SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



325 







Rises. 



Sets. 



Posit 



on at Noon 







h.m. 



h.m. 



R.A. 





Dec. 





1896. 



A.M. 



P.M. 



h.m. 







Sun 



April 1 



... 5-3.6 . 



• 6.31 . 



.. 0.45 . 



■ 4" 



5i* s 





11 ll 



... 5-M • 



. 6.48 . 



.. 1.22 . 



. 8 U 



36' 





n 21 



... 4-52 . 

 Rises. 



A.M. 



• 7-5 • 

 Souths. 



A.M. 



.. 1. 59 . 



. 12° 



8' 



Moon 



.1 1 



„ 15 

 11 22 



... 0.2 . 

 ... 4.9 • 



Souths. 



P.M. 



.. I.38 . 

 P.M. 



— 7-53 • 

 Rises. 



A.M. 



• 3-34 



• 9-29 

 Sets. 



P.M. 



. 10.12 



A.M. 



■ 3-2 



Souths. 



A.M. 









Mercury... 



n 1 



... 5-24 • 



. II. 10 . 



.. 23.50 . 



• 3 U 







11 n 



... 5-13 • 



■ 11.39 . 



.. 0.57 . 



• 4 U 



27' N 





11 21 



.. 4.58 . 



. 12.13 . 



■ • 2.13 . 



• 13° 



26' 



Venus 



11 1 



... 5.1 . 



. 10.31 . 



.. 23.12 



. 6 U 



38' S 





.1 1 ' 



.. 4.42 . 



. 10.37 . 



■ 23.57 . 



. i° 



^ M 





11 21 



.. 4.28 . 



. 10.43 . 



. 0.42 . 



. 2° 



51' N 



Mars 



11 1 



.. 4-13 • 



. 8.57 . 



. 21.39 . 



• 1. 5° 



22' S 





11 11 



.. 3.50 . 



. 8.47 . 



. 22.9 . 



. I2 L 



54' 





11 21 



■• 3.25 • 

 Souths. 



P.M. 



. 8.37 . 



Sets. 



A.M. 



.. 22.38 . 



. 10° 



13' 



Jupiter ... 



1, 10 



... 6.49 . 



. 2.49 . 



.. 8.7 . 



. 8° 



57' N 





,, 30 



.. 5-37 •• 

 Rises. 



P.M. 



. 1-34 • 

 Souths. 



A.M. 



. 8.14 . 



. 8 U 



36' 



Saturn ... 



11 10 



... 8.57 • 



. I.44 • 



•• 15-4 • 



• 14° 



40' S 





., 30 



.. 7oi • 



P.M. 



. 0.20 . 

 P.M. 



.. 14.58 . 



• 14° 



15' 



Uranus ... 



.1 30 



.. 8.18 . 



Souths. 



P.M. 



• 12.44 • 



Sets. 



P.M. 



.. 15-23 • 



. 18 



15' s 



Neptune... 



„ 30 



... 2.25 . 



. 10.27 • 



• 5-i • 



. 21° 



23' N 



Moon's Phases. 

 Last Qr... April 5 ... 0.24 a.m. New ... April 13 ... 4.23 a.m. 

 1st Qr. ... ,, 20 ...10.47 p.m. Full ... ,, 27 ... 1.47 p.m. 



There will be a rather brilliant meteor shower 

 on the 20th. The radiant point is a 270 8 + 33 . 



Mercury, an evening star, at end of month. 



Venus and Mars are not well placed, but Jupiter 

 is, and Saturn is coming well up. 



Overstall's Improved Driving Clock. — This 

 instrument, as supplied by Home and Thornthwaite, 

 of London, is arousing considerable interest in the 

 astronomical world, as by its great simplicity, and 

 consequent low cost, it comes within the reach of 

 many who have hitherto found a driving-clock 

 too expensive a luxury. The clock drives the 

 equatorial quite independently of the hand motions, 

 and the telescope can be moved rapidly by hand, 

 or slowly by the Hook's joint, without interfering 

 with the action of the clock. A weight of about 

 four pounds is sufficient to drive the telescope, and 

 with the ordinary length of fall, about five feet, the 

 clock will run for over two hours with this weight. 

 No jerkiness is visible even with a high power. 

 When carefully regulated, the clock will keep a 

 star practically stationary for about four minutes, 

 and will keep it in the field of the telescope for 

 about half-an-hour. 



White Variety of Common Centaury. — On 

 page 272 of the present volume of Science-Gossip, 

 Mr. A. P. Gardiner notes the occurrence of a white- 

 flowered variety of Erythraca centaurium, Pers. , on 

 the Somersetshire coast, between Clevedon and 

 Portishead. It may interest Mr. Gardiner to know 

 that I have seen the same form in North 

 Gloucestershire, on the Cotswolds, and at 

 Ecchinswell, Hants. If he refers to page 212 of 

 Mr. Townsend's " Flora of Hampshire," he will see 

 that the author records it from the latter locality, 

 where it has been noticed for several seasons past, 

 growing amongst specimens with flowers of the 

 normal colour. I believe it is not an unusual 

 thing to find this plant with white flowers. — H. 

 Weaver, Caxton Villas, Newbury, Berks. ; February, 

 28th, 1896. 



Effects of Frost. — In the' - Transactions of the 

 English Aboricultural Society " (for 1S95-6, vol. 

 iii., p. 54), just to hand, is an important paper 

 upon the effects of frost on trees and shrubs, by 

 Dr. William Somerville, Professor of Agriculture 

 and Forestry in the Durham College of Science, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne. The data upon which this 

 paper is founded was gathered from many quarters 

 after the great frost of January and February, 1S95, 

 and the spring frosts of May, 1894. The spring 

 frosts are apparently more destructive in the end 

 than severe winter frosts. The trees most liable to 

 damage from the former, are beech, oak, larch and 

 spruce, and to a lesser degree, ash, sycamore, 

 silver-fir and yew. Young trees are most liable to 

 injury. Trees and shrubs suffer more in hollows 

 and valleys than on level or high ground, and areas 

 facing south and south-east are more liable to be 

 affected than other aspects. 



Atrophy of Tree Branches. — Mr. Carrington's 

 remarks (ante page 28 1) remind me very much of 

 the characters exhibited by some elm-trees and 

 lime-trees, which were cut down in the spring of 

 1895, i n Grange Road, Selhurst. These were sawn 

 off close to the ground, leaving only the stumps. 

 In a very short time twigs commenced to grow- 

 between the wood and the inner bark, and when 

 about a foot high, were so thick in foliage that 

 they appeared as small bushes, with a birds' -nest- 

 like hollow within the circle. It was noteworthy, 

 too, that when the tree was a large one, and the 

 roots protruded above the ground all round the 

 trunk, in those places where the roots had also 

 been subjected to the sawing process, the twigs had 

 sprouted similarly on the outer edge of the wood. 

 Also, that where the roots of such trees came to 

 the surface of the ground, as much as six yards 

 away from the stump, these also gave out shoots of 

 rapid and vigorous growth. The explanation of 

 this seems to me to be that the creature having 

 lost its means of dissipating its tremendous energy, 

 which must have been in proportion to its growth, 

 it has fallen back upon what remains of it to utilise 

 the rising sap. By the end of last summer some of 

 the upright shoots could not have been less than 

 four feet in height. — E. A. Martin, 62, Bensham 

 Manor Road, Thornton Heath. 



