310 



8CIJENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 140. 



ent incominensurate rhythm ourselves, whether by 

 movement, or inward time keeping. Helmholtz 

 it is known explains discord by ' beats,' harmony 

 by their absence ; and melody he explains by the 

 ' affinity ' of the consecutive notes, i. e. , the pres- 

 ence in them of identical over-tones. All these 

 theories Dr. Lipps denies, to touch the essence of 

 the matter ; and reduces harmony, discord, and 

 melody to the single positive principle of felt con- 

 gruence or incongruence of vibratory rates. The 

 paper is too technical to be gone into in more detail. 

 All musical aestheticians should read it. It closes 

 a little book, which, for acuteness, clearness and vig- 

 or, has not been surpassed for many a long year. 



ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 



It appears from the latest reports we have seen 

 that the new star in the Andromeda nebula (31 Mes- 

 sier) to which attention was first generally called by 

 Hartwig's telegram, was discovered independently 

 by several observers, one at least antedating Dr. 

 Hartwig. Dun Echt Circular No. 98 announces 

 that it was seen by Mr. Isaac W. Ward on August 

 19, and by M. Lajoye at Rheims, August 30. 

 Baron von Spiessen at Winkel, in Prussia, seems 

 to have noticed it on the evening of August 30, 

 about 9^11. , communicating his observation to Dr. 

 Deichmiiller by mail. On August 31, at lOh. 20m. 

 Berlin mean time (before the arrival of Hartwig's 

 telegram). Dr. Oppenheim tunaiag his 3^ inch 

 comet seeker upon the nebula, noticed the new 

 star-hke nucleus and estimated it to be between 

 the 5th and 6th magnitude. The new star was 

 also independently discovered by G. W. Middleton, 

 at INIexbro' Common, England, on September 3. 

 Hartwig telegraphed the peculiar appearance of 

 the nebula from Dorpat at lOh. 15m., August 31. 

 We have the testimony of different observers that 

 the star was not tliei-e in the early part of August. 

 Hartwdg estimated it at 7th magnitude on August 

 31, Oppenheim making it 5tli to 6th magnitude, 

 and Lamp 7.4 magnitude on the same evening. 

 On September 1, and for several days foUowiag, 

 it was variously estimated from the 6th to 7th 

 magnitude, and since that time it has gradually 

 gi'own fainter, the latest estimate (by Mr. Skinner, 

 with the transit circle of the naval observatory, 

 September 30) makmg it of about 9^ magnitude. 

 On September 2 it was reported visible to the naked 

 eye. In color it was called red and orange during the 

 first week in September, but it now appears nearly 

 white. We learn from the Athenaeum that Mr. 

 Maunder examined the star with the large spectro- 

 scope of the Greenwich observatory, describing 

 the spectrum as of precisely the same character as 

 that of the nebula, i.e., it was perfectly continuous, 



no lines either bright or dark being visible, and the 

 red end wanting, so that there is at present no 

 evidence of any outburst of heated gas, as was the 

 case with the star T Coronae in 1866, and Nova 

 Cygni m 1876. 



The Andromeda nebula, though probably com- 

 posed of a great number of very small stars, has 

 never been resolved. The spectroscope seems to 

 show that it is not gaseous. Assuming that the 

 nebula is stellar in nature, and that the 14th mag- 

 nitude is the upper limit of any one of its component 

 stars, then a rise from the 14th to the 7th magni- 

 tude indicates an increase in brightness of 631 fold, 

 which renders it very improbable that the star is 

 one of the constituent parts of the nebula. It 

 seems rather more probable that it is a variable or 

 new star which happens to be in line with the 

 nebula as seen from the earth. 



The following observations of the Nova were 

 made with the transit-circle of the naval observa- 

 tory, and, by permission of the superintendent, are 

 herewith communicated. The estimates of mag- 

 nitude are differential with respect to the star 

 W2 Oh, 969 which follows the Nova about 2m., and 

 is assumed to be 9.0 mag. Photometric observations 

 of this star would be desirable: 



Date. 



1885. 



Ob- 

 server. 



Mag- 

 nitude. 



1885.0 





a 



6 



Sept. 17 



W. 



9.1 



h. 

 



m. 

 36 



26.86 



+40 



38 



12.6 



- 23 



P. 



9.5 







26.84 







14 7 



" 24 



W. 



9.6 







26.87 







12.8 



18S5.727 





9.4 







36 



26.86 



+40 



38 



13.4 



Professor Pickering, in the Proceedings of the 

 American society of psychical research (see Science 

 vol. vi. , p. 155) finds, from discussing a large number 

 of observations, that the knowledge of a catalogue- 

 magnitude of a star on the part of a recorder ap- 

 pears to exert through the medium of ' thought- 

 transferrence,' no influence upon the independence 

 of the observer's estimate of the same. 



For the floating dome of the observatory at 

 Nice it is proposed to employ a solution of chloride 

 of magnesium of a density of 1.25, which will not 

 freeze down to — 40" C. 



Comet 1885 II (Barnard). A conjecture having 

 been expressed by Faye and Krueger that Bar- 

 nard's comet might be periodic. Dr. Lamp, of Kiel, 

 has computed elliptic elements and finds a period 

 of 8,700 years. He remarks, however that, owing 

 to the uncertainty in the single observations em- 

 ployed, his results can hardly be considered deci- 

 sive, and the orbit may yet turn out parabolic. 



