594 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 21. 



his results for curves in space not at all by 

 application of his method, but bj' simple pro- 

 jection from the Pascal hexagram. M. Folic 

 objects to Veronese's using the term ' involu- 

 tion ' instead of ' cj-clic homographj' ; ' but an 

 examination of the table of contents might 

 have shown him that Veronese devotes a sec- 

 tion of his paper to cj'clic homographies, and 

 he gives simpl}- a natural extension to the 

 ordinary meaning of the term 'involution.' 

 But, worst of all, M. Folic makes a singular slip 

 in the enunciation of the original question, for 

 there are no points or lines in the figure which 

 are known as the points or lines of either 

 Hesse or Bauer. At the end, Veronese turns 

 the tables upon his opponent, and points out 

 several striking inconsistencies in his memoirs, 

 and several instances of his peculiar ' art of 

 phrasing : ' as, " The greater part of these [M. 

 Folie's] theorems had not yet been discovered, 

 in spite of the depth and penetration of geom- 

 eters ; " "To deduce the corollaries from them 

 would be an enterprise which would require, 

 Ijerhaps, j-ears of labor;" " It is a field 

 which I have cleai'ed, and in which those 

 who follow will find an ample harvest of dis- 

 coveries." 



In conclusion, we can but share the regret 

 expressed by the direction of the Annali, that 

 academies should so frequently provide un- 

 wisely for the advancement of science, either 

 b}' proposing subjects which are too special, 

 or % compelling authors to follow in their 

 solution a direction determined a priori. 



Christine Ladd Franklin. 



OCCURRENCE OF AMBER NEAR 

 TRENTON, N.J. 



At the April meeting of the Trenton natural 

 histor^^ society', the occurrence of amber in the 

 bed of Crosswicks Creek was referred to, and 

 no one of those present reported success in 

 searching for it. The authorit}^ for its occur- 

 rence rests wholly, I believe, upon the state- 

 ment in Comstock's Mineralogy(Boston,1827), 

 that it occurs ' near Trenton, N.J.,' and, again, 

 " that found near Trenton occurs in small 

 grains, and rests on lignite, or carbonated wood, 

 or even penetrates it" (p. 297). I have sev- 

 eral times met with small grains or pebbles of 

 the mineral in the bed of Crosswicks Creek, 

 and in 1860 found a mass as lai'ge as a pea, 

 which I gave to the late W. S. Vaux, Esq., of 

 Philadelphia. These small grains of amber, 

 found in the bed of the creek, are undoubted!}' 

 derived from the beds of clay which are exposed 

 in the blutf forming the southern bank of the 



creek. Clays of the same character and age 

 (cretaceous) occur nearer Trenton than Cross- 

 wicks Creek ; and in them, also, occurs much 

 fossil wood. In and on this, grains of amber 

 are not uncommon. They are usually very 

 small, and difficult to detect. The fossil wood 

 in this cretaceous claj" is soft and verj' ' recent ' 

 in appearance, and burns with an uncertain, 

 flickering flame. The scant}' traces of amber 

 found with this — derived, I suppose, from it 

 — is the fossilized sap of the trees now found 

 in these deposits of claj'. 



Charles C. Abbott. 



THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF MAY 6. 



The U. S. S. Hartford, which sailed from 

 Callao, Peru, March 22, with the American and 

 English astronomers onboard, arrived at Caro- 

 line Island April 20, sixteen days before the 

 date of the eclipse. The island is in realitj' a 

 chain of small islands of coral formation, encir- 

 cling a lagoon ; the length of the enclosure 

 being about seven miles and a half, and the 

 breadth one mile and a half. The land is low, 

 but supports an excellent growth of grass and 

 other vegetation, including a number of cocoa- 

 nut-trees. There are no permanent inhabitants ; 

 but the island is leased b}' an English firm 

 which deals in guano,' cocoanuts, and other 

 products of this and similar Pacific islands. 

 An agent of this firm visits the island occa- 

 sionall}', and superintends the work of those 

 employed. Seven persons were found living 

 on the island for the time being, having been 

 brought there from Tahiti two months before. 

 These were four men, one woman, and two 

 children. There were two large frame houses 

 in excellent condition, besides several smaller 

 houses, which furnished comfortable accommo- 

 dations for the party, and also for the French 

 astronomers, who arrived' two daj'S later in the 

 L'Eclaireur. The latter party was composed 

 of the following scientific men : M. Janssen of 

 Meudon ; M. Tacchini of Rome ; M. Palisa 

 of Vienna, formerly of Pola ; M. Trouvelot of 

 Meudon, formerly of Cambridge, Mass. ; and 

 M. Pasteur, photographer, also of Meudon. 



The landing of the heavy cases containing 

 the instruments was accomplished with diffi- 

 cult}-, as even the small ship's boats could not 

 come within several hundred feet of the shore, 

 which was composed of rough coral rock. The 

 cases were taken from the boats by men stand- 

 ing in about two feet of water, and carried to 

 the shore, thence across several hundred feet of 

 coral rock to the land, and about a quarter of 

 a mile farther to the site selected for the ob- 



