Vol. XXIV. No. 3.] 
POPULAR SCIEXOE J^EWS. 
45 
.391. The largest daily movements the last month 
were .75 on the i6th, .74 on the 14th, and .60 on the 
15th, in connection with the principal rainfall. On 
fourteen other days the movements ranged from 
.54 to .35. There were six principal barometric 
waves during the month. 
WINDS. 
The direction of the wind, in 93 observations, the 
f^ last month gave iS N., o S., 3 E., 19 W., 5 N. E., 
36 N. W., o S. E., and 22 S. W., — an excess of 27 
northerly and 59 westerly over the southerly and 
easterly, and indicating the average direction to 
have been W. 24° 35' N. The westerly winds in 
January have uniformly prevailed over the easterly 
for the last twenty-one years, by an average of 
j4 observations, and the northerly over the south- 
erly, with two exceptions, by an average of 21.4, 
indicating the general average direction to have 
been W. 21° 36' N., a near average with the last 
month. The relative progressive distance travelled 
by the wind the present January was 64.SS units, 
and during the last twenty-one Januarys i,2.;o such 
units, an average of 58-1, — showing less opposiTig 
winds than usual. The 9th and 22d were hoted as 
very windy. D. W. 
Natick, Feb. 5, 1890. 
[Specially Computed for Popular Science News.] 
ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR 
MARCH, 1890. 
The sun crosses the equator and spring begins on 
March 20, at about 10.30 A. M. Mercury is a morn- 
ing StarBand passed west elongation on February 
23. It is at the beginning of the month about 10° 
south of the sun, but is about 25° west, and so can 
be seen for a few days in the morning twilight, low 
down in the southeastern sky. By the end of the 
month it will be very near the sun, and will pass 
superior conjunction on the morning of April 9. 
Venus passed superior conjunction and became an 
evening star on the evening of February 18. Dur- 
ing the month of March it will gradually move east- 
ward from the sun, but will not get far enough 
away to be in good position for observation. Mars 
rises at about midnight on March i, and at a little 
after 11 P. M. on March 31. It is moving eastward 
in the constellation Scorpius, and on March 4 it 
passes very close to the second star of the constella- 
tion, Jleta Scorpii, the planet being only 8' north of 
the star. The distance in miles from the planet to 
the earth diminishes from about 100,000,000 miles 
to 75,000,000 during the month. Jupiter is a morn- 
ing star, rising at about 4.30 A. M. at the beginning 
of the month, and at about 3 A. M. at the end. It 
is in the constellation Capricornus, and is moving 
eastward and a little northward, it having passed its 
most southern point during the past year. Saturn 
passed opposition with the sun on February 18, and 
is in good position for observation, being on the 
meridian at about 11 P. M. on March i, and two 
hours earlier on March 31. It is quite near the first 
magnitude star Regulus. During the month it 
moves slowly westward, and at the end is less than 
1° 30' north of the star, between Regulus and Fia 
Letjnis, the star at the j.unction of the blade with 
the handle of the Sickle. Uranus is in the constel- 
lation Virgo, about 5^- east of Spica {Alpha Vir- 
ginis), and is moving westward slowly. It will 
come to opposition with the sun in April. Neptune 
is in Taurus, between the Pleiades and Hyades. 
The Constellations. — The positions given are for 
the latitude of the northern part of the United 
States, and for lo P. M. on Marc^ i, 9 P. M. on 
March 16, and 8 P. M. on March 31. Cancer is not 
far from the zenith, a little to the south. I^eo lies 
east of Cancer, and Virgo lies below Leo, reaching 
to the horizon on the east. Between these constel- 
lations and the southern meridian are Hydra and 
one or two other constellations. On' the northeast 
are Ursa Major, well up toward the zenith, and 
Bootes and Corona low down. Draco and Ursa 
Minor lie mainly to the east of the pole star, while 
Cepheus is just below it. Andromeda is just setting 
in the northwest, and Cassiopea lies between it and 
the pole star. Perseus is above Andromeda, and 
Auriga above and to the south of Perseus. Gemini 
is west of the zenith, high up; and Taurus is low 
down in the west, just above Aries, which is setting. 
Orion is to the left of Taurus, a little lower down. 
Canis Minor is about halfway from the zenith to 
the southwest horizon, and Canis Major is below, 
between Orion and the southern horizon. 
M. 
Lake Forest, III., Feb. 3, 1890. 
«♦♦ 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 
Letters of inquiry should enclose a two-cent 
stamp, as well as the name and address of the 
writer, which will not be published. 
Questions regarding the treatment of diseases 
cannot be answered in this column. 
G. F. W., Boston. — In a recent number of the 
Science News [Jan., 1890, page 6] it is stated that 
Nero used a convex lens as an aid to his near-sighted 
eyes. Was this an eccentricity on the part of that 
amiable monarch, or a slip of the pen.' 
Answer. — There is evidently some mistake about 
the matter, but as the parties concerned are now 
beyond the reach of an interviewer, we do not think 
the question can be settled. Perhaps Nero was 
really far-sighted, as the ancients would not readily 
distinguish between the two defects in vision. 
C. H. C., Va. — Is there any kind of rnk which 
will fade away in a short time after being used.' 
Answer. — We know of no ink which would 
become absolutely invisible and beyond power of 
restoration; but it is said that iodide of starch, 
made by adding tincture of iodine to a thin starch 
paste, possesses those properties to some extent. 
We have had np practical experience with it, how- 
ever, and do not know whether it will do what is 
claimed for it. 
J. K., New Hampshire. — How can I grind raw 
bones so as to dissolve them in sulphuric acid for the 
purpose of making an artificial fertilizer? 
Answer.— Raw bone can only be ground in what 
is known as an attrition mill, very few of which are 
in use. You had best burn the bones till they can 
be ground in an ordinary plaster mill, although in 
so doing you lose the gelatine and other nitrogen- 
ous organic constituents, the phosphoric acid alone 
remaining. You must. not expect the bone-ash to 
dissolve in the acid. The chemical reaction between 
the bone and acid takes place without forming a 
complete solution. See Dr. Nichols' "Barn Floor 
Lecture," which we can mail for ten cents. 
G. H. T. , A'eio York. — Which is the proper form 
of the name of the metal occurring in clay. 
Aluminum or Aluminium.' 
Answer. — Both words are correct and used by 
good authorities. While we prefer the form 
aluminium, as the termination ium is analogous to 
that of most of the other elements, the form alumi- 
num is, perhaps, more generally used in works on 
chemistry. 
P. R. D., /"/a.— What is the exact length of a 
pendulum oscillating in one second of time.' 
Answer. — Owing to the varying force of gravitv 
at different points in the earth's surface4 this length 
is not invariable. Careful determinations have been 
made, which show that at the level of the sea, at the 
equator (St. Thomas), the length is 39.02074 inches ; 
at London, 39. 13983 inches, and at Spitzbergen, 
39.21469 inches. 
LITERARY NOTES. 
Conversations on Mines, by William Hopton. Pub- 
lished by J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia. 
Price, $i.2v 
This instructive book is intended for the better 
information of miners, over-men, under-lookers. 
deputies, and firemen, and those of them who intend 
to become managers of collieries. The book has 
had a remarkable history. Its author — a hard- 
working coal miner of Lancashire, who had risen 
by sheer natural ability and force of character to a 
position of trust in a mine — determined, in 1S64, to 
issue the work, chiefly as a hand-book for the use of 
operatives and laborers in coal mines, p'rom the 
very outset the book has had a marked success, and 
has long since attained an unparalleled popularity 
for a treatise of this kind. Its simple and exact 
methods of statement, its quaint and at times pic- 
turesque language, its high moral and humanitarian 
purpose, and the transparent honesty and unques- 
tionable manliness and straightforwardness of its 
author, all help to give the book a character of its 
own. 
Massage, and The Original Swedish Movements, by 
Kurre W. Ostrom. Published by P. Blakiston, 
Son & Co., Philadelphia. Price, 75 cents. 
The practice of massage has rapidly come into 
(avor of late years, as a remedial agent, and, in 
many classes of affections, has been used with 
signal success. The Swedish Movements, which 
are only a modification, have been in use among 
the Swedish peasants for many years. Dr. Ostrom 
has written a most valuable little hand-book upon 
the subject, which clearly explains the methods of 
performing the different manipulations, and the 
various di-seases in which they may be expected to 
^ve relief Numerous wood-cuts illustrate the 
work, and add greatly to the clear comprehension 
of the text. 
The First /look in Color, by Stephen W. Tilton. 
S. W. Tilton, 29 Temple Place, Boston. 
The study of color is taking its place in our 
schools as one of the necessities in education. The 
training of the eye ffe acknowledged to be as impor- 
tant as that of the hand and of the mind. Every 
book, therefore, that treats the subject ol' color is of 
timely assistance. The teacher, wliether in our 
public schools or at home, will find this book a 
great assistance. It presents carefully the theories 
of color and accompanies them with valuable prac- 
tical instructions. The book is in handsome, clear 
type, and brought out with the carefulness shown in 
other manuals issued by this firm. 
The Psychology of Attention, by Th. Ribot. Author- 
ized translation. The Open Court Publishing 
Co., Chicago. Price, 75 cents: 
A celebrated French critic has characterized the 
monograph of M. Ribot upon the psychology of 
attention as the most remarkable production of the 
philosophical press of France for the year of 1889. 
M. Ribot, who, in his own country, may be regarded 
as the inaugurator of modern psychological re- 
search, now occupies the chair of comparative and 
experimental psychology at the College de France, 
and is the editor of the foremost philosophical 
review of the continent, the Revue Philosophique. 
His works ujftn the diseases of will, of memory, 
and of personality, are universally known. The 
subject of the mechanism of attention, hitherto, has 
nowhere been treated of with fullness and scientific 
accuracy ; it has received at the hands of psycholo- 
gists but cursory mention, and, practically, been 
neglected. It has been the object of M. Ribot to 
fill this gap in the domain of contemporary compar- 
ative psychology. 
The J. G. Cupples Company, of Boston, have in 
press, and will shortly issue, the second edition, 
enlarged and improved, of a work in the vein of the 
"Widow Bedott Papers," but pronounced by compe- 
tent judges to excel even that famous production. 
It is entitled Aunt Nabby : Her Uambles, Her Adven- 
tures, and Her Notions, and has already in the first 
edition had an extensive run. They will also 
shortly publish a bright volume of European travel, 
entitled A liundle of Letters from Over the Sea, bv 
Louise B. Robinson, so well known in artistic and 
social circles of Boston. 
Pamphlets, etc., received: Liberty and lAfe, by 
E. P. Powell ; published by Charles H. Kerr & Co., 
Chicago; price, 75 cents. Sanitary Entombment, 
by Rev. Charles R. Treat, New York; Fires in 
American Cities, by Andrew P. Peabody, published 
by Damrell, l^pham Si Co., Boston ; and An Aerial 
Railway for the Exploration of the Volar Zone, by 
David Thayer, M. D., Boston. 
