324 



NA TURE 



[August 5, 1897 



charged, and that a ruinous situation has only been saved by a 

 recourse to self-fertilisation, which is undergoing evolution 

 along cleistogamic lines. 



The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Botany, 

 Washington, has just issued as one of the series of " Contribu- 

 tions from the U.S. National Herbarium," "Notes on the 

 Plants used by the Klamath Indians of Oregon," by F. V. 

 Coville. The author, while engaged in a botanical survey of 

 the plains of south-eastern Oregon in the summer of 1896, 

 spent three days at Fort Klamath and the Klamath Indian 

 Agency, from whence he was enabled to secure information as 

 to the principal plants used by the Klamath Indians. The notes 

 are now issued with a view to their use by others in securing fuller 

 and more varied data about the aboriginal uses of plants by this 

 tribe. The author hopes, when the necessary material has been 

 collected, to prepare a comprehensive paper on the subject. 

 The present list includes a few plants which give suggestions of 

 usefulness in the arts and industries of others besides the Indians, 

 among which may be mentioned the yellow pine-lichen, which 

 produces a beautiful canary-yellow dye ; the Rocky mountain 

 flax, which furnishes a strong, fine fibre ; and several of the 

 tuberous-rooted perennials of the parsley family, which make 

 palatable and nutritious .foods. 



We have upon our table the following new editions : — 

 *' Elemente der Geologic," by Dr. Hermann Credner (Leipzig: 

 Wilhelm Engelmann.) This is an eighth revised edition of a 

 ■work which first appeared twenty-five years ago. It is a bulky 

 volume of eight hundred pages, illustrated by more than six 

 hundred woodcuts. As a handbook of general geology the 

 ■work has found considerable favour in Germany. — " Physika- 

 lisches Praktikum," by Eilhard Wiedemann and Hermann 

 Ebert. Third revised and enlarged edition (Brunswick : F. 

 Vieweg and Son.) In this work the principles of physics are 

 described with special reference to physico-chemical methods. 

 The volume should be in the hands of every student of physical 

 chemistry familiar with the German language. It is a book 

 both for physical and chemical laboratories, and it contains a 

 course of practical work which should be completed by every 

 student before he begins the study of chemistry. — Messrs. 

 Macmillan and Co. have published the first volume of the 

 sixth edition, revised and enlarged, of " The Elementary Part 

 of a Treatise on the Dynamics of a System of Rigid Bodies," 

 by Dr. E.J. Routh, F.R.S. The dynamical principles of the 

 subject are given in this first voluihe, together with the more 

 elementary applications, the more difficult theories and problems 

 being reserved for the second volume. Many additions and im- 

 provements have been made in the work. — Messrs. Hodder and 

 Stoughton have published a cheap edition (twenty-fifth thousand) 

 of the late Dr. Drummond's " Lowell Lectures on the Ascent 

 of Man." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus Monkey {Macacus rhesus, ? ) from 

 India, presented by Mr. J. Fleming ; a Macaque Monkey 

 {Macacus cynofitolgus, S ) from India, presented by Mr. G. H. 

 Cheverton ; a Wood Brocket ( Cariacus nemorivagus, $ ) from 

 Buenos Ayres, presented by Mr. C. Passingham ; a Purplish 

 Death Adder {Pseudechis porphyriacus), a Brown Death Adder 

 {Diemenia iextilis), a Shielded Death Adder (Notechis scutatus) 

 from Australia, presented by Mr. E. H. Bostock ; two Grooved 

 Tortoises ( Testudo calcarata) from South Africa, deposited ; a 

 Green-billed Toucan (Ratnphastos discolorus) from Guiana, 

 purchased ; three Bar-tailed Pheasants (Phasianus reevesi), 

 three Amherst Pheasants {Thatimalea amhersliai) bred in the 

 Gardens. 



NO. 1449, VOL. 56] 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Periodic Comet D' Arrest.— M. Gustave Leveau 

 publishes in the Astronofuischen Nachrich/en (No. 3434) a more 

 accurate ephemeris for D' Arrest's comet than has yet appeared. 

 It may be mentioned that the comet has not only been observed 

 by Mr. Perrine at the Lick Observatory, but also at the obser- 

 vatories of Algiers and Toulouse. By employing these observa- 

 tions the following ephemeris has been computed. 



Ephemeris for Paris Mean Midnight. 



+ 5 43-8 

 34 "4 

 24-3 

 13-5 



2-0 



4 49 '9 

 4 37'i 



Natal Observatory Report. — Mr. Nevill, the Govern- 

 ment Astronomer, in his report to the Colonial Secretary for 

 the year 1896, points out that although he has been able with 

 his small staff" to cope with the ordinary routine work of the 

 observatory, there is still a great amount of useful and important 

 work which has accumulated, and which awaits printing and 

 publishing. Among these is a valuable contribution to the 

 theory of the moon, which consists of the reduction of all the 

 observations of the moon to a uniform basis and their com- 

 parison with the portion of Hansen's tables, whose theoretical 

 accuracy is undoubted. From the difference between these 

 two results must be determined the approximate value and 

 probable period and character of all the terms of long period 

 and their associated terms of shorter period, which are indicated 

 by the observations and shown by the comparison to be required 

 to be added to the known portion of the complete theory in 

 order to enable it to properly represent the motion of the moon. 

 A second piece of work, which is far advanced, consists of a 

 simple and powerful method of calculating from theory the 

 values of such terms as those mentioned above, and to 

 apply them to the computation of the exact values ot 

 all the terms shown to exist by the comparison between 

 theory and observation. It may be mentioned that both these 

 investigations have been in progress for some years, and now 

 that they are so near completion their publication should not be 

 delayed. The report contains a detailed account of all the 

 meteorological observations made at the observatory for the past 

 year, in addition to tables of " mean values" for the past eleven 

 years. 



Chronometers. — Those who are specially interested in the 

 performance of chronometers will find Prof. Raoul Gautier's 

 report on the " Concours International de reglage pour chrono- 

 metres de poche de haute precision," which was presented- last 

 year, a very interesting pamphlet. The object of this com- 

 petition was to examine in every respect the performance ot 

 chronometers sent by standard makers, and to award prizes to 

 those which behaved best under the given conditions. The 

 marks were divided into four groups : 100 points for mean 

 daily error, this must not exceed + 075s. ; 100 for mean error 

 of position, which must not exceed ± 2"5s. ; 100 for error of 

 compensation, which must be under ± 0'20s. ; and 50 for 

 "reprise de marche," which was not allowed to exceed 5'oos. 

 Of the 142 chronometers examined 12 exceeded 2567 points, 

 while 32 obtained over 233-3. The most highly rewarded 

 "series of three chronometers" obtained in the mean 271 "5 

 points, one of these, No. 298,225, having received 284*7 points. 

 For further details regarding the actual errors measured, we 

 must refer the reader to the original pamphlet, where he will 

 find all the required information minutely discussed and 

 tabulated. 



New Determination of Precessional Motion. — The 

 Astronomical Journal (vol. xvii. No. 21) contains a new 

 determination of the constant of precession which was under- 

 taken by Prof. Simon Newcomb at the request of a conference 

 held in Paris in 1896. This conference was brought together 

 to discuss a report on what was to be considered the best 

 system of fundamental stars to be adopted for international use. 

 Prof. Simon Newcomb was chosen to represent this part of the 

 inquiry, and his work having now been accomplished, he pub- 



