June 4, 1903] 



NA TURE 



II I 



The water used was purified by distilling twice and freezing 

 in a platinum vessel, and the sodium sulphate was crystal- 

 lised until it gave a constant transition temperature. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Serval {Felis serval) from South 

 Africa, presented by Mr. C. H. Firmin ; a Harlequin Elaps 

 (Flaps fulvius) from Central America, presented by Captain 

 J. B. Gilliat ; a Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua 

 galerita) from Australia, deposited ; a Chinchilla (Chinchilla 

 lanigera) from Chili, purchased ; a Japanese Deer (Cervus 

 sika), a Sambur Deer (Cervus aristotelis), a Red Deer 

 (Cervus elaphus), a Thar (Hemitragus jemlaicus), an 

 American Bison (Bison americanus), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



A Reported Projection on Mars. — A Reuter's correspon- 

 dent at Cambridge, U.S.A., states that the Harvard College 

 Observatory at Flagstaff reports the discovery of a large 

 projection on Mars at 3.35 a.m. (G.M.T.) on May 26. The 

 position angle of the projection is given as 200°. 



Report of the Oxford University Observatory. — From 

 the report of this observatory for the period May i, 1902, 

 to April 30, 1903, just issued by Prof. H. H. Turner, we 

 learn that of the 1180 plates which had to be measured and 

 reduced for the Astrographic Chart, iioo are now com- 

 pleted, 170 of them having been finished during the period 

 with which the report deals. 



When these measurements are completed it is proposed 

 to undertake the measures of the plates, obtained during 

 the opposition of 1900-190 1, of the planet Eros, for the 

 purpose of obtaining a more trustworthy value for the 

 solar parallax, this work having been undertaken as a 

 supplementary labour by the International Astrographic 

 Committee. 



Paragraph vi. of the report gives an account of the 

 fortuitous discovery of Nova Geminorum, which possibly 

 would not have been discovered at Oxford but for the fact 

 that the first batch of plates used in photographing the 

 Nova's region for the Chart proved faulty, and thereby 

 rendered it necessary that this zone should be rephoto- 

 graphed. It was whilst photographing the zone the second 

 time that Mr. Bellamy used the Nova as a " setting " star, 

 thereby causing the inquiry to be set on foot, when the 

 plate came to be measured, which led to the happy discovery 

 that the bright star he had used in setting his instrument 

 was a hitherto unknown object. 



Periodicities of the Tidal Forces and Earthquakes. — 

 In a paper communicated to No. 3, part ii., vol. Ixxi. of the 

 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Mr. R. D. Oldham, 

 of the Geological Survey of India, discusses the rela- 

 tions between the periodicity of the earthquake shocks re- 

 corded by a seismograph set up at Shillong, Assam, during 

 the period August, 1897, to December, 1901, and the 

 periodicity of the tidal forces obtaining at that place during 

 the various relative positions of the sun and moon. 



After deducing the reasons for expecting the shocks to 

 appear at certain times during the day and night when the 

 tidal force is at a maximum at the place of observation, Mr. 

 Oldham sets out the recorded shocks in a series of tables 

 and curves. On examining these it is clearly seen that there 

 was a real and a very large variation in the diurnal dis- 

 tribution of shocks in Assam during 1897-1901, their greatest 

 frequencies occurring at lo-ii p.m. and 6-7 a.m., and super- 

 imposed on this regular but unexplained variation there was 

 a smaller one, which appears to have been due to the tidal 

 stresses set up by the attraction of the sun. If this latter 

 variation is really due to tidal stress, it then appears that 

 the horizontal component of the stress is much more effective 

 than the vertical component, whilst the effects are more 

 dependent on the rate and range of the stress than on its 

 amount. 



Mr. Oldham points out that these results are purely pro- 

 visional, dealing as they do with only a short period of 



^o. 1753, VOL. 68] 



observation in one particular locality, but urges that they 

 are definite enough to warrant the obtaining of a longer 

 record at a place, situated within or near the tropics, where 

 earthquakes are of frequent occurrence. 



MISHONGNO VI ANTELOPE-SNAKE 

 CEREMONIES.' 



T N each of five of the seven Hopi pueblos of Arizona are 

 ■*■ performed during each year from eight to twelve cere- 

 monies of nine days' duration. The rites of the first eight 

 days are secret, and have certain elements in common ; all 

 terminate on the ninth day in a public performance, which 

 has many elements of a gorgeous pageant. 



Of the summer ceremonies, those held by the Antelope 

 and Snake societies, which cooperate, are the most 

 spectacular and best known. They alternate in each 

 village annually, with the ceremonies performed by the 

 Drab- and Blue-Flute societies. Thus, in even years, the 

 Snake and Antelope societies perform in Oraibi, Shumo- 

 povi and Shipaulovi, and all Flute societies in Mishongnovi 

 and Oraibi ; in odd years, the reverse is true. 



The time of the Snake-Antelope ceremonies is determined 

 by the date of the last day of the Niman ceremony, which 

 occurs in July, and at which time the Katcinas and masked 

 gods disappear until the following winter. 



Four days from this time, certain priests of the Snake- 

 Antelope societies meet in a room, make certain bahos or 

 prayer sticks, which are deposited in a shrine on the follow- 

 ing morning, at which time the village Crier announces 

 from the house-top the date of the first day of the Snake- 

 Antelope performance, four days hence. 



At that time, the chief priests of the Snake-Antelope 

 fraternities meet in their respective kivas or underground 

 chambers. During the next four days, the Antelope priests 

 gather in constantly increasing numbers in their kivas, 

 make bahos, indulge in fraternal smoking, and on the fifth 

 day, prepare on the floor of their kiva a sand picture and 

 erect their altar. 



During this time the Snake priests have been engaged 

 in a ceremonial hunt for snakes, scouring the country to 

 the north on the first day, on the west on the second, &c. 



Very early on the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth days 

 the Antelope priests gather about their altar, and, re- 

 inforced by the chief priest of the Snake society and two 

 personages representing the Snake Youth and Antelope 

 Maiden of the legend, sing eight traditional songs. These 

 performances are the most beautiful and sacred of the entire 

 ceremony. On the eighth and ninth days of this singing 

 ceremony there is the added element of two Snake men, 

 dressed as Kalehtaka or Warriors, who perform with the 

 bull-roarer and lightning-shooter, after which they, with 

 an Antelope priest and fifty or sixty young men of the 

 village, repair to a spot in a plain far below the mesa, 

 where, after the deposition of bahos and the laying of cloud 

 symbols by the Antelope priest, there begins a spirited and 

 exciting race on the part of the young men to the summit 

 of the mesa. The winner of the race on each morning re- 

 ceives from the hands of the chief o^the Antelope priests a 

 small netted gourd containing water from the medicine 

 bowl, which has been fertilised by smoke, which he later 

 deposits in his field. 



On the afternoon of the eighth day occurs a public per- 

 formance in the plaza, participated in by all the Antelope 

 and Snake priests, properly costumed, at which time the 

 Antelope men in turn carry in iheir mouths a corn-husk 

 packet, receiving it from the kisi or booth of cottonwood 

 especially erected in the plaza for this purpose. 



On the ninth day occurs the most sacredly guarded event 

 in the Snake kiva. At noon the snakes, numbering from 

 sixty to eighty, one-third or one-fourth being rattlesnakes, 

 which have been guarded in this kiva in earthenware jars, 

 are placed in one large bag. The Snake priests gather 

 along one side of the kiva in line, seated upon stones. In 

 front of the chief priest is a bowl containing medicine water. 



1 " The Mishongnovi Ceremonies of the Snake and Antelope Fraternities." 

 By George A. Dorsey and H. R. Voth. Field Columbian Museum Publi- 

 cation 66, Anthropological Series, vol. iii. N». 3. 



