350 



SCIEWCE, 



[Vol. VI., No. 143. 



the creation of more prof essorsliips and the propri- 

 ety of combining their forces into a national 

 faculty, institute, or school, of advanced geograph- 

 ical teaching. In this way no additional expense 

 would be required, and yet the work might be 

 more effectively carried on. 



The minister in replying evinced his sympathy 

 with the view that geography was growing daily 

 more important and should be more widely taught. 

 He declared his desire for more numerous chans 

 of that science, and that it should be taught more 

 effectively, but doubted whether it were desirable 

 that any centrahzed body should undertake in- 

 struction of that science separately, evidently be- 

 Heving that it should be taught in conjunction 

 with other branches of leaiiiing. He also pointed 

 out that much progress had already been made. 

 Four professorships of geogi'aphy have been crea- 

 ted since 1870, and more than ten others combine 

 history and geogi-aphy, besides which there are 

 several courses of lectures on geographical sub- 

 jects. M. Drapeyron, the editor of the review, is 

 devoted to the project of a national school of 

 geography, and has constituted liimself its apostle 

 in France. By geography is, of course, meant 

 * knowledge of the earth ' in its widest sense, and 

 not merely a smattering of pohtical divisions, 

 large towns and the most saUent physical fea- 

 tures, mixed with a little Iiistory, etlmology, ar- 

 chitecture and cartography, which passes muster 

 for the science of geogTaphy in most of our schools. 



Great Britain has recently been stuTing in the 

 matter of geographical teacliing, and, though tliis 

 country has benefited greatly by the work and 

 presence of such men as Guyot and Mauiy, and 

 by the constant progi'ess of actual exploration, 

 which has made certain aspects of geography 

 familiar to the public mind, yet even here the 

 teaching of this science leaves much to be desued, 

 and it is not yet, we beheve, recognized by a full 

 professorship in any of our universities. 



Astronomers at most observatories must envy 

 those at Nice their clear skies. M. Charlois of that 

 observatory was the first to pick up Tuttle's comet 

 at its late return, and, although it was only possi- 

 ble to observe it for ten or fifteen minutes each 

 morning, between its rising-time and twilight, yet, 

 in spite of its faintness, nearness to the horizon, 

 and this limited time, he was able to compare its 



position with that of neighboring stars on six con- 

 secutive days after discovery, thus furnishing 

 plenty of data for fixing the time of perihelion 

 passage and correcting the elements of its orbit, even 

 if no other observations are secured at this return. 

 The same observer also obtained good observa- 

 tions of Barnard's comet on the seven consecutive 

 nights following the telegraphic announcement of 

 its discovery. These are records that could be 

 made at very few places outside the sunny skies of 

 southern France and Italy. 



The relative importance of astronomy and 

 meteorology, as looked upon iu some parts of the 

 world, is well illustrated in a volume just pub- 

 lished whose title page reads : " Meteorological ob- 

 servations made at the Adelaide observatory, and 

 other places m southern Australia and the northern 

 territory, durmg the year 1882, under the direction 

 of Charles Todd, C. M. G., F. R. A. S., observer, 

 postmaster-general, and superintendent of tele- 

 graphs." The volume is a folio of 298 pages, of 

 Avliich all but two are devoted to meteorology. 

 These two describe the astronomical work of the 

 Adelaide observatory for 1882, the first being de- 

 voted to the observation of ten phenomena of Jupi- 

 ter's satellites, of which only two are eclipses, the 

 phenomena timed in these cases being described as 

 ' first seen,' ' quite distinct,' and ' full blaze.' The 

 other page is devoted to the director s observations 

 upon the transit of Venus of December 7, made at 

 Wentworth. The description of the determination 

 of the latitude of the observing station is worth 

 quoting. ' ' The latitude, deduced from eleven 

 meridian altitudes, kindly taken with a sextant by 

 Mr. J. W. ConnoUy, surveyor, is 34° 6' 24. 7'^ " 



THE ALERT EXPEDITION. 

 The steamer Alert, Lieutenant Gordon, E. N., 

 commanding, arrived at St. John's, N. F., Oct. 14, 

 from her second attempt to reach Hudson Bay, 

 having visited all the stations where observers 

 had been placed in 1884, relieving the parties and 

 supplying their places by fresh observers. All 

 were weU, only one death, that of a station hand 

 by scurvy, having been reported. One of the 

 stations was found deserted, but the party, fearing 

 the Alert might not reach them, had taken pas- 

 sage on the Hudson Bay company's steamer 

 Labrador. The results of work at the stations have 

 been favorable, though exact details have not yet 

 been received. The Alert reached her destination 



