Miscellanies. 419 



8. A new Comet. — By the annexed extract from the Cleveland (Ohio) 

 Daily Herald of Sept. 24, 1844, it appears that Mr. Hamilton L. Smith 

 has had the good fortune to discover a comet, which, so far as we know, 

 has not been detected by the European astronomers. 



" Mr. Harris, — Below I give you the apparent places of a telescopic 

 comet which I have been observing for nearly two weeks, and of which 

 I have not seen any account published. The observations are as ac- 

 curate as my means for determining them would allow. It was first 

 seen on the 10th of September, at which time, with a night glass of 2^ 

 inches aperture, it was in the same field with Beta Ceti, and about 12° 

 above the horizon at 11 o'clock P. M. The tail was about a degree in 

 length, and the nucleus very bright, and presented a fine appearance 

 in a 44 inch achromatic. 



h. m. deg. m. 



A. E. 24 31-75, Dec. S. 15 26 



" 34-25, 14 54 



" 36-75, 14 23 



" 39-25, 13 52 



" 41-50, 13 22 



" 43-75, 12 52 



" 4600, 12 23 



" 48-25, 11 54 



" 50-25, 11 25 



" 52-25, 10 56 



« 54-25, 10 27 



cloudy, cloudy. 



« 58-25, 9 30 



H. L. Smith." 



9. Fluorine in Bones. — Dr. Rees has examined recent human bones 

 before and after calcination, without finding a trace of fluorine. 



J. Middleton found fluoride of calcium in the bones of an ancient 

 Greek, a mummy, and the bones of fossil vertebrata from the Sivalic 

 hills, and ascertained that the proportions increased according to the 

 age. He also found it in aqueous deposits of diflerent kinds and ages. 

 He refers its presence in bones to deposition from fluids, and hence 

 accounts for its great abundance in fossil bones, which had been long 

 exposed to aqueous infiltration. — Phil. Mag. 1844, xxv, 119, 222. 



Berzelius and Morichini, previous to the above investigations, assert- 

 ed the presence of fluorine in recent bones. Dr. Daubeny, in view of 

 the conflicting statements, has made new investigations with the follow- 

 ing results. By freeing the bones of animal matter and of carbonates, 

 and obtaining the phosphates separate, and treating the latter with sul- 



