4l 



28 SCIENCE. [Vol. VII., No. 153 



mended no eggs have gone down, we have con- 

 cluded that it is natural for cod-eggs to float, and 

 that under no other' conditions will normal de- 

 velopment be accomplished. John A. Ryder. 



Wood's Holl, Dec. 91. 



CLOSE APPROACH OF SATURN AND p 

 GE MINOR UM. 



On the night of 1886 Jan. 9 (or morning of the 

 10th, civil time) there will occur a very close 

 approach of the planet Saturn to the star ii Genii- 

 norum, whose magnitude is given as 3.22 in the 

 Harvard photometry. The figure below gives the 

 relative configurations of planet and star for suc- 

 cessive hours of Greenwich mean time (astronomi- 

 cal) as seen in the ordinary inverting telescope. 



To see it as it will appear to the naked eye, with 

 an opera or field glass, or with a telescope having 

 a terrestrial eyepiece, turn the diagram bottom 

 upwards. At the time of nearest approach to the 

 centre of the ball (a little after 21 h ) the star will 

 be about 26" from the centre, or 16" from the 

 edge of the ball. For convenience the planet is 

 figured as stationary, and the star as moving by 

 it. Of course, the planet (as seen in the telescope) 

 moves to the left, parallel to the line through the 

 successive positions of the star. The dotted line 

 through the planet's centre is parallel to the earth's 

 equator, and makes an angle of 6° 35' with the 

 rnajor axis of the rings. The time of nearest 

 approach is about five hours after the transit over 

 the meridian of Washington, and is well visible 

 over the whole of this country, though of course 

 best for the Pacific slope, where it will not be so 

 far down in the west. To convert the times given 

 above into the standard civil times, add 7 h , C h , 5 h , 

 and 4 h respectively, subtracting 24 h if necessary, 

 which fairies it into the civil day of Jan. 10. 



Astronomically the event is of very little impor- 

 tance compared with what an actual occupation by 

 the ring, or by the ring and ball, would be. A star 

 as bright as this, and behind the rings, would 

 offer a test we have never had yet of their possible 



transparency through interstices in the probable 

 cloud of satellites. The action of the dusky ring 



(not indicated above) would be especially interest- 

 ing. A central occultation by the ball would 

 give, by means of micrometric measures and the 

 duration of the occultation, a sharp test of the 

 refracting power of Saturn's atmosphere, and 

 the possible semi- transparency of its upper cloud- 

 surface. So near an approach of Saturn to a star 

 as bright as the 3.22 magnitude is an exceedingly 

 rare event. Assuming that the distribution of 

 stars brighter than the 3.22 magnitude along 

 Saturn's path is the same as the average, we find 

 that only once in 612 years will Saturn approach 

 so near one of them as on 1886 Jan. 9. Of course, 

 actual occultations will be still more rare, and only 

 likely to occur by the ring once in about 1,730 

 years, and by the ball only once in a little over 

 2,000 years. So near and yet so far from an 

 actual occultation is the coming event. 



H. M. Paul. 



THE CONVICT-LABOR PROBLEM. 



The attention of philanthropists and students of 

 social science, which has for a long time past been 

 turned toward this subject, has been increased 

 of late by the attitude of the labor agitators. 

 Perhaps not more than one out of every ten thou- 

 sand laboring men gives the question of convict- 

 labor competition a thought, but this odd one has 

 during the last decade managed to stir up a great 

 deal of discussion. 



That convicts should be employed, and em- 

 ployed, if possible, in a manner profitable to the 

 state, is a proposition that no sane man contro- 

 verts. Now, there are various ways of employing 

 convicts ; and the agitators insist that one of these 

 ways — the one, it so happens, which has in the 

 past produced the largest revenue to the state — 

 has an injurious effect upon the honest laborer by 

 compelling him to submit to an unfair competi- 

 tion. Strange to say, this clamor has had some 

 effect ; though how sixty thousand convicts, — the 

 whole number in the United States, according to 

 the last census, — working as they do under pecul- 

 iarly disadvantageous circumstances, and consist- 

 ing of the lowest and most ignorant classes of the 

 population, can effect any appreciable competition 

 with the millions of honest and free workingnien, 

 it is difficult to conceive. Those who join in this 

 outcry are to a great extent communists, and 

 leaders of labor organizations, whose sustenance 

 depends upon the amount of agitation they can 

 create, together with such political aspirants as 

 aid them for purely selfish purposes. 



The effect of all these elements combined has 

 been visible in the statute-books of several states. 

 Among these is New Jersey, whose legislature 



