 
whether the Hudson Bay route can ever be made practicable. 
THE GREAT OCEAN BASINS * 
1016 
@p HE advances during recent years in the knowledge of the 
forms of life inhabiting the floor of the ocean surpass those 
in any other department of oceanic investigation. Thousands of 
new organisms have been discovered in all seas and at all depths 
in the ocean, and either have been, or are now being, described 
by specialists in all quarters of the world. There does not seem 
to be any part of the ocean bed so deep, so dark, so still, or 
where the pressure is so great as to have effectually raised a 
barrier to the invasion of life in some of its many forms. Even 
in the greater depths all the great divisions of the animal king- 
dom are represented. 
As might have been expected, forms of life are most rich and 
varied in the shallow water surrounding the continents, where 
there is abundance of food, sunlight, and warmth ; where there 
is motion, rapid change of water through currents, and other 
congenial conditions. At the depth of half a mile there are still 
numerous animals, though many of them differ from those of 
shallower depths, but plant- -life seems to have wholly disap- 
peared, if we except the diatoms and calcareous alge, whose 
frustules and skeletons have fallen to the bottom from the sur- 
face, carrying with them some of their protoplasm and 
chlorophyll. 
At the depth of one mile there are a few animals which are 
barely distinguishable from, if they be not identical with, shallow 
water forms 3 but the majority of the animals are specifically 
distinct from those found within the 1oo-fathom line, and many 
of them belong to species peculiar to the deep sea, and are 
universally distributed over the ocean bed in deep water. 
As we descend into still deeper water, and proceed further 
seawards from the borders of the continents, species and the 
number of individuals become fewer and fewer, though they 
often present archaic or embryonic characters, till a minimum is 
reached in the greatest depths furthest from continental land. 
Distance from continental land is, indeed, a much more import- 
ant factor in the distribution of deep-sea animals than actual 
depth. 
If we neglect the Protozoa and compare the results of twelve 
of the Cha//enger’s trawlings and dredgings in the central line 
of the Pacific, in depths greater than 2000 fathoms, on globi- 
gerina ooze, radiolarian ooze, and red clay, with twelve trawlings 
and dredgings taken under similar conditions and depths, but on 
the blue and green muds within 200 miles of the continents, we 
find that the Central Pacific stations have yielded 92 specimens of 
animals belonging to 52 species, all, with two doubtful excep- 
tions, new to science, and among them 13 new genera ; on the 
other hand, the stations near the continents have given over 1000 
specimens belonging to 211 species, of which 145 are new 
species and 66 belong to species previously known from 
1 Lecture delivered at the Aberdeen meeting of the British Association by 
Mr. John Murray, Director of the Chad/enger Reports. Continued from 
p. 594- 
