possibility of such a transmission, Prof. Vines should interpret that in my favour, not to my discredit; it is not the business of an investigator to set forth a proposition, which on the existing evidence he is compelled to believe, as an infallible dogma. Prof. Vines finds my "statements of opinion so fluctuating that it is difficult to determine what [my] position exactly is," but he could have easily discovered mny meaning, if, instead of promiscuously contrasting the eight essays and the eight years of their production, he had merely brought the last of them to the bar of judgment. This essay is especially concerned with "the supposed transmission of mutilations," and at its conclusion my verdict on the state of the problem of the inheritance of acquired characters is thus summarised :-" The true decision as to the Lamarckian principle [lies in] the explanation of the observed phenomena of transformation. ... If, as I believe, these phenomena can be explained without the Lamarckian principle, we have no right to assume a form of transmission of which we cannot prove the existence. Only if it could be shown that we cannot now or ever dispense with the principle, should we be justified in accepting it." The distinguished botanist De Vries has proved that certain constituents of the cell-body, eg. the chromatophores of Algæ, pass directly from the maternal ovum to the daughter-organism, while the male germ-cell generally contains no chromatophores. Here it appears possible that a transmission of somatogenic variation has occurred; in these lower plants, the separation between somatic and reproductive cells is slight, and the body of the ovum does not require a complete chemical and physical alteration to become the body of the somatic cell of the daughter. But how does this affect the question whether, for instance, a pianoforte player can transmit to his progeny that strength of his finger-muscles which he has acquired by practice? How does this result of practice arrive at the germ-cells? In that lies the real problem which those have to solve who maintain that somatogenic characters are transmissible.

It is proved by the observations of Boveri, quoted above, that among animals the body of the ovum contributes nothing to inheritance. If the transmission of acquired characters should take place, it would have to be by means of the nuclear matter of the germ-cells-in fact, by the germ-plasm, and that not in its patent, but in its latent condition.

To renounce the principle of Lamarck is certainly not the way to facilitate the explanation of the phenomena; but we require, not a mere formal explanation of the origin of species of the most comfortable nature, but the real and rightful explanation. We must attempt, therefore, to elucidate the phenomena without the aid of this principle, and I believe myself to have made a beginning in this direction. A short time ago I tried this in one of those cases where one would least expect to be able to dispense with the principle of modification by usenamely, in the question of artistic endowment. I proposed to myself the question whether the musical sense of mankind could be conceived of as arising without a heightening of the original acoustic faculty by use. But even here I came to the conclusion that, not only do we not need this principle, but that use has actually taken no part in the development of the musical sense.

A. WEISMANN.

They were much of the same age, and began their experiments while young at almost the same time; and the practical agreement of the conclusions drawn from their experimental results is our best guarantee of confidence in the modern theory of Thermodynamics which is built upon these results.

Gustave Adolphe Hirn was born at Logelbach, in Alsace, on August 21, 1815, and died on January 14 of this year, a victim to the prevailing epidemic of influenza; but for this, we might have expected still further developments of his scientific theories, as he continued at work on his favourite subjects to the last.

Self-taught, so far as his scientific education was concerned, he found himself, with his elder brother Ferdinand, a manager of the works of Haussman, Jordan, and Co., an establishment for the fabrication of indiennes, established in 1772. Finding the machinery antiquated and worn out, Hirn, in setting to work to make the best of it, was really better placed for theorizing and experimentalizing than if he had charge of modern works in first-rate order. The different parts of the works being at a distance from each other, his brother Ferdinand brought out his system of cable transmission of power; and it was Gustave who pointed out theoretically the advantage of a thin light cable run at a high speed.

Hirn also turned his attention to the important economic question of the lubrication of machinery, and upset the previous prejudice against the use of mineral oil for this purpose. He also demonstrated experimentally that, while the old laws of friction enunciated by Morin were sufficiently accurate for the contact of one dry metal against another, these laws are powerfully modified when the surfaces are well lubricated, as with machinery. Now the friction varies as the square root of the pressure, and as the surface and the velocity; so that the theory falls in with that of the viscous flow of liquids. These laws have received confirmation of recent years by the experiments carried out under the auspices of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

But it is chiefly for his experiments on a large scale on the steam-engines under his charge that Hirn is best known, and from his varied methods of determining the mechanical equivalent of heat by the friction of metals on metal or water, and finally from observation of the amount of heat consumed by the steam-engine, when every source of gain or loss is carefully followed up.

With this object he investigated experimentally the separate effects of conduction, of jacketing, of initial condensation in the cylinder, and of its prevention by superheating.

If we watch the performance of a modern marine tripleexpansion engine,, we notice that the high-pressure cylinder appears choked with water from initial condensation, while the intermediate and low-pressure cylinders work comparatively dry. It was considered in the early days of compound engines that this initial condensation was a source of great loss, and superheating was introduced to minimize it. But the superheated steam ruined the packings, and dried up the lubricant, so that the superheater was found practically to do more harm than good. A characteristic story is told of John Elder, the pioneer of compounding in modern marine engines, too long to insert here, which bears on this point.

Nowadays this initial condensation is looked upon as inevitable, and as not really so uneconomical as the books make out, when attendant advantages are considered; but to the theorist such as Hirn this condensation was something to be avoided at any cost, and he worked hard to make its prevention feasible.

Hirn was a man of varied reading, taste, and pursuits, and he worked into his treatises on his favourite subject of Thermodynamics a good deal of speculative metaphysics, which make his books rather curious reading sometimes to modern tastes, and we must go back to the

time of Descartes and Leibnitz, when physical science and moral philosophy went hand in hand, to find an equivalent.

But it must be allowed that the science of Thermodynamics may be treated with advantage from this double point of view; for, after its First Law has been established, that heat and work are equivalent and interchangeable, the rate of exchange being fixed by the mechanical equivalent of Joule and Hirn, when we come to the Second Law, named after Carnot, we are compelled to secure conviction of its truth by an appeal to the arguments of analogy and metaphysics.

Hirn spent the last years of his life at Colmar, in the society of a few congenial friends, much interested in metaphysics and meteorology, but cut off from his native France by international strained relations.

In this age of practical Thermodynamics his work will not be lost sight of; but we are still far from a complete reconciliation of the abstract theories of the books and the observed realities of practice.

NOTES.

A. G. GREENHILL.

THE Croonian Lecture, which will be delivered before the Royal Society on February 27 by Prof. Marshall Ward, will be on "The Relations between Host and Parasite in certain Epidemic Diseases of Plants."

ON Thursday last the Astronomer-Royal was elected by ballot to fill the place of the late Father Perry upon the Council of the Royal Society.

METEOROLOGISTS will be sorry to hear of the death of Prof. C. H. D. Buys- Ballot, on Sunday last. He was born in 1817, and had been Director of the Meteorological Institute, Utrecht, for more than 30 years.

DR. DAVID SHARP, the eminent entomologist, and late President of the Entomological Society of London, has accepted the appointment of Curator in Zoology in the Museum of the University of Cambridge, rendered vacant by the resignation of the Rev. A. H. Cooke, whose labours on the Macandrew Collection in that Museum have been so highly appreciated by conchologists.

SIR WILLIAM GULL, F.R.S., was so distinguished a physician, and his name was so well known, that the tidings of his death excited a widespread feeling of regret. He died on Wednesday, January 29, from paralysis, and the funeral took place on Monday at the churchyard of Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex. was in his seventy-fifth year.

He

WE regret to hear of the death of Dr. L. Taczanowski, which took place at Warsaw on January 11. He is best known for his standard work "Ornithologie du Pérou," but his contributions to the ornithology of Poland, of Siberia, and the Corea have also been numerous and important.

GERMAN papers announce the death of Otto Rosenberger, the well-known astronomer. He was born in Courland in 1810, and in 1831 was appointed to the charge of the Observatory at Halle, and at the same time was made Professor of Mathematics. This position he held during the rest of his long life. Rosenberger's name is known chiefly in association with his work relating to Halley's comet.

THE Council of the Society of Arts have arranged that a course of lectures on "The Atmosphere" shall be given by Prof. V. Lewes on the following Saturday afternoons: March 8, 15, 22, and 29, at 3 o'clock.

MR. B. A. GOULD, Cambridge, Mass., has been appointed President of the American Metrological Society for the present year. Among the members of the Council of this Society are Messrs. Cleveland Abbe, H. A. Newton, Simon Newcomb, and S. P. Langley. The Society was founded in 1873, and its objects are to improve existing systems of weights, measures, and moneys, and to bring them into relations of simple commensurability with each other; to secure the universal adoption of common units of measure for quantities in physical observation or investigation, for which ordinary systems of metrology do not provide; to secure uniform usage as to standard points of reference, or physical conditions to which observations must be reduced for purposes of comparison; and to secure the use of the decimal system for denominations of weight, measure, and money derived from unit-bases, not necessarily excluding for practical purposes binary or other convenient divisions.

THE Committee of the Cambridge University Antiquarian Society in their fifth Annual Report state that, since the opening of the Archæological Museum in 1884, over 2800 objects and 900 books have been added to the collection. The most important additions have been made in the ethnological department, including (during the past year) General Scratchley's collections from New Guinea, a series of 500 specimens of implements and ornaments from the West Indies, presented by Colonel Fielden, who has also given many rare stone implements and weapons collected in South Africa, and a series of 70 specimens of dresses, weapons, &c., from the Solomon and Banks Islands and from Santa Cruz, presented by Bishop Selwyn. The Curator, Baron von Hügel, reports that during the long vacation he excavated with success a Roman refuse-pit and a burial-place at the eastern side of Alderney. The digging is to be resumed.

THE seventh annual dinner of the Association of Public

Sanitary Inspectors was held on Saturday evening at the First Avenue Hotel, Holborn. Dr. B. W. Richardson presided, and proposed the toast of "The Association and its President, Sir Edwin Chadwick." The duties of the Association, he said, were to teach and protect its members, and all sanitary inspectors ought to belong to it. He hoped that the apathy at present shown by too many of them would not last any longer.

DR. A. N. BERLESE, of Padua, has been appointed Professor of Botany to the Royal Lyceum at Ascoli-Piceno; and Dr. J. H. Wakker, of Utrecht, Professor of Botany at the dairy school at Oudshoorn, Holland.

THE Botanical Gazette published at Crawfordsville, Indiana, gives some particulars of one of the most magnificent bequests ever made for scientific purposes, that of the late Mr. H. Shaw for the endowment of the Botanic Garden and School of Botany at St. Louis, Missouri, amounting to not less than between three and five million dollars. The trustees have determined to apply the income to the maintenance and increase in the scientific usefulness of the Botanic Garden; to provide fire-proof quarters for the invaluable herbarium of the late Dr. George Engelmann, and to supply means for its enlargement; to secure a botanical museum; and to gradually acquire and utilize facilities for research in vegetable physiology and histology, the diseases and injuries of plants, and other branches of botany and horticulture. To aid in the carrying out of this last purpose, travelling botanical scholarships have been established. The present very able director of the Botanic Garden is Dr. William Trelease.

THE Kew Bulletin for February begins with some extracts from the Annual Report on the Government cinchona plantation and factory in Bengal for the year 1888-89. The valuable information presented in these extracts is given for the benefit of persons growing cinchona in countries which the documents for the Government of Bengal are little likely to reach. The new number also deals with the use of maqui berries for the colouring of wine, vine-culture in Tunis, phylloxera in Victoria, the botanical exploration of Cuba, and the sugar production of the world. The section on the last of these subjects relates to statistics brought together in Dr. Robert Giffen's report on the progress of the sugar trade. Commenting on the figures supplied in this report, the writer in the Bulletin says that if they "do not justify a gloomy view of the present position of the cane-sugar industry in British colonies, they scarcely justify a very optimistic one. It is obvious that the capital which should be applied to the improvement of manufacturing processes and machinery is, under present circumstances, practically diverted to the mere maintenance of the cultivation. And this in the long run must be a losing game. At present the fact stands that West Indian sugar has to a large extent been driven from the home market to that of the United States. If in time it should lose that, its fate apparently is sealed.”

THE Engineer of January 31 contains a leading article on "Colour-blind Engine-drivers," and it is interesting to note what the leading technical journal has to say on the subject: "We do not say that no accident was ever brought about by the inability of a driver to distinguish between a green light and a red one, but we can say that nothing of such an accident is to

ness of the soil, (2) deficiency of snow covering, (3) deficiency of rainfall, (4) existence of fog or low-hanging clouds, (5) prevalence of high barometer with a small intermingling of air in the vertical direction; and he shows that these conditions were prevalent in Eastern and Central Europe from the beginning of November; that atmospheric dust existed in great quantities, and was propagated westward by easterly, north-easterly, and south-easterly winds. He considers that changes of temperature had no important relation to the spread of the epidemic. (6) A lecture recently delivered to the Scientific Club in Vienna, on the general circulation of the atmosphere, by Dr. J. M. Pernter. He refers to the idea of the conflict of polar and equatorial winds so long supported by Dove and others, and shows that the publication of synoptic charts since the year 1863 has demonstrated that the above theory does not hold good for temperate and northern latitudes, that the circulation there depends upon the positions of the areas of high and low pressures, producing cyclones and anticyclones. Many dark points require explanation, such as the tracks which the cyclones follow, but much new light has recently been thrown upon the subject, especially by the researches of Ferrel, Oberbeck, and Abercromby.

DR. ALBRECHT PENCK, Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Vienna, lately called attention to the fact that no two official accounts of the area of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy agree. The difference between the highest and the lowest estimates amounts to 3313'75 square kilometres. By an examination of the new special map constructed by the Army Geographical Institute, which is on the scale of 1 to 75,000, and occupies 400 sheets, Prof. Penck has satisfied himself that the actual area of the Empire is 3247 12 square kilometres greater than is given in the latest published official account. The error arose chiefly from an incorrect triangulation of the Hungarian portion of the Empire, which is 3054'02 square kilometres larger than has been supposed.

IT has hitherto been generally believed that the Montgolfier or hot-air balloon cannot be used in tropical climates. If this were true, ballooning for war purposes would of course be impossible in places where coal-gas could not be obtained. We learn from the Times that Mr. Percival Spencer, who has been making a series of interesting balloon experiments in Central India, has succeeded in showing that the theory is without foundation.

At Secunderabad, in presence of the garrison and

a crowd of European and native spectators, he lately made an ascent in his patent asbestos balloon. The inflation was effected

A PAPER on mortality from snake bite in the district of Ratnagherry was read lately before the Bombay Natural History Society by Mr. Vidal, of the Bombay Civil Service. Many of the deaths in that district are, he says, due to a small and insignificant-looking snake, called "foorsa" by the natives. It is a viper rarely more than a foot long, and is so sluggish that it does not move out of the way till trodden on. Thus it is much more dangerous than the stronger and fiercer cobra.

DURING the year 1889 no fewer than 28 bears, 115 wolves, and 45 wolf-cubs were shot in the single district of Travnik, in Bosnia.

Das Wetter for January contains:-(a) An article by Dr. R. Assmann on climatological considerations about the prevalent epidemic of influenza. From an experience of many years in dealing with the connection between climatic conditions and the state of health, the author gives the following conditions as the most favourable for spreading organisms in the air: (1) dry

was held in place by 25 soldiers of the Bedford regiment until the word to "let go" was given. After rising to a considerable height, the aeronaut descended by means of his parachute. The spot where the ascent was made is over 2000 feet above the level of the sea, and the achievement was all the more remarkable because of the sultry climate and the great rarity of the air.

AN interesting paper on "Some Terraced Hill Slopes of the Midlands," by Mr. Edwin A. Walford, has been reprinted from the Journal of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society. The factors in the formation of these terraced slopes Mr. Walford groups as follows:-(1) The slipping and sliding outwards of the saturated porous marls upon the tenacious clays at the line of drainage, aided doubtless by the pressure of the superincumbent rock bed. (2) Displacements caused by the removal by chemical and mechanical solution of certain constituents of the marls and marlstone by the passage of the surface water through them. (3) The siiding downwards of the surface soil, as described by Dr. Darwin, and latterly illustrated by Mr. A. Ernst. The suggestions offered by Mr. Walford agree in the main, as he himself points out, with those adopted by Mr. A. Ernst in his paper in NATURE, February 28, 1889.

one.

MESSRS. GAUTHIER-VILLARS (Paris) have recently added three new works to their already large list of photographic treatises. One is the "Manuel de Phototypie," by M. Bonnet, giving full details of the various processes for the rapid reproduction of photographs, such as is now demanded for many purposes. The formulæ are stated very clearly, and the apparatus required is sufficiently illustrated by diagrams. The treatise is thoroughly practical, and will be very valuable to all interested in the subject, whether as amateurs or for trade purposes. The second-"Temps de Pose" is by M. Pluvinel, and deals with the difficult question of the time of exposure. It is shown that what is generally regarded as a rule-of-thumb process can be reduced to a scientific The various functions of the duration of the exposure are first considered mathematically, and it is then shown how the results of the investigations are to be applied practically, the method being illustrated by worked-out examples. To simplify matters, tables are given showing the different elements, such as coefficient of brightness, for all ordinary photographic subjects. The treatise is chiefly interesting as a scientific contribution, as few photographers will care to take the trouble of working out the time of exposure, now that they have found that good work can be done by judgment alone. The third book is in two volumes, and treats of the various "film" processes (“ Procédés Pelliculaires," by George Balagny). It claims to give a full account of all that has been said and done in connection with the subject since the introduction of photography, and as far as we can judge, this claim is fully justified. Every detail of the subject is considered in a very practical manner. One of the

most interesting applications of flexible films mentioned is the

registration of flash signals in "optical telegraphy."

THE "Year-book of Photography" (Piper and Castle) for 1890 fully bears out the good reputation gained by its predecessors. In addition to the information relating to the various photographic societies, there are several articles on the advances in photographic processes which have been made during the past year, and other useful notes. One of the most interesting articles is that by the editor on photography in natural colours, from which we learn that "processes of practical value, to achieve the end, are likely to be discovered by the exercise of ability and perseverance." The only important omission we notice is a record of the remarkable achievements in astronomical photography. The volume contains a portrait and short biographical notice of Edmond Becquerel. The whole forms an invaluable book of reference to all photographic matters, with the exception

referred to.

MESSRS. GEORGE BELL AND SONS have published "The School Calendar and Hand-book of Examinations, Scholarships, and Exhibitions, 1890." This is the fourth year of issue, and great pains have been taken, as in former years, to secure that the information brought together shall be full and trustworthy. A preface is contributed by Mr. F. Storr.

THE sixteenth part of Cassell's "New Popular Educator " has been issued. It includes a map of Australasia.

THE Proceedings of the International Zoological Congress, held in Paris last summer, will be ready for distribution in a fortnight.

A NEW and very simple method of synthesizing indigo has been discovered by Dr. Flimm, of Darmstadt (Ber. deut. chem. Ges., No. 1, 1890, p. 57). In studying the action of caustic alkalies upon the monobromine derivative of acetanilide, CH5.NHI.CO.CH,Br, a solid melting at 131°5, it was found that when this substance was fused with caustic potash a product was obtained which at once gave an indigo blue colour on the addition of water, and quite a considerable quantity of a blue solid resembling indigo separated out. The best mode of carrying out the operation is described by Dr. Flimm as follows:-The

monobromacetanilide is carefully mixed with dry caustic potash in a mortar, and the mixture introduced into a retort and heated rapidly until a homogeneous reddish-brown melt is obtained This is subsequently dissolved in water, and a little ammonia or ammonium chloride solution added, when the liquid immediately becomes coloured green, which colour rapidly changes into a dark blue, and in a short time the blue colouring matter is for the most part deposited upon the bottom of the vessel in which the operation is performed. The fused mass may also conveniently be dissolved in dilute hydrochloric acid, and a little ferric chloride added, when the formation of indigo takes place immediately. The collected blue colouring matter may be readily obtained pure by washing first with dilute hydrochloric acid and afterwards with alcohol. That this blue substance was really common indigo was proved by the fact that it yielded several of the most characteristic reactions of indigotin, such as solubility in aniline, paraffin, and chloroform, its sublimation, and the formation of sulphonic acids, which gave similar changes of colour with nitric acid to those of indigotin. The final proof was afforded by its reduction to indigo white and re-oxidation to indigo blue by exposure to air. Moreover, the absorption spectrum of the colouring matter was found to be identical with the well-known absorption spectrum of indigo. Hence there can be no doubt that indigo is really formed by this very simple process. The chemical changes occurring in the reaction are considered by Dr. Flimm to be the following:- Indigo blue is not produced directly, but first, as a condensation product of the CH, or

NH

monobromacetanilide, indoxyl is formed, CHICO

more probably a pseudo-indoxyl of the isomeric constitution NH C&HA CH. This intermediate substance then passes over

by oxidation into indigo, CH

CO

CO two molecules each losing two atoms of hydrogen by oxidation, and then condensing to form indigo. It was not found possible to isolate the intermediate pseudo-indoxyl, owing to its extreme instability; indeed, the all-important point to be observed in the practical carrying out of the synthesis by this method is that the fusion must be performed quickly and the temperature raised rapidly to a considerable height, the whole process occupying The yield of pure indigo under the cononly a few minutes. ditions yet investigated is not very large, amounting to about four per cent. of the weight of the original anilide.

THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include thirteen Cuning's Octodons (Octodon cuning?) from Chili, presented by Mr. W. H. Newman; five Common Dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius), British, presented by Mr. Florance Wyndham; a Large Hill-Mynah (Gracula intermedia) from India, deposited; a Dingo (Canis dingo), born in the Gardens.

Remarks.

(1) The spectrum of this nebula has not yet, so far as I know, been recorded, but the observation will not be difficult, if one may judge from the description given by Herschel, namely: "Very bright, pretty large, round, much brighter in the middle, mottled as if with stars."

(2) This star has a spectrum of the Group II. type, Dunér describing it as very beautiful. He states that all the bands, I-9, are very wide and dark. The observations most likely to extend our knowledge of the group of bodies to which this star belongs are (1) observations of the bright carbon flutings (see p. 305); (2) comparisons with the flame spectra of manganese, magnesium, and lead; (3) observations made with special reference to the presence or absence of absorption lines, of which Dunér makes no mention.

(3) Gothard classes this with stars of the solar type. The usual differential observations are required.

(4) A star of Group IV. The usual observations of the relative intensities of the hydrogen and metallic lines (b, D, &c.), as compared with other stars, are required.

(5) A rather faint star of Group VI., in which the character of band 6 (near A 564), as compared with the other carbon bands (9 and 10), requires further attention. Secondary bands should also be looked for.

(6) This variable is stated by Gore to have a continuous spectrum, but it seems probable that lines or flutings will be found if the star be examined under the most favourable conditions-that is, when near maximum. Rigel was formerly said to have a "continuous" spectrum, but the lines are now by no means difficult to see. The star ranges from magnitude 6 at maximum to 72 at minimum, and the period is 31-50 days (Gore). A. FOWLER.

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF 1886.-Dr. Schuster has thus summarized the spectroscopic results he obtained at this eclipse (Phil. Trans., vol. 180, 1889):

(1) The continuous spectrum of the corona has the maximum of actinic intensity displaced considerably towards the red, when compared with the spectrum of sunlight.

(2) While, on the two previous occasions on which photographs of the spectrum were obtained, lines showed themselves outside the limits of the corona, this was not the case in 1886.

(3) Calcium and hydrogen do not form part of the normal spectrum of the corona. The hydrogen lines are visible only in the parts overlying strong prominences; the H and K lines of calcium, though visible everywhere, are stronger on that side of the corona which has many prominences at its base.

(4) The strongest corona line in 1886 was at λ = = 4232'8; this is probably the 42330 line often observed by Young in the chromosphere.

(5) Of the other strong lines, the positions of the following seem pretty well established::

4056 7 4084 2 4089'3 41697 4195 0 4211.8
4280'6 4365 4 4372 2 4378 1 4485'6 4627'9

The lines printed in thicker type have been observed also at the
Caroline Island and Egyptian Eclipses.

(6) A comparison between the lines of the corona and the lines of terrestrial elements has led to negative results.

ANNUAIRE DU BUREAU DES LONGITUDES.-In the volume for 1890, MM. Loewy and Schulhof contribute a list of the comets which appeared from 1825 to 1835 inclusive, and in 1888, being a continuation of the lists given in former years. M. Lowy also gives a complete table of the appearances of the planets throughout 1890, and ephemerides of a considerable number of variable stars. An elaborate comparison of the various calendars is from the pen of M. Cornu, and under the head of the solar system a rich store of information is included. With the notices we find an account of the meeting of the permanent committee of the photographic chart of the heavens and the Photographic Congress of September last. This year's Annuaire is as completely filled with information as it has ever been and doubtless will be as much appreciated by astronomers.

sketch of his predecessor, J. C. Houzeau, which is embellished with the portrait of this deceased bibliographer. Considerable attention has been paid to the researches on diurnal nutation and the determination of the constant. M. Spee discusses the tabulated observations of the condition of the sun's surface during 1888, and M. Moreau contributes an interesting note on the movement of a solid about a fixed point. A list is also given of the comets and asteroids discovered in 1889, and some of the particulars relating to their orbits.

ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY.-The annual general meeting of the Fellows of this Society will be held at Burlington House on Friday, the 14th inst., for the purpose of receiving the Report of the Council, electing officers for the ensuing year, and transacting other business of the Society. The chair will be taken at 3 o'clock precisely.

Erratum. In the elements of companion C of Brook's comet (p. 305), read & 17° 52′ 24′′ 5, and log a = 0 565059.

=

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

BARON NORDENSKIÖLD has announced in the Swedish Academy of Sciences, that he and Baron Oscar Dickson, with assistance from the Australian colonies, will start on an expedition in the South Polar regions next year.

A RECENT telegram from Tashkent announced that Colonel Pevtsoff and M. Roborovsky had discovered a convenient pass to the north-western part of Tibet, from Nia, and had mounted to the great table-land. The plateau has there an altitude of 12,000 feet above the sea, and the country round is desolate and uninhabited, while towards the south the plateau is well watered and wooded. The Tashkent telegram is so expressed that it might be supposed to mean that two separate passes had been discovered by the two explorers. But the news received from the expedition at St. Petersburg on December 26, and dated October 27, shows that both explorers proposed to leave the oasis of Keria (100 miles to the east of Khotan) on the next day, for Nia (65 miles further east) and there to search for a passage across the border-ridge which received from Prjevaisky the name of the "Russian ridge." This immense snow-clad chain separates the deserts of Eastern Turkestan from the trapezoidal space, the interior of which is quite unknown yet, and which is bordered by the "Russian" ridge and the Altyn-tagh in the north-west; the ridges of Tsaidam and those named by Prjevalsky"Columbus and "Marco-Polo" in the north-east; the highlands (explored by Prjevalsky in 1879-80) at the sources of the Blue River, in the south-east; and a long, yet unnamed ridge which seems to be a prolongation of the Tan-la, in the south-west. The pass leading to that plateau from Nia, and now discovered by the Russian expedition, is situated some So miles to the east of the well-known pass across the Kuen-lun Mountains which leads from Southern Khotan to Lake Yashi-kul. M. Roborovsky's intention is evidently next to move up the Tchertchen river and to endeavour to reach the ridges 'Moscow" and "Lake Unfreezing" (11,700 feet high), which were visited by Prjevalsk from the east during his last journey. Having succeeded in finding a pass to Tibet in the south of Nia, Colonel Pevtsoff proposes, as soon as the spring comes, to proceed himself by this pass to the table-land, while M. Roborovsky probably will be despatched to explore the same border-ridge further east, in the

south of Tchertchen.

All are

THE Boletin of the Madrid Geographical Society for the last quarter of 1889 contains a most valuable memoir by Dr. Fernando Blumentritt, on the intricate ethnology of the Philippine Islands. The author classifies the whole of the native population in three broad divisions-Negrito, Malay, and Mongoloid; the last comprising those tribes which in their physical appear. ance betray certain Chinese or Japanese affinities. grouped in an admirably arranged alphabetical table, where their names, race, language, religion, culture, locality, and numbers are briefly specified in seven parallel columns. With a few variants and cross-references this table contains no less than 159 entries, and thus conveys in summary form all the essential particulars regarding every known tribe in the Philippine Archipelago. From it we gather that the Negritoes—that is, the true autochthonous element, variously known as Aetas, Atias, Atés, Etas, Itas, Mamánuas, &c., and physically belonging to the same stock as the Samangs of the Malay Peninsula―