542 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. L, No. 19. 



were found. la a recent flying trip through the Lagoa 

 Santa region, I made inquiries in regard to the matter, 

 but failed to obtain any very definite information. 

 According to the reports of the common people, many 

 caverns were explored by Lund and his assistants in 

 person for the express purpose of collecting fossils, 

 while others were worked by the people of the vicinity 

 for saltpetre, who, under instructions from Lund, and 

 probably as far as possible under his supervision, 

 saved the fossils disinterred in their operations. I 

 could learn nothing as to the conditions under which 

 the human skull now in the museum at Rio de Ja- 

 neiro, and stated to have been found with remains 

 of extinct mammals, was met with. More definite, 

 and apparently reliable information was given in 

 regard to a complete human skeleton which was one 

 of a lot sent to Copenhagen. A workman in one of 

 the saltpetre caves at some distance from Lagoa 

 Santa found the skeleton in his work, and, to gain 

 the reward offered, took it to Lund, who gave him 

 the sum of forty milreis (about twenty dollars). This 

 man is still alive; but, from lack of time, I was unable 

 to see him. It is said, that, on his recent visit to 

 Jlinas. the emperor had an interview with him on 

 the subject. 



Recently, while in New York, I had the good fortune 

 to meet Mr. Nicholas Brandt, son of the late Prof. 

 P. A. Brandt, who was for many years the secretary 

 and companion of Dr. Lund. Mr. Brandt, who had 

 spent some time at Lagoa Santa in company with 

 his father and Dr. Lund, kindly gave me the follow- 

 ing note: "T)ie remains of the prehistoric man, 

 discovered by Dr. Lund in Minas before I came to 

 Brazil, and about which the professor sent his 

 memoirs to the Institulo historico e geographico of 

 Rio de Janeiro in January, 1842, and April, 1844, 

 were often the subjects of our conversation. The 

 doctor's opinion was positive that the skeletons be- 

 longed to the same period as the fossil fauna with 

 which he enriched the knowledge of natural history 

 to such a large extent. The opinion of Cuvier and 

 Humboldt, Dr. Lund's friends, was fully justified in 

 urging the doctor to go to Brazil, and use his energies 

 in the service of this branch of science. The doctor 

 was, of course, a pure follower of his friend Cuvier. 

 Darwin and Darwinism were at that time hardly heard 

 of, as his Blikpaa Braseliens Dyreoerden fully shows." 

 Mr. Brandt adds, that but for the loss of all his 

 private papers, including his Brazilian journal, and 

 many letters from his father and Dr. Lund, in the 

 Atlantic disaster some years ago, he would have been 

 able to give a much more definite and detailed ac- 

 count of Lund's life and work at Lagoa Santa. 



Obville a. Derby. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 Solar constant. 



This term is becoming prominent, and its use 

 has given rise to some confusion. I find some au- 

 thorities, taking the value given by Forbes, give 28.2 

 calories, while others give 2.S2 calories. Since a ca- 

 lorie is the definite amount of heat required to raise 

 a kilogram of water 1° C, it is evident that one of 

 these is in error. 



Professor Young, in his ' Sun,' p. 263, defines the 

 solar constant as the amount of heat received per 

 minute by one square metre exposed perpendicularly 

 to the sun's rays at the upper surface of the atmos- 

 phere. No mention is made of the substance receiving 

 the heat. In correspondence with Professor 'Toung, 

 I have received the following equation: the solar con- 



stant — g 'X ,~, in which w = mass of water, s = 

 surface, t — quantity of heat, m = unit of time. 

 On this basis we may define the solar constant as the 

 amount of heat received in a unit of time, by a unit 

 of mass, spread upon a unit of surface, exposed as 

 above. In this equation, however, we may divide 

 w by s, and obtain d = depth, and we shall have the- 



dx t 

 solar constant = -^^; i.e., the solar constant equals 



the quantity of heat received from the sun at the- 

 limit of the earth's atmosphere, by a unit of depth 

 of water, in a unit of time. 



We may express this numerically as follows : take- 

 a square metre and spread upon it a kilogram of 

 water; it will lie 1 mm. deep. Since the kilogram 

 is the unit used in defining the calorie, we may .say, 

 using Forbes's value, that the solar constant, 28.2 ca- 

 lories, is the amount of heat received by 1 mm. depth 

 of water exposed as above. The use of the term ' ca- 

 lorie ' seems unfortunate; and we might adopt, as 

 more satisfactory, a centimetre as the unit of depth, 

 and degrees as expressing heat. We would then have- 

 the solar constant equal to 2.82 Centigrade-centimetre- 

 minute degrees, or 2.82 ccm°. ; i.e., the sun's heat 

 falling upon a centimetre depth of water would raise 

 it 2.82° C. in one minute. 



This will be recognized as of the same form of ex- 

 pression as adopted by Herschel, who describes the 

 sun's heat as sufficient to melt a coating of ice an 

 inch thick in 2 h. 13 m. nearly. H. A. Hazbn. 



Spanish folk-lore. 



In the account of folk-lore in Europe, in Science 

 for May 2-5, I see no notice of Spanish efforts in that 

 field. My acquaintance with the subject is but slight, 

 yet it has extended to the important and interesting 

 works of Antonio de Trueba, who, in 1873, spoke of 

 himself as '^'almost the only writer of our country 

 who has given himself with any diligence to this- 

 task (the collection of popular stories), esijecially now 

 that the illustrious Fernau Caballero rests from his 

 most glorious laboi'S." The method of Trueba dif- 

 fers from that of the brothers Grimm, for example,, 

 in that he adds the polish of his admirable style to- 

 the rough form of the stories as they fall from the 

 mouth of the people; such a process being necessary, 

 he maintains, in order to fit them for a place among 

 the products of the literary art. I subjoin a list of 

 his publications in this department: Cuentos de eolor 

 de rosa, Cuentos campesinos, Cuentos populares, Cuen- 

 tos de vivos y muertos, Cuentos de varios colores, and 

 Narraciones populares. Eollo Ogden. 



Clevelsind, 0.,May 28. 



Capture of the crested seal on the coast of 

 Massachusetts. 



At various times large seals have been seen or 

 taken on the coast of Massachusetts, and, although in 

 no case positively identified, presumed to be exam- 

 ples of the crested seal (Cystophora cristata), mainly 

 because a specimen of this species, described long 

 since by Dr. DeKay, was taken in 1824 in a small 

 creek emptying into Long Island Sound at East 

 Chester, about fifteen miles from New- York City. 

 As two other large seals — the gi'ay seal ( Halichoerus 

 grypus) and the bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) 

 — are almost as likely to occur on the New-England 

 coast as this one, it is some satisfaction to be able to 

 record the capture of a well-identified example of the 

 crested seal in Newburyport liarbor. May 2, 1882. 

 Mr. E. C. Greenwood of Ipswich, by whom the 

 specimen was secured and mounted, informs me that 



