203 



stated by Herodotus to have been the practice in embalming human 

 bodies, that the stomach and intestines were not removed, as upon 

 examining the interior parts of the last-mentioned Ibis, Mr. Pearson 

 met with a soft spongy substance, containing several scarabsei in an 

 imperfect state. These, he supposes, had been taken as the food of 

 the bird, and were not digested at the time of its death. He also 

 observes, that as larvae of dermestides and other insects have been 

 detected among the dust and bones of the mummy of an Ibis, it may 

 be presumed that this bird was not always in a fresh state at the 

 time when it was embalmed. 



Observations on the singular Figure of the Planet Saturn. By William 

 Herschel, LL.D. F.R.S. Read June 20, 1805. [Phil. Trans. 1805, 

 p. 272.] 



Notwithstanding the variety of extraordinary phenomena already 

 observed respecting the planet Saturn, there remains, . Dr. Herschel 

 says, a singularity which distinguishes the figure of Saturn from that 

 of all the other planets. 



He had, in the year 1776, observed that the body of Saturn was 

 not exactly round, and had found in the year 1781 that it was flat- 

 tened at the poles, at least as much as Jupiter. In the year 1789 

 he measured the equatorial and polar diameters, and supposing there 

 could be no other particularity in the figure of the planet, ascribed a 

 certain irregularity he perceived in other parts of the body, to the 

 interference of the ring. 



Dr. Herschel now relates a series of observations made in the 

 months of April, May, and June, of the present year, of which the 

 following are the most remarkable. 



April 12. The flattening of the polar regions appeared not so 

 gradual as in Jupiter, and seemed not to begin till at a high latitude. 



April 18. The situation of the four points of the greatest curva- 

 ture was measured with Dr. Herschel's angular micrometer, power 

 527. Their latitude was found to be 46 38' ; but as neither of the 

 cross wires could be in the parallel, no great accuracy, Dr. Herschel 

 says, could be expected. 



April 19. Ten-feet reflector, power 400. The figure of Saturn 

 was somewhat like a parallelogram, with the four corners rounded 

 off deeply. A measure of the position of the four points of the greatest 

 curvature, taken this night, gave their latitude 45 44''5. 



May the 5th, 12th, and 13th. Ten-feet reflector, with different 

 powers. Jupiter and Saturn were viewed alternately, and compared. 

 A greater curvature was evident at the polar and equatorial regions 

 of Jupiter than at those regions in Saturn. These alternate obser- 

 vations were many times repeated, and the oftener the planets were 

 compared, the more striking appeared the difference in their shape. 



May 26. Ten-feet reflector, power 400. The difference in the 

 three diameters of Saturn was evident without measurement. That 

 which passes through the points of the greatest curvature being the 



