398 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 350. 



for 54 Piscium from 



Series I. 7r = + 0^241 

 Series II. 7r=: + 0.081 

 Series III. 7r = + 0.183 

 Series IV. 7r = + 0.055 



for Weisse 17, 322, 



Series I. tt = + d'218 



Series 11. 7r = + 0.189 



Series III. tt = + 0.198 



Series IV. 7r== — 0.047 



: 0.026 Wt. 36.10 



0.017 Wt. 42.26 



0.035 Wt. 59.53 



0.023 Wt. 51.40 



0.030 Wt. 33.60 



0.034 Wt. 35.08 



0.022 Wt. 45.87 



0.031 Wt. 38.92 



The author then goes on to discuss the 

 disparity between some of the results, which 

 are rather amazing in view of the size of 

 the probable errors found. He investigates 

 the question of a possible large systematic 

 error and concludes that any such error, if 

 it exists, must arise from the employment 

 of different comparison stars, and is not 

 due to changes dependent on the time. He 

 finds only one of the comparison stars to 

 possess any appreciable proper motion, viz., 

 star e in the first table, which amounts to 

 — O'.Ol inE.A. and 0".3 in Decl. the proper 

 motion of 54 Piscium, according to Porter, 

 being — 0%034 in E. A. and — 0". 38 in Decl. , 

 and of Weisse 17% 322, — 0^040 in E.A. 

 and — 1".22 in Decl. 



He finally concludes by combining the 

 various solutions, first, by their weights, 

 and second, by the magnitude of the prob- 

 able errors, and finds the following values : 



for 54 Piscium, 



I. TT = + o!l37 d= 0.'bl4 Prob. error 1 Ob. = ± o''l93 

 II. 7r = 4- 0.117 ±0.011 



for Weisse 17, 322, 



I. TT = 4- o!l32 ± 0.01 3 Prob. error 1 Ob. = ± 0.166 

 II. 7r = + 0.140 ±0.014 



But the author remarks that it has been 

 considered worth while to make still another 

 series on Weisse 11^, 322, with the third set 

 of comparison stars e. f. where there is a 

 great difference in brightness, using screens 

 in various ways to see if difference of bright- 

 ness could account for the anomalous results 

 obtained. Meanwhile the results above 



given must be considered as only provi- 

 sional. 



' The Distance of the I^ew Star in Per- 

 seus ' : Professor F. L. Chase. 



When the new star in Perseus first ap- 

 peared last February it at once became the 

 great desire of the author to determine, if 

 possible, the parallax of this most remark- 

 able object. So far as is known to the au- 

 thor, no one has as yet succeeded in deter- 

 mining the distance of one of these new 

 stars. In 1892 he began a series of observa- 

 tions on Nova Aurigse for the same purpose, 

 but it will be remembered this star rapidly 

 diminished in brilliancy, though with sev- 

 eral fluctuations, and was not observable 

 with the Yale heliometer for more than two 

 or three months, which would not give a 

 very sensible parallax factor. With ]N"ova 

 Persei conditions have been much more 

 favorable, and even now the star is con- 

 spicuously brighter than the brightest com- 

 parison star employed, which was, accord- 

 ing to Argelander, of the 7.4 magnitude. 



There was but a single pair of compar- 

 ison stars suitable for the purpose, viz., 

 B.D. + 43°, 720 Mag. 7.4 and B.D. + 43°, 

 766 Mag. 8.0. Calling the first a and the 

 second h, the position angles were respec- 

 tively about 252° and 94°, and the dis- 

 tances, 2900" and 2700" from the Nova. 



The plan was to make the observations 

 in the usual symmetrical order Na, Nb, Nb, 

 Na, so as to eliminate, as far as possible, 

 the effect of refraction and other effects 

 which may vary with the time. Since the 

 distance, ab, was not beyond the range of 

 the heliometer it was thought expedient to 

 measure this distance also each night, and 

 thus have besides the sums of the dis- 

 tances, an independent basis for correcting 

 the changes in the scale value from night to 

 night. Each night's work, then, consists 

 of six observations of distance each of four 

 pointings in reversed positions of the in- 

 strument, as follows : Na, Nb, ab, ab, Nb, 



