100 
The Height and Span of the Japanese, February, 
and through whom some of his most important discoveries 
were made. Thus, for instance, the first evaluation of the 
mass of Jupiter is that of Newton in the Cambridge edition 
of the “ Principia ” (1713), inferred from Halley s observation 
of an emersion of Jupiter and his satellites from the moon s 
limb, giving for the denominator of the fraction 1033. (.bee 
“ Nature,” September 23, 1875.) 
Such is a brief account of the talented Edmund Halley, 
the details of whose busy and varied life must be awaited 
with the utmost interest. It will, we are assured, be a 
source of gratification and pride to astronomers, and indeed 
to all scientific men, throughout the Anglo-Saxon dominions 
to unite in raising such a memorial as has been suggested 
bv the organiser* and observer of the Mars Expedition in 
1877, and at last we may expeft to see Halley’s Mount 
crowned with an appropriate memorial of the astronomer. 
V. THE HEIGHT AND SPAN OF THE 
JAPANESE. 
'\ J ®«7'E well remember that quaint little group of two- 
sworded, strangely-dressed, men, who in the 1862 
‘' e) Exhibition were pointed out as Ambassadors from 
that then almost terra incognita — Japan. The curious would 
saunter past these eastern islanders in order to form a com- 
parative idea of the height of men whose ample skirts made 
their height appear greater than their, in truth, diminutive 
stature warranted. China has since sent us for exhibition 
the gigantic “ Chang;” but Japan, though puzzling us with 
its clever legerdemain and fascinating . us with beautiful 
objets d'art, has as yet not shown us that it can produce men 
of fine growth. Possibly the Japanese agree with Shaks- 
peare, that “ Small herbs have grace,” whilst “ ill weeds 
grow apace,” for it would appear that many of the probable 
causes of their smallness are diredtly due to their own 
^ThJ data that we have for estimating the height of the 
Japanese are more exacSt now than the rough measurement 
above alluded to. Mrs. Chaplin Ayrton, M.D., has recently 
* David Gill, Esq., F.R.A.S., Astronomer Royal at the Cape. 
