December 6, 1900] 



NA TURE 



idi 



discrepancy is given by the same writer in a former paper 

 (Phil. Mag. for January 1897), in which it is shown that the 

 formula generally used for determining the mean depth of the 

 ocean is incorrectly applied. 



An interesting account of an old Indian settlement in Kansas 

 is given by Mr. J. A. Udden in the second number of the 

 Augustana Library Publications, III. The paper is well illus- 

 trated by a number of excellent figures, and it gives an instruc- 

 tive view of the culture of a frontier village, which exhibits a 

 mingling of northern, southern and western features of primitive 

 industry and art. 



In a short essay on Tabu in P Anthropologie (Tome xi., p. 

 401), M. Salomon Reinach points out that the primitive idea of 

 Tabu is more restricted than mere prohibition. It has three 

 characteristics : (r) no reason is assigned, but reasons are 

 added later ; (2) the punishment, whether of death or sickness, 

 results automatically from the infringement. Neither a deity 

 nor man, individual or collectivis, is credited with avenging 

 power ; (3) the danger is not apparent. The power of Tabu 

 has been broken by various religions, who have in their turn' at 

 times been sad enemies to human liberty. 



Naturalists and others interested in bird life will be pleased 

 to learn that arrangements have been made for the speedy re- 

 sumption of the publication of Mr. W. Eagle Clarke's work on 

 the birds of Yorkshire, which has been partly published in the 

 Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, and the con- 

 tinuation of which was interrupted by Mr. Clarke's leaving 

 Yorkshire to settle in Edinburgh. Mr. Thos. H. Nelson, of 

 Redcar, will continue and complete the work. He has now in 

 his possession the original and unpublished observations which 

 Mr. Clarke had at his command when writing the instalments 

 which are already in print, and which include notes, lists and 

 observations from most of the naturalists who have studied and 

 observed Yorkshire birds. In addition to this is the whole of 

 the information amassed by the late Mr. John Cordeaux relating 

 to the birds of the Humber district, and also the notes which 

 Mr. W. Denison Roebuck has extracted from the very volu- 

 minous literature of the subject, and Mr. Nelson's own 

 accumulated series of notes on the birds of Cleveland and other 

 districts, the whole forming an ample mass of material for the 

 purpose. 



Mr. Walter W. Froggatt, the Government entomologist 

 of New South Wales, has lately published a series of rather im- 

 portant papers, chiefly as " Miscellaneous Publications " of the 

 Department of Agriculture at Sydney. Among those issued during 

 the present year are No. 358, " Note> on Australian Coccidge 

 (Scale Insects)" ; No. 363, " Plague Locusts " ; No. 363, " The 

 Hessian Fly {Cecidomyia destructor. Say) and allied Grain 

 Pests"; No. 387, "Insects and Birds" ; No. 388, "Insects 

 living in Figs, with some account of Caprification." Other 

 papers by Mr. Froggatt before us are " Miscellaneous Publica- 

 tion," No. 394, " Notes on a CoUectioa of Ticks, determined by 

 Prof. Neumann," from the Agricultural Gazette of N. S. Wales ; 

 "Scale Insects that produce Lac, with a description of a new 

 Australian Species"; apparently an independently issued pam- 

 phlet ; and "Australian Psyllidae," from the Proceedings of the 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales, for May. The last paper is 

 illustrated with four plates, and most of the others with one each. 



The question of the possible variability of the valency of 

 carbjn has received a considerable amount of attention, especi- 

 ally since the researches of Nef on divalent carbon. In the 

 current number of the Berichte there is a somewhat startling 

 extension of this idea by Mr. M. Gomberg. By the action of 

 metals such as silver, zinc and mercury upon triphenyl-chlor- 

 melhane, (CeH5)i,CCl, the halogen is removed, and, working in 



NO. 1623, VOL. 63] 



the complete absence of air, the resulting product is not as 

 would be expected hexaphenyl-ethane, but an unsaturated 

 body which readily absorbs oxygen from the air and combines 

 directly with the halogens. The author thinks that the only 

 possible explanation of the observed facts lies in the assumption 

 that the substance is really triphenyl-methyl, (Cf,H5)3C, in which 

 the carbon is trivalent. Further work on this subject will be 

 awaited with interest. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Suricate {Suricata ietradactyld) from South 

 Africa, presented by Captain J. C. Brinton ; a Raven [Corvus 

 corax), British, presented by Mr. J. C. Brush ; four Ashy- 

 crowned Finch Larks {Pyrrhulauda grisea), two Singing Bush 

 Larks [Mirafra cantillans), tv/o Slaty-headed Parrakeets {Palae- 

 amis schtsticeps), a Golden-eyed Fruit Pigeon {Carpophaga con- 

 cinna) from British India, a Burmese Slaty-headed Parrakeet 

 (Palaeornis Jinchi) from Burmah, presented by Mr. E. W. 

 Harper ; a Doguera Baboon ( Cynocephalus dogttera, 6 ) from 

 Abyssinia, a Salvin's Amazon {Chrysotis salvini) from South 

 America, three Alligator Terrapins (Chelydra serpentina), two 

 Sculptured Terrapins (Clemmys insculpla), three Blue Lizards 

 [Gerrkonotus caeruleiis), two King Snakes {Coronella getulus), 

 a Three-striped Boa {Lichanura trivigata), six American Box 

 Tortoises {Cistudo carolini) from North America, twenty 

 Climbing Anabas (Anabas scandens) from India, deposited. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Perturbations of Eros Produced by Mars. — H. N. 

 Russell has recently published the results of an extensive in- 

 vestigation of the perturbations of the major axis of the orbit 

 of Eros by the action of Mars in the Astronomical Jotimal 

 (vol. xxi. No. 484). As the periods of the two planets are 

 nearly equal and their orbits interlock, the disturbing force will 

 in consequence vary greatly in magnitude, and may have any 

 direction whatever. Also, as Eros is sometimes nearer the sun 

 than Mars, and sometimes more remote, the development of 

 the perturbative function proceeding by powers of the ratio of 

 their radii vectores gives rise to a divergent series ; and as the 

 magnitude of the eccentricities and inclinations makes develop- 

 ment in ascending powers of these quantities undesirable, methods 

 based upon mechanical quadrature are preferable. 



The present investigation has been by means of Le Verrier's 

 method of interpolation, and its relative merits and disadvan- 

 tages are discussed. Newcomb's Elements of Mars have been 

 used, those of Eros being original computations published in the 

 Astronomical Journal {^o. 473). 



The numerical results obtained are given in a table, the chief 

 results being : — 



(i) The "great inequality," of period about 1000 years, will 

 not affect the place of Eros sensibly during the next dozen 

 years. 



(2) The perturbations of moderately long period are much 

 the largest produced by Mars on any planet. They may dis- 

 place Eros by as much as 90" in mean longitude ; and since at 

 a perihelion-opposition any change in the mean longitude of 

 Eros produces one ten times as great in its geocentric longitude, 

 the measurement of this displacement will eventually lead to a 

 valuable determination of the mass of Mars. 



Catalogue of One Hundred New Double Stars. — 

 Prof. W. J. Hussey, of the Lick Observatory, has completed 

 observations of another hundred new pairs in continuation of 

 those in his first catalogue, published in the Astronomical 

 Journal {No. 480), and gives the details of the recent measures 

 in No. 485. The work has been done with the 12- and 36-inch 

 equatorials, chiefly with the latter, using generally a power of 

 1000. An analysis of the distances between the components 

 leads to the following summary : — 



Distance. No. of Paiis. 



o""25 or less ... ... ... ... 9 



o""26too"5o ... ,. 16 



o""5itoi"oo ... ... ... ... 22 



i"*oi to 2"oo ... 26 



2"oi to 5"oo ... ... 27 



