September 28, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



451 



The comet will doubtless become visible to the na- 

 ked eye, and will prove an interesting object, although 

 it cannot at present be confidently expected to rival 

 the fine comets of recent years in apparent dimen- 

 sions and brilliancy. 



— Xordeiisliiold lias returned from his exploration 

 of the interior of Greenland, without fully effecting 

 his purpose. From the contradictory reports that 

 have been published by the daily press, we gather 

 that he entered the interior from Auleilsivik Bay, 

 near Disco Island, and himself penetrated to the 

 distance of nearly ninety miles, when the snow be- 

 came too soft for sledges. His Laplanders pushed 

 much farther on snow-shoes, or about half way across 

 the continent, if they took a direct easterly course, 

 of which we are not assured. On the east coast his 

 vessel subsequently pushed as far northward as Cape 

 Dan, but was prevented from making its way farther 

 northward by the ice. 



— The first of the authoritative publications of the 

 International fisheries exhibition contains an excel- 

 lent account, by G. Brown Goode, of the fishery in- 

 dustries of the United States, both historical and 

 statistical, including all the marine products that are 

 derived from the animal and vegetable life of the seas, 

 as well as a careful though condensed account of the 

 labors of the federal fish commission. 



— Professor Simon Newcomb, U. S. Navy, superin- 

 tendent of the Antericnn ephemeris and Nautical 

 almanac, Washington, and Dr. Benjamin Apthorp 

 Gould, director of the National observatory at Cor- 

 doba, Argentine Republic, have been elected corre- 

 sponding members of the Berlin Akademie der wis- 

 nenschnften. 



— According to Xature, the balloon of the Paris 

 observatory has been in working order for some 

 weeks. Its capacity being only sixty cubic metres, 

 it was found difficult to use it, except in calm weath- 

 er. The motions of the registering apparatus are an 

 obstacle to correct readings. The experiments, con- 

 ducted by Admiral Mouchez, are stated to be only 

 preliminary to further aerostatical experiments. The 

 subject is quite new, scientific ballooning being only 

 in its infancy; and it is only by gradual investigation 

 that the extent of the services it can render to sci- 

 ence can be ascertained. 



— Professor P. Denza discusses in the Comptes ren- 

 dus the question of the connection between eclipses 

 and terrestrial magnetism. From the time of the 

 total solar eclipse of Dec. 22, 1870, regular observa- 

 tions of magnetic declination have been made at the 

 observatory of Moncalieri during the progress of all 

 eclipses of the sun, as well as some eclipses of the 

 moon. The needle has been observed at intervals of 

 only a few minutes on such occasions; and the entire 

 series of observations extends through twenty eclipses, 

 the last being the Egyptian solar eclipse of May 17, 

 1882. His discussion indicates no connection be- 

 tween the amount of magnetic disturbance and the 

 magnitude of solar eclipses; and in general it may 

 be regarded as established from his investigation, that 

 the passage of the moon between the earth and the 

 sun in eclipses of the latter, and the passage of the 



moon through the shadow of the earth in eclipses of 

 the former, have no influence whatever upon terres- 

 trial magnetism. 



— The Illuslrinte zeitung reports that the fossil re- 

 mains of several iguanodons have been found at Ber- 

 nipart, in Belgium. The skeleton of one of these 

 fossil monsters has been carefully put together, and 

 removed to the Natural history museum at Brussels, 

 where a special case has been made for it, and placed 

 in the courtyard, no convenient space being found 

 inside. The same joiu-nal reports the discovery of 

 the remains of animals of the bronze age, made 

 during the extension of the fortifications of Spandau. 

 Among other things were the bones of a species of 

 dog, the leg-bone of a gigantic horse, and the bones 

 of a small species of pig, somewhat like the present 

 Indian one. The remains have been examined by 

 Professor Nehring, who also discovered the remains 

 of a small-limbed goat and of a sheep. 



— Mr. Wiuslow Upton, of the U. S. signal oflSce at 

 Washington, has been elected professor of astronomy 

 at Brown university. Providence, IM. It is under- 

 stood that his acceptance of the position is conditional 

 upon the erection of an astronomical observatory 

 which the college authorities have under considera- 

 tion. 



— Professor Piazzi Smyth has published his views 

 upon the subject of a prime meridian for the whole 

 world. They furnish an excellent illustration of the 

 fact that a man's peculiar opinions on any one sub- 

 ject may warp his judgment upon matters wholly 

 removed from it. He advocates the adoption of the 

 meridian of the Great pyramid, because it " passes 

 over solid, habitable, and for ages inhabited, land 

 through nearly the whole of its course from north to 

 south. Its line is capable, therefore, of being laid 

 out along almost all that distance by trigonometrical 

 measurement, and marked by raasonried station-sig- 

 nals." Among other equally cogent arguments are 

 the statements that the pyramid "dates from before 

 all human written history, all known architecture, 

 all living architecture;" that "its meridian divides 

 the lands and numbers of the people of the earth 

 much more nearly than any other;" and that it 

 passes not very far from Jerusalem, near which the 

 l)rime meridian of the world ought to be located by 

 Christian people. 



The last idea is developed more fully by M. du 

 Caillaud, who has addressed a letter to the president 

 of the Paris geographical society, urging the adop- 

 tion of the meridian of Bethlehem, thus harmoniz- 

 ing the longitude reckoning with the customary 

 method of numbering the years from the birth of 

 Christ. 



— At Wabash college, CrawfordsviHe, Ind., a new 

 laboratory is in process of erection, which is to be de- 

 voted entirely to biological work. One room, 50x100 

 feet, with balcony and side-aisles, will contain the 

 general collection of many thousand specimens; a 

 second room will contain the herbarium of twenty 

 thousand species; and a third will be devoted to other 

 collections. Special students are directed to the 

 fact that the collection of crinoids from the Keokuk 



