SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



273 







Rises 



Sets. 



Posit 



on at r\'oou 







h.m. 



h.m. 



R.A. 



Dec. 





1896. 



A.M. 



P.M. 



h.m. 





Sun 



. Jan. 1 



... 8.8 



• • 3-59 •■ 



18.46 . 



. 23° 2' S 





n " 



... 8. 5 



.. 4.11 .. 



19.30 . 



. 21° 50' 





11 21 



... 7-56 

 Rises. 



P.M. 



.. 4-27 •• 

 Soutlis. 



A.M. 



20.13 ■ 



■ 19° 57' 



Moon 



>. 1 



... 4-32 



A.M. 



.. 1. 13 

 A.M. 









.. 8 



... 2.4I 



Souths 



P.M. 



.. 7.IO 



Sets. 



P M. 









.. 15 



... 04I 

 P.M. 



•■ 4 44 



A.M. 











... 5.3I 



P.M. 



.. I.g 



P.M. 







Mercury. 



,, 2 



... O.38 



.. 428 .. 



19.25 . 



. 24" 11' S 





,, 12 



... 1.8 



.. 5-20 .. 



20.34 • 



. 20° 40' 





ii 



..: 1.26 



Rises. 



A.M. 



.. 6 to .. 

 Souths. 



A.M. 



21.32 . 



. 15° 7' 



Penus 



11 2 



... 4-24 



.. 8.58 .. 



15 44 • 



. 17 6' S 





,, 12 



... 4-48 



.. 9-7 .. 



16.32 . 



• 19° 33' 





11 22 



... 5-1° 



.. 9.18 .. 



17.22 . 



. 2l" 14' 



Mars 



„ 2 



... 6.11 



.. 10.8 .. 



16.55 • 



. 20° 50' S 





ii 12 



... 6.8 



.. 10.0 



17-27 • 



• 23° 33' 





11 22 



... 6.2 



P.M. 



.. 9-52 •• 



A.M. 



17.58 . 



• 23 53' 



Jupiter . 



■ 1 I 



... 6.5 



• • 1-53 •■ 



8.38 . 



. 19° 7' N. 





11 21 



... 4-31 



A.M. 



.. O.24 .. 

 A.I.I. 



828 . 



• 19° 47' 



Saturn . 



11 I 



... 3.26 



.. 8.I3 .. 



14 59 • 



• 14° 39' s. 





,, 21 



... 2 15 



.. 70 .. 



15-5 • 



. 15° 0' 



Uranus . 



11 I 



... 4. II 



- S.37 .. 



15-23 ■ 



. ib c 17' S. 





„ 31 



... 2.18 

 P.M. 



.. 6.43 .. 



P.M. 



15-27 • 



• 18" 33' 



Neptune . 



ii I 



... 2.13 



.. 10.15 •• 



5.0 . 



. 2i J 15' N. 





•1 31 



... O.I4 



Moon's 



.. 8.15 .. 



Phases. 



4-57 - 



. 21° 12' 



Last (Jr.. 



Jan. 7 ... 



3.25 p.m. 



New ... J 



an. 14 .. 



. 10.19 p.m. 



1st Qr. .. 



11 2 3 ••■ 



2.42 a.m. 



Full ... 



,, 30 .. 



. 8.55 a.m. 



Mercury is at its greatest elongation east on 

 the 23rd. Venus is still very prominent in the 

 morning, but her declination is too far south to be 

 convenient. Jupiter is still very well situated, his 

 north declination making his position very satis- 

 factory ; he is in opposition on the 24th. 



We understand that Mr. R. Kanthack, of iS, 

 Berners Street, London, has just been appointed 

 sole agent for the United Kingdom and Colonies, 

 for Messrs. C. A. Steinheil Sohne, of Munich, the 

 makers of telescopes and all kinds of instruments 

 for astronomical and physical research. Mr. 

 Kanthack will be pleased to forward, without 

 charge, their catalogue in English, to anyone who 

 may desire to have a copy. Mr. Kanthack is also 

 agent for Leitz's microscopes. 



Dr. John Russell Hind, F.R.S., the eminent 

 astronomer, died on December 23rd, 1895, at 

 Twickenham. He was born on May 12th, 1S22, at 

 Nottingham, the son of a lace manufacturer there, 

 and at an early period began to study astronomy. 

 When he was but sixteen years of age he 

 contributed a number of astronomical notes to the 

 " Nottingham Journal " and elsewhere. His first 

 occupation was as an assistant to a civil engineer, 

 and in 1S40 he went to London on professional 

 duties. Through the influence of Professor 

 Wheatstone, he later obtained a post in the Royal 



Observatory at Greenwich, under Mr. Airy, the 

 then Astronomer Royal, as an assistant in the 

 magnetical and meteorological department, where 

 he remained until June, 1844. In 1S4 3, for a period 

 of three months, he served on the Commission 

 appointed by the Government to determine the 

 exact longitude of Valentia Island off the Kerry 

 coast. On his return he joined the staff of Mr. G. 

 Bishop's private observatory in Regent's Park, 

 and there he made observations which rendered 

 his name celebrated among astronomers. He 

 calculated the orbits of more than seventy planets 

 and comets, reported sixteen new movable stars 

 and three nebulae, and discovered ten new minor 

 planets, viz. : Iris and Flora in 1847, Victoria in 



1850, Irene in 1851, Melpomene, Fortuna, Calliope, 

 and Thalia in 1852, Euterpe in 1853, and Urania in 

 1854. In 1844 he became a Fellow of the 

 Astronomical Society, and in 1846 his first work 

 appeared, "The Solar System." About the same 

 time he was appointed Foreign Secretary of the 

 Royal Astronomical Society, elected a correspond- 

 ing member of the Societe Philomatique of Paris, 

 and received from the King of Denmark a gold 

 medal for his discovery of a planet, in February, 

 1847. In May, 1850, he became a corresponding 

 member of the National Institute of France, in 



1851, obtained from the Academy of Sciences, Paris, 

 the Lalande Medal and was elected a correspond- 

 ing member, and the following year was awarded 

 the Astronomical Society's gold medal and a 

 pension of /200 a year from the British Govern- 

 ment. He also, in 1852, received for the third time 

 the Lalande Medal from the Academy of Sciences, 

 Paris, and a prize of about 300 francs for his 

 discoveries of new planets. In 1S53 he undertook 

 the editing of the " Nautical Almanack," and was 

 for many years the Superintendent of the " Nautical 

 Almanack " office. In 1S80, Dr. Hind was 

 President of the Royal Astronomical Society. He 

 was the author of many works, including his 

 " Solar System," " Recent Comets and the Elements 

 of their Orbits," an "Astronomical Vocabulary," 

 " The Comets," "Illustrated London Astronomy," 

 " Elements of Algebra," " Expected Return of the 

 Great Comet of 1264 and 1556," and a Descriptive 

 Treatise on Comets. 



Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench and Trubner 

 have recently published a book, by Mr. William 

 Ford Stanley, F.R.A.S., entitled " Notes on the 

 Nebular Theory, in relation to Stellar, Solar, 

 Planetary, Cometary, and Geological Phenomena." 

 In a rather apologetic preface the author mentions 

 that although the essays which constitute the 

 chapters in this work have already appeared in 

 serial literature, they are now amplified and 

 brought up to the range of his more mature results 

 of investigation. These essays, even if the speci- 

 alist reader does not quite agree with Mr. Stanley's 

 conclusions, will be found to quite repay perusal. 

 That they are speculative is inevitable, but there 

 are many very thoughtful passages which are worth 

 weighing and their theories investigating. The 

 work shows every indication of independence of 

 thought on the part of the author, though he 

 constantly quotes other thinkers, but always gives 

 his authority and place where he had obtained his 

 quotation. To the general reader the subject is 

 one which grows upon his imagination until he 

 passes from the stages of wonder to that of highest 

 interest. The illustrations are well executed and 

 admirably printed ; especially is this so in plate 3. 

 The price of this work is 9s. 



