446 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



W. GiBBS and F. A. Genth : Researches upon the Ammonia-Cobalt 

 Lases. 72 pp. 



A2)pendix. J. D. Rcjnkle: N'ew tables for determinmg the values of 

 the coefficients in the pcrturbative functions of planetary motion, -which 

 depend upon the ratio of the mean distances. Also, Asteroid Supplement 



to new tables for determining the values of by and its derivatives. 



The appearance annually of one or more quarto volumes of papers con- 

 taining the results of recent researches is abundant testimony to the pro- 

 ductiveness of the Smithsonian fund. This is but one of the ways, it 

 should be noted, in which the Institution is successfully laboring to in- 

 crease and ditTuse knowledge. In all, it is doing a great work for the 

 countrv. 



The first paper by Mr. Meech is a mathematical investigation of the 

 varying amount of heat received by the earth from the sun arising 

 from the variations in her phases of position and inclination. The topics 

 -of the chapters will give an idea of the mode of treating the subject. 

 1. Irradiated surfece upon the planets. 2. The sun's intensity upon the 

 planets, in relation to their orbits. 3, Law of the sun's intensity at any 

 instant during the day. 4, The sun's diurnal intensity, 5. The sun's 

 annual intensity. 6. Average annual intensity upon a part or the whole 

 of the earth's surface. Y. Secular changes of intensity. 8, Local and 

 climatic changes, 9. Duration of sunlight and twilight. Under tlie 7th 

 head, Mr. Meech deduces, that taking into view the fact that the obliquity 

 of the ecliptic, 2000 years ago, in the time of Hipparchus, 128 b. c, was 

 23^ 43', and now it is 23^ 27^', and that therefore the sun then rose 

 higlier in summer than now, the summer heat of that period was two- 

 tmths of a degree Fahrenheit hotter than that of the present, while the 

 winter was the same amount colder. 



The article by Prof. Hitchcock has already been noticed (see page 430), 

 and that by Gibbs and Genth has been republished entire in this Journal. 



5. A Monoyraph of the Tertiary Eatomoslraca of Enyland and Ire- 

 land ; by T. KurERT Jones, F.G.S. London, 1856, 70 pa.ires 4to, with 

 6 plates. — This work is one of the monographs published in elegant style 

 by the Pala^ontographical Society of London, one of the most useful 

 Scientific publishing Societies in the world. Mr. Jones has paid great 

 attention to these minute Cypris-like species, and his works embrace a 

 large part of what is known on these fossils. The Quarterly Journal of 

 the Geological Society of London for November, 1856, contains another 

 paper by Mr. Jones, on the Estheria minuta, a triassic species of the 

 same group of Crustacea. 



6. Terrestrial Maynetisni at Brussels and Paris; M. Maumoud, (T'lnh 

 Acad. Roy. Belgique, xxii, 14).— Inclination obtained with a Gambey 

 needle in the garden of the Observatory, May 10-18, 1855, 67°42 '82 

 (mean of four determinations); absolute horizontal intensity, 1^*8075; 

 absolute total intensity, 4'7662. At Paris, March 4 and 5, inclination 

 66° 23-18, absolute horizontal intensity 1-8817, absolute total intensity 

 4-G976. 



7. Fishes of CViina.— Volume X, of the Nouveaux Memoires de_ la Soe. 

 Imp. des Xaturalistes de Moscou, 1855, contains a paper on the Fishes ot 

 Northern China, by Dr. S. Basilewsky, with 9 quarto colored plate^^. 



