Feb. 19, 1880] 



NATURE 



583 



ij cradling as if under an increasing strain ; these indications 

 continue for uncertain periods, but they have been distinctly 

 noticeable before the last few earthquakes. It would seem that 

 the power of resistance of the earth before any sutface movement 

 is fi-lt is very great, but, at last, like a bending stick, it suddenly 

 breaks, and the jar gives the vibrations which we call an earth- 

 quake. If these ' crackles ' can be detected we shall then have 

 the means of approximately foretelling when the consequent 

 crash is at hand. The observations of these ' crackles' which, 

 so far as I am aware, have hitherto been studiously avoided or 

 else unfortunately neglected, would also tell us something definite 

 about periodicity. From my observations I feel certain that 

 there are many small earthquakes which ordinary instruments 

 pass by unnoticed. The consequence is that, when we attempt 

 to correlate earth motions with those of, say, for instance, the 

 moon, we do not find the accordance we should expect ; the 

 attraction of the moon has not been sufficiently great to overcome 

 the elasticity of the earth's crust, and to cause shocks great 

 enough to be recorded upon the usual instruments. If, however, 

 instruments still more delicate are used, we shall find little earth- 

 quakes, or what I prefer to call earth tremors recorded in those 

 places where we have been unsuccessfully looking for big ones. 

 We shall, in fact, detect the little straws which are being piled 

 up in regular order and which will eventually break the camel's 

 back." 



In his just published report II.M.'s Con.ul at Yokohama 

 states that the experiment made during the two previous years of 

 manufacturing black teas for the English market has been 

 attended with such disappointing results to all concerned that 

 the industry is not likely to be persevered in for the future. 



The Birmingham Philosophical Society, at a meeting on 

 February 12, did themselves the honour of electing Mr. Charles 

 Darwin an honorary member and presenting him with an address 

 on the occasion of his seventy-first birthday, the day of meeting. 

 Cat x. Oliver desires us to state that in his letter in Nature, 

 vol. xxi. p. 348, he wrote by mistake, in referring to Halley's 

 work, official for opti:al. 



We have on our table the following books: — "A Rule of 

 Proportion," Dr. John Marshall (Smith, Elder); "Anatomy 

 for Artists," Dr. John Marshall (Smith, Elder) ; " Der Realis- 

 mus der moderneu Naturwissenschaft," Dr. Anton von Leclair 

 (Williams and Norgate) ; " Wave and Vortex Motion," Thomas 

 Craig (van Nostrand) ; "Scotch Live Stock," James Bruce, 

 (Edmonston and Co.) ; " Geologie Experimentale, " A. Daubree ; 

 " Primer of the Industrial Geography of Great Britain and 

 Ireland," G. P. Bevan (Sonnenschein and Allen); "Nile 

 Gleanings," Villiers Stuart (John Murray); "Memoirs of Dr. 

 T. P. Carpenter," Russell L. Carpenter (C. Kegan Paul) ; 

 " Rural Bird Life," Charles Dixon (Longmans); "Hot Air," 

 Richard Metcalf ; " Ceylon Coffee Planters' Association," John 

 Hughes ; " Lethaea Geognostica," F. Roemer (E. Koch) ; " Bio- 

 logical Atla=," D. and A. N. M'Alpine (W. and A. K. Johnston) ; 

 "Physical Geography," E. W. Lewis (Moffatt and Paige) ; 

 "The Unity of Matter," A. S. Wilson (Samuel Highley) ; 

 "The Art of Perfumery," G. W. S. Piesse (Longmans); 

 "Who are the Irish?" James Bonwick (Bogue) ; "Das 

 Protoplasma, " Dr. Johannes v. Haustein (Carl Winter) ; "The 

 Spectroscope in Medicine," C. A. McMunn (Churchill) ; 

 "Zooligy," A. S. Packard (H. Holt and Co.); "The 

 Comstock Lode, its Formation and History," J. A. Church 

 <J. Wiley and Son); " Handbuch der Botanik," Dr. N. J. 

 C. Muller (Carl Winter); "River of Golden Sand," 2 vols., 

 Capt. Gill (John Murray) ; "Chapters from the Physical History 

 of the Earth," A. Nicols (Kegan Paul); "Medicinal Plants,'' 

 par's 3S, 39, 40, and 41, Robert Bentley and H. Trimen 

 (Churchill) ; " Lange's History of Materialism," vol. 2, E. C. 

 Thomas (Triibner) ; "Linkages," J. D. C. de Roos (van 



Nostrand); "Theory of Solid and Braced Elastic Arches," 

 William Cain (van Nostrand) ; " On the Motion of Solid in a 

 Fluid," Thomas Craig (van Nostrand) ; "Lucernariae and their 

 Allies," H. J. Clark (Washington). 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a White-fronted Lemur (Ltmiir albtfrons) 

 from Madagascar, presented by Mr. W. C. Gordon ; a Macaque 

 Monkey (Macacus cynomolgw), a Rhesus Monkey (Afacacus 

 erythririis) from India, presented by Mr. J. Snow den Henry, 

 F.Z.S. ; two Hawk-headed Caiques (Dcroftyus accipilrimis) 

 from Brazil, presented by Mr. Chas. Frieke ; a Spur-wingcd 

 Goose (Plcclroptcrus gatnlcnsis) from West Africa, presented by 

 Mr. R. B. Dobree ; a Peregrine Falcon (Falco perfgrinus) from 

 Newfoundland, presented by Mr. F. R. Haynes ; a Robben 

 Island Snake (Coronclla phocarum) from South Africa, presenttd 

 by Mr. W. Porter ; a Bewick's Swan (Cygnus biwkki), North 

 European, two Sharp-nosed Crocodiles (Ciocedilns aaitus) from 

 Jamaica, deposited ; a Serval (Felis .serval) from West Africa, 

 purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Comet of IS77- — For more reasons than one the comet 

 which was observed at the end of 1577 and beginning of 157S 

 deserves prominent mention in the history of these bodies. It 

 must have been the brightest comet of the sixteenth century, 

 visible even in full sunshine, as we know from the testimony of 

 Tycho Brahe, and it was from his careful observations of it, 

 made at a critical time in the discussion as to the nature and 

 distance of comets, that he proved it to have a much smaller 

 parallax than the moon, and hence to be situated far beyond our 

 satellite. Tycho's observations formed part of a work which, 

 though it appears to have been completed so far as it referred to 

 the comet in 15SS, and copies distributed by Tycho to his friends 

 in that year, was not published in the full sense of the term until 

 1603, when it was brought out at Prague after his death, under 

 the care of his son-in-law. The work is entitled " Tychonis Brahe, 

 Dani, De mundi aetheri recentioribus phacnomeuis liber secundus, 

 qui est de illustri Stella caudata anno 1577 conspecta." In 1648 it 

 was reprinted at Frankfort in the collective edition of Tycho's 

 works. Pingre refers to the inaccuracy with which the observa- 

 tions of the comet were given in this edition, which served him 

 for his Cometographif, but he thought he had discovered and 

 corrected all the errors in his transcript of the observations for 

 that work (vol. i. pp. 513-16). 



The comet was seen in Peru as early as November 1, according 

 to an historical work composed in 1589 by the Jesuit Joseph de 

 Acosta, aud about the same time, perhaps a day later, in Japan, 

 as we learn from Kaempfer. It was seen in various parts of 

 Europe on November 10, II, and 12, and on November 13 

 Tycho observed it for the first time at Urani'iurg, his observatory 

 in the island of Iluen. His experiences with regard to the comet 

 are detailed in the work we have referred to. He thus describes 

 his di-covery of it : " Having gone out some time before sunset, 

 and while waiting supper, to amuse myself with witnessing the 

 takin" of fish from one of my ponds, I occupied myself while the 

 net w as being drawn, in surveying the western part of the sky, to 

 see if the purity of the air promised for that night my usual 

 pleasure of observing the stars. As I was least expecting it, I 

 perceived in that direction a certain bright star, which appeared 

 as distinct as Venus, when near to the earth and when seen before 

 sunset or after sunrise. For the rays or chtruelure of the star could 

 not yet be perceived, the sun, still above the horizon, entirely 

 obliterating the feeble brightness of its rays " Tycho then 

 describes how he was astonished at the visibility of an unknown 

 object of such brightness as to strike the eye while it was yet 

 daylight ; he was sure that there was no planet in that quarter of 

 the sky excepting Saturn, which could not be seen in sunshine, 

 and as to the fixed stars, he knew they were none of them visible 

 under such circumstances. He asked those about him whether 

 they saw an object in the direction he pointed out, and they 

 replied it was perfectly distinct, and must be Venus because no 

 other planet could be so conspicuous in daylight. Tycho, how- 

 ever, assured his friends that Venus was not in that part of the 

 sky, and said it would be found as it grew darker that "aliquid 

 insoliti admirandique " was there shining. Ace rdingly, as soon 



