1881.] OJI [Chase. 



after I had announced the series to the Philosophical Society and published 

 it in the New York Tribune.* The accordances are as follows : 



Prediction. Confirmation. 

 1st interior harmonic term 267 De La Rue, S. and L 367 



3d " " " 165 



5 Gaillot and Mouchez 164 



( Stewart 163 



134. Proufs Hypothesis. 



Clarke (P. Mag. [5] xii, 109-10), gives the results of his re-calculation 

 of atomic weights, which inclines him to look favorably on Prout's hy- 

 pothesis, although he had previously believed that it had been forever over- 

 thrown. Maximilian Gerber (Les Mondes ; cited in Chemical News, xliii, 

 242-3), rejects the hypothesis, but he gives four additional empirical units, 

 which seem to indicate a probability that groups of similar valency may 

 have special common divisors. The varied evidences of the photodynamic 

 importance of hydrogen will doubtless incline chemists to give weighty con- 

 sideration to Clarke's deliberate opinion, and Gerber' s factors may help 

 towards its establishment. The possibility of measuring undulatory vis 

 mva by the distance of projection against uniform resistance, as well as by 

 orbital areas, may, perhaps, furnish the requisite clue for reconciling ap- 

 parent oppositions of indication. 



135. Phyllotactic Atomicity. 



The phyllotactic law distributes leaves and branches evenly around the 

 stems of vegetables, so that all parts of the plant may share in the benefit 

 of heat, air and moisture. In 1849, Dr. Thomas Hill, at the request of 

 Prof. Peirce, showed that the times of planetary revolution are phyllotactic, 

 and the planets are thus distributed around the Sun so evenly as to avoid 

 the destruction of the system by the accumulated perturbations of the 

 great planets. f If the several atomic elements have special systems of 

 sethereal vibrations, it seems reasonable to look for evidences of a phyllo- 

 tactic harmony which would contribute to the stability of equilibrium in 

 compounds. The following table, which includes about half the known 

 elements, contains multiples of the phyllotactic divisor f H, or 1.6 H, com- 

 pared with Clarke's recalculation of atomic weights. 



Phyllotactic. Clarke. Diflference. 



O 10 X 1.6 = 16 15.963 .037 



Fl 12 X 1.6 == 19.2 18.984 .216 



Mg 15 X 1-6 — 24 23.951 .049. 



S 20 X 1.6 = 32 31.984 .016 



CI 22x1.6=: 35.2 35.370 .170 



Ca 25 X 1.6 = 40 39.990 .010 



Ti 31x1.6= 49.6 49.846 .246 



*J6. p. 470. 



fProc. Amer, Assoc, vol. 2. 



