SCIENCE. 



269 



SCIENCE : 



A Weekly Recordof Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Published at 

 TRIBUNE BUILDING, NEW YORK. 



P. O, BOX 3838. 

 SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1881. 



We have received a copy of the Annuaire 

 de F Observatoire Royal de Brnxelles — a book 

 of nearly four hundred pages, published under 

 the supervision of Dr. J. C. Houzeau. This number 

 is the forty-eighth issue of the series, and contains the 

 customary data regarding calendars ; rising, setting 

 and meridian passages of the sun, moon and planets ; 

 eclipses of the sun and moon, and transit of Mercury; 

 occultations of stars by the moon ; eclipses of the 

 satellites of Jupiter ; positions of fixed stars ; elements 

 of the planets and their satellites, and of the periodic 

 comets ; various data pertaining to weights and 

 measures, geographical positions, etc. It is a note- 

 worthy fact, that while the astronomical repertoire 

 supplies a need for Belgium — as the similar Annuaire 

 du Bureau des Longitudes does for France — we have 

 no like publication in America. It must cost really 

 very little to print it, and the expense of compilation 

 can not be great. It is not a little remarkable that 

 American,, generally should so long be content with 

 dependence upon patent medicine almanacs for this 

 class of information. 



Among the appended articles, we note a few which 

 carry more than a passing, special interest — Le Globe 

 Terrestrc — Quel est le Climat le plus Favorable au 

 Developpement de la Civilisation? — JOAstronomie 

 dans FAntiquile — L'ist/une de Panama. Monsieur 

 L. Niesten, a well known astronomer of the Royal 

 Observatory, contributes no less than four articles to 

 this issue of the Atmuaire, two of which appear to 

 have been prepared with great care, and are astron- 

 omically of much importance. The last transit of 

 Mercury, May 6, 1878, was very fully observed every- 

 where, and M. Niesten deserves much credit for his 

 well arranged digest of every sort of observation on 

 that occasion. Those who are concerned with gene- 



ral relations on the rapidly multiplying group of small 

 planets will get a deal of information from Niesten' s 

 article, Les Asteroides — which is, in fact, a compre- 

 hensive history of these bodies. An accompanying 

 map serves to bring out some points which are made 

 clearer by graphical representation. Astronomers 

 and others will have frequent occasion to refer to an 

 article (which it is remarkable should not have long 

 ago been prepared by some one) — Nomenclature des 

 Observatoires Astronomiques Existants, qui out la 

 Caractere d 'Ptablissemenls Publics. About 1 20 ob- 

 servatories are included in this list, and there are 

 given, as far as known, the year of founding, the con- 

 nection of the observatory, some brief description of 

 the instruments, and the names of all the directors 

 of each establishment, including the dates of their 

 installation. 



THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The June meeting of the American Chemical Society 

 was held Friday evening, the 6th inst., Prof. A. R. Leeds 

 presided. Mr. A. P. Hallock was elected a regular 

 member. The first paper before the Society was by Dr. 

 Chas. A. Doremus, " On the Composition of Elephants 

 Milk." The sample was obtained from the mother of the 

 baby elephant " America " which is now on exhibition in 

 this city. The baby weighed 213^ pounds at birth 

 and at the end of a year turned the scales at 900 pounds. 

 Considerable difficulty was experienced in procuring the 

 sample, and out a very small quantity was obtainable. 

 Three analyses were made and the figures are herewith 

 given : 



I. II. III. 



April 5. April 9. April 10. 

 Morning. Noon. Morning. 



Quantity iocc. 360c. 72CC 



Cream, per cent 52.4 58. 62. 



Reaction Neutral. Slightly alkaline. Slightly 



acid. 



Sp. Grav 1.0237 



In 100 Parts by Weight. 



Water 67.567 69.286 66.697 



Solids 3 2 433 3°-7i4 33-3°3 



Far 17-54° ^-^S 22.070 



Solids in fat . .' 14.887 II. 619 11 233 



£a sein X I4 .2 3 6 \ 3 694 3-2i2 



Sugar S i 7.267 7392 



Ash 0.651 0.658 0.629 



It will be noticed from these analyses that the milk is 

 peculiarly rich in the nitrogenized materials. The volume 

 of cream compared with that obtained from an Aldemey 

 cow is also quite large. Under the microscope the milk 

 globules appeared very uniform in size and were un- 

 usually clear. Although it is generally claimed that the 

 fat when burned emits a peculiar odor by means of which 

 it is possible to distinguish the animal from which it has 

 been obtained, yet in the present instance no odor was 

 perceptible from the fat which was separated from the 

 milk. This is the only analysis of elephant's milk on record, 

 and Dr. Doremus is certainly deserving of much credit 

 for the interesting information which he has obtained. 

 His entire paper wdl be published in the proceedings of 

 the Society. An analysis of the milk of an hippopotamus 

 is added for the sake of comparison : 



Water 9°-43 



Solids 9.57 



Fat 4.51 



Casein, and milk sugar 4.40 



Ash 0.11 



