37^ 



NATURE 



\_Feb. 14, 1 



m 



We learn from Science that Dr. Thomas Featherstonhaugh, 

 a grandson of the famous pioneer geologist, has just returned 

 from a visit to Florida, and has brought back an interesting col- 

 lection of aboriginal remains. He thoroughly examined a 

 mound of damp sand on the shore of Lake Apopka, about the 

 geographical centre of the State, and farther south than any 

 previous researches of the kind. The mound was 50 feet in 

 diameter and 14 feet high, and was covered with a dense growth 

 of palmetto and other trees. It was found to be full of frag- 

 mentary bones and pottery, so numerous that Dr. Featherston- 

 haugh estimates that there could have been no less than four 

 hundred bodies deposited there. A few Venetian beads near 

 the top indicated intrusive burials, but below 4 feet there were 

 no evidences of any intercourse with whites. Four shapely 

 hatchets were recovered, also a charm-stone, and numerous 

 specimens of decorated pottery. The whole find was presented 

 to Major Powell, and by him turned over to the National 

 Museum. 



All hope has now been abandoned of saving Prof. J. Main- 

 waring Brown, who occup'ed the Chairs of English Language 

 and Literature and of Political Economy in the University of 

 Otago, New Zealand. He was one of an exploring party, being 

 accompanied by Mr. White and Major Goring, which set out on 

 an expedition to the neighbourhood of Lake Manapouri. One 

 morning, Mr. Brown left his tent for a stroll in the bush, 

 and, shortly after, a terrific storm of snow, wind, and hail 

 burst over the district, and lasted without intermission for three 

 days. His companions made every effort to find him, but 

 without avail. Large search-parties were formed, but no 

 tidings were obtained of the unfortunate gentleman. An enter- 

 prising newspaper proprietor in Otago despatched a special 

 search-party at his own cost, and the Government have sent 

 a steamer to Smith Sound, in the hope of obtaining some 

 intelligence. 



At the Royal Institution, Dr. Sidney Martin will, on Thursday 

 next (February 21), begin a course of four lectures on the venom 

 of serpents, and allied poisons, including those used in the 

 Middle Ages ; and Lord Rayleigh will, on Saturday (February 

 23), begin a course of eight lectures on experimental optics 

 (polarization, fluorescence, wave-theory, &c.). Mr. Harold 

 Crichton-Browne will give a discourse on Friday evening 

 (February 22), entitled, " In the Heart of the Atlas." 



A CORRESPONDENT writes to point out that the planet Venus 

 is now visibl-e before sunset even in London. A few days ago he 

 saw it at 4.30 p.m., thirty minutes before sunset, and as it was 

 then very distinct he has no doubt that he could have seen it 

 earlier if he had looked for it. 



Mr. Harold P. Brown and Mr. George Westinghouse, 

 Jun., have had a public discussion on the respective merits of 

 alternating and continuous electrical currents. Mr. Brown, 

 apparently not having satisfied Mr. Westinghouse, issues the 

 following challenge, which we take from oneof the electrical 

 papers :— " I challenge Mr. Westinghouse to meet me in the 

 presence of competent electrical experts, and take through his 

 body the alternating current, vAhile I take through mine a con- 

 tinuous current. The alternating current must not have less 

 than 300 alternations per second (as recommended by the 

 Medico-Legal Society). We will begin with 100 volts, and 

 will gradually increase the pressure 50 volts at a time, I leading 

 with each increase, each contact to be made for five seconds, 

 until either one or the other has cried enough, and publicly 

 admits his error. I will warn Mr. Westinghouse, however, that 

 160 volts alternating current for five seconds has proved fatal in 

 my experiments, and that several: men have been killed by the 

 low-tension Jablochkoff alternating current." In other words, 

 says Mr. Harold Brown, " I invite you to have a current passed 



'hrough your body which I know (though you do not) 

 will kill you, and I invite competent electrical experts to be 

 present at the death which is sure to ensue.'' Mr. Brown and 

 his experts will make preparations for what they all know to be 

 an experiment highly dangerous to life, and which some of thero 

 believe must be fatal to Mr. Westinghouse, and if the latter is 

 oolish enough to agree to his opponent's idiotic proposition, 

 and the result is what Mr. Brown says is certain, then Mr. 

 Brown and his experts will find themselves lodged in gaol 

 awaiting their trial for murder, and being accessories to murder. 

 If Mr. Brown knew a pistol was loaded which Mr. Westinghouse 

 declared was not,' and then induced the latter to fire it into 

 his head to test which was right, Mr. Brown and the gallows 

 would run the risk of being acquainted, while the experts who 

 aided and abetted him would have an opportunity of trying the 

 effects of some years' penal servitude. This fustian " challenge " 

 does not make Mr. Brown any more accurate than he was before, 

 but it must make every man of common-sense pretty certain that 

 he can be an excessively foolish person, and that the chances 

 are, when Mr. Brown is particularly positive about anything, he 

 is wrong. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Tropical Squirrel {Scitiriis (cstiians) from 

 Bolivia, presented by Mr. Peter Suarez ; four Marbled Pole- 

 cats {Putorius sarmaticus) from India, preser.ted by Colonel Sir 

 Oliver B. C. St. John, K.C.S.L, R.E. ; eight Indian Gerbilles 

 {Gerhilhis'indicus 2 cj 6 ? ) from India, presented by Dr. J. 

 Gilbert ; a Jackdaw [Comis monediila), British, presented by 

 Mr. Basil Carter ; an Areolated Tortoise {Homopus areolalus), 

 seven Tuberculated Tortoises {Homopus fentoralis), two well- 

 marked Tortoises {Homoptis signatus), a Robben Island Snake 

 {Coronella phccarum), two Infernal Snakes [BooJon infernalis), 

 two Auroia Snakes {Lamprophis aurora), a Many-spotted Snake 

 [Coronelld vmUimactilattis) from South Africa, presented by the 

 Rev. G. H. R. Fisk, C.M.Z. S. ; an Adorned Ceratophrys 

 {Cera'.ophrys ornata) from Buenos Ayres, presented by Captain 

 Hairley. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



New Minor Planet. — M. Charlois discovered a new minor 

 planet, No. 284, on February 8, at the Nice Observatory. M. 

 Charlois has named No. 277 Elvira. 



Observations of Variable Stars. — Mr. Paul Yendall 

 publishes in Gould's Astronomical Journal the results of his 

 observations of a few variable stars in 1888. The observations 

 compare as follows with the ephemerides given week by week 

 in Nature .- 



Star. Observed. Cilculated. 



R UrsseMajoris... Oct. 22 M ... Nov. 7 M 



R Scuti Aug. 6 in ... Aug. 15 in 



yj Aquilae June 12-98 yJ/ ... June iz'SS y^/ 



July 2576 yJ/ ... July 25-96 .Af 



Sept. 6-50^7/ ... Sept. TOO M 



S Sagittse Sept. 27-9 m ... Sept. 27-9 m 



Sept. 30-5 M ... Sept. 30-9 M 



Winnecke's Periodical Comet. — An exceedingly valuable 

 memoir on the motion of this comet has recently been published 

 by Dr. von Haerdtl, Privatdoant for Astronomy in the Uni- 

 versity of Innspruck. The most interesting point of this memoir, 

 which was communicated to the Imperial Academy of Sciences 

 of Vienna, lies in the evidence it supplies that an increase is 

 necessary in the accepted value for the mass of Jupiter. After 

 referring to the early history of the comet, its probable identity 

 with Comet 1766 II., and with that discovered by Pons on 

 February 6, 1808, and its rediscovery by the same observer on 

 July 18, 1819, Dr. von Haerdtl commences the detailed treat- 

 ment of the observations made during the four last periods when 

 it was seen — viz. 1858, 1869, 1875, and 1886, discussing the 

 individual ob-ervations, some 462 in all, with great thorough- 

 ness, and forming normal places and computing the resulting 



