Makcu 28, 1884.] 
ings, addressed to observers on the immediate 
track, or more than ten miles from it; and, if 
carefully read, they will serve as good train- 
ing for those who desire to take part in the 
investigation of these most disastrous upset- 
tings of the atmosphere. Circular 18 relates 
to observations to be made ‘ concerning the 
presence of electricity in tornadoes,’ and asks 
thirty-two questions to this end. It is to be 
hoped that all persons living in the tornado 
districts of the country, and desiring to take 
part in the work as volunteer observers, will 
apply to the chief signal-ofticer for circulars 
of instructions. 
It is worth mentioning, that the single water- 
spout recorded in the supplement to the pilot- 
chart of the North Atlantic for March occurred 
on Feb. 19, eighty miles east of Charleston, 
where it struck the schooner Three sisters, 
*‘ carrying away main gaff, mainsail and fore- 
sail, and flattening in the after-hatches.’’ This 
is evidently connected with the group of tor- 
nadoes above described. 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 
*,* Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. 
Law connecting physical constants. 
It may be of interest to some of your readers to 
know how the two formulae published in the adver- 
tising columns of Science, No. 54, can be derived from 
the magnetic theory of molecular cohesion. 
The work necessary to separate completely the par- 
ticles of a body occupying the unit-of volume can 
easily be calculated if we know the original attrac- 
tion between every two particles, and its rate of 
change during expansion. For small magnetized 
spheres, this work is equal to the resultant attraction 
across the unit of surface. The latter, moreover, is 
necessarily equal to the pressure which the particles 
keep up by their incessant motion; which, again, is 
shown, by a well-known dynamical theorem, to be 
equal to the continued product of the coefficients of 
expansion and of resilience and the absolute tem- 
perature. This product is therefore finally the 
mechanical equivalent of the internal latent heat of 
the unit of volume of a liquid. 
The theory does not apply to such liquids as water, 
in which, at low temperatures, a molecular re-arrange- 
ment is evidently going on; but in general, the higher 
the temperature, the more closely is the law fulfilled. 
The grouping of the atoms, and their vibration within 
the molecule, recently treated by Professor Eddy of 
Cincinnati, produce in the most unfavorable cases a 
variation of about thirty per cent from the theory: 
nevertheless, the general agreement is too great to 
attribute to chance, and becomes almost perfect when 
the causes alluded to are considered. The average 
value of the latent heat for ordinary liquids may be 
SCIENCE. 
373 
shown to be about 1.2 times greater than for simple 
substances. 
The molecules of all liquids appear to be very close 
together, notwithstanding the common prejudice that 
they are far apart; and, taking into account the com- 
parative shortness of their free path, the coefficients 
alluded to may be obtained approximately by pro- 
cesses of ordinary differentiation, while their rate of 
change as the temperature increases can be deter- 
mined as accurately as by actual observation. 
The latent heat is found to vary inversely, the co- 
efficient of expansion almost directly, as the free path 
of the molecule; and their continued product with 
the molecular weight is therefore nearly, but not 
quite, constant. The average value is about eight 
and a half; and any slight variations from this average 
are accounted for by the complete formula. 
With these hints, and remembering that the induc- 
tive attraction between two small magnets varies as 
the seventh power of the distance inversely, while 
their normal attraction is inversely as the fourth, 
any mathematician familiar with the principles of 
physics may verify the laws already enunciated, and 
deduce others of equal importance in the same way. 
The difference, for instance, between the specific 
heats in the state of liquid and vapor, is evidently the 
derivative of any true expression for the latent heat; 
and the critical temperature is found by supposing 
the latent heat equal to zero. ‘The relations between 
all these quantities are represented with a remarkable 
degree of approximation. 
The magnetic theory of cohesion promises to be, in 
molecular physics, what the law of universal gravita- 
tion has proved to be in astronomy. While carrying 
on the development as rapidly as possible myself, I 
would urge others, independently, to do the same, in 
the belief that this theory affords a most magnificent 
field, both for work and for discovery. 
HAROLD WHITING. 
Cambridge, March 17. 
Relics in Ventura county, Cal. 
Rincon Creek, fourteen miles west of San Buena- 
ventura, is the dividing-line between Ventura and 
Santa Barbara counties. Where this creek flows 
into the ocean, at least a hundred acres are covered 
with shells, bones, fish-scales, and other kitchen débris 
of the Indians, who have lived here from time imme- 
morial. ‘The creek, which is fed by mountain springs, 
afforded good water; the ocean yielded fish and mol- 
lusks; while the foot-hills and mountains furnished 
wild game. A large variety of mollusks are still 
found at this point, and the shell-heaps indicate their 
great abundance in past time. Edible clams espe- 
cially abounded; as Pachydesma crassatelloides, Tapes 
staminea, T. diversa, also Mytilus californianus. 
Rincon Point was doubtless long a favorite resort 
for the early race that inhabited this coast. In one 
spot I found hufnan bones, a few years since, which 
were in a semi-fossil state. They had been buried 
on the brow of a high bluff overlooking the sea, and 
were about four feet below the surface. One skull, 
that of an aged person, was perforated at the apex. 
The perforation seems to have been made by a sharp 
instrument, and some time before death, but for what 
purpose it is difficult to say. In another spot on the 
mesa, and three hundred yards from the ocean, oc- 
curred a burial-place in which the skeletons were re- 
duced to an impalpable dust. In this dry soil and 
climate it must have required centuries for them to 
decay. In this place I found many ‘ sinkers’ from 
three to twelve inches long, carved from sandstone, 
limestone, ete. They were from three-fourths of an 
