Oct. 



i i 



1883- 



NA TURE 



563 



why this latter class of waves should affect the barometer more 

 strongly in the case of the current with the eastward component. 

 In the first place that current is proceeding from the tropics, the 

 region in which all great atmospheric movements originate ; and 

 in the second place there is a greater mass of matter moving 

 with it than with the other current, there being not only an 

 equal quantity of dry air returning northwards to compensate for 

 that which is flowing southwards, but there being also a consi- 

 derable quantity of water vapour, which does not return south- 

 wards in the form of vapour, but, having been precipitated as 

 rain, returns with the ocean currents. It may not be easy, but 

 still it is perhaps possible, to demonstrate how this fact should 

 explain the greater amplitude of the eastward than of the w est- 

 ward transmitted wave?. A. N. PEARSON 



Meteorological Office, Bombay, September 4 



Apparent Disappearance of Jupiter's Satellites 



On the morning of October 15 next Jupiter will appear to be 

 deprived of the satellites usually attending him. This somewhat 

 rare phenomenon has only been observed on four occasions 

 during the present century, as follows : — 



May 23, 1S02 September 27, 1S43 



April 15, 1826 August 21, 1867 



In 1826 the disappearance of the Jovian moons extended 

 an interval of 2 hours ; in 1843 the interval was thirty-five 

 minutes ; in 1867 1 hour 45 minutes ; but on October 15 next 

 the phenomenon only endures 19 minutes (i.e. from 3I1. 56m. to 

 4h. 15m. a.m.). The second, third, and fourth satellites will be 

 in tr.i the disk, while the first will be occulted by the 



planet. On August 21, 1867, the first, third, and fourth were in 

 transit, while the second was eclipsed, and afterwards occulted. 

 These occasions offer excellent opportunities for comparing the 

 appearance of the satellites while in transit, and for re-detecting 

 the dusky spits which were formerly distinguished upon them by 

 Dawes, Secchi, and others. On August 21, 1867, I observed 

 the phenomenon with a 45 inch refractor, and noticed that the 

 satellites appeared nearly as dark and distinct as their shadows 

 while projected on the disk of their primary. 



There is a remarkable agreement in the intervals separating 

 this rare occurrence. Between the disappearances of May 23, 

 1S02, and April 15, 1826, there is a period of 24 years less 38 

 days (= 072S day-), and between those of September 27, 1843, 

 and August 21, 1867, 24 years less 37 days (= 8729 days). The 

 other intervals are irregular, there being 17 years 165 days 

 between that of 1826-1843, and 16 years 55 days between that 

 of 1S67-1883. If, however, there is a regularly-recurring cycle 

 of nearly 24 years, as the above dates apparently indicate, after 

 every alternate disappearance of these satellites, then we may 

 expect a repetition of the phenomenon on about September 7, 

 1907. \V. F. Denning 



Bristol, October 6, 1883 



The English Viper 



In regard to the English viper, I send a small contribution to 

 the information that Mr. R. Langdon seeks in your issue for 

 August 2 (p. 319). During a residence of more than twenty years 

 on the outskirts of the Forest of Dean, the following facts con- 

 cerning the adder's bite came more or less under my notice : — 



1. A girl was bitten on the thumb, she sucked the bite, and 

 her head, throat, and tongue swelled so much that she nearly 

 died of suffocation and starvation. She was laid up more or 

 less for six months, and folks said that she was never herself 

 again, but became "> illy-like," but so far as my memory goes 

 she was but weak minded before the bite. 



2. A gamekeeper was bitten on the thick part of the hand. 

 He could hardly get home, and did not leave his bed for three 

 months afterwards. 



3. A woman in the Forest was bitten on the thumb, her arm 

 swelled, and became black, but on the application of a herb 

 (which I cannot identify, though she called it "adder's tongue"), 

 the swelling went down at once, and in a day or so no trace of 

 the bite remained. 



4. Though the following case did not occur in our neighbour- 

 hood, yet as the patient was a family connection, and the details 

 were given me by his mother, I bring it forward. The young 

 man was bi ten in the hand, and his arm swelled rapidly to such 

 a size, that the coat sleeve had to be cut open. The youth was 



ill for many months, and more than a year afterwards had not 

 regained his former mental and physical condition. 



5. Cows were often bitten on the legs, but more often on the 

 adder; they never died from the bites, 



6. Sheep often died ; and lambs, so far as memory serves, 



invariably. 



7. A pi .inter was bitten on the chest. The bite did not bleed, 

 but the dog swelled quickly and could not walk ; it was ill for 



nine, but did not die. 



S. I remember hearing that a little girl had died from the bite 

 of an adder ; but 1 mention the ca-c with little confidence, as it 

 did not come within the limits of my observation. 



In 1 S65 or 1S66 adders were more numerous in our neighbour- 

 than the "oldest inhabitant " had ever known them to be. 

 The farmers were advised to turn their pigs into the fields, and 

 and the result was that wherever the pigs ranged the adders were 

 nearly exterminated. A student of folk-lore would find a wide 

 field in the traditions respecting the adder and its bite. In our 

 neighbourhood the fat of the adder, especially that of the biter, 

 was considered the best antidote for the bite. To roast an adder 

 alive was not only a means of relieving the sufferer, but by 

 making "the varrnin squeal" it was said to draw others from 

 their holes, and thus lead to their destruction. 



Katharine B. Clavpole 



Though not precisely in reply to Mr. Langdon's question, yet 

 I adil a short postscript to my wife's letter. 



In this district we have two venomous snakes, the rattlesnake 

 and the copperhead. The former is now becoming scarce, but 

 the latter is still common. I have never been able to learo that 

 any human being has been killed by the bite of either of these 

 Snakes in this neighbourhood. Bites of the rattlesnake are ex- 

 ceedingly rare, but I have know n some, and heard of many per- 

 sons who have been bitten by copperheads. 



1. A lady was bitten on t lie foot at her garden gate ; the leg 

 swelled up to the thigh, and was exceedingly painful. She was 

 more or less ill for a week. 



2. A boy was bitten on the foot, and the leg swelled and 

 turned black. No remedies were applied for many hours. A 

 poultice of some herb which I have not been able to identify 

 was put on the wound, and in twelve hours more the swelling 

 had gone down, and the boy could walk. 



3. In a third case of which I have heard the wound was said 

 to reopen, or at least to become irritable, every year at the date 

 of the bite. 



4. A friend of mine had a dog which was bitten by a copper- 

 head. He treated the wound with new milk, but the dog died. 



5. In one case of which I have heard a man was bitten by a 

 rattlesnake, but though I do not know the details of the case, 

 the man is still alive. 



6. A dog belonging to the friend mentioned above was bitten 

 by a rattlesnake, and treated with new milk. He recovered. 



I have heard of and known other cases of snakebite, but 

 similar results followed. The remedies recommended for snake- 

 bite are too numerous to mention. Whisky in large doses is 

 the most popular, and it never seems in such cases to produce 

 intoxication. The common remedy — "the fat of the snake that 

 bit you " — is, I suspect, an ingenious device for insuring the de- 

 struction of the reptile. It would appear as if the bite of the two 

 snakes which I have mentioned can hardly be as deadly as is 

 commonly supposed. The frequent swelling of the head and 

 appears to me to be caused by sucking the poison from 

 the wound when a sore may have existed in the mouth. Much 

 probably depends on the size and condition of the snake, the 

 time of year, and the place and depth of the bite. 



E. W. Clatpole 



New Bloomfield, Perry County, Pa., September 3 



Solar Halo 



I had the pleasure of witnessing, this morning, what Mr. 

 Backhouse refers to in the last number of Nature (p. 515) " as 

 seen on rare occasions — a small portion of an ordinary halo 

 brilliantly coloured." 



Looking from a window at 9.40 a.m. towards the south-east, 

 I saw a brilliant patch of light which for a moment I took to be 

 the sun, but which I soon perceived was part of a solar halo, the 

 sun being (roughly speaking) 20° distant in a horizontal line. 



The colours were exactly those of the rainbow, especially at 



