790 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 100. 



ships. The work is only about one- third 

 complete and up to the first of November 

 there were 2,100 marks upon the map, re- 

 presenting between 5,500 and 5,600 re- 

 mains. 



Some interesting facts have been brought 

 to light ; that the mounds, earthworks, 

 village sites, etc., generally follow the 

 stream, that, in the Sciota valley there are 

 very few stone monuments, but that, in the 

 Muskingum valley, along the Ohio river 

 and in Brush Creek valley (Adams county), 

 stone monuments predominate over those 

 of earth. Seven counties in the State show 

 a total of 918 monuments. Those in the 

 northern and eastern portion average about 

 five or six mounds and village sites each. 

 It does not appear from this that there is a 

 county in the State in which there are less 

 than 15 or 20 ancient remains, but the ob- 

 servations of these counties are only parti- 

 ally complete. Most of the marks were 

 secured by personal visits, the State having 

 been quite thoroughly traveled by students 

 of the Ohio State University and by the 

 Curator, Mr. Moorehead, on bicycles. Sev- 

 eral hundred mounds were secured from 

 the report of the Bureau of Ethnology and 

 the Smithsonian Institution. 



The number of recorded monuments will 

 reach probably eight thousand. This is a 

 praiseworthy undertaking and it is to be 

 hoped will be carried to completion. 



D. Gr. Brintojst. 



Univeesity of Pennsylvania. 



ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 

 In our issue of October 23 d we called 

 attention to Dr. See's announcement of his 

 rediscovery of the companion of Sirius at 

 the Lowell Observatory. Observations of 

 this star were subsequently made at the 

 Lick Observatory. The observations of 

 both observatories disagreed with the pub- 

 lished ephemeris of Dr. Auwers, and in 

 our issue of November 20th we called at- 



tention to this fact. From a recent letter 

 of Prof. Holden we learn that the Lick ob- 

 servations are certainly correct. This 

 would throw upon the Lowell observations 

 an error of 31°, and upon the ephemeris of 

 Dr. Auwers an error of about 13°. No 

 doubt observations with some of the other 

 large telescopes of this country and Europe 

 will soon be published, and thus any doubts 

 as to the correction required by Dr. Au- 

 wers's ephemeris will be set at rest. 



Prof. Schaeberle, at the Lick Observa- 

 tory, has also examined Procyon, with the 

 result of finding that this star also has a 

 visible companion. It was possible to make 

 observations in both positions of the tele- 

 scope, the means obtained being 319° for 

 the position angle and 4"59 for the distance. 

 The magnitude of the companion was esti- 

 mated as 13, and the seeing was unusually 

 , fine. H. J. 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 

 The discovery of a supposed new element, 

 Lucium, in monazite sand has already been 

 reported in these columns. The discoverer 

 Barriere of Paris has now patented the ele- 

 ment! The specifications cover the use of 

 the element alone or in mixtures for incan- 

 descent gas lighting, the progress of ob- 

 taining the element and the element itself. 



The rotation of polarized light in crystals 

 has heretofore been studied exclusively in 

 natural crystals or in such as have been 

 cut in plates. In the last Berichte, Lan- 

 dolt describes an investigation carried out 

 on finely powdered crystals, suspended in a 

 liquid medium of the same refractive power. 

 The object was to see if the rotation re- 

 mained unchanged, or disappeared when 

 the particles became sufiiciently minute. 

 The crystals used were sodium chlorate 

 and the liquid in which they were sus- 

 pended was a mixture of alcohol and car- 

 bon bisulfid. Experiments were made with 

 a powder in which the particles averaged 



