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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
ances of Halley’s comet, lias proved [the existence of two new periodic 
inequalities in the time of its revolution, by the combined action of which 
the time of the appearance of the comet may be accelerated or retarded 
from one revolution to another by about a year and a half. 
Occupations and Eclipses at Sea. — Mr. David Smith denies the imprac- 
ticability of observing such phenomena at sea, and proves it by his own 
example, he having taken such observations with a common ship’s 
glass. He states that unless the ship is very uneasy, stars up to the 
3rd magnitude are easily observed. 
Parallax of Stars. — The parallax of 61 Cygni, found by Bessel to be 
was afterwards found by Struve to be 0".51. M. Auwers brings 
it nearer still, making it 0".57. 
Planets and Comets. — The bright comet of August and September, 1862, 
is found to have an elliptical orbit with a period of 142 years. The 
first of the two comets detected by M. Bruhns on November 28, was 
discovered three days earlier by Professor Respigbi at Bologna. No 
new planets have been discovered since the Danish Goddess Freia, 
detected at Copenhagen, November 14, 1862, by D’ Arrest. Some fine 
spots are now visible on Jupiter. 
BOTANY. 
Cinchona Trees. — The Indian Government has been forming plantations of 
cinchona trees on a large scale on the Neilgherry Hills. The total number 
of plants at present is 72,568 ; of these, 13,700 are placed permanently 
out of doors, 18,076 are in the plantation nurseries, and the remainder are 
small, and kept under glass. Extensive clearings, amounting to 700 acres, 
are being made for further planting of this valuable tree. 
Substitutes for Cinchona. — MM. Joret and Homolle have presented to 
the Society of Pharmacy at Paris, a new product obtained from common 
parsley seeds ( Apium graveolens), to which they have given the name of 
Apiol, and for which they claim the medicinal properties of Peruvian 
bark. Another plant, much used in India for the same purposes as cin- 
chona, has been lately introduced into France by the Societe d’ Acclimati- 
zation, viz., the seeds of Ceesalpinia Bonducella, or the Natha plant, which, 
according to Mr. Hayes, their correspondent, is a small creeper, producing 
a nut, the kernel of which is extremely bitter, and possesses, in an eminent 
degree, the qualities of Peruvian bark. It is proposed to cultivate the 
plant in Algeria and the south of France. 
Sun spurge (Euphorbia helioscopia ). — The “Annale3 d’Hygiene Pub- 
lique ” states that the goats of the island of Malta, after feeding upon this 
plant, called by the inhabitants Tenhuta, have produced noxious milk, 
which caused symptoms of poisoning in the case of several officers of 
English vessels in the harbour. 
The Blue-gum tree ( Eucalyptus globulus).— This magnificent tree, a 
native of Australia, is now in course of cultivation at Algiers, and in the 
