118 Scientific Intelligence. 



and on one occasion, being annoyed by the barking of a dog, one 

 of them suddenly leaped from the water, seized the dog, and drew him 

 to the bottom, from whence in a depth of four feet, the dog was rescued 

 by his master. Mr. Cowles met with this interesting family, when they 

 were taking a walk in a grove near Adams' pond. Immediately they 

 arranged themselves in an order favorable both for defense and retreat, 

 one full grown animal being in front and the other in the rear. The 

 latter bravely made fight, and seemed quite insensible to the blows of 

 Mr. C.'s whip-handle. Having no other weapon, Mr. C. was able to 

 kill only two of the young otters, which he has generously presented 

 to the Zoological Museum of Amherst College. It is said to be thirty- 

 five years since any otters have been seen in this immediate vicinity. 



IV. Astronomy. 



1. LeVerrier's Remarks on the Planet Neptune. — At a sitting of the 

 French Academy held Sept. 11, 1848, M. LeVerrier communicated a 

 paper respecting the identity of the planet Neptune with the theoretical 

 planet of his computations. The* following translation we take from 

 the London Athenceum of Sept. 30. 



" It is two years since I discovered the planet Neptune by means of 

 the perturbations produced by it in the motions of Uranus. My earn- 

 est solicitations that my labors should be verified by means of a tele- 

 scope were listened to at Berlin ; and on the 23d of September, 1846, 

 was begun, in the Prussian Observatory, the regular series of observa- 

 tions of Neptune. 



"I had only arrived at the position of this planet by indirect means, 

 and without having seen it. It was, therefore, impossible that I should 

 have attained as much precision as the direct observations of the star 

 itself would afterwards insure. Since it was necessary that I should 

 make use of irregularities, on which I could only depend to within a 

 tenth of their value (as I will hereafter explain, if desired), it would have 

 been natural that this inaccuracy should influence the positions thence 

 deduced for Neptune, and that these positions should be liable to an 

 error of one-tenth. But I shall make it appear that the deviation from 

 my theory is far inferior to this tenth. Hence it will naturally result 

 that all assertions to the contrary are false. Without troubling myself 

 more than necessary with the clamor attempted to be raised on this sub- 

 ject, I think it nevertheless my duty to take due notice of it; for if 

 such an error should for a time take the place of truth, it would not 

 fail to discourage deeply all those devoted to the progress of science. 



11 c The identity of the planet Neptune with the theoretic planet,' says 

 M. Babinet, in his notice of the 21st of August last, * is no longer ad- 

 mitted by any one, after the enormous differences discovered between 

 them as to mass, period of revolution, distance from the sun, eccen- 





tricity, and even as to longitude (except at the epoch of the discovery 

 of M. Galle, or for a very few years before and after).' If 1 quote this 

 observation by the learned physicist, it is only because it sums up with 

 infinite care all the pretended difficulties. I will go over each in par- 

 ticular, and reduce them successively to their real value. But I shall 

 be permitted not to find a difficulty in the gratuitous assertion that 



