SINCE our last issue Dr. Harting, of the Dorpat Observatory, has announced an apparent variation in the great nebula of Andromeda, which has caused some excitement in the astronomical world. As represented in all our drawings, and, still better, in a photograph which Mr. Common was fortunate enough to obtain last year, the centre of the nebula appeared to be only moderately condensed. There was no star or stellar point. Now, on the contrary, there is a most unmistakable star of the eighth or ninth magnitude. The question is, is this a stella nova in the line of sight of the nebula, or has the phenomenon been produced by a new condensation in the centre of the nebula itself? Opinion inclines to the latter view, as, according to some accounts, other accompanying changes have been seen with large instruments, c. But, on the other hand, spectroscopic evidence that the apparent nebula is not a very distant cluster is absent. By our next issue we may hope for a large harvest of telescopic and spectroscopic observations of this new object.