462 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. VI., No. 146. 



tions in both cases being those of Auwers' system. 

 They come out respectively — 



+ 43° 4' 36^^97 ± 0''.07 

 and 36^^99 ± O^'.OG, 



remarkably accordant results. The fifth part of 

 the volume is a ' Catalogue of 1,001 southern stars 

 for 1850.0, from observations by Signor P. Tacchini, 

 at Palermo, in the years 1867, 1868, 1869,' by Rev. 

 Father Hagen, S.J., and Edward S. Holden. The 

 original observations had never been reduced to 

 mean place ; but being good ones, and in a part of 

 the sky where needed, we have here the anomaly 

 of European work reduced and published in this 

 country ; and Father Hagen and Professor Holden 

 are to be higlily commended for making it avail- 

 able, while its comparison with Oeltzen's Arge- 

 lander (south) and the Washington zones served 

 to detect many errors in these catalogues. The 

 sixth part gives the observations of 437 southern 

 stars made with the Washington transit-circle, and 

 also the position of the same stars (whenever oc- 

 curring) from the catalogues of Yarnall, Gould's 

 zones, and Stone, all the positions being reduced 

 to 1850.0 by Father Hagen. This is the first op- 

 portunity for easy comparison on a large scale 

 between tlipse four systems of southern declina- 

 tions, and the comparison develops the following 

 important differences of north polar-distance : — 

 YarnaU = + l'M2 (from 220 stars) 



Gould (Z.C.) =+r.96( " 215 '' ) 

 Stone = + l^'.OO ( «' 238 " ) 



It is a rather unexpected anomaly to find the 

 Cordoba zone-catalogue and Stone differing by 

 nearly a second, but that the Washington transit- 

 circle should be so much out will not probably 

 occasion much surprise to any one. 



The volume closes with a count of the Durch- 

 TTiusterung stars between — 2° and + 13°, a deter- 

 mination of the constants of some of the other 

 instruments, meteorological observations for 1884, 

 a summary of the same as taken at Madison con- 

 tinuously from 1853 to 1884, and is throughout a 

 highly creditable publication. In his new field at 

 the Lick observatory. Professor Holden will have 

 the satisfaction of having left behind a valuable 

 monument in these three volumes. 



ARTIFICIAL WINDS. 

 A NOVEL apparatus has been constructed by M. 

 Rougerie, a priest of Pamiers, in France, and 

 brought recently before the French academy of 

 sciences. It gives rise to air currents similar to 

 the great winds of the earth's atmosphere, and 

 hence its name, the anemogene. As described in 

 Engineering, the apparatus consists of a smaU 

 artificial terrestrial globe put into rapid rotation 



in the surrounding air. In fact, it is a miniature 

 of the earth, and by its rapid rotation it gives 

 rise to air currents resembling the trade and 

 other dominant winds of the world. These cur- 

 rents are shov^i by girouettes placed round the 

 globe at small intervals, like the wind marks on 

 the French marine charts. The apparatus reveals 

 the following facts : The north-east and south-east 

 trades are reproduced, and the equatorial zone of 

 cahns caused by their meeting. The gentle 

 breezes from north and south, which disturb the 

 equatorial calms, are also seen. So is the over- 

 throwal of the north-east trade in the south-west 

 monsoons in the gulfs of Oman and Bengal. An 

 ascending cuiTent in the equatorial regions is 

 shown, and a descending current near the Azores 

 under the centre of maximum barometrical pressure 

 of the North Atlantic ; also a descending current is 

 indicated between St. Helena and the meridional 

 coast of Africa, under the centre of maximum 

 barometric pressure of the South Atlantic. At the 

 poles there is a current descending from the zenith. 

 The south-east trade at the Canaries is represented, 

 while at the same time a south wind blows at the 

 summit of the Peak of Teneriffe. Ascending cur- 

 rents from the east and west over Central America 

 combine with the upper returning current of the 

 north-east trade, thus explaining how the ashes of 

 the volcano of Conseguina, on Lake Nicaragua, 

 were transported to Jamaica during the eruption 

 of the 25th of February, 1835. Owing to the de- 

 fects of construction, the anemogene, however, does 

 not reproduce in a perfect fashion the variable 

 winds between the tropic of Cancer and 50° N. lat. , 

 nor the corresponding winds between the tropic of 

 Capricorn and 50° S. lat. In the same way the 

 south-west and north-west winds of 50° N. and S. 

 lat. are not very faithfully imitated. 



Every student of biology knows of Huxley 

 and Martin's ' Elementary text-book of biology.' 

 Most teachers have either used the book, or been 

 influenced by it in forming or modifying their 

 laboratory courses. But the lack of illustrations, 

 and brevity of the text, made the book to many 

 almost useless. Mr. Howe's atlas (Macmillan) is in- 

 tended to supplement the text-book in the first of 

 these particulars. Its plates show the student 

 exactly the points to which the text refers. It is 

 a series of twenty-four large plates containing 

 some five hundred figures. Each plate is accom- 

 panied by two or three pages of exjjlanation, and 

 the work closes with a few admirable practical 

 directions and a bibliography. In anatomical 

 accuracy the book is all that any one could reason- 

 ably desire. The figures, however, differ greatly 

 in clearness and finish. 



