Infelligerice mid Miscellaneous Articles. HI 



The sun accomplishes one entire revolution around this star in 

 18,200,000 years, and moves in its orbit at the rate of 36-8 English 

 miles per second. 



The sum of all the masses contained within a globe described 

 around Alcyone with the radius vector of the solar system amounts 

 to 117,400,000 times the mass of the sun. 



The ascendhig node of the sun's orbit is situated in long. 236° 58' 

 of the ecliptic of 1840; and the sun will pass through this point 

 about the year 154,500 of our chronology. 



The inclination of the sun's orbit to the ecliptic of 1840 is 84° 0'. 



Regarding the constitution of this immense system, Professor 

 Madler has come to the following conclusions : — 



The centre is marked by a group consisting of a great number of 

 stars and considerable individual masses. Around this stretches a 

 narrow zone, comparatively devoid of stai's. Then follows a broad 

 and rich ring-shaped layer, then another intermediate zone compa- - 

 ratively poor, and so on, a succession of a still unknown number of 

 rings, the two utmost of which form the Milky Way. These rings 

 are connected in several places with each other by intermediate parts, 

 like bridges ; and the rings themselves are not everywhere of the 

 same density, but show now and then something approaching to the 

 formation of groups. In general, however, they consist only of 

 isolated, single or double stars. 



In the course of his investigations, the learned Professor points 

 out the importance of studying more closely the proper movements 

 of the fixed stars ; and recommends chiefly those in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Pleiades to the attention of astronomers. — Athenaum, 

 Jan. 9, 1847. 



ON THE FERMENTATION OF TARTARIC ACID AND ITS PRODUCTS. 

 BUTYUO-ACETIC ACID. BY M. NICKLES. 



In preparing tartaric acid from crude tartar, it often happens, 

 during the heat of summer, that the tartrate of lime still containing 

 some fermentable matters, suddenly begins to ferment, and is con- 

 verted, in a short time, into an acid which has long been taken for 

 acetic acid. 



On the occurrence of this fermentation, M. Noellner saturated the 

 product with oxide of lead, and obtained fine octahedral crystals, on 

 attentively examining which, he considered them as the salt of a 

 peculiar acid different from acetic acid, and to which he gave the 

 name of pseudo -acetic acid. An experiment performed with crude 

 tartar, without the addition of lime, yielded merely acetic acid. 



M. Bcrzclius, in his Annual Report for 1843, p. 132, considers this 

 acid as a mixture of acetic and l)ntyric acids. M. Noellner, however, 

 had obtained a salt of lead crystallizing in octahedrons, a salt of soda 

 also octahedral, and a mammillated magnesian salt, none of which 

 form.s occur in the corresponding salts of acetic and butyric acids. 



To clear up tlic point, .M. Nicklcs saturated eight pounds of crude 

 tartar with lime ; the filtered liquor was boiled with gypsum ; the 



