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  Scientific 
  Intelligence. 
  

  

  serving 
  the 
  author's 
  purpose 
  in 
  his 
  special 
  treatment 
  of 
  the 
  land. 
  

   Much 
  of 
  the 
  book 
  is 
  therefore 
  Morphogenies 
  rather 
  than 
  Morpho- 
  

   logie. 
  Throughout 
  both 
  volumes, 
  the 
  citations 
  of 
  geological 
  and 
  

   geographical 
  literature 
  are 
  remarkably 
  numerous, 
  and 
  must 
  serve 
  

   an 
  excellent 
  purpose 
  to 
  those 
  who 
  wish 
  to 
  carry 
  their 
  studies 
  to 
  

   original 
  sources. 
  w. 
  m. 
  d. 
  

  

  3. 
  Orbit 
  of 
  Miss 
  Mitchell's 
  Comet, 
  1847, 
  VI; 
  by 
  H. 
  A. 
  Newton. 
  

   — 
  The 
  computation 
  of 
  a 
  definitive 
  orbit 
  for 
  the 
  Comet 
  1847, 
  VI, 
  

   is 
  the 
  subject 
  of 
  a 
  memoir 
  by 
  Miss 
  Margarita 
  Palmer, 
  being 
  her 
  

   thesis 
  presented 
  for 
  the 
  degree 
  of 
  Doctor 
  of 
  Philosophy 
  conferred 
  

   on 
  her 
  in 
  1894 
  by 
  Yale 
  University. 
  Her 
  work 
  is 
  published 
  in 
  the 
  

   Transactions 
  of 
  the 
  Yale 
  Observatory. 
  She 
  found 
  that 
  a 
  hyper- 
  

   bolic 
  orbit 
  better 
  satisfied 
  all 
  the 
  observations 
  than 
  did 
  a 
  parabola, 
  

   though 
  the 
  best 
  parabolic 
  orbit 
  does 
  not 
  do 
  great 
  violence 
  to 
  the 
  

   observations. 
  The 
  best 
  hyperbola 
  has 
  an 
  eccentricity 
  of 
  1 
  '0001 
  727. 
  

  

  A 
  cursory 
  examination 
  shows 
  that 
  the 
  position 
  of 
  J 
  upiter 
  for 
  a 
  

   few 
  years 
  before 
  1847 
  was 
  such 
  as 
  to 
  increase 
  the 
  eccentricity 
  of 
  

   the 
  comet's 
  orbit. 
  Herr 
  Thraen 
  has 
  shown 
  [Astronomische 
  Nach- 
  

   rischten, 
  No. 
  3249), 
  that 
  the 
  action 
  of 
  Jupiter 
  and 
  other 
  planets 
  

   upon 
  the 
  Comet 
  1886, 
  II, 
  previous 
  to 
  its 
  period 
  of 
  visibility 
  was 
  

   enough 
  to 
  explain 
  a 
  change 
  from 
  a 
  parabolic 
  orbit 
  to 
  the 
  hyper- 
  

   bola 
  demanded 
  for, 
  that 
  comet 
  by 
  the 
  observations. 
  It 
  seemed 
  

   worth 
  while 
  to 
  compute 
  the 
  like 
  perturbations 
  for 
  the 
  Comet 
  

   1847, 
  VI. 
  

  

  1 
  find 
  that 
  from 
  June, 
  1843, 
  to 
  November, 
  1847, 
  the 
  action 
  of 
  

   Jupiter 
  and 
  Saturn 
  combined 
  increased 
  the 
  eccentricity 
  by 
  '000151. 
  

   The 
  action 
  of 
  Saturn 
  was 
  about 
  one-thirtieth 
  that 
  of 
  Jupiter. 
  

   Previous 
  to 
  June, 
  1843, 
  the 
  action 
  of 
  Jupiter 
  was 
  to 
  diminish 
  the 
  

   eccentricity 
  of 
  the 
  orbit. 
  Thus 
  between 
  February, 
  1838, 
  and 
  

   June, 
  1843, 
  it 
  changed 
  the 
  eccentricity 
  by 
  -000034. 
  During 
  the 
  

   whole 
  period 
  of 
  ten 
  years 
  the 
  change, 
  therefore, 
  was 
  '000117. 
  

  

  This 
  explains 
  so 
  large 
  a 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  computed 
  excess 
  of 
  eccen 
  

   tricity 
  over 
  unity 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  fair 
  to 
  assume 
  that 
  a 
  parabola 
  to 
  

   which 
  these 
  perturbations 
  shall 
  be 
  applied 
  would 
  represent 
  satis- 
  

   factorily 
  all 
  the 
  observations 
  of 
  the 
  Comet 
  1847, 
  VI. 
  

  

  OBITUARY. 
  

  

  Dr. 
  Gideon 
  E. 
  Moore 
  of 
  New 
  York 
  City 
  died 
  on 
  April 
  13th 
  

   at 
  the 
  age 
  of 
  fifty-three. 
  He 
  was 
  a 
  well 
  known 
  chemist, 
  who 
  

   had 
  made 
  some 
  valuable 
  contributions 
  to 
  the 
  science, 
  particularly 
  

   in 
  the 
  line 
  of 
  mineral 
  analysis. 
  

  

  Prof. 
  James 
  E. 
  Oliver, 
  the 
  distinguished 
  mathematician, 
  who 
  

   had 
  been 
  connected 
  with 
  Cornell 
  University 
  since 
  1871, 
  died 
  

   March 
  27. 
  He 
  was 
  the 
  author 
  of 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  standard 
  mathe- 
  

   matical 
  works. 
  

  

  Francesco 
  Sansoni, 
  Professor 
  of 
  Mineralogy 
  at 
  the 
  University 
  

   of 
  Pavia 
  and 
  author 
  of 
  many 
  scientific 
  papers, 
  died 
  about 
  a 
  

   month 
  since. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  announced 
  in 
  a 
  recent 
  number 
  of 
  " 
  Nature 
  " 
  that 
  the 
  

   reported 
  death 
  of 
  Professor 
  H. 
  Wild 
  of 
  St. 
  Petersburg 
  (see 
  p. 
  

   328 
  of 
  this 
  volume), 
  was 
  happily 
  a 
  mistake, 
  due 
  to 
  a 
  confounding 
  

   of 
  similar 
  names. 
  

  

  