6i8 



NATURE 



{April 29, 18S0 



Imperial Agricultural College of Tokio. The tables include 

 mensuration and mechanical formula;, and physical, chemical, 

 and physiological memoranda and constants. 



" Notes on the Alluvial and Drift Deposits of the Trent 

 Valley near Nottingham," is the title of a lecture to the Not- 

 tingham Naturalists' Society by Mr. James Shipman, published 

 b y Norris and Cokaigne, of Nottingham. 



No. 1 of the Transactions of the Cremation Society of England 

 has been issued by Smith, Elder, and Co. ; it contains a short 

 hist ory of the subject of cremation at home and abroad, up to 

 the date of the sixth anniversary of the Society, on January 13 

 of this year. 



As proof that fat is formed from albumen, the affirmation of 

 Elondeau [inter alia) is sometimes cited, that in the cellars at 

 Roquefort the albumen of the cheese kept there is changed to 

 fat by action of the fungus present. This has been often doubted, 

 and recently Herr Sieber has given [Journal filr praJdisdic 

 Chemic, Bd. xxi. p. 203) experimental evidence of its falsity. 

 He analysed fresh cheese, cheese that had remained "one month 

 in the cellar, and quite old cheese. His figures prove that the 

 most marked changeJwhich cheese undergoes in ripening is the 

 loss of water. The proportion of fat remains unaltered, if only 

 the dry substance be considered. (The apparent increase of fat 

 represented in the three percentage figures 27^41, 31 '23, ami 

 4C13 is due to drying.) The second essential change of cheese 

 in ripening consists in the decomposition of albumen ; the casein 

 passes into a series of decomposition-products, which are pretty 

 similar to products of putrefaction in the first stages of putre- 

 factive fermentation. But these analyses show no transforma- 

 tion of albumen into fat. 



From a circular which has been sent us [we learn that the 

 "Studies from the Biological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins 

 University," will appear in parts from time to time as sufficient 

 material accumulates ; and will contain original papers upon 

 Physiology, Animal and Vegetable Morphology, and Embryo- 

 l°gy> published by members of the University in different 

 scientific journals, and other papers which are not printed else- 

 where. The publication will be based upon the investigations 

 made by members of the University in the biological laboratory, 

 and in the marine zoological station of the University. Each 

 part will contain about 100 pages, and four parts will make a 

 volume. The first volume is now complete, and contains 519 

 pages, and 40 plates, besides illustrations in the text : with the 

 following table [of contents. Vol. I., part 1, contains : — The 

 normal respiratory movements of the frog and the influence upon 

 its respiratory centre of stimulation_of the optic lobes, by H. 

 Newell Martin. The development and regeneration of the 

 gastric glandular epithelium during fcetal life and after birth, by 

 H. Sewall. The influence of stimulation of the midbrain upon 

 the respiratory rhythm of the mammal, by H. Newell Martin 

 and W. D. Booker. The botanical relations of Trichophyton 

 tonsurans, by I. E. Atkinson. Preliminary observations upon 

 the development of the marine prosobranchiate mollusca, by 

 W. K. Brooks. With four plates and three illustrations in the 

 text ; price I dollar. Vol. I. part 2, contains :— On the 

 respiratory function of the internal intercostal muscles, by II. 

 Newell Martin and Edward Mussey Hartwell. Observations on 

 the physiology of the spinal cord, by Isaac Ott. On the effect 

 of two succeeding stimuli upon muscular contraction, by Henry 

 Sewall. On the so-called heat dyspncea, by Christian Sillier. 

 A self feeding chronograph pen, by H. Newell Martin. Obser- 

 vations upon the early stages in the development of the fresh- 

 water pulmonates, by W. K. Brooks. The development of 

 Amblystoma pnnctatum, by S. F. Clarke. With twelve plates; 

 price I dollar. Vol. I. part 3 (Chesapeake Zoological Labora- 



tory; scientific results of the session of 1878), contains:— 

 Introductory, by W. K. Brooks. Land Plants found at Fort 

 Wool, by N. B. Webster. List of animals found at Fort 

 Wool, by P. R. Uhler. The development of Lingula, by W. K. 

 Brooks. Lucifer typus, by Walter Faxon. The development 

 of Gasteropods, by W. K. Brooks. The development of Squilla, 

 by W. K. Brooks. With thirteen plates ; price 1 dollar. 

 Vol. I. part 4 contains : — The development of the American 

 oyster, by W. K. Brooks. The acquisition and loss of a food- 

 yolk in molluscan eggs, by W. K. Brooks. With eleven plates ; 

 price 1 dollar. The editors wish to exchange this publication 

 with the publications of scientific societies and scientific journals. 

 The publishers are J. Murphy and Co., Baltimore, Md., 

 U.S.A. 

 ■ 



The Revue Scientifique for April 24 has a long essay by M. J. 

 Thonlet, on the Mineralogy of Homer. 



Mr. Moselev asks us to state that in the report of his lecture 

 on Deep-Sea Dredging and Life in the Deep Sea (Nature, 

 vol. xxi. p. 543), "Four-elevenths, or nearly three-fourths," 

 should stand "eleven-fifteenths," k.t.X. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Cape Hunting-Dog [Lycaen pie/us) from 

 South Africa, presented by Mr. C. Ernest Pope; a Vulpine 

 Phalanger (Phalangista vidfina) from Australia, presented by 

 Capt. Fife ; a Green-Winged Trumpeter (Pscp/u'a viridis) from 

 Maranham, presented by Mr. R. M. Hyde ; a Blue-fronted 

 Amazon (Chrysolis astiva) from South America, presented by 

 Miss E. Bentley ; a Black Scoter (AZdemia nigra), European, 

 presented by Mr. J. E. Harting, F.Z.S. ; a Long-Eared Owl 

 (Asioolus), European, presented by Capt. C. A. Lumsden; a 

 Stump-Tailed Lizard .( Trachydosaurus rugosus) from Australia, 

 presented by Capt. J. Thomas ; a Common Adder ( Vipera bents), 

 British, presented by Mr. W. H. B. Pain ; a Drill Baboon 

 [Cynocephalus leucopheus from West Africa, deposited ; two 

 Common Seals (Pkoca vitulina), British Seas, purchased ; two 

 Jameson's Gulls (Larus jamesoni), bred in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Great Comet of 1843. — Now that the identity of the 

 southern comet of the present year with that which excited such 

 unusual attention in almost all parts of the globe in March, 1843, 

 is pretty well established, it is not without interest to recall the 

 circumstances under which the comet then made its appearance. 



There were vague reports that the tail had been remarked 

 before the perihelion passage (February 27) at Bermuda, Phila- 

 delphia, and Porto Rico on February 19, 23, and 26, and, accord- 

 ing to Encke, the German newspapers had a notification from 

 New York, that the comet was seen as early as February 5, and 

 six days later was observed near Ceti. These statements did 

 not receive confirmation. The first definite observation of the 

 head of the comet, and the only one previous to perihelion 

 passage, was claimed to have been made by a Capt. Ray, 

 and is described in a letter from Mr. Mitchell, of Nantucket, 

 published by Prof. Peirce, the well-known American geometer. 

 Capt. Ray is said to have been "a man of sound judgment, a 

 very accurate observer, and correct man." He says he saw the 

 comet nearly at midday at Concepcion, S.A. ; at II a.m. its 

 bearing from the sun was almost precisely east, with very little 

 perceptible southing ; " he did not measure the angle, his instru- 

 ments being on board of the ship, some distance below the city ; 

 but he took great pains to estimate the apparent distance, and, 

 being so near the sun, thinks he has done it very nearly," as Mr. 

 Mitchell reported. The comet's "distance from the sun was 

 only five minutes, or one-sixth of the sun's apparent diameter." 

 It is not easy to understand how an object could have been 

 detected without instruments, at a distance of only five minutes 

 from the sun's limb, and it is certain that the elements which 

 represent the observations after perihelion very closely, place the 



