Notices respecting New Books. 241 



Def, 2, " the intersection of two lines is a point :" it may be, we 

 should think "a point or points." Def. 3, "the boundaries of a 

 surface, and the intersection of two surfaces are lines :" we would 

 say "a line or lines." Def. 4, "the boundaries of a solid are sur- 

 faces" — u a surface or surfaces." Def. 23, a polygon is regular 

 " when its sides and angles are equal :" add " respectively." A few 

 changes in arrangement have been made in this new edition of the 

 Syllabus. 



Annuaire pour Fan 1884, publie par le Bureau cles Longitudes. 

 Paris : Gauthier-Villars (pp. 910). 



It would be a matter of very considerable difficulty, if not an 

 absolute impossibility, to put one's hand on any other book which 

 contains, bulk for bulk, such a vast amount of valuable information 

 as is comprised in this yearly issue of the Bureau cles Longitudes. 

 The astronomer, the geographer, and the statistician will here 

 find an abundance of material carefully reproduced, for the most 

 part, in a tabular form. Nor will the chemist find that his wants 

 have been by any means neglected. 



In the Astronomical portion of the work, besides the usual 

 Ephemerides and Elements of the Sun, Moon, and Planets, 

 Schonfeld's Catalogue, supplemented by more recent discoveries, 

 has furnished the Editor with the means of computing the epochs 

 of the maxima and minima of those Variable Stars whose periods 

 are known. Of 130 of these the Bight Ascensions, Declinations, 

 and Magnitudes are tabulated, while the same information is given 

 concerning 186 whose periods have not yet been determined. The 

 Elements of the Minor Planets have been brought well up to date, 

 the last in the tables being No. 234, which was discovered on 

 August 12, 1883. Those who have anything to do with Cometo- 

 graphy will be grateful to the Editor for inserting, as he has done 

 now for the last two or three years, a complete list of all the comets 

 that have appeared from 1861 onwards ; the last noticed being 

 Barnard's, which reckons as Comet III. 1882. We observe that the 

 comet supposed to have been seen by the same observer on March 16, 

 1882, is called Comet a of that year, although astronomers have 

 almost unanimously agreed to give that title to Wells's comet, known 

 as Comet I. 1882. The most approved Elements are given, as well 

 as a concise description of the discovery and peculiarities of each. 

 There is hardly any work on the subject, or periodical of any 

 scientific pretensions, or the Eeport of any Observatory, that has 

 not been laid under contribution in order to render this section 

 of the work as complete as possible. A new feature in this year's 

 Annuaire is the introduction of a table of the positions of the 

 Eadiant Points of some of the principal Meteor-showers. The 

 information here given is very meagre, and it is to be hoped that 

 in future years the Editor will be able to spare sufficient space to 

 give the Eadiant Points of more tha.n nine showers. The researches 

 of de Konkoly, de Koveligethy, Denning, and others will easily 



Phil. Mag. S. 5. Vol. 17. No. 105. March 1884. R 



