388 Miscellanies. 
son’s able and efficient management. No time for a full completion of 
this great labor can be so good as the present; an abandonment would 
be most unwise,—even a suspension highly injurious, and in point of 
eer? very improvident and wasteful. 
18. Catlinite* or Indian Pipe Aten: —Dr. Jackson, of Boston, has 
analyzed Mr. Catlin’s pipe stone from Coteau du Prairie, which is not 
steatite, but a new compound very similar to agelaniolite, it being com- 
posed of in 100 grains : 
‘Wateryc ecicous tats i Sa 38 OE Bre 
Silica, - i acne ‘ . sk 4 
Alumina, - - rss a a wine = 98.2 ‘és 
‘Magnesia, - i a - z 6.0 ‘s 
Panos: romp So ne cas see got BO 
Ox. manganese, : - a a3 n=, OG es 4 
arb. lime " epeeien < = ie x 26 See 
Loss, (probably ssligneais,) oe es a ee ee 
The carbonate of lime is not an essential ingredient, but is mixed in 
fine particles. 
The Catlinite évidenily’ exists in pseudo strata or tabular sheets, and 
overlaid by quartz rock, glazed, as if from the action of fire, while the 
surface is carved with bird tracks, called by the Indians the points or 
—S of the great <5 
19. Encke’s Comet. —The proximity of this bay to the earth, during 
its return in the latter part of the present year, has rendered it an object 
of peculiar interest to astronomers. It was seen in England as early as 
the 21st of September, but as yet no foreign observations upon it have 
reached us. Unfortunately, an ephemeris of this comet was not obtained 
in this country until the middle of November, at which time it had passed 
the circle of perpetual apparition, and was visible but for an hour or two 
in the evening after sunset. It was first seen in this country on the 17th 
of November, and at a number of places simultaneously ; at Yale Col- 
lege, New Haven, at the Wesleyan University of Middletown in this 
State, and at Philadelphia. It had then recently passed the point of its 
nearest approach to the earth, which was about 21 millions of miles, and 
was visible to the naked eye as a star of the 4.5 magnitude. 
We have, as-yet, heard of no regular series of observations upon the 
comet made in this country. But few days remained after its discovery 
before it morales disappear m the evening twilight, and its proximity to 
* After Mr. Catlin, the celebrated traveller in the West, and the successful 
painter of Indians, their costume, the scenery of their country, Se: His Indian 
museum is a most interesting and unique collection. 
A mR Se Si 
