450 



NATURE 



[Afarc/i II, 1886 



The French Consulting Committee of Hygiene recently 

 advised the prohibition of the use of vaseline for butter in food 

 preparations. The effects of vaseline on the system, however, 

 seemed to require fuller CNamination, and Dr. Dubois has made 

 some experiments in regard to it. Two dogs were fed exclusively 

 on soup in which the usual fat was entirely replaced witli 

 vaseline ; one of them absorbed 25 grammes of vaseline a day 

 for ten days, the other 15 grammes (this would correspond in 

 the case of an average man to 100 grammes and 60 grammes 

 respectively). With this diet the animals even slightly increased 

 in weight. Their general state was good : there was no loss of 

 appetite, nor vomiting, nor diarrhoea. In general it may be 

 said that the carburets of hydrogen forming vaseline, though tliey 

 favour neither o.xidation nor saponiftcatiop like fats, are readily 

 tolerated in the alimentary canal, at least in the case of dot;-. 

 Further experiments will show if a prolonged use of the sub- 

 stance is equally innocuous. 



It is estimated by the Marquis de Nadaillac {La Naliir.), 

 that Europeans can endure temperatures as widely apart as 

 130° C. at least. Thus, on January 25, 1882, a temperature of 

 - 65° C. was recorded on board the Varna and DijmpJiiui, 

 when blocked by ice in the Sea of Kara, east of the Straits of 

 Waigatz. On the other hand, M. Duveyrier, in the country of 

 the Touaregs, in Central Africa, has seen the thermometer rise 

 to 67°7 C. 



A RECENT number of Globus contains an article by Prof. 

 Nehring, on an interesting prehistoric discovery made in the 

 neighbourhood of Madgeburg. At the village of Westeregeln, 

 between that city and Halberstadt, in the course of some work 

 the labourers came on the remains of an ancient grave, contain- 

 ing parts of the skeleton of an unburned human body, near 

 which were about 112 bored dogs' teeth, two decorated shells 

 of a river shell-fish now only fouml in Southern Europe, the 

 Unio sinnatus : two pieces of an easily-burnt resin, the remains 

 of one or more clay vessels, and a small highly-o.xidised bronze 

 ring, which appears to have been used as a finger ornament. The 

 teeth, from their formation, must have been collected from 

 twenty dogs at least, and they were all bored through the root 

 portion, and were evidently meant to be hung on a string. 

 With reference to the shell, it is noticeable that here and there 

 in the Rliine provinces similar shells are found with Roman 

 remains. Dr. Nehring is inclined to look for an explanation of 

 this circumstance rather to an importation from Southern Europe 

 than to the theory that the Unio siniiaiits has died out since the 

 Roman period in the Rhine provinces. Ornaments of the teeth 

 of Carnivora for the neck, waist, arms, &c. , have been found in 

 prehistoric mounds or graves elsewhere in Germany ; and even 

 now they are in use for a simil.ar purpose amongst certain primi- 

 tive peoples. The Igorrotos of Luzon use them for necklets 

 and earrings ; so also do the inhabitants of the islands in Torres 

 Straits. 



At the annual meeting of the London Sanitary Pro' eel ion 

 Association the Report stated that the number of members is 

 now over 1000, and the total number of inspections made during 

 the year 1264 ; a large number having been made in the suburbs 

 of London and several in the country, including that of Eton 

 College and other large public institutions. Unfortunately the 

 general character of the houses inspected was as insanitary as 

 ever, only 5 per cent, being found in perfect order, and 9 '5 per 

 cent, in fairly good order ; whilst in 60 per cent, foul air was 

 escaping directly into the house, and in 24 per cent, sewage was 

 partly retained underground by leakage or choking of pipes. 



Dr. Sciiliemann, who has been busy at Berlin for the last 

 few days arranging in the new Ethnological Museum the fruits 

 of his recent excavations, intends to return to Athens shortly. 



The doctor promises that Berlin shall be the ultimate inheritor 

 of all his archaeological treasures. 



A TELEGRAM from Catania announces Mount Etna to be in a 

 state of eruption. Cinders and stones are being continually 

 thrown up, and it is supposed that lava is coming cut of the 

 crater, but as it is covered by a dense mist no proper observa- 

 tions can be taken. Slight shocks of earthquake have been felt 

 at the foot of the mountain. 



A VIOLENT shock of earthqu.ake was felt at 7.30 on Saturday 

 morning at Cosenza. Several houses were thrown down. One 

 penon was killed. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 pa-t week include a Patas Monkey {Ccriopitheats patas 9 ) from 

 West Africa, presented by Master Eric Blind ; a Toque Monkey 

 [Macacus pileatus) from Ceylon, presented by Mr. C. Brown ; a 

 Blue and Yellow Macaw {Am ararauna) from South America, 

 presented by Lieut. W. H. Duiifin, King's Own Regiment ; a 

 Serval {Fciis serva! i), a White-tailed Ichneumon (HirpesU's 

 alhkauda) from West Africa, presented by Mr. F. J. Jackson ; 

 a Canada Goose {Bcrnicla cauaM'iisis) from Canada, presented 

 by Mr. J. E. Kelsall ; a Rough-billed Pelican {Pdccanus trachyi- 

 r/iyiichus) from Mexico, a Hutchins's Goose {BeniiclahuUhimi), 

 from Arctic America, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Lunar Inequalities due to the Action of Jupiter. 

 —Some years ago Prof. Newcomb, discu-sing certain discord- 

 ances between the observed and tabular places of the moon, 

 was led to the conclusion that there existed a hitherto undetected 

 inequality with a coefficient of i""S in the longitude, and having 

 a period of about 17 years as regards its effects on the eccen- 

 tricity and longitude of the perigee. Shortly afterwards Mr. 

 Neison announced that he had found in the action of Jupiter 

 the explanation of this inequality. Using Delaunay's notation, 

 his expression for the inequalities in longitude is — 



IV = - r''l63sin(2/i + zg->r I ~ lh" - 2g" - zl'') 

 + 2"'200 sin {lh + 2g - 2/t" - 2^" - 21"). 

 Now, the coefficient of the second of these inequalities is, 

 theoretically, a quantity one order higher than that of the first ; 

 the first having the simple power of the eccentricity as factor, 

 while the second has the square. Hence we should natur.illy 

 expect to find the latter coefficient the smaller. On the grounds, 

 therefore, that there is reason to think that Mr. Nelson's value 

 of this coefficient is possibly too large, Mr. G. W. Hill has 

 investigated the lunar inequalities arising from the action of 

 Jupiter, and has computeil afresh the values of the coefficients 

 of the resulting perturbations in longitude. His final result is — 

 5 K = - o"-903 sin {zh + 2g + I — 2/2" - 2g" - 2I") 

 + o''209sin(2/i -f 2f - 2V - 2g" - 2I") 

 - o"-ii8sin (/ - 2h' - 2g' - 2/' -f 2h" + 2g" + 2I"). 

 It will be seen that the coefficient of the second term is only 

 about one-tenth of that found by Mr. Neison. It is not possible 

 at present to determine the cause of this discordance, as Mr. 

 Neison has not published the details of his investigation. It is 

 to be hoped that he will now rio so, in order lo afford the means 

 of deciding this interesting matter. 



Spectroscopic Determination of the Motion of the 

 Solar System in Space. — The Aitnnoniscltc Nachrkhten, No. 

 2714, contains a brief note by Herr Hans Homann, giving the re- 

 sult of a discussion he has recently made of the spectroscopic ob- 

 servations of the motions of stars in the line of sight made at the 

 Royal Observatory, Greenwich. He finds the position of the apex 

 of the solar motion as derived from these to be R.A. 320°'i, 

 Deck 4I°'2 N., and the speed of translation to be 39*3 ± 4'3 

 kilometres per second. He has likewise discussed the similar 

 observations made by Dr. Hiiggins, and at the Temple Obser- 

 vatory, Rugby, by Mr. Seabroke, although these two latter 

 series embraced too few stars, and these insuflSciently observed 

 to furnish adequate grounds for any satisfactory conclusions. 

 The results derived from these three series, though differing 

 very considerably from each other, yet show a certain rough 

 correspondence which was perhaps all that could be expected, 



