NEWS AND VIEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11059, 10 May 1899, Page 3

NEWS AND VIEWS.

THE NEWLY - DISCOVERED SATELLITE OP SATURN. The now satellite just discovered in the neighbourliod of Saturn is the first of those bodies the existence of which has bean ascertained by means of photography. It appears on tour plates taken at Arequipa, in Peru, by t.lie Catherine Bruce telescope, 3 in charge of Professor William Pickering, ' brothar of the director of the Harvard, or Lowell, Observatory. According to Mr. Pickering's calculations (says the Cambridge, Massachusetts, correspondent of the Standard), this, the ninth satellite, is three and a half times as remote from Swum as lapelus. which has hitherto been regarded as the outermost. of the group. Its magnitude is fifteen and :v-h;Uf, and its period seventeen months. pinning the la-rirst orbit and the longest period possessed by any second. solar lx>dy. 1 nis is by no means the first occasion on which the presence of hitherto liiis'.: • I'tY!c.! satellites has been ascertained h 1 American list i • -no:ners. I may ii-M-.i'tce the discoveries of those of Neptune', by Mr. Bond: of Mars. by Mr. Hill, at Washington: of ,lupit;r. hi- Mr. Barnard, at the Lick fflisorvatnry; and of the seventh satellite of Saturn, also by Mr. Bond, at this place. Mr. Pickering's achievement greatly st hens his plea for a photographic te'escope pyre, dine in focal length the Catherine Bruce instrument. There is now a pr<,M>'Vt tint his wish will Ik fillfi'l'd in time for the eclipse of the ran in irOO. The actual volume of the new satellite (remarks anther corrcspondi-nt of the same inper) is tint vet slated, and probably it wii! be sonic time before asiron >ni?rs arts in a position to calculate this end other de- • tails: but- certain of those aire; dv known 1 are fully worthy of the great planet tiiey : attend, for the outeiniost : s supposed to be : . larger than on, moon, and the biggest of • ; all surpasses Mercury and comes near to ! rivalling Mars'. Saturn itself ,$ only exceeded in size by its neighbour, Jupiter, ■ 1 and is abort seven hundred and fortv-livo i : tunes the dimensions of our globe. But it is made of poorer stuff, for it only weighs about ninety times as much: thus, bulk for i bulk, it is far lighter— it is not ■ nearly so heavy as water. All these outer i planets are light, but probably they are smaller than hey appear, for we are gene- ; rally supposed not to see the solid orb, but a cloudy atmosphere which envelops it-. Still, even if this be true, the material must! be very different from that of which our earth and its immediate neighbours are competed. Bur the great marvel of Saturn is its ring. This, when viewed by a powerful 1 telescope, is seen to be separated into thrco Is —parallel and in the same plane with ; one another and with the equatm of the : planets. The innermost is dull and .purplish in colour : the two others are bright. Her--1 sehel determined from actual observation of seme spots on its surface, and Laplace from theoretical considerations, that the ring re- ; volved round the planet in about 10 hours and , a-li.ui. The rings, of course, d'lTer consider. ably in their composition ; the inner one, . which was only once seen before the middlo ' : of the present century, so faint is its light, is semi-transparent, so that the planet it- ' self is sometimes visible through it, As- . tronomers now generally hold that these rings are in reality three gigantic circular , swarms of tiny satellites. whi"h are circling I at a tremendous rate round about their lord .. and master. 1 PLAIN WORDS FROM SIR REDVER3 ! liULLER. ■ Alpershot has learned to recognise Sir Redvers Buller as a commander who does ' not mince his words. A characteristic me- , morandum was issued by the general re- > cently, dealing with two important changes i in the War Office's musketry regulations ■ . respecting lire discipline and field firing. : "It is more easy to say what fire discipline , is not than what it is," so runs the goueral'a 1 opening proposition, and he proceeds thus ; forcibly to illustrate his point: "It is cer- ■ tainly not intended to be a hindrance to i ; legitimate individual action of the soldier, , | nor a drag which so delays his fire that he is f always in the position of offering his adver- • sary the first shot. In a street row the man 5 who does not put up his hands till after he s is hit has hut a poor chance. It is the samo 1 in war. Officers must always strive to give i their men the advantage of the initiative." Coining to the second point, the memorandum . proceeds: The manoeuvre ground, and not the rifle range, is the proper place on which to train the soldier in the final stage of preparation for battle. On the rifle range the soldier must be taught to use his rifle, to aim correctly, and to shoot as well as his individuality will permitinstruction of supreme importance. But after having learnt his drill on the drill ground, and the use of his weapon on the rifle range, the : soldier has to be taught the combination of I the two on the manoeuvre ground. When possible the final stage of this instruction , i should be with ball ammunition, but when 1 this is not possible valuable instruction may he given with blank ammunition, or indeed with no ammunition at all." Finally, Sir Eedverf sums up the matter in a couple of terse sentences: "The soldier ha.® to be taught how to advance and retire when under fire; when to fire himself and how to fire; in short, to move with a loaded rifle with safety to himself and his comrades, i and ready to do the most injury to his enemy, j Fire unit commanders have to learn how to direct their men's fire and how to regulate their advance or retirement, so that, while they deliver their own fire with the best effect, they neither interfere with their comrades' fire nor allow it to endanger themselves. Theso can enly be taught on the manceuvre ground." A CONCERTO COMPETITION. The Vienna correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette says that an international competition was decided there, which, in its wav, is unique and sensational. A year ago' the well-known piano firm of Bosendorfer offered prizes of £80, £48, and £24 respectively for the three best concertos. The great pianoforte virtuosos, Leschetizkv and Rosenthal, combined with Julius Epstein, Alfred Grnnfeld, and Wilhclm Gericke to form the jury, who out of the 72 anonymous works sent in selected three for the-final verdict of the public at Sunday's concert. : These were known to be those of the voting , Hungarian, Ernst Dohnanyi ; the Dutch- 1 , man, Brandts-Buys, who has been for some time settled in Austria ; and the North German composer. Kduard Behm, better known 1 by his opera " Der Schelm von Bergen." and: for his intimate acquaintance with Brahms.' The Berliner, Belim. led off with his Concerto in E major, which was played by Dr. Kublo, of Berlin, Behm wielding the baton to the full orchestral forces of the Imperial Opera House. His work is that »f a ripe artist, possessing considerable te. h * i! possibilities and a plenitude of attractive melody Behm received 598 votes. He was followed by Brandts-Buys, who. deficient in modern pianoforte technique, was indiscreet ennu-li to play his own piece, a Conccrto in °F major, in which, perhaps, the masterly orchestration is the most notable feature." It is at the same time melodic,., and the solo passages are tasteful, though the whole work lacks the vital spark of genius. He gained 607 votes. Young Dohnanyi, boyish, sympathetic, and sanguine, found an ovation in store for him. he caught the fancy of the audience from the first, and scored another of those triumphs which this stripling Magyar has alreadv gainsd in England. His Concerto in E minor is on the heroic scale, and abounding in manly pathos, even if not always wholly original. His masterly technique as an executant, his nervous fete, hit overpowering temperament, and, above all, his brilliant fantasy, stood him in good stead in imparting the poetical feeling and necessary nuance to his performance. The general feeling was that the audience had before it a man who was destined to rank I with the greatest composers of our time. Over 700 votes were accorded him. Dohnanyi is » pupil of D'Albert, perhaps the greatest Beethoven interpreter of our time, and i« only 21 years of age.