Jan. 6, 1887] 



NA TURE 



one case of deformity in every thousand, and one case of 

 monstrosity, such as twin and dual-headed fish, in every four 

 thousand. From observations he had made at the South Ken- 

 sington Aquarium and elsewhere, the lecturer concluded that 

 certain fish, such as the carp and perch, have the power of com- 

 municating with one another. 



Whilst collecting fish ova from the Kiver Colne for the 

 hatchery .at the Delaford Fish Culture Establishment, the water- 

 bailiffs found an " egg-bound " trout, that is, one that had died 

 through being unable to extrude its eggs. It was brought to 

 Mr. W. Oldham Chambers, who on examination found the ova 

 to be thoroughly healthy, although the fish, judging from its 

 decomposed state, must have been dead about three weeks. He 

 at once obtained a milter, and succeeded in impregnating the 

 ova, which appear to be quite healthy and capable of incubation. 

 The spawning season has been greatly retarded by the extreme 

 severity of the weather. 



We have received the first number of the Cycling Budget, the 

 editors of which undertake to keep cyclists " thoroughly well 

 posted in every imaginable topic which may be of service to 

 them." There are to be careful analytical descriptions of every 

 new or modified type of machine as it comes into the market. 

 The Budget advocates the building of a club-house for cyclists 

 in London. In America, it appe.ars, there are magnificent 

 club-houses for " the votaries of the pastime." 



During the year ended October 31, 1886, the total quantity 

 of steel and ingot iron made from phosphoric pig was 1,313,631 

 tons, of which 927,284 tons were ingot iron containing under 

 ■17 per cent, of carbon. As compared with the make of the 

 previous twelve months, there w.as an increase of about 368,314 

 tons. The tot.al quantity produced represents about 394,000 

 tons of slag, containing from 30 to 35 per cent, of phosphate of 

 lime. Most of the basic slag made in Germany is finely ground, 

 and used in place of superphosphates. 



M. Alfred M.\rche, who has already been despatched on 

 more than one scientific mission to distant regions on behalf of 

 the French Ministry of Public Instruction, left Marseilles on the 

 19th nit., on a similar errand, for the Marianne Islands. 



M. Thouar's expedition to solve the question of the naviga- 

 bility of the I'ilcomayo, and its suitability as a trade route 

 between Bolivia and the eastern parts of South America, has 

 had to be postponed so far as the upper waters are concerned, 

 owing to the refusal of the Bolivian Government at present to 

 supply its share of the funds for the undertaking. Writing, how- 

 ever, from Sucre on Octo' er 22, M. Thouar reports that the 

 Bolivians have confided to him a mission of exploration in the 

 same regions. He is to cross the Bolivian Chaco and .survey it, 

 with a view to discovering a land route for trade, and also to 

 make a scientific investigation of the territory on the right bank 

 of the Paraguay, directing especial attention to its capacity for 

 cultivation and to the methods by which immigration should be 

 encouraged. M. Thouar was to start on this mission about 

 November 18. 



The Aniiiuiire pour l" An 1887, issued by the Bureau des 

 Longitudes, Paris, contains mu .h astronomical and other scien- 

 tific information, arranged in a convenient form. The work is 

 carefully edited, and has been considerably enlarged, by M. 

 Loewy, one of the members of the Bureau. 



The current number of the Memorie delta Societa degli Spet- 

 Iroseopisti Italiani contains a good portrait of the late Alessandro 

 Dorno, with a brief sketch of his career. Dorno was born at 

 Asli on February 13, 1825. He hiid scarcely taken his degree 

 at the University of Turin in 1S48 when he was appointed Pro- 

 fessor of Mechanics at the Military .Vcademy there. In 1S65 he 

 was made Professor of Astronomy at the University of Turin 



and Director of the Observatoiy. Many papers by him appeared 

 in the Transactions of the Turin .\cademy of Sciences, and he 

 was a frequent contributor to the various scientific journals. In 

 1874 he took part in the scientific expedition to India for the 

 observation of the transit of Venus. He died at the Villa di 

 Borgo, San Pietro, near Turin, on August 19, 1886. 



We have received Parts 16-20 of the " Landerkunde des 

 Erdteils Europa," which is being issued at Leipzig and Prague. 

 This admirable work is edited by Dr. .\. Kirchhoft", who has se- 

 cured the co-operation of many eminent geographers. There 

 are numerous illustrations, all of which are carefully executed. 



We print to-day an abstract of an excellent paper on " The 

 Use and Equipment of Engineering Laboratories," by Prof. A. 

 I). W. Kennedy, M.Inst.C.E., read at the ordinary meeting of 

 the Institution of Civil Engineers on Tuesday, December 21, 

 l8S6. 



With regard to the postscript to his letter on " Electricity 

 and Clocks," in our last number (December 30, 18S6, p. 198), 

 Mr. Henry Dent Gardner writes to us that it is the weak spring, 

 not the hammer, which should be kept away from a banking. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include two Green Lizards (Lacerta -jiridis), a 

 Slow-worm {Angids fragilis), European, presented by Mr. R. 

 M. J. Teil ; a Yellow-footed Rock-Kangaroo [Fetrogale xan- 

 thopus), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 The Andromedes, November 27, 1SS6. — P. F. Denza, 

 writing in Cosmos under date December 2, gives the results of 

 the watch maintained on the night of November 27 last at 

 seven observatories distributed over the Italian peninsula. All 

 the reports alike agree in showing that there was no repetition 

 of the shower of 1885, the number of meteors observed being 

 no greater than on an ordinary night, and of these the majority 

 radiated from Perseus and Taurus, only very few from the 

 radiant of the Andromedes. It follows, therefore, from these 

 observations and those o( 1S73 and 1S85, that the meteoric 

 cloud giving rise to the shower is of comparatively small extent,, 

 but very dense. This fact tends to confirm the theory of the 

 recent formation of the stream and of its origination in the dis- 

 integration of Biela's comet. The interval, thirteen ye.^rs, 

 between 1872 and 1885, corresponds to two revolutions of the 

 comet ; but the earth was in quite a different part of its orbit at 

 the date of the intermediate return, and therefore no shower was- 

 witnessed. 



The Reduction of the Positions of Close Pol.ar. 

 Stars from one Epoch to another. — \ paper containing, 

 a catalogue of 130 Polar stars for the epoch i87S'o, resulting 

 from all the available observations made between i860 and 1885, 

 and reduce 1 t j the system of the Catalogue of Publication xiv. 

 of the Astronomische Ge ellschaft, has been communicated to- 

 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences liy Prof. W. A. 

 Rogers and Miss Anna Winlock. The first section of this work, 

 giving an investigation of the methods of reducing the positions 

 of clo- e Polar stars from one epoch to another, has been published 

 in the Memoirs of the Academy, vol. .xi. part 4, No. 5. And 

 Prof. Rogers chivalrously appends a note to the effect that his 

 connection with the work is limited to the methods of discussion 

 adopted, and to an examination of the numerical results 

 obtained ; and that beyond this all the work in the preparation 

 of the paper has been done by Miss Winlock, who is entitled to 

 all the credit therefor. By the laborious process of .actual com- 

 putation, taking the instance of Groombridge 1 1 19— a star situated 

 within 1° of the Pole, it is shown th.at it is impossible to obtain an 

 exact agreement between the values of the precessional motion 

 computed by Taylor's theorem and the corresponding values com- 

 puted from the rigorous trigonometrical formulas, in the case of 

 such a star, when the time exceeds forty years. But it is also- 

 shown that the time at which the values derived from the deve- 

 lopment by Taylor's theorem begin to deviate from those derived 

 from the rigorous formuU^ may be extended many years by 

 means of a secondary series, which represents the residuals 



