August 26, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



roT" 



seems by inflaming tlie tissues to determine a flow of blood, and 

 also to prevent the coagulation of blood or other proteid. (The 

 blood subsequently coagulates in the mosquito's stomach.) 



The poison-duct resembles a trachea in being transversely stri- 

 ated, but differs by the uniform diameter of its tubule of about 6 

 microniillimetres, by the absence of fine ramifications, and by the 

 great thickness of its wall. The two ducts, proceeding one to each 

 mandible, arise by the bifurcation of a common duct in the region 

 of the neck below the oesophagus. Behind this the difficulty of dis- 

 section is considerable, as the parts are so small that they cannot 

 be followed with low microscopic power; they are greatly entan- 

 gled among the large muscles, trachese, and other furniture of the 

 prothora.x, and they are easily torn so as to be lost to the search. I 

 have succeeded, however, by working back from the neck, in 

 spreading out the entire system. The common duct arises from 

 three prothoracic glands, all sessile on its lower extremity like the 

 leaves of a trefoil, each supplied with a precurrent ductlet, the three 

 ductlets meeting at a point so as to form the common duct. The 

 glands are each about one-third of a millimeter in length and one- 

 twenty-fifth in diameter. The two lateral glands are of the usual 

 salivary kind common to insects. The central or azygos gland is 

 entirelv different, scarcely lobed, but being a mass of brown evenly 

 distributed granules, with oil-like globules intermingled, its ductule 

 having finer walls than in the lateral glands. We may regard this 

 as emphatically the poison-gland, but the intermingled products of 

 all three have their only outlet by the common duct, and thence by 

 its two branches to the mandibles, which therefore play the part of 

 ' poison-fangs.' 



Some tentative notes recently given before the American Associ- 

 ation involved inaccuracies, which are here rectified and the work 

 completed. Measurements given above are from a small species 

 which may perhaps be identified by its ma.xillary palps being as long 

 as the maxillaj themselves. They seem to be the same for all the 

 common species. ' G. Macloskie. 



Rockwood Meteorite. 



About the middle of March last there was found by Mr. Elihu 

 Humbree, on land owned by Mr. W. B. Lenoir, eight and one-half 

 miles west of Rockwood Furnace, Cumberland county.Tenn., several 

 pieces of what has proved to be a meteorite of very great interest, 

 belonging to the rare class of siderolites, resembling in general ap- 

 pearance the Atacama but differing very widely in the nature of the 

 silicate. 



When first found it excited the curiosity of Mr. Humbree, and, 

 after much pounding with an axe, he succeeded in detaching sev- 

 eral large pieces and many fragments without finding the large 

 lump of silver in it for which he was looking, the bright specks of 

 nickeliferous iron scattered through the mass having been mistaken 

 by him for that metal. 



Three or four weeks later Mr. Lenoir, suspecting the nature of 

 the find, secured the whole of it (with the exception of some small 

 pieces which had been given to friends), and forwarded samples to 

 us for examination. Two or three weeks later, on the 2d of June, 

 I visited Rockwood, and brought the entire find away with me, 

 with the exception of the small pieces already mentioned: these 

 have nearly all been gathered up since and are now in our pos- 

 session. 



The main mass is an irregular ellipsoid, with one side a little 

 flattened, and noticeable by the almost entire absence of the usual 

 pittings, which are present elsewhere on the surface. 



The three greatest dimensions are 144 x 10 x Si inches. The 

 weight, which owing to the loss of some of the fragments cannot be 

 determined accurately, was about 83 pounds. Three other smaller 

 masses bring the weight of the entire find to fully 100 pounds 

 (probably two or three pounds more), of which to the present time 

 we have secured 96^ pounds. Specimens have been submitted to 

 Prof. F. W. Clarke of the U. S. National Museum for examination, 

 and ver)' full analyses by Mr. J. E. Whitfield will be published as 

 soon as the work is completed. The analyses thus far made show 

 it to be in the main a silicate of alumina, lime, magnesia, and fer- 

 rous oxide, — probably in the form of anosthite and augite, with no 

 olivine. Further analyses are being made to clear up this point. 



The iron grains contain 12 per cent of nickel, with a trace of cop- 

 per, and, so far as examination has gone, seem to be distributed 

 through the mass quite evenly; one nodule of iron, however, has 

 been observed which measures three-quarters of an inch in diam- 

 eter, and exhibits the Widmannstadtian figures very characteristic- 

 ally on the etched surface. Other nodules of iron equally large 

 will probably be met with by further cutting. Although the an- 

 alysis shows an unusually large amount of chlorine present, decom- 

 position has only affected the surface and in the seams, and has. 

 been so little that the original black crust is preserved over a con- 

 siderable portion of it. 



This brings us to the interesting question of how long it could 

 have been exposed to the action of the weather, and it is possible 

 some readers of Science can help us to determine that important 

 point. 



In the late autumn of 1880, between five and six o'clock in the 

 afternoon, a meteor was seen passing to the north-west over Mor- 

 gan county, Georgia, which "left a dense trail, not very wide, of 

 light-colored smoke, which could be seen for at least half an hour, 

 and which gradually spread out thin and woolly, like ordinary 

 smoke." A loud report, thought to be about three minutes after 

 the passage of the meteor, was heard by persons who did not see it, 

 as well as by those who were fortunate enough to observe its flight. 

 It would be very interesting if a connection could be traced between 

 this meteor and the meteorite found in Tennessee. If they are the 

 same, it would seem that it should have been seen and heard by 

 different persons all along the line. Any information on this sub- 

 ject will be thankfully received. Edwin E. Howell. 



Rochester, N.Y., Aug. 22. 



Swill-Milk. 



I HAVE read the discussion about ' swill-milk ' recently published' 

 in Science with great interest, especially as I had thought the un- 

 healthiness of distilleiy-slops as food for animals had been settled 

 and agreed to fifty years ago. Will you permit me to cite an ex- 

 perience of my own bearing on the question ? About fifty years, 

 ago, — I cannot give the precise date, — I worked in a ' pork- 

 house ' one winter, during which I trimmed the hams of five hun- 

 dred ' still-fed ' hogs. It was admitted by all hands that there was. 

 not a sound hog in the lot. But few of them were well fatted, al- 

 though their appearance was good. It was not at all an uncommon, 

 thing, in cutting up a hog, to cut through an abscess, varying in 

 size from a cherry to a half-pint ; the largest one being in the region 

 of the kidneys. The kidneys and 'tenderloin,' which lies along the- 

 vertebra in the region of the kidneys, were invariably infested with . 

 kidney-worms, and I have never had any desire to eat tenderloin, 

 since. 



The testimony of all packers in that section of country — the- 

 Miami Valley — was that all still-fed hogs were similarly diseased, 

 though not generally so badly as this lot. The meat was soft and. 

 oily, — unfit for barrel-pork. 



Some years afterwards, upon my removal to this city, I called- 

 upon the butcher of whom I purchased my meat, who was an in-- 

 telligent man, and asked him if he found the livers of well-fatted 

 cattle in a healthy condition. His answer was no, that it was very 

 rarely that the liver of a well-fatted beef was fit for human food,, 

 especially still-fed cattle. They, he asserted, were always diseased;, 

 and he added that he never bought still-fed cattle unless they had 

 been taken off slops and fed on corn some weeks before being 

 killed. He asserted that he could distinguish between still-fed and 

 corn-fed beef, after it was slaughtered, by the sight and touch. 



John J. Janney.. 



Columbus, O., Aug. ig. 



The Pronunciation of ' Arkansas.' 



It is really exasperating to be obliged to explain and apologize 

 every time one pronounces this word correctly in intelligent New 

 England circles, where the later and improper pronunciation was 

 invented and has been established parasitic upon our nomenclature. 

 Had not the Legislature of the State officially declared the final 

 syllable to properly have the sound of saw, not sass, or had not the 

 inhabitants, from eariiest settlements, to say nothing of the people 



