232 



NATURE 



Ijan. 3, 1889 



periodical. Among the plates is a coloured representation of the 

 deerskin mantle, ornamented with-shell work, recorded to have 

 belonged to the Virginian Chief, Powhattan. Dr. E. B. Tylor 

 contributes, in English, an account of this interesting object, 

 •which forms one of the treasures of the Ashmolean. It belongs 

 to the Tradescant collection, which was the nucleus of the 

 museum of Eiias Ashmole. It seems that there were in use 

 among the Powhattans three kinds of mantles, viz. of dressed 

 skins embroidered with beads (including shells), of furs, and of 

 feather work. In the original collection of Tradescant there 

 were specimens of all three kinds. Of these, the shell- 

 embroidered mantle alone remains. It measures about 2"2 m. 

 in length by i*6 m. in width. The two deerskins forming it are 

 joined down the middle ; no hair lemains. The ornamental 

 •design consists of an upright human figure in the middle, divided 

 by the seam ; a pair of animals ; thirty-two spirally formed 

 rounds (two in the lowest line have lost their shells) ; and the 

 remains of some work in the right lower corner. Dr. Tylor says 

 that the decorative shell-work is of a kind well known in 

 America. The shells used are Marginella : so far as Mr. Edgar 

 A. Smith is able to identify them in their present weathered 

 state, A{. nivosa. Among the other contents of the number are 

 some notes, in German, on the ethnography of Mexico, by Carl 

 Breker, and an attempt, by M Messikommer, to describe] some 

 ■elements of what may have been the intellectual life of the 

 inhabitants of ancient lake-dwellings. 



In the new number of the Transactions of the Leicester 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, there is a useful and interesting 

 paper, by Mr. Montagu Browne, Curator of the Town Museum, 

 Leicester, on "Evidences of the Antiquity of Man in Leicester- 

 shire." He begins with objects of bone and horn, then examines 

 the remains of pottery, and finally deals with articles in bronze 

 and stone. Palccolithi c implements have not yet been discovered 

 an Leicestershire, but Mr. Evans, in a passage quoted by Mr. 

 Browne, is of opinion that ihey may be found there. "It is 

 by no means impossible," writes Mr. Evans, " that you may 

 succeed in finding them. It is a little far north, but I doubt 

 whether the glaciers persisted so long in that part of England as 

 they did in the Lake District, and in Wales." 



Messrs. Cassell and Co. are issuing, in monthly parts, a 

 popular ediiion of " The Story of the Heavens," by Sir Robert 

 S. Bali, the Royal Astronomer of Ireland. The work, which is 

 well printed on good paper, will hi completed in eighteen parts. 

 With Part I., which we have just received, a star map is given. 



_1"he "Educational Annual" for 1889, compiled by Edward 

 Johnson, has been issued. Messrs. G. Philip and Son are the ' 

 publishers. The work is designed to place within reach of the 

 general public a concise summaiy of authentic information, 

 drawn from official or other trustworthy sources, relative to 

 primary and secondary education, in a form convenient for 

 reference. Information relating to training colleges for teachers 

 and teachers' associations has been included. 



A BOOK, entitled " Rides and Studies in the Canary Islands," 

 by Mr. Charles Edwardes, has just been published (Fisher 

 Unwin). The author quaintly explains that it is wiiiten "for 

 the entertainment both of those who visit the Canary Islands 

 and those who do not." A considerable part of the book has 

 already appeared in the form of articles in magazines and jour- 

 nals. 1 hose who have already read these fragments will not 

 object to find them again among Mr Edwardes's lively and 

 pleasant sketches. 



We have received a diary called "The Perennial Diary," 

 which a good many people may find useful. It is not intended 

 to supersede ordinary diaries. Each page is devoted to a single 

 day of the year, and events occurring on that day in different 



years may al 1 be entered on the same page. The volume is 

 issued by Mr. John Heywood, of Manchester and London. 



The Free Libraries Committee of Manchester are able to 

 give, in their thirty-sixth Annual Report, a most favourable 

 account of all departments of the institutions under their charge. 

 The number of the buildings in which the work of the Com- 

 mittee is carried on has been increased to ten by the establish- 

 ment of the Hyde Road Reading Room, which was opened 

 some time ago by the Mayor, in the presence of a large and 

 enthusiastic meeting of the inhabitants of the district. In the 

 course of the last twelve months the number of readers at the 

 various libraries and reading-rooms {i.e. the number of visits 

 they have made) reached an aggregate of nearly four millions 

 and a half, or about a quarter of a million more than in the 

 previous year. There has been an increase also in the number 

 of books read. The number used for home reading and f^r 

 perusal in the reading-rooms has been 1,606,874, against 

 1,462,028 volumes read in the preceding twelve months. The 

 daily average of volumes used in all the Libraries was 4464. 



In the letter on " Nose-blackening as preventive of Snow- 

 blindness," by Mr. A. J. Duffield (vol. xxxviii. p. 172), for 

 " New Zealand " read " New Ireland." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Common Kestrel ( Tinmmculus alaudarius) 

 captured at sea, presented by Mr. Thomas Austin ; a Pyxis 

 Tortoise {Pyxis arachnoiJes) from Durban, Natal, presented by 

 Colonel J. H. Bowker, F.Z.S. ; a Rat-tailed ?>nake {T7-igonoceph- 

 alus lanceolaius) from St. Lucia, W.I , presented by the West 

 Indian (Natural History) Exploration Committee ; tv\oConcave- 

 casqued Plornbills {Bucerjs bicornis) from India, deposited ; a 



Squirrel {Sciurus sp. inc.) from Burmah, two Ceylonese 



Hanging Parrakeets {Loricidus asiaticus) from Ceylon, 

 purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Detection of New Nebula by Photography. — Prof. 

 Pickering gives a brief account, in No. 6 of the Annals of Har- 

 vard College Observatory, vol. xviii., of some experiments he 

 has recently conducted as to the advantages of a photographic 

 doublet over an ordinary astronomical object-glass for astrono- 

 mical work, and especially in photographing nebulas. A number 

 of plates were exposed upon the region of Orion, the instrument 

 used being the Bache telescope, which has a photographic doublet 

 with an aperture of 8 inches and a focal length of 44 inches ; 

 each plate covered a region 10° square, the definition being good 

 within 3|° of the centre of the plate. The result of the experi- 

 ments was the dettciion of twelve new nebulae; fourteen nebulae 

 were iseen on the photographs that were also given in Dreyer's 

 Catalogue, and four nebulas in the Catalogue were not repre- 

 sented on the i^lates. A similar proportion of discovery over 

 the entire sky would mean some 4000 or 5000 new nebulas, and 

 400 plates would be sufficient for a complete survey, provided 

 here was no o verlappmg, and no plates proved defective. 



Comets Faye and Barnard, October 30. — The follow- 

 ing ephemeris for Faye's comet is in continuation of that given 

 in Nature (vol. xxxix. p. 186). The ephemeris for Barnard's 

 comet is by Herr Spitaler (^i-^r. Nach., No. 2871). Both are 

 for Berlin midnight : — 



Comet i£8S .Z (P'aye). ; Comet 1888 /(Barnard, 



Oct. 30). 



1888. R.A. Decl. I R.A. Decl. 



h. m. s ' h. m. s. „ , 



Jan. 4 ... 7 5S 3S ... o 117 N. : 10 25 49 ... 4 42*3N. 



6 ... 7 56 57 ... o 14-2 I 10 24 55 ... 5 45-1 



8 ... 7 55 15 .. o 177 10 23 51 .. 6 49-1 



lo ... 7 53 32 •■■ o 22-3 10 22 40 ... 7 54-4 



12 ... 7 51 49 ... o 279 J 10 21 22 ... 9 0-6 



14 ... 7 50 6 ... o 34-5 1 lo 19 58 ..ID 76 



10 ... 7 48 26 ... o 421 N. I 10 18 24 ...II I5-2N. 



Both comets are slowly diminishing in brightness. 



