Dec. 4, 1879] 



NATURE 



in 



Mongolian Buryats, 1 are of the genuine Tiirki stock, and 

 speak a pure Tiirki language, though rude and marked 

 by some distinct features. 



Touching the numbers and strength of the Turkoman 

 tribes proper, opinions vary considerably. While Behm 

 and Wagner reckon them at no more than 450,000, Vam- 

 bery still adheres to the number of one million given in 

 his " Travels in Central Asia," adding that further re- 

 search may tend to increase, but certainly not to diminish 

 that figure. This estimate is partly borne out by Gen. 

 Obrutcheff,' 2 who makes them amount in 1874 altogether 

 to about 930,000, exclusive of the " Eski-Turk" and other 

 scattered members of the family in Asia Minor, North 

 Syria, the Euphrates Valley, and Persia. 



In view of recent and pending political events,, the 

 subjoined list of the Turkoman tribes with their localities 

 and approximate numbers may be acceptable : — 



( Men' 

 Goklan . 



Chaudor 



Salor 



Sarik 



Sakar 



Essen-Ili 



Amr-Ili 



Ui and Aimak 

 Kara Pashli... 



Kozanli 



Pekmeshli...^) 

 Genkani ... | 



Kecheli \ 



Bejeli ( 



Rehanli J 



1,100,000 



N. slopes Kuren-dagh and on 

 Tejend River (Lower Heri- 

 rud). 



Merv Oasis. 



Upper Atrek, Gurgan, and 

 Sirabnr, and in Mazan- 

 deran. 



S.E. Coast Caspian, east- 

 wards to Kizil-Arvat, and 

 on Lower Oxus below 

 Khiva. 



Left bank Oxus, about Char- 

 jui ; hence called "Lebab" 

 or " River " Turkoman 1 ;. 



Between Oxus and Afghan 

 frontier. 



Ust Urt plateau, east from 

 N. end Caspian. 



About the Murghab between 

 Merv and Herat. 



Merv Oasis. 



About Sarakhs. 



South from the Chaudor. 



About Middle Oxus. 



N. frontier Hazarajat. 

 Kozen Dagh (Taurus). 



Euphrates Valley and N. Syria. 



The discrepancy between this estimate and that of 

 Obrutcheff is due to the fact that in the above list are 

 included the Turkoman nomads of Asiatic Turkey, 

 besides a large branch of the Goklans, some 8,000 

 families, now settled in Mazanderan. 



A. H. KEANE 



DISCOVERY OF A GASEOUS NEBULA 

 '"PHE Rev. T. W. Webb writes as follows to the Times 

 A on the subject of Lord Lindsay's letter in NATURE 

 last week : — 



On the night of November 14, while sweeping in the 

 constellation Cygnus with a low power on my 938 inch 

 silvered speculum by With, I perceived an object resem- 

 bling, but not quite identical with, a bluish 9 magnitude 

 star. The use of higher magnifiers at once detected the 

 existence of an ill-defined bright disk, subtending about 



"Le nom de Bouroute leur est absolument inconnu" (Ch. dc 1'jf.dvy in 

 ," iii. p. So. 



Sui. de la Sec. dc Geographic for Ju 

 2 In the Russian statistical work, " 



4", and surrounded perhaps with a slight amount of glow. 

 It has since been identified at other observatories as No. 

 4,004 in Argelander, + 41, the place for 1880 being R.A., 

 2ih. 2m. 31s. ; D., + 4i°45''3- Through the kindness of 

 Dr. Copeland, by whom it has been carefully examined 

 under the greatest instrumental advantages at Lord Lind- 

 say's observatory at Dunecht, North Britain, I am enabled 

 to add the following interesting particulars. It is not 

 circular, and has a sharp nucleus near the north-preceding 

 edge, with a faint^effusion of light in the opposite direc- 

 tion. Three very measurable bright lines were found in a 

 powerful spectroscope, of which the positions, as given by 

 two sets of measures, were respectively Soo'i, 4957, 487'©, 

 and 500T, 495'6, 4860. When these values are com- 

 pared with those deduced by D' Arrest from the results 

 of several observers of known objects of this nature — 

 5o° - 4, 4957» 4861— there can be no remaining doubt that 

 the object in question is of the very interesting and 

 mysterious class termed planetary, or, more correctly, 

 gaseous nebulas. Dr. Copeland assigns 8, 5, and 1, as 

 the approximate intensities of these lines, reckoning from 

 the least refrangible direction. It can occasion no sur- 

 prise that its true characters should have escaped the 

 piercing and practised gaze of Argelander, as it would 

 require a much larger instrument than that which he 

 employed to give any intimation of its nature. 



A NEW PLANETARIUM 



SIGNOR N. PERINI, of Garrick Chambers, Garricfc 

 Street, has invented a planetarium, which, so far 

 as we are aware is in all respects superior to, more 

 vraisemblablc than, any apparatus of the kind hitherto 

 attempted. The structure, for such it really is, consists 

 first of a hemispherical dome, fourteen feet in diameter at 

 the base and the same in height, resting on twelve 

 columns. Getting underneath the dome, one sees the 

 vault overhead coloured so as to represent the starry sky, 

 with the milky way and the constellations in their proper 

 places. Suspended from the top by a narrow hollow rod 

 is an opal globe lit up by gas or electricity to represent 

 the sun, and around this, at their proper pioportional 

 distances, are suspended by almost invisible wires, the 

 planets from Mercury to Uranus. By a slight turn of a 

 key Signor Perini sets the solar system in motion, 

 when the sun revolves on its axis, and all the planets in 

 their proper elliptical orbits and at their proper axial 

 inclination, and with proportionate velocity. Saturn 

 has his rings and the other planets their moons ; 

 the earth, about the size of a walnut, by a mechanism 

 peculiar to itself, revolves on its axis at a rate accurately 

 proportioned, the same mechanism causing the moon, a 

 small pearl, to revolve round the earth in its own proper 

 orbit. Round the base of the dome the various signs of 

 the zodiac are indicated, and the paths of the planets 

 are shown by ellipses traced around the vault. The 

 spectator is supposed to be standing somewhere under- 

 neath the solar system, and the general effect is very 

 striking To us it seems the most effective method 

 hitherto devised to convey to old or young a realistic 

 conception of the arrangement and motions of the 

 planets. During the working of the mechanism not a 

 sound is heard, though above the dome, and concealed 

 from view is an elaborate arrangement of machinery. 

 This machinery is of the nature of clockwork, with, how- 

 ever, a special feature by mejns of which the elliptical 

 motions of the planets are effected. Inside the earth is a 

 watchwork arrangement, which could easily be adapted 

 to the other planets were it not for the expense. Wliert 

 wound the machinery can be kept going continuously for 

 upwards of five hours ; it can be stopped at any moment. 

 The invention has, we believe, cost Signor Perini seven 

 vears' unremitting work and seven hundred pounds ex- 

 penditure We believe that the work has all been done 



