April 22, 1880] 



NATURE 



597 



Johnson, now eighty seven years old. His son, Chief George 

 Johnson, bears the official title of the one" of the original fifty 

 council chiefs whom he represents. Mr. Hale described the 

 formation of the confederation, three centuries ago, and testified 

 to the accuracy of Mr. Morgan's history of it. He then described 

 the " Book of Rites,'' which, after two centuries of verbal tra- 

 dition, was reduced to writing by some cne connected with the 

 early missions. Two copies exist, and Mr. Hale is obtaining a 

 translation of it. It is the only known American aboriginal 

 piece of literature north of Mexico. It has many archaic words, 

 and is engrossed, in an old-fashioned current English hand, in a 

 common schoolboy's copybook. He also described the wampum 

 belts of the confederation, partly preserved by the Onondagas 

 in New York, and partly among the Indians in Canada. He 

 told of his discovery that the Tutelos were not an Iroquois tribe, 

 but were allied to the Dakotahs or Sioux of the West. Thei r 

 first seat was in North Carolina. Brainard reported that Tutelos, 

 Iroquois, and Delawares lived together at Shamokin, Pa., 

 speaking three entirely different languages. The syntactical 

 position of the personal pronoun before, after, or betweeen any 

 two syllables of the verb allies the Tutelo language with the two 

 dialects of the Dahcotah, and separates it from all the other 

 Indian dialects. But Tutelo seems to be older than the Dahcotah. 

 So also Huron (Quebec) was older than Iroquois (Six Nations) ; 

 and Delaw are older than Chippeway. It looks as if the move- 

 ment was from east to west, and not from west to east. 



From an inquiry as to cetaceans which have perished on the 

 coasts of the Mediterranean and of the West of France during 

 the years 187S and 1S79 M. van Beneden (Bull, del' Acad. Roy. 

 <U Belgique, No. 2) finds there v. ere two species of Baloenoptera 

 on the former, Mu senilis and Rosliala, and two Giphius cavi- 

 rostris, which was believed to have disappeared some years 

 since as a living species. On the west coast of France there 

 perished three Bala-noplera imtsatlus, one Megaptera boops, and 

 one Ziphioid female, whose rudimentary teeth are unknown. 



Dr. Lyon Playfair has been re-elected representative in 

 Parliament of the Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews. 



I N reference to the note on the Walker Prize, awarded to Dr. 

 Leidy (Nature, vol. xxi. p. 451), we should state that the sum 

 awarded to Prof. Agassiz was, like that awarded to Dr. Leidy, 

 1,000 dollars. 



The sums placed at the disposal of the French Minister of 

 Agriculture and Commerce for the purpose of encouraging 

 research and experiments as to the best way of dealing with the 

 phylloxera, amounted, in 1879, to 500,000 francs, arid this will 

 be increased during the present year by supplementary grants to 

 969,750!. Of this amount 200,ooof. are devoted to the treatment 

 of diseased vines in the districts specified by the superior coin- 

 v, liile 250,ooof. will be given to doubling the grants 

 voted by the various departmental and municipal bodies. 

 Societies and companies formed for the investigation of the 

 disease will also be assisted by bonuses to the aggregate amount 

 of 3O0,oo0f. A further sum of ico.ooof. is set aside towards 

 encouraging the propagation of American vine stocks and the 

 distribution of new plants and cuttings from the Agricultural 

 School at Montpelier. Rewards to the amount of ico.ocof. will 

 be given for furthering microscopic researches, while 5o,ooof. 

 are left for dealing with individual cases. 



A Chicago agricultural journal gives an account of the largest 

 plough ever known to be made, which has been recently turned 

 out by an Illinois firm of agricultural machinery-makers for use 

 on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railway. It is 

 attached to a platform car of a construction train in such a way 

 as to cut its ditch a sufficient distance from the railway line. It 

 w ill make one mile of ditch 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide, every 



four hours, thus doing the work "of about 1,000 men. The 

 beam is made of swamp oak, and is 8 inches by 14 inches, the 

 land side being made of bar iron 8 inches wide and 1 i inch thick, 

 which had to be forged expressly for the purpose. Its total 

 weight is 1,700 lb. 



From China we hear that Mr. Molesworth has lately gone up 

 the Yangtsze-kiang, in order to open coal-mines in the Ngan- 

 hiong province, where he hopes eventually to introduce foreign 

 machinery. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Brown Bear (C'/siis arctos) from Asia Minor, 

 presented by Commander Atwell Lake, R.N. ; two Common 

 Wombats (Phascolomys wombal) from Tasmania, presented by 

 Dr. J. C. Cox ; two Nutmeg Finches (Munia undulata) from 

 India, a Chestnut-breasted Finch (Donacola castancothorax) from 

 Queensland, presented by Mrs. Hylton Joliffe; a Himalayan 

 Bear (C'rsus tibe/anus) from North India, deposited; an Eyra 

 Cat (Felis eyra) from South America, a Short-nosed Perameles 

 (Peramcus obesula), a Stanley Broadtail (Platycetcus icterotis) 

 from Australia, two Scaly-breasted Parrakeets (Trichoglossus 

 chlorolepidolus) from New South Wales, a Blue-crowned Hanging 

 Parrakeet (Loriatlus galgulus) from Malacca, two Red-naped 

 Fruit Pigeons (Carpop/iaga paulina) from Celebes, an Elate 

 Hornbill (Buciros ela/us) from West Africa, two Black-necked 

 Swans (Cygnus nigricollis) from Antarctic America, three 

 Wheatears (Saxkola anantlu), a Meadow Pipit (Anthus pra- 

 tttisis), European, five Eyed Lizards (Lacci-ta octllata), South 

 European, purchased; a Collared Fruit Bat (Cynonyclcris 

 ccllaris), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Southern Comet. — There appears now to be no 

 reasonable doubt that the comet which has attracted so much 

 attention in the southern hemisphere is identical with the great 

 comet which was observed in almost all parts of the habitable 

 world in March, 1S43. Dr. Gould succeeded in obtaining 

 observations for position at Cordoba up to the evening of 

 February 19, though the head was then only recognised "as a 

 scarcely perceptible whiteness in the field of the large equatorial 

 of 28?, centimetres aperture." On the following evening it was 

 not distinguishable, though having a good ephemeris-, the ob- 

 servers knew that it must be in the field of the telescope, which 

 fully accounts for the comet having been unsuccessfully sought 

 with large instruments in this hemisphere, among-t others with 

 Mr. Common's powerful reflector at Ealing. Dr. Gould pub- 

 lishes the following parabolic elements founded upon his obser- 

 vations of February 6, 12, and 18 ; an orbit deduced by Mr. 

 Hind from the Cordoba places of February 6, 9, and 14, which 

 is annexed, will be seen to differ in no material degree from Dr. 

 Gould's. The longitudes are for iSSo'o. 



COULD HIND 



Perihelion pa-sage G.M.T. ... Jan. 2761S8 ... Jan. 27-62195 



Longitude of perihelion 



,, asc.nding node 



Inclination 



Log. perihelion distance 

 Motion 



279 52 II ... 27945 I 



61030 ... 5 55 37 



352021 ... 352252 



7739364 ... 7745036 



Retrograde ... Retrograde 



On comparing the accounts so far received of the appearance 

 of the comet of 18S0, while in some general features, as the 

 great length and narrowness of the tail, &c, there is a close 

 resemblance to the descriptions of the comet of 1843, it will be 

 found that the head at least was piobably more brilliant in the 

 first days after perihelion in 1843, though as in the present year 

 its brightness very quickly faded. We do not hear of the comet 

 having been detected in broad daylight near the sud, soon after 

 the perihelion passage as in 1S43, when it was remarked only a 

 few degrees distant from the sun's limb, at various places in the 

 United States, in Italy and off the Cape of Good Hope ; in that 

 year the comet crossed the sun's disk without being observed in 

 transit. In the present year the comet has not transited the sun, 

 but according to Mr. Hind's orbit would have the following 

 positions within the twenty-four hours after perihelion : — 



