May 7, 1885] 
NATURE “4 
to those which it has undertaken in former years to Labrador, 
Florida, &c. 
WE learn from Sefezce that the Leander McCormick Observa- 
tory of the University of Virginia was inaugurated on April 13, 
the ceremonies taking place in the public hall of the institution, 
and Prof. Asaph Hall, of the Naval Observatory, Washington, 
delivering the address. The principal instrument is the great 
Clark refractor of 26 inches’ aperture. The Observatory has a 
house adjoining for the director, Prof. Stone, and is possessed 
of a considerable endowment fund, the gift of Mr. W. H. 
Vanderbilt, of New York. 
Carr. L. U. HERENDEEN, of San Francisco, communicates 
the following notes on prehistoric structures in Micronesia to 
Science :—A few years ago I visited Ponapé Island in the Pacific, 
in E. longitude 158° 22’, and N. latitude 6° 50’. The island 
is surrounded by a reef, with a broad ship-channel between it 
and the island. At places in the reef there were natural breaks, 
that served as entrances to the harbours. In these ship-channels 
there were a number of islands, many of which were surrounded 
by a wall of stone five or six feet high ; and on these islands 
there stood a great many low houses, built of the same kind of 
stone as the walls about them. These structures seem to have 
been used as temples and forts. The singular feature of these 
islands is that the walls are a foot or more below the water. 
When they were built, they were evidently above the water, and 
connected with the mainland; but they have gradually sunk 
until the sea has risen afoot or more around them. ‘The natives 
on the islands do not know when these works were built: it is 
so far back in the past, that they have even no tradition of the 
structures. Yet the works show signs of great skill, and certainly 
prove that whoever built them knew thoroughly how to transport 
and lift heavy blocks of stone. Up in the mountains of the 
island there is a quarry of the same kind of stone that was used 
in building the wall about the islands ; and in that quarry to-day 
there are great blocks of stone that have been hewn out, ready 
for transportation. The natives have no tradition touching the 
quarry—who hewed the stone, when it was done, or why the 
work ceased. They are in greater ignorance of the great pheno- 
mena that are going on about them than the white man who 
touches on their island for a few hours for water. There is no 
doubt in my mind that the island was once inhabited by an 
intelligent race of people, who built the temples and fo:ts of 
heavy masonry on the high bluffs of the shore of the island, and 
that, as the land gradually subsided, these bluffs became islands. 
A CORRESPONDENT recently referred to the use of artificial 
teeth by the ancient Romans, as shown by a passage from Cicero, 
where one of the laws of the Twelve Tables is quoted. The law 
in question belongs to the Tenth Table (de juve sacro), which deals 
mainly with funerals, with the object of limiting the display and 
ceremonies attending them. Thus the body must not be burnt 
in more than three robes, or be attended to the grave by more 
than ten musicians ; women must not tear their faces in time of 
mourning, nor must the bones be collected to make a new funeral 
with them, the bodies of slaves could not be embalmed, and the 
like. Section IX. of Table X., which is the one relating to teeth, 
reads as follows in Ortolan’s text (‘‘ Histoire de la Legislation 
Romaine,” p. 121): ‘‘ Weve aurum addito. Quot auro dentes 
vinctt escunt, ast im cum illo sepelire urereve se fraude esto—Add 
no gold; but if the teeth are bound with gold, then that gold 
may be buried or burnt with the corpse.” The date of the Twelve 
Tables is put about 450 B.C., and it is thought possible by some 
writers that some of the provisions relating to funerals were 
taken from the laws of Solon. It would therefore appear that 
dentistry was known and practised to some extent in the earliest 
period of their history by the Romans—to an extent, at any rate, 
that they used gold for binding the teeth. How the artificial 
teeth were made, or whether they had artificial teeth at all, is 
not apparent. In the case of the Etruscan skull mentioned 
recently in NATURE, the artificial teeth are made from the teeth 
of animals. 
M. Sorotorfr, who continues his regular analyses of the water 
of the Neva, has come to the conclusion that the differences 
between the average monthly content of solid mixture in the 
water and the yearly average may be expressed by a curve whose 
characteristics are the opposite to those of the curve for the 
average monthly temperatures. The solid inorganic deposit 
remaining after the evaporation of a given amount of water is 
also inversely proportionate to the amount of organic matter 
contained by the water of the Neva. When comparing these 
curves for the Neva with that showing the amount of solid 
matter contained by the Thames (as given in the /owrmal of the 
London Chemical Society for 1880), it appears that both rivers 
give the same curves, notwithstanding the wide difference of 
their origins, which coincidence may lead to the supposition 
that the above might be considered as a law for the rivers. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Yellow Baboon (Cynocephalus babouin @ ) 
from West Africa, presented by Mrs. Wilson; a Lesser White- 
nosed Monkey (Cercopithecus petaurista 2) from West Africa, 
presented by Mr. James S. Jameson ; a Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps 
lophotes) from Australia, presented by Mr. J. Harrison; a 
Glaucous Gull (Zarus glaucus), European, presented by Mr. 
G. Kdison ; a Common Viper (Vipera berus), British, presented 
by Mr. W. H. B. Pain ; four Common Lizards (Lacerta vivi- 
para), British, presented by Mr. H. Hanauer; a Common 
Squirrel (Sezurus culgaris), British, three Wigeons (JZareca 
penelope 222), three Pintails (Difla acuta 2? 2), two 
Shovellers (Spatelu clypeata 2 2), five Common Teal (Querque- 
dulacrecca 8 & & 2? 2), European, purchased ; a Yak ( Pephagus 
grunniens), born in the Gardens. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 
TuttLe’s ComeT.—This comet returns to perihelion in the 
present year under circumstances which are not favourable for 
its re-observation, without an ephemeris deserving of some 
degree of reliance. For the last return in 1871 the perturba- 
tions during the previous revolution were very accurately deter- 
mined by Tischler, of Konigsberg, who lost his life before Metz 
inthe Franco-German war ; and the comet was detected at Mar- 
seilles about seven weeks before the perihelion passage, and was 
followed at the Cape of Good Hope for a still longer period 
after it. So far it does not appear that the observations of 1871- 
72 have been brought to bear upon the predicted elements, nor 
has it been notified that any one is occupied in ascertaining the 
effect of planetary attraction since the comet was last observed. 
Tischler’s mean motion for 1871, neglecting perturbation, would 
bring the comet to perihelion again about 1885, September 23°5 
G.M.T., and under this condition the comet’s position will by 
readily commanded during the absence of moonlight in August, 
but unfortunately the theoretical intensity of light will be below 
the least value with which it has been thus far observed. Assum- 
ing the perihelion passage to fall on September 23, the following 
would be the rough places of the comet :— 
At Greenwich Midnight 
R.A. Decl. Distance from Intensity 
5 ° Earth Sun of Light 
August Io ... 106°5 ... +338 ... 1°89 22) O09 
14). LIOWee es ICO) pp 15 119 
1S). DIGhOueee 2O°3he a Lio2 OTe One) 
22) 2. UO ZO) cea) oct DEA. 
26 ... 12074 ..,+24°0 17.5) | eee Le DZeee O20) 
In 1871, when the comet was detected by Borrelly at Marseilles 
with the aid of Tischler’s ephemeris, the intensity of light was 
0°54, and at the last Cape observation, 0°33. On August Io 
the effect of an acceleration of eight days in the time of peri- 
helion passage would be to increase the comet’s right ascension 
rather more than 3°, and to diminish the declination about 4°°4. 
