May 7, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



727 



The Lick Observatory has just sent out 

 Plates 2 to 5 of its Observatory Atlas of the 

 Moon, finely reproduced in photogravure, 

 on a scale of 38 inches to the lunar di- 

 ameter, from the negatives obtained with 

 the great refractor. The publication of this 

 valuable series of photographs was made 

 possible by the generosity of a citizen of 

 New York, Mr. "W. H. Law. 



In the Monthly Notices of the Eoyal As- 

 tronomical Society for January Mr. W. F. 

 Denning contributes a catalogue of the real 

 paths of 107 meteors, observed by himself 

 and others in England during the last ten 

 years. The averages are: 

 Height at first appearance... 73. 6 miles (106 meteors) 



Height at disappearance 45.3 " (107 meteors) 



Length of path 62.1 " (105 meteors) 



Velocity per second 26. 9 " (58 meteors ) 



The greatest height of any well-observed 

 meteor was 126 miles. In the above aver- 

 ages no distinction was made between fire- 

 balls and shooting-stars. 



In the same number of the Notices Pro- 

 fessor G. von Neissl, of Briinn, contributes 

 a list of the real paths of 100 large meteors 

 which have been authentically observed, 

 chiefly in the last two decades. For these 

 the average height when first seen was 91 

 miles. No. 77 of the list was visible from 

 Servia to France, traveling in a real path 

 of 1770 miles, from the hardly credible ele- 

 vation of 483 miles to that of 115 miles. 

 From a comparison of the catalogues of 

 von Neissl and himself. Denning shows 

 several instances of the recurrence of large 

 meteors from the same radiant, indicating 

 that they belonged to the same swarm. 

 E. B. F. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Miss Alice Bache Gould has given $20,000 

 to the National Academy of Sciences as a me- 

 morial to her father, the great astronomer, B. A. 

 Gould. It will be known as the Gould fund 

 and the income will be used to promote re- 

 searches in mathematics and astronomy. 



Sir Heney Thompson has presented the 

 Eoyal Observatory at Greenwich with a tele- 

 scope said to be the most powerful instrument 

 at present existing for the prosecution of astro- 

 nomical research by means of photography. 

 The photographic refractor has an object glass 

 26 inches in diameter. The photographs it will 

 take will be on twice the scale of 2 mm. to one 

 minute of arc, and its short focal length gives 

 it great light-gathering power. The instrument 

 now mounted at Greenwich has been in course 

 of construction by Sir Howard Grubb, of Dublin, 

 during the last three years. 



The Royal Observatory at Bonn has received 

 from the state a preliminary appropriation of 

 80,000 Marks, which will ultimately be in- 

 creased to 90,000 Marks, for the construction 

 and mounting of a refracting telescope of 

 medium size. 



SiE "William Flowee's term o oflce as Di- 

 rector of the Natural History Departments of 

 the British Museum has been extended for three 

 years from the expiration of his retirement date 

 under the age regulation of the Civil Service. 



The American Philosophical Society, Phila- 

 delphia, will hold a conversazione in honor of 

 Sir Archibald Geikie on the evening of May 7th. 

 Sir Archibald Geikie will make a communica- 

 tion on recent geological work in the Hebrides 

 and Faroe Isles. 



The Council of the British Medical Associa- 

 tion has conferred the gold medal of the Asso- 

 ciation on Mr. C. G. Wheelhouse and Sir Wal- 

 ter Foster. 



The Cothenius medal, Leopold CaroKnische 

 Ahademie der Naturforscher, has this year been 

 awarded to Dr. G. Quincke, professor of physics 

 at Heidelberg. 



Dr. p. Ge^ihant, professor of physiology in 

 the Paris Museum of Natural History, has been 

 awarded 4,000 francs by the French govern- 

 ment to promote his researches on the applica- 

 tions of physiology to hygiene. 



Mr. J. H. Pratt, instructor of mineralogy 

 in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale Univer- 

 sity, has accepted the post of mineralogist in 

 the North Carolina Geological Survey. 



M. Pigou was elected president and M. 



