Jan. 14, 1886] 



NATURE 



245 



direction, with thick snowdrift, which cuts away earth and sand 

 in minute particles from the windward side of any hill or rising 

 ground in its course, and these particles are carried along until 

 they find a resting-place under the lee of some steep bank or 

 cliff. 



These foreign substances, when mixed with a great depth of 

 snow, are not readily seen, but when the spring evaporation 

 and thaws remove a great part of the snow, a stratum — more or 

 less thin — of coloured matter, is visible on the surface, and this 

 marks clearly the stratum or formation of one season. No 

 doubt, sometimes, if there happen to be a minimum of snow- 

 drift during the winter, followed by an unusually warm summer, 

 all the winter deposit of snow may be removed, and the earthy 

 deposit (naturally smaller than usual) will be added to that of 

 the previous year. 



It may be asked why I did not speak of these matters in 

 Major Greely's presence at the meeting of the Geographical 

 Society ? This is easily explained : Major Greely's address was 

 so long that little time was left for discussion, and this time was 

 most properly given to the officers (four of whom were present) 

 of the English Government Expedition of 1875-76, who, to my 

 surprise and amusement, let the astute citizen of the United 

 States have things pretty much his own way. In fact, one of 

 these officers made matters rather worse than better by what he 

 said. JoH.N Rae 



4, Addison Gardens, Kensington, W., January i 



Hydrophobia — A Further Precaution 



It may be taken as an accepted fact that mongrels are more 

 liable to rabies than well-bred dogs, both from the ill-treatment 

 they commonly receive, and from the unnatural mingling of 

 species that has led to their production. Statistics show that 

 over 90 per cent, of mad dogs are retrievers, or animals so- 

 called. In addition to these two points, it can be safely main- 

 tained that no kind of dog gives birth to so many mongrels as 

 the retriever. Pointers, setters, terriers, and hounds will not 

 readily breed from dogs of another class, but the reverse is true 

 of the retriever, and the result is the production of a horrible 

 progeny that ought to be immediately destroyed. Owners of a 

 kennel of sporting dogs are constantly subjected to the annoy- 

 ance of one of their true-bred retrievers having a litter of pups 

 that only resemble retrievers ia their coats. I would therefore 

 suggest that the Retriever Stud Book should be kept by a 

 Government official, and that all owners of retrievers should be 

 obliged to send notice to him when a litter arrived ; and that 

 the police should be empowered to destroy any retriever whose 

 owner was not provided with a certificate of registration. A 

 few inspectors of litters could travel the country, and at a cost 

 of a few hundreds a year prevent the development of countless 

 mongrels — valueless for sporting purposes, hideous to look at, 

 and sure promoters of canine madness. H. M. ToMLiN 



Rotation of Mars 



Prof. Bakhuyzen is right in regard to the number of days 

 counted in error by Kaiser in comparing Hooke and Huyghens 

 with recent observations. I wrote away from books, and with 

 no means of determining whether Kaiser had made Hooke's 

 observation a day too early or a day too late in comparing it 

 with Huyghens's — which was what in reality he did. I saw 

 that three days' correction would about bring matters right, and 

 knew that in 1873 I had brought matters right ; so concluded 

 that was the way. But, being in London for a few days, I have 

 looked up my paper of 1S73, and find that the correction was 

 obtained by omitting two days from Kaiser's count between 

 Huyghens and himself, and adding one day to his count between 

 Hooke and Huyghens. 



I have not seen Prof. Bakhuyzen's paper, and the pressure of 

 more serious business (life-duties) prevents me from giving time 

 to such examination of it as I gave to Kaiser's in 1S73. The 

 results, however, were and are before me. It was natural I 

 should infer that he had taken Kaiser's results as they stood. 

 For, the comparison of either Hooke or Huyghens, using 

 Kaiser's own dates and estimates (following him, in fact, in 

 everything except his clerical errors in regard to the New Style 

 date for Hooke's observations, and to the number of days in 

 1700 and 1800), gives no such results as Prof. Bakhuyzen has 

 presented. Kaiser made the interval between November i, 

 1862, 6h. lo'im., and August 13, 1672, I2h. io'3m. (at which 



epochs he found Mars to have been in the ".ame position in 

 regard to sidereal rotation), to be 69476d. I7h. 59'8ni., and in 

 this period, he said. Mars made 67,719 rotations : the resulting 

 estimate of the rotation- period is 24h. 37m. 22'645. In reality 

 the interval was 69474d. I7h. 59 'Sm., and in this interval Mars 

 made 67,717 rotations : the resulting estimate of the rotation- 

 perio 1 is 2411. 37m. 2271s. Again, using the observations of 

 Hooke and Huyghens combined to give a mean, and the mean 

 of the best observations between 1830 and 1870, we deduce the 

 period 24h. 37m. 22'7ls., which was, I find, the value I indi- 

 cated as the most probable in 1873. Using observations up to 

 those in 18S4, I find for the period 24h. 37m. 22703s. I find 

 no noteworthy correction on using Maraldi's or W. Herschel's 

 observations, with which, indeed, my inquiry began. I am 

 satisfied the seconds are nearer 227 than 22'64. 



Richard A. Proctor 



A Meteor 



At 4.47 p.m. yesterday, whilst returning home with two 

 friends, I sasv a large meteor pass slowly downwards in an east- 

 north-easterly dire.-tion. Unfortunately it was twilight and 

 very cloudy at the time of the observation, and the " fireball," as 

 one of my friends called it, was consequently shorn of much of 

 its brilliancy. It was, however, distinctly visible behind a thin 

 veil of cloud, and when seen for a couple of seconds in the open 

 it seemed to have an apparent diameter about four times that of 

 the planet Venus, which, with the crescent moon, were the only 

 other conspicuous objects in the heavens at that time. 



Brighton, Janua-y 10 \V. Ai.NSLlE HOLLls 



Meteorological Phenomena 



I HAVE just received the inclosed notice of a meteorological 

 phenomenon which you may consider of sufficient interest for 

 publication in Nature. Henry Toy.nbee 



Meteorological Office, 116, Victoria Street, London, S.W., 

 January 6 



Leaving the port of Kingston, Jamaica, at dusk on Novem- 

 ber 23, 1885, the night was fine and starlit overhead, but about 

 8 p.m. a heavy bank of cloud obscured the island, and all 

 around the upper edges of this cloud-bank brilliant flashes of 

 light were incessantly bursting forth, sometimes tinged with 

 prismatic hues, while intermittently would shoot vertically up- 

 wards continuous darts of light displaying prismatic colours in 

 which the complementary tints, crimson and green, orange and 

 blue, predominated. Sometimes these darts of light were pro- 

 jected but a short distance above the cloud-bank, but at others 

 they ascended to a considerable altitude, resembling rockets 

 more than lightning. This state of matters continued until 

 about 9.30 p.m., when all display of light ceased. As I have 

 never seen such a phenomenon in any other part of the world, 

 I have deemed it an unusual occurrence, and worthy of record. 



R.M.S. Moselle, Southampton T. Mackenzie 



I SHALL be obliged if you will allow me to record in your 

 columns the following account of some remarkable phenomena 

 witnessed during a voyage from Sunderland to London, and I 

 trust that if you are good enough to insert this letter, it may be 

 the means of eliciting some explanation from yourself or your 

 readers as to the causes producing such strange effects. Capt. 

 Herring, of the s.s. Fenton, reports to me as follows : — 



"We left Sunderland at 3 p.m. on the 7th inst. bound for 

 London, wind west-south-west, with snow squalls and strong 

 sea ; towards midnight wind increased, and the squalls cyclonic. 

 When between Flamborough Head and Scarborough, the vessel 

 became enveloped with phosphorescence, the mast-heads exhi- 

 biting the curious phenomenon known by sailors as ' Com- 

 posants ' {corpus sancti), which in this instance were shaped 

 like a top, about two feet at the widest part, resembling a bunch 

 of mistletoe illuminated. The standing rigging and all pro- 

 truding objects were in like manner illuminated, and the most 

 extraordinary effect was produced when the mate, who was on 

 the bridge with me at the time, raised his head above the 

 canvas weather-sheeting ; the whole of his hair, exposed, and 

 beard were instantly illuminated, and in like manner his hands 

 when elevated became phosphorescent on the outline of his 

 mittens- When under cover of the sheeting there was no appear- 

 ance of phosphorescence ; it would therefore appear that the 

 eftect of the wind produced the phenomenon. The weather 



