March i i, 1886 J 



NATURE 



441 



In the Philosophical Magazine for November 1884, and for 

 February l8S6, I have shown that the numerical \a\-aey of the 

 symbol of an elem.ent within the common system is given with 

 great accuracy by the equation 



y = iSf - «S('9375)'. 

 where/ is the number of the period, and ^ is a whole number, 

 easily approximated to, on the scale of celestial temperature. 

 Our ordinal^ elements — that is to say, all that are known to us 

 with the exception of hydrogen — are thus seen to correspond to 

 what might be expected from a law of polymerisation afiected by 

 the inverse of Dulong and Petit's law of cooling. They appear 

 to be comprised within sixteen periods only. 



These considerations lead to the inference that a variable-star 

 is one that is engaged in making " elements." All stars, there- 

 fore, either are, or must at one time have been, variable-stars. 



Glasgow, March I Kdmu.n'D J. Mills 



Do Young Snakes take Refuge in the Stomach of the 

 Mother? 



The letters of Messrs. Middleton and Creole (Nature, vol. 

 xxxiii. pp. 176 and 269) in relation to the above-indicated re- 

 puted habit of serpents, directed my attention to some considera- 

 tions and facts bearing upon the question at issue. 



It has long been a popular belief — in relation to the European 

 viper, as well as the American rattlesnake — that when the female 

 is suddenly surprised she opens her mouth and permits her young 

 to run down her throat. Some of the English viper-catchers 

 deny that any such thing ever happens ; and for a long time I 

 was disposed to ascribe the origin of the popular opinion to the 

 fact that, these serpents being tn'o-ziviparoiis, they are 'oine- 

 times found with the young in the ovidiut ; which might lead 

 persons to suppose that they were in the stomach. But the 

 following account, given by the well-known French naturalist 

 and traveller, M. Palisot de Beauvois, is so direct and positive, 

 that my faith in the above ex|ilanation has been seriously 

 shaken. 



He asserts " that he saw a large rattlesnake, which he hap- 

 pened to disturb in his walks, coil itself up, open its jaws, and 

 instantly receive five small ones which were lying by it and 

 instinctively rushed into its mouth. M. de Beauvois retired and 

 watched the snake, and, about a quarter of an hour after, he 

 saw her discharge them. He approached a second time, when 

 the young retired into its mouth with greater celerity than before, 

 and the snake immediately moved off among tlie grass and 

 escaped" Isolde Rees' "Cyclopaedia," vol. x.. Article " Cro- 

 talus," cited from the Transactions of the American Philosophical 

 Society). Testimony so clear and distinct from a scientific inan 

 is hardly to b: gainsaid. John Le Conte 



Berkeley, California, Februar)' 17 



The Coal-Dust Question 



SiK Frederick Abel ha^ not fortified his statement by even 

 one quotation from the writings of one of those workers "ante- 

 cedent to and contemporaneous with " myself, who, according 

 to his letter in the last number of Nature (p. 417), have taken 

 the variable specific heat of air into account in drawing com- 

 parisons between experimental effects obtained in practically 

 open apparatuses and the corresponding effects to be expected 

 in a great explosion taking place in the practically closed space 

 represented by the workings of a mine. 



Secondly, I am entirely at a loss to know what "are the "very 

 obvious facts " which forbid the conclusion at which I have 

 arrived, namely, that coal-dust plays the principal part in most 

 great explosions in mines. They have not yet been pointed out 

 by any author so far as I have been able to learn. 



Lastly, Sir Frederick's statements, to which I called attention 

 in my letter in Nature of December 31 (p. 197), were made 

 for the most part before popular audiences, very few of whom 

 will probably take the trouble to wade through the Report of 

 the Royal Commission on Accidents in Mines in order to verify 

 his concluding remarks for themselves. W. GALLOWAY 



Permanent Magnetic Polarity of Quartz 



To my letter in Nature for February 25 (p. 391) you have 

 added an editorial note, quoting a passage from Tumlirz's paper 

 which has no bearing on an;' of the points at issue. 



In your original note you stated that Tumlirz has discovered a 

 permanent diamagnetic polarity of quartz. To this I objected, 

 saying that the permanent polarity was paramagnetic, not dia- 

 magnetic, and you reply by a quotation stating that quartz is a 

 diamagnetic body showing perm.anent polarity, a very different 

 statement indeed from your original one. 



A permanent diamagnetic polarity could only mean that 

 quartz placed between the poles of a magnet should show 

 permanent north polarity at the end placed opposite the North 

 Pole. Tumlirz is perfectly distinct and explicit that this is not 

 the case, but that the permanent polarity acquired is in the 

 same direction as it is in iron. Tliere is no room for two 

 opinions as to the meaning of Tumlirz's words. 



Arthur Schuster 



[Our correspondent who furnished us with the original note 

 informs us that Prof. Schuster was entirely right in the definition 

 of the term diamagnetic polarity, and that his informant in 

 Vienna had been misled in using the phrase permanent diamag- 

 netic polarity for permanent polarity of a diamagnetic body. 

 The sentence which we quoted from Dr. Tumlirz's now-published 

 paper we quoted because it is the one in which he points out 

 the essential novelty of his discovery, which we and our corre- 

 spondent regarded, and still regard, as one of ver}' great import- 

 ance. Our thanks are due to Prof. Schuster for pointing out 

 the ambiguity. — Ed.] 



The " Muir Glacier ' of Alaska 



I.N Mr. G. W. Lamplugh's interesting article on " The ' Muir 

 Glacier' of Alaska, "published in your issueforJanuary28(p. 299), 

 appears the erroneous statement that Glacier Bay opens into 

 Chilcoot Inlet. Chilcoot Inlet is at the head of Lynn Can.il, 

 the approximate latitude and longitude being 59° 20' N., and 

 135° 20' W. Glacier Bay opens into Cross Sound (or Icy 

 Strait) about latitude 58= 30' N., and longitude 135° 50' W. 

 Lynn Canal is an extension of Chatham Straits, both running 

 nearly north and south. Cross Sound connects the latter with 

 the Pacific Ocean, and runs nearly ea-;t and west, entering 

 Chatham Straits south of the southern limits of Ljnn Canal. 



Washington, February 25 Chauncey Thomas 



THE SURVEY OF INDIA 1 



IT has been well said that " I'exacte connaissance topo- 

 graphique qui est un facteur de Tavau-ement des 

 sciences et de leurs applications pratiques, est aussi un 

 Element constitutif du progress national."- India is a 

 country which, ever since the establishment of British 

 dominion in the east, has been prolific of surveys of very 

 various degrees of exactitude, ascending from the rough 

 and rude reconnaissances which were needed for the 

 speedy acquisition of some knowledge of the general 

 geography, to, first, a fairly close representation of all 

 topographical features, and, finally, to an exact delinea- 

 tion of the boundaries of all properties— of private 

 individuals as well as of the State — in the richer 

 and more densely populated portions of the British 

 districts. Commencing at the coast lines, with the 

 primary object of ftirnishing charts for the guidance of 

 navigators, with a view to the rapidly-increasing traffic 

 between India and Europe, they were extended inland, 

 here and there, as difierent parts of the country became 

 subject to British influence. Astronomical determina- 

 tions of the latitude and longitude were employed in the 

 first instance as a general basis for the geography, but 

 not proving satisfactory, they were abandoned at the 

 commencement of the present century, when the Great 

 Trigonometrical Survey was originated, which has been 

 of such value for geodesy, as well as geography. The 

 survey work may be broadly classified as non graphical 

 and graphical, the former trigonometrical and geodetic, 

 the latter delineative of the configuration of the ground 

 and of whatever has been raised on its surface. 



' 'General Report on the Operations of tlie Survey of India Department, 

 admi.iistered uader the Government of India during 1883-84." Prepared 

 under the direction of Col. G. C. De Free, S.C, Survevor-General of In.lia. 



- " Importance de la Cartographic ofBcielle." C. D. Carusso. Geneve. 

 i336. 



