246 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No. 482 



inches of water is run, and on top of this the oil. Any im- 

 purities settle to the bottom of the water, and are left when 

 the oil is drawn off. In some of the larger refineries these 

 bleachers literally cover acres of ground. The great objec- 

 tion to this method of bleaching is the length of time occu- 

 pied and the immense space taken up by the bleachers. 



It may be asked, What is the object of deblooming oils ? 

 So far as I can learn the only object is that they may be 

 used to adulterate the more expensive animal and vegetable 

 oils, such as lard, tallow, linseed, and cottonseed oils. 



A mixture of lard oil, 75 per cent at 50 cents a gallon, and 

 debloomed neutral oil, 25 per cent at 13 cents a gallon, will 

 pass for pure lard-oil with anyone but an expert. This fraud 

 may be detected by the lower flashing and burning points of 

 the mixture and by the change in specific gravity from that 

 of pure lard oil. The tests mentioned above may also be ap- 

 plied. D. T. Marshall. 



Boston, AIa5S., April 21. 



ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 



[Edited by George A. Hill.] 

 Winnecke's Periodic Comet. 



In No. 3,083 of the Astronomische Nachrichten Dr. 

 Haerdtl of Vienna publishes corrected elements for Win- 

 necke's periodic comet, and also an ephemeris extending into 

 next September. The comet will reach perihelion on July 

 1, be the nearest to the earth on July 9, when it will be only 

 H million miles from the earth and attain a brightness 140 

 times that it had when found by Dr. Spetalerou March 18 

 last. The comet at the date of discovery was 72 million 

 miles from the earth. The epoch of the ephemeris is for 

 Berlin midnight. 



E.A. 



Dec. 



May 



The following is a continuation of the ephemeris for 

 comet Swift. This comet may prove to be a very interest- 

 ing one, as the computations made seem to point to the fact 

 that it is moving in a hyperbolic orbit. The observations 

 at the present time do not extend over a sufficient interval 

 to be absolutely sure of this statement, but as the comet is a 

 bright one, it will probably give us a long series, when the 

 question can be definitely settled. We have so few positive 

 cases of comets moving in hyperbolic orbits that this one 

 will receive at the hands of computers a very thorough dis- 



cussion. The Rev. G. M. Searle, director of the Observa- 

 tory of the Catholic University at Washington, has com- 

 puted both hyperbolic and parabolic orbits for this comet. 

 The difference between computation and observation for th& 

 middle places in the hyperbolic orbit is zero, while in the 

 parabolic orbit it is -\- 15" in longitude and -j- 7" in latitude. 

 The following is a continuation of the ephemeris published 

 in No. 481 of Science. 



May 



Comet Denning. 



The following is an ephemeris for comet Denning. The 

 epoch is for Berlin midnight: 



B.A. 



Dec. 



MR. PETRIE'S DISCOVERIES AT TEI^EL-AMARNA. 



Only recently the news reached us of the discovery by the 

 Direction of Exploration in Egypt of the tomb of King Amen- 

 hotep IV. (Khu-n-aten) at Tel-el- Amarna; and now, from an- 

 other quarter, we hear of further important discoveries in 

 the same locality. 



The labors of Mr. W. M. Flinders Petrie, who has been 

 working all winter at the excavation of the royal palace of 

 Khu-n aten, have been rewarded by a most unexpected find, 

 one, indeed, that is unparalleled in the history of ai'chseology. 

 Lying on the ground, tossed in a corner among spoilt blocks 

 of rough granite "Ushabtis," discarded by the artisans who- 

 had prepared the king's sepulchral furniture, lay the plaster 

 cast, the mask, of the dead man himself, evidently taken 

 immediately after his death by the sculptors employed to 

 carve his statues. It is in an almost perfect state of pre- 

 servation. 



This extraordinary relic of one of the most interesting- 

 figures of antiquity lends unforseea support to the view of 

 the monarch's character suggested in my last article. Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Petrie, the face thus revealed, as it were, in 

 the flesh, " is full of character. There is no trace of passioD 

 in it, but a philosophical calm, with great obstinacy and im- 



