368 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 168 : 



ciety, for 1886, has been awarded to Messrs. 

 Capello and Tvens, for their African journeys. A 

 smaller gold medal has been given to the * Pundit 

 A. K.,' one of the anonymous explorers for Eng- 

 land of upper Tibet ; and medals of silver and 

 bronze to Messrs. Bloyet and H. Mager, for Afri- 

 can topography and the ' Colonial atlas.' The 

 prix Logerot is received by M. Marche, for his 

 explorations of the Philippines. 



A new oil. — The oil of a species of bamboo of 

 African origin is reported by the Catholic mission- 

 aries of Alima in Africa to be an excellent lubri- 

 cator, and, when refined, to form a fair substitute 

 for olive-oil in the cuisine. The new industry 

 thus created is actually in process of development 

 in the French Kongo region. 



Ethnographic map of Asia. — Von Haardt of 

 Vienna has sent out a prospectus of a new ethno- 

 graphic map of Asia, in six sheets, scale 1: 8,000,- 

 000, total size 175 x 140 cm. The scheme includes 

 one hundred and thirty-six ethnic divisions, to be 

 indicated by appropriate tints and hachuring. 

 . The subscription price is placed at thirty francs. 

 The classification adopted has its defects ; but the 

 map, which will be accompanied by a small ex- 

 planatory pamphlet, to all interested in the dis- 

 tribution of mankind, will have great value. If 

 successful, it will be followed by maps of other 

 continents, on the same plan. Subscriptions are 

 to be sent to Eduard Holzel, Vienna, Weyringer- 

 gasse 19. 



ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 

 The two comets. — Fabry's comet continues to 

 increase in brightness, and on a clear morning is 

 bright enough to be made out with the naked eye, 

 though it does not reach a sufficient altitude be- 

 fore sunrise to be very conspicuous in the presence 

 of bright moonlight. Barnard described it on the 

 8th inst. as a hazy object with a faint tail, which, 

 in the telescope, could be traced for five or six 

 degrees. On April 24 the comet w^ill be in the 

 constellation Triangulum, in right ascension l h 32 m , 

 north declination 30° 3', and will appear above the 

 horizon about half-past three in the morning. Its 

 brightness is then 297 times as great as at the time 

 of discovery. The comet is increasing its right 

 ascension, and is moving rapidly south : at the 

 end of April, according to Dr. Oppenheim's 

 ephemeris, it will approach us within a fifth part 

 of the distance of the sun, and its theoretical 

 brightness will be nearly 500 times that at dis- 

 covery. Barnard's comet is also increasing in 

 brightness, but somewhat more slowly than Fa- 

 bry's. It makes its nearest approach to the sun in 

 the first week of May, and its nearest to the earth 

 in the latter part of that month. The position for 



the last of this week (April 24) is : right ascension, 

 ■ l h 40 m ; north declination, 39° 39', with a calcu- 

 lated brightness of 62 : it is nearly midway be- 

 tween the second magnitude stars and y Androm- 

 edae, and sets a little after eight o'clock. The 

 astronomical positions we have given can readily 

 be found upon the star-maps (map I.) given in the 

 Science Almanac for last year (vol. iv. No. 99) or 

 upon any celestial atlas. 



The new nebula in the Pleiades. — The nebula 

 discovered by the Henry brothers of the Paris ob- 

 servatory, upon their photographic negative of the 

 Pleiades taken Nov. 16, 1885, has been seen — now 

 that its existence is known — without great diffi- 

 culty, by Perrotin and his assistants at Nice, and 

 by Struve with his new 30-inch Clark objective, 

 and also with the 15-inch at Pulkowa. Struve 

 gives a careful description of the nebula, accom- 

 panied by a sketch, in the Astronomische nach- 

 richten (No. 2,719), and from his observations it 

 seems probable that some of the small stars in the 

 immediate neighborhood may prove to be interest- 

 ing variables. The nebula is of a characteristic 

 spiral form, and seems to ' escape ' from the star 

 Maia. Professor Pickering, upon the announce- 

 ment of the discovery, recalled the circumstance 

 that certain irregularities had been noticed in a 

 photograph of the Pleiades taken on Nov. 3, 1885, 

 at Harvard college observatory. These irregulari- 

 ties, which had been referred to defects in the 

 photographic process, correspond closely with the 

 descriptions of the nebula, and no doubt represent 

 light photographically visible near Maia. 4 'The 

 explanation thus afforded, of one of the markings 

 on the Cambridge photograph, makes the others 

 of more interest than seemed at first to belong to 

 them. There are indications of nebulous light 

 about Merope ; four short parallel streaks directed 

 to the south following side are particularly notice- 

 able, and a faint prolongation of diffuse light may 

 be suspected towards the south, in agreement with 

 the descriptions usually given of the visible nebula 

 in that region. There is also a faint streak of 

 light projecting from Electra on the following 

 side. ... No nebulous light is noticeable about 

 Alcyone, Atlas, Pleione, or Taygeta." 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 As stated in our 'Boston letter' of March 12, 

 the liberality and co-operation of the Woman's 

 education association enable the Boston society of 

 natural history to announce that the Seaside labo- 

 ratory at Annisquam, Mass., will be open to stu- 

 dents during the coining summer from June 15 to 

 Aug. 15, 1886. Annisquam is situated on an inlet 

 of Ipswich Bay, on the north side of Cape Ann, 



