Vol. XXV. No. 6.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
91 
moon passes just south of Venus on the morning 
of June 4, and for some countries south of tlie 
United States there will be an occultation of the 
planet. Mars is still an evening stai-, but is al- 
most too near the sun to be easily seen; at the 
end of tlie month it sets less than an hour after 
sunset, and comes to conjunction at the end of 
July. Jupiter rises at about 1 A. M. at the begin- 
ning of the month, and at about 11 P. M. at the 
end. It is in quadrature with the sun on .lune 7. 
During the summer and autumn it will be in 
much better position for observation than it was 
in 1890, on account of its more northerly position. 
During June its declination is about 6° south ; 
last year it was 18° to 20'-' south. Saturn is in 
good position in the western sky in the evening, 
and is in quadrature witli the sun on the morning 
of June 1. It is in the eastern part of the con- 
stellation Leo, and moves slowly eastward about 
three times the moon's diameter during the 
month. On June 30 it sets at about 10 P. M. The 
rings are a little less open than they were in JIay. 
Uranus is in the constellation Virgo, and passes 
the meridian at about 9 P. M. at the beginning of 
the month, and two hours earlier at the end. 
Neptune passed conjunction with the sun at the 
end of May, and is now a morning star, but does 
not get far enough away to be easily seen. 
ITie Constellations. — The positions given hold 
good for latitudes differing not many degrees 
from 40° north, and for 10 P. M. on June 1, 9 
P. M. on June 15, and 8 P. M. on .lune .30. Bootes 
is in the zenith. Libra is on the southern merid- 
ian, about half-way up, and Scorpius is a little 
below and to the east of Libra. Sagittarius is on 
the southeast horizon. Corona Borealis is near 
the zenith, to the southeast. Hercules ts high up 
in the east, and Aquila is below it. Lyra is about 
half-way from horizon to zenith, a little north- of 
east, and Cygnus is below Lyra, in the northeast. 
The bright stars in the head of Draco are in the 
northeast, high up. Ursa Minor is on the merid- 
ian, mainly between the pole and the zeuith. 
Cepheus is a little below and to the right of the 
pole star, and Cassiopeia is near the horizon, a 
little east of north. Auriga is just setting, about 
20° west of the north point. Ursa JIajor is in the 
northwest, high up. Gemini is setting, a little 
north of west; Cancer is a little above, to the 
left; IjCO is above Cancer, and nearly due west. 
Virgo is in the southwest, about half-way up. 
M. 
Lake Forest, III., May 2, 1891. 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, 
Letteus 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. 
L. A. K., Cincinnati. — How can pencil and crayon 
drawings be prevented from rubbing and l)ecom- 
ing defaced by handling? 
Ansioer. — A weak solution of shellac in alcohol 
may be sprayed over the drawing by means of a 
perfume atomizer. Dealers in artists' supplies 
sell a similar liquid under the name of "fixatif." 
Sibsckiher. — What was the composition of the 
malleable glass described by classical writers, and 
is it made at the present day? 
Ansxcer. — We do not believe it is pos8il)le to 
make any such substance as malleable glass, and 
the writers who have described it were, undoubt- 
edly, either deceived by some clever imposter, or 
merely repeated some story that they had heard 
from others. 
E. O. L., Minn. — Can shellac be dissolved in 
water? 
Ansioer. — Shellac is insoluble in water, but can 
be dissolved in a hot solution of borax and water. 
This solution is often mixed with lamp black and 
used as a marking-ink. 
Housekeepek, Xew York. — What is the source 
of the cream of tartar, so useful for raising bread 
and cake at short notice? 
Ansii^er. — Cream of tartar is, chemically, a hydro- 
potassic tartrate, and is deposited in the vats in 
which grape juice is fermented, in the shape of 
crusts commonly known as aryols. These are re- 
fined and re-crystallized to form the pure cream 
of tartar. Its leavening properties are due to the 
carbonic acid gas set free when it is mixed with 
saleratus, or hydro-sodic carbonate. 
N. T. C, Boston. — What is diamagnetism? 
Answer. — It is simply the revei'se of magnetism. 
It was«discovered by Faraday that all bodies were 
more or less acted upon by a magnet, although in 
a much less degree than in the case of iron. But 
certain bodies were found to be repelled instead 
of attracted, and these are known as diamagnetic 
bodies, the metal bismuth possessing this property 
in the highest degree. Diamagnetic ell'ects can 
only be produced by very powerful magnets.' 
W. P. N., Chicago. — What is the difference be- 
tween a chronometer and an ordinary clock? 
Answer. — The principle of both machines is ex- 
actly the same, but the former is made much more 
carefully and accurately, so as to run as near as 
possible with perfect regularity. Chronometers 
are rarely found to keep the exact time from day 
to day, but have a regular rate of gain or loss, 
which is taken into account when making calcula- 
tions from them. 
LITERARY NOTES. 
The fifth volume of the Century Dictionary 
brings the work down to Stro-, the words definetl 
numl^ering now about 185,000. This number is 
the more surprising when it is eonsideretl that no 
effort has been made to swell the total, but, on the 
contrary, careful selection has constantly been 
exercised. The filth volume is more distinctively 
literary in character than those that preceded it, 
owing to the greater proportion of literary words 
in I{ and 8. It contains, however, many impor- 
tant scientific terms as spectrum, spectroscope, Sat- 
urn, etc., and a glance at the pages will show 
many unusually interesting definitions, as under 
ship, rifle, shoe, relation, relief, run, rack, safe, star, 
steam-engine, stand, etc., with hundreds of excjui- 
site engiavings of art-objects. The bulk of the 
volume consists of the letter »S', which (as far as 
Stro-) occupies 716 pages, with about 21, .500 
words. The entire letter will oceupj' 860 pages 
being the largest in the dictionary. 
A Satchel Guide for the Vacation Tourist in Europe. 
Second edition for 1891. Boston: Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co. ai..50. 
This compact European guide-book, covering 
the British Isles, Belgium and Holland, Germany 
and the Rhine, Switzerland, France, Austria, and 
Italy, has been familiar to the travelling public 
for twenty years, and needs no extended com- 
mendation. Its reputation for accuracy and hon- 
esty is thoroughly established. It is kept in all 
respects fully up with the times, the annual re- 
vision being conscientiously attended to. The 
maps in the book, including those of London and 
Paris, are excellent, and the typographical execu- 
tion throughout is unexceptionable. 
A System of Inorganic Chemistry, by William Ram- 
say, Ph. D. P. Blakiston, Son & Co., Philadel- 
phia. Price. ■■5i4.i)0. 
This most excellent text-book of chemistry is 
notable for the departure from the ordinary meth- 
ods of classification of the elements, the method 
used being, as nearly as the difference of the sub- 
jects will permit, that which has led to the sys- 
tematic arrangement of the carbon (organic) com- 
pounds. The order suggested by the periodic law 
of the elements is followed as closely as practica- 
ble, and chemical physics and chemical technol- 
ogy, which properly have no place in a text-book 
of pure chemistry, are either treated in chapters 
by tliemselves, or avoided as far as possible. 
These innovations seem to be improvements over 
the old-fashioned courses, and likely to be of ben- 
efit to both puDil and teacher. 
Chemistry'-in Space. Translated from J. H. Van't 
Hoff's Dix annees dans I'histoire d'une theorie by 
J. E. Marsh, B. A. The Clarendon Press, Ox- 
ford, England. 
This strictly theoretical chemical essay is of the 
greatest interest, and worthy of a perusal by all 
persons familiar with modern theories of the atom 
and molecule. The usual way of representing the 
structure of molecules upon a plane surface is not 
a very rational one, and introduces many difficul- 
ties, whicli can best be explained by considering 
the molecule as a body of three, instead of two 
dimensions, and the present work is mainly de- 
voted to a very successful elucidation of this hy- 
pothesis. 
The Elements of Dynamic Electricity and Magnetism, 
by Philip Atkinson, Ph. D. D. Van Nostrand 
Co., New York. Price, .$2.00. 
This work, as the author states, " was written 
for learners rather than the learned." It is writ- 
ten in a clear, popular style, without complex 
mathematical formula?, and contains a large 
anujunt of just such information as everyone de- 
sires to obtain. Numerous illustrations add to 
the value of the book. 
The Diseases of Personality, by Th. Ribot. The 
Open Court Publishing Co., Chicago. Price, 75 
cents. 
Students of psychology and metaphysics, as 
well as physicians in charge of cases of mental 
disease and alienation, will find this work one of 
unusual interest and value, and to contain much 
that w'ill call for earnest aud serious thought. 
The American Book Co., of New York, has pub- 
lished in its series of text-l)ooks, Eight Books oj 
Cxsar's Gallic War, (price, •$1.20), which is fully 
up to the high standard of all the works published 
by this enterprising house. 
It has long been a common belief that concus- 
sions of the atmosphere from aitillery firing or 
great l)attles are likely to be followed by rain. 
This theory, in which we have very little faith, is 
ably expounded in a work entitled War and The 
Weather, by Edward Powers, C. E., Delavan, Wis- 
consin. (Prici!, $1.00). As the last Congress, in 
its wisdom, appropriated a sum of two thousand 
iloUars for testing this method of avoiding drouth, 
we may expect to obtain some definite informa- 
tion on the subject in the course of time. 
Pamphlets, etc., received : Myxomatous Degen- 
eration of the Chorion Villi, by J. Ilohart Egbert, 
M. D., Southampton, Mass. ; How Should Girls Be 
Educated, by William Warren Potter, M. D., Buf- 
falo, N. Y.; Boroglyceride in the Treatment of Dis- 
eases of Women, by W. Thornton Parker, M. D. ; 
Medical and Con-titutional Liberty, The National 
(,'ooperative Pul)lishing Co., Boston ; and the 
Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. 
Bottled Lightning. — A few days ago a mid- 
dle-aged man entered the office of the Pittsfield, 
Mass., electric light station on business bent, says 
the ./uurnal of that city. ,He produced a quart 
bottle and asked to have it filled with electricity. 
The genial manager of the concern soon discov- 
ered that the purchaser was in dead earnest, and 
further questioning revealed to the electrician, 
always on the alert for something new in his line, 
that the middle-aged man aforesaid had discovered 
a new use for the mysterious and — as Webster 
calls it — ''subtle fluid." He with the bottle went 
on to explain that he had been told that it was the 
best remedy known to remove lice from cattle, 
and that it could be bought in Pittsfield at the 
electric station for six cents a gallon. He only 
wanted a quart of it, and was anxious to get it 
and be off. He was finally convinced that he 
had been imposed upon, but did not express 
himself upon the subject of practical joking. It 
is understood that the imposee has left Pitts- 
field. 
