August 2, 1883] 



NA TURE 



335 



dency of Prof. Auwers ; the secretary is Prof. Schcenfeld, director 

 of the Observatory at Bonn. 



The last part of the Vierteljahrsschrift contains reports of the 

 proceedings during the year 1882, from twenty-eight continental 

 observatories, public and private. Also a portrait of the late 

 Prof. Plantamour of Geneva. 



Ephemerides of the Satellites.— The last number of the 

 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society contains Mr. 

 Marth's extensive ephemerides of the satellites of Saturn (except- 

 ing Hyperion), Uranus, and Neptune for their next oppositions, 

 as well as data to facilitate the reduction of physical observations 

 of Jupiter. Hyperion will have been omittel from want of 

 reliable elements. Prof. New-comb, however, is in possession of 

 manuscript tables, which he has utilised in the American 

 Ephemeris for 1 883 ; we extract the early portion of his table • 

 I represents inferior, and S superior, conjunction ; E, east, and 

 W, west elongation ; the times are for the meridian of Wash. 

 ington (5h. 8m. west of Greenwich) : — 



„ h ' h - h. 



Aug. 18, 2-9 E ... Sept. 8, 106 E ... Sept. 29, 17-0 E 



2 3. 109 I ... 13, 184 I ... Oc-. S, o-6 I 



28, 188 W ... 19, i- 9 \v ... ,0, 80 W 



Sept. 3, 27 S ... 24, 9-5 S ... is, 15-5 S 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 

 Journal de Physique Theorique et Appliqui, July, 1 883.— On 

 the theory of electromagnetic machine-, by J. Joubert. — Experi- 

 ments on the aurora borealis in Lapland, by S. Lemstrbm. 



Note on a spectroscope with inclined slit, by M. Garbe.— A 

 differential thermometer for class demonstration, by H. Dufour. 

 —An addition to Atwood's machine, by A. Bequie.— Thedeterl 

 mination of the ohm by dynamometric methods, translated by 

 M. Brillouin. — Electrochemical figure, with diagram, translated 

 by Adrien Guebhard. 



Rendiconti of the Royal Lombard Institute of Sciences and 

 Letters, June 28, 1883.— On the theory of the potential, by Prof 

 E. Beltrami.— Note on the latitude of Milan, deduced from 

 calculations of distances from the zenith observed near the 

 meridian, by M. E. G. Celoria. In this concluding paper the 

 author fixes the exact latitude of Milan (centre of the large tower 

 of the observatory), at 45 27- 59"- 34 ± o"x>9. . .A^—Oa the 

 kinematic significance of wave surface, by Dr. G. A. Ma>jgi.— 

 Observations on the figure of the planet Uranus, by E. G. V. 

 Schiaparelli. Besides calculating its ellipticity, which agrees 

 with the conclusions of Madler and Shafarik, the author deter- 

 mines the presence of spots and changes of colour on the surface 

 of Uranus.— Results of a microscopic analysis of the drinking 

 water at Cadempino, Canton of Ticino, Switzerland, by Prof. 

 L. Maggi.— A case of policheiria (abnormal number of claws) in 

 a freshwater crab (Aslacus Jluviatilis, Rond.), by Dr. E. Cantoni. 

 Appended to the paper is a bibliography of crustacean terato- 

 logy. —Remarkable results obtained by i:he treatment of pul- 

 monary tuberculosis with iodoform, by Prof. G. Sormani.— On a 

 Russian scheme of international exchanges, by Prof. E. Vidardi. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Royal Society, June 21.— "Supplement to former Paper 

 entitled— 'Experimental Inquiry into the Composition of some of 

 the Animals Fed and Slaughtered as Human Food '—Composi- 

 tion of the Ash of the Entire Animals and of certain Separated 

 Parts." By Sir John Bennet Lawes, Bart., LL.D., F.R.S 

 F.C.S., and Joseph Henry Gilbert, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S.| 



In a former paper (Phil. Trans., Part II. 1859) the authors 

 had given the actual weights, and the percentage proportion in 

 the entire body, of the individual organs, and of certain more 

 arbitrarily separated parts, of 326 animals— oxen, sheep, and 

 pigs — in different conditions as to age, maturity, fatness, &c. 

 They called particular attention to the wide difference in the 

 proportion by weight of the stomachs and intestines in the three 

 descriptions of animal; the proportion of stomach and contents 

 being very much the highest in oxen, considerably less in sheep 

 and little more than one-tenth as much in pigs as in oxen. On 

 the other hand, the intestines and contents contributed a less 

 proportion to the weight of the body in oxen than in either sheep 

 or pigs ; the percentage by weight in pigs being nearly twice as 



high as in sheep, and more than twice as high as iq oxen. With 

 these very characteristic differences in the proportion of the 

 receptacles and first laboratories of the food the other internal 

 organs collectively, as also the blood, contributed a pretty equal 

 proportion by weight of the entire body, in the three descrip. 

 tions of animal. r 



Ten animals had been selected for the determination of the 

 chemical composition, namely— a fat calf, a half-fat ox, and a 

 tat ox ; a fat lamb, a store sheep, a half-fat sheep, a fat sheep 

 and a very fat sheep ; a store pig, and a fat pig. In these, in the 

 collective carcass parts, in the collective offal parts, and in the 

 entire bodies, the total nitrogenous substance, the total fat the 

 total mineral matter, the total dry substance, and the water 

 were determined ; and the results were recorded and discussed 

 111 detail. 



It was shown that, as the animal fattened, the percentage of 

 nitrogenous substance decreased considerably, whilst that of the 

 fat and of the total dry matter increased in a much greater 

 degree. It was estimated that the portions of well fattened 

 animals which would be consumed as human food would contain 

 three, four, and even more times as much fat as dry nitrogenous 

 substance : and comparing such animal food with wheat-flour 

 bread, it was concluded that, taking into consideration the much 

 higher capacity for oxidation of a given weight of fat than of 

 starch, such animal food contributed a much higher proportion 

 of non-nitrogenous substance, reckoned as starch, to one of 

 nitrogenous substance than bread. In fact the introduction of 

 our staple animal foods to supplement our otherwise mainly 

 farinaceous diet did not increase, but reduced the relation of the 

 flesh-forming material to the respiratory and fat-forming capacity 

 of the food. 



Finally, the actual amount and the percentage of total ash in 

 most of the internal organs and some other separated parts were 

 given. It was shown that the percentage of total mineral mat- 

 ter, like that of the nitrogenous substance, decreased not only 

 in the entire body, but especially in the collective carcass parts, 

 as the animals matured. It was the object of the present com- 

 munication to record the results of the complete analysis of the 

 ashes of the collective carcass parts, of the collective offal parts, 

 and of all parts of each of the ten animals. Forty complete 

 ash analyses had been made. 



As was to be expected, more than four-fifths of the ashes con- 

 sisted of phosphoric acid, lime, and magnesia ; these makingup the 

 largest amount in the ash of the oxen, less in that of sheep, and less 

 still in that of pigs. Potash and soda were also prominent con- 

 stituents. Assuming, for the purposes of illustration merely, 

 that one of phosphoric acid was combined with ihree of fixed 

 base, the ashes of the ruminants showed an excess of base ; 

 whereas, according to the same mode of calculation, the ashes 

 of the pigs showed no such excess. 



It was, unfortunately, only in the case of the offal parts of the 

 pigs that the ash of the chiefly bony and that of the chiefly soft 

 parts had been analysed separately. The results showed a con- 

 siderable excess of acid, especially phosphoric, in the ash of 

 the non-bony portions; presumably, in part at any rate, due 

 to the oxidation of phosphorus in the incineration. In 

 further reference to the point in question it may be stated 

 that, although the oxen and sheep show a higher percentage of 

 total nitrogenous substance than the pigs, yet, owing to the rela- 

 tively small proportion of bone in the pigs, the amount of ash 

 yielded from the non-bony parts is higher in proportion to that 

 from the bones in their case than in that of the ruminants. 



Comparing the percentage composition of the ashes of the 

 entire bodies of the different animals, the chief points of dis- 

 tinction were that in the ash of the pigs there is a lower per- 

 centage of lime and a higher percentage of potash and soda 

 than in the corresponding ash of the ruminants ; there is a some- 

 what higher percentage of phosphoric acid in the ash of the 

 pigs and of the oxen than in that of the sheep ; and there is a 

 higher percentage of sulphuric acid (and somewhat of chlorine 

 also) in the ash of the pigs than in that of the other animals. 



A table showing the quantities of total ash, and of each 

 individual mineral constituent, in each of the ten animals 

 analysed was given. Not much stress was laid on the amounts 

 in the particular animals analysed, as the aciual weights and 

 condition of animals coming under similar de-ignations may vary 

 considerably. 



It was of more interest to consider the amounts of the mineral 

 constituents in carcass parts, in offal parts, and in all parts per 

 1000 lbs. fasted live-weight, of each descripti n f animal. 

 It was shown that a given live-weight of oxen carried off much 



