114 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 209 



These men were aware of their ability to earn an 

 ample sustenance in the world, and did not care ta 

 release their liberty and undergo whatever indigni- 

 ties might be cast upon them in a military organiza- 

 tion. Twice recently intelligent sergeants of the 

 signal corps have said to me that ' ' for the salaries 

 paid to our observers we could obtain some of the 

 most intelligent men in our city ; whereas we now 

 have to put up with much less effective work." One 

 of these told me of an assistant in his office who, on 

 a very clear night, recorded the Milky Way as thin 

 clouds moving slowly from the west. Of course, 

 such men in the signal office as fear that they would 

 lose their position by the transfer of the bureau to 

 civilian control are bitterly opposed to the change, 

 and several have given me this very reason for op- 

 posing the transfer. 



That this communication may, in the present 

 crisis, do something toward influencing the change 

 to civilian control, which I believe so inuch needed, 

 is my earnest hope. H. Helm Clayton. 



Blue Hill meteor, observ., 

 Jan. 30. 



The pineal eye in Tritylodon. 



The accompanying cut represents the top of the 

 skull of the remarkable mammal Tritylodon Owen. 

 It is reduced to two-thirds natural size, the genus 

 being much larger than any other hitherto known 

 from the mesozoic period. In the interval between 

 the parietals and frontals, pa and fr, is seen the 

 parietal foramen, pf, which has exactly the same 

 position and relations as in the lizard genus 

 Sphenodon. In my communication to Science, Jan. 





28, I spoke of this foramen which lodged the 

 pineal eye " as greatly exceeding that of any of the 

 recent lizards in relative diameter." I find, upon 

 examining the Sphenodon skull, that this is a slight 

 exaggeration, and for the words 'relative diameter' 

 should be substituted ' actual diameter.' Even with 

 this limitation, the fact is of remarkable interest, 

 and adds to the rapidly accumulating evidence for 

 the reptilian ancestry of the mammals. 



Heney F. Osboen. 

 Prineeton, Feb. 1. 



Simple qualitative test for artificial butter. 



Professor Scheffer {Pharm. Rundsch., 1886, iv. 

 248) has proposed the following test for distinguish- 

 ing between genuine and artificial butter : a mixture 

 is made containing 40 volumes of rectified amyl- 

 alcohol and 60 volumes ether of .725 specific gravity 

 at 15". One gram of butter-fat is dissolved in 3cc. 

 of this mixture at 26-28". On the other hand, 1 

 gram lard requires 16cc. of the solvent, 1 gram tal- 

 low 50cc., and 1 gram stearin 550cc. For the experi- 

 ment take a test-tube of 12cc. capacity, and place in 

 it 1 gram fat, add 3cc. of the fusel oil-ether mixture. 

 After tightly corking the tube, put it in a water bath 

 of 18°, and with frequent shaking bring the temper- 

 ature to 28". If the butter is pure, the solution be- 

 comes perfectly clear at this temperature. If not 

 clear, more of the solution can be run in out of a bu- 

 rette, and the additional quantity required will be 

 some indication of the quantity or quality of the 

 adulterant which has been used. 



According to Scheffer, mixtures of pure butter and 

 lard gave the following data : — 



A trial of this method has shown that it is capable 

 of giving valuable qualitative indications as to the 

 purity of the sample under examination. I believe 

 it is the best simple test, capable of general applica- 

 tion, which has been proposed. I have adopted a 

 simpler method of getting sensibly constant weights 

 than the one recommended above. The butters or 

 substitutes to be examined are melted and filtered in 

 the usual way to remove salt, water, etc A Ice. 

 pipette is used to measure out the fat, which will be 

 sensibly .9 of a gram. All the graduated apparatus 

 necessary for this test is, therefore, a Ice. aipd 3cc. 

 pipette. 



The theory of the test is, that tri-stearin is less 

 soluble in the amyl-ether mixture than the other but- 

 ter-fats, and that the fats used as butter- substitutes 

 contain more of this substance than pure butter. 

 The test is chiefly valuable for its simplicity and 

 wide application. H. W. Wiley. 



Washington, Jan. 28. 



German constructions. 



I should like to ask your correspondent, Mr. Eg- 

 gert, if he supposes there exists any other language 

 admitting of so horrible a construction as the pla- 

 cing-together of six pronouns in immediate contact ? 



" O du der du mich dea ich so zartlich liebe ! " 



It is true that German writers of to-day show a 

 material gain in clearness over most of those who 

 wrote a hundred years ago, and this is doubtless 

 owing to the increased familiarity of educated Ger- 

 mans with the shorter sentences and less parenthetic 

 forms of construction used in English and French. 



M. Carey Lea. 

 Philadelphia, Jan. 27. 



