Minor Planets.—Sub-carbonute of Soda in India. 469 



ne'iii method, of confining the observations to those stars which 

 are nearly on the same pai'Mel as the moon, and not far di- 

 stant from her in right ascension, is capable of great precision ; 

 and must not be confounded with the old and inefficient mode 

 of comparing the moon with any stars that happen to pass the 

 meridian on the same day. We know not whether any thing 

 of this kind is attempted at the Greenwich Observatory. Such 

 a measure might perhaps have saved much of the expense 

 which has been incurred in determining the difference between 

 the meridians of Paris and Greenwich : an expense which has 

 recently been increased (we know not why) by a fresh trian- 

 gulation of the intermediate country. 



MINOR PLANETS. 



To the Editors of the Philosophical Magaziiie and Journal. 



May I take the liberty of inquiring through the medium 

 of your excellent Journal, whence I may derive the best infor- 

 mation respecting the four new planets, Juno, Vesta, Ceres and 

 Pallas. 1 understand that tables of their motions have been 

 published, but I have in vain endeavoured to discover by whom. 

 ^o^€ % Jahrhuch gives the longitude, latitude, &c. of Ceres, but 

 the others are not noticed. The Connaissance des Terns seldom 

 mentions them, and the Nautical Almanac never, I believe. 



I must apologize for this liberty, and am Sir, 

 Your most obedient Servant, 



A Subscriber. 



[Tables of Vesta are given in the Connaissance des Terns for 

 1820: but as to the other new planets, we believe that no tables 

 have yet been published. We are indebted to private com- 

 puters for the positions of these stars, at the most interesting 

 points of their orbits. — Edit.] 



OCCURRENCE OF NATIVE SUB-CARBONATE OF SODA IN THE 

 PROVINCE OF MALWA IN INDIA. 



The following particulars on this subject are given by Capt. 

 John Stewart, in the Transactions of the Literary Society of 

 Bombay, vol. iii. p. 53. 



" In the course of our military operations we happened to 

 encamp for a few days on the banks of the Chumbul, near the 

 villageofPeeplouda, situated where the Chamnlee and Chumbul 

 rivers join and form one stream under the latter name. The 

 banks of the river are here steep and broken, composed of a 

 kind of friable clay rock, mixed with loose limestone ; the bed 

 of the river consists in many places of basaltic rock, sometimes 

 forming a smooth surface exliibiting the pentagonal form of 

 the columns like a regular pavement. The tops of the bank 



are 



