ASTBONOMIGAL NOTES. im 



the province of "iudustry" to ameliorate wines ; the beneficial change must 

 be looked for in a superior selection of vines, appropriate soil, careful culti- 

 vation and skillful processes of vinification. 



The Greeks dedicated the grasshopper to Apollo, as the type of bad 

 poetry, and the swan as the symbol of melody. Prof. Carlet, of G-renoble; 

 has examined the "grasshopper's song :" it consists of a "drum" apparatus' 

 beneath the second ring of the stomach, (and inside,) over which muscles 

 internally stretch, and when contracting, form the "sticks" that beat. The 

 professor has successfully modeled an apparatus, which "sings" very well. 



F. C. 



SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 



* ASTRONOMICAL NOTES.— MARS. 

 BY PROP. C. W. PRITCHETT. 



In continuation of my note on Mars, of last month, it is befitting the 

 time and subject to recur to Prof. Asaph Hall's recent investigation of the 

 position of the south Polar spot on that planet. He has not only achieved 

 enduring and world-wide distinction by the discovery of those unique satel- 

 lites which for so many ages have eluded all the efforts of human vision, but 

 contemporaneously, has conducted this investigation, requiring at once 

 great skill in observing and rare mathematical ability in combining and 

 applying observations. True, investigation so continuous and pains-taking, 

 does not attract the attention and elicit the wonder of mankind, as does 

 the discovery of systems hitherto unknown, yet its value to science must 

 not be depreciated. 



From the time of Sir William Herschel it has been known that this cele- 

 brated land mark on Mars was not coincident with the true pole of the 

 planet ; and yet the north polar spot of Mars has been found both by 

 Madler and Father Secchi to be coincident with his true north pole. 

 G-ranting the spots to be vast accumulations of ice and snow, we have here 

 an anomaly — something very unlike the phenomena of our own planet. 

 On the earth, it is true the poles of cold do not coincide with the poles of 

 rotation, yet the poles of cold are opposite to each other, and symmetrically 

 situated with respect to the earth's pole. From observations made during 

 August, September and October, Prof H. deduced 34 equations of condition, 

 which, combined by the method of least squares, gave three normal equa- 

 tions, and from these was deduced a new angular value, for the centre of 

 the south polar spot, as measured from the true pole. It is interesting to 



* Received too late for insertion under proper heading. 



