Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/190

 eicluile at[iiospheric nitrogen from the »p|)aratuB employed, the lesa becomes the apparent excretion of nitrogen by the animal. This, taken In connection with the similar fact already menlioned, regarding tbe results of experlmentB by the other nietliod, Is slgniGcauL If, as we increase the delicacy of our experimental methods, the apparent excretion of free nitrogen becomes legs and lees, It is not a very bald assumption which regards it as entirely due to the unavoidable errors of experiment. That auch is llie case is perhaps not proven, but the weight of evi- dence Is decidedly in favor of that belief.

H. P. Abusdv.

��THE BRITISH NAUTICAL ALMANAC.

We bave received promptly, as usual, the "Nauti- cal almanac and astronomical epliemerls for the year ISSS, for the meridian of the Royal observatory at Greenwich," the contents and arrangement of which are announced to be the same generally as those of the preceding year. We And no clianges In the adopted astronomical constants, nor bare any new prediction-tables been tubslitnled for those which liave now been employed for many years. The early Stmve constant of aberration is not replaced by the recent Pulkowa determination, and Newcomb's mean equatorial horizontal parallax of the sun, 8.S18", is wisely retained. The fundamental elemenU of (he moon's position iu apace are derived from Hansen's tables unaltered, and the apparent positions only are modified by Newcomb's corrections, — a method of procedure which seems to be best adapted to the needs of the future investigator.

For the flrst time in the history of nautical al- manacs, the positions of all the great planets were derived from a uniform system of tables, and so pub- Jished in the British 'Nautical almanac 'for 1862; and the use of these same tables is still adhered to. These are the planetary tables constructed by the late Le- Terrier, and printed in the tlfth. slS;tli, twelftli, and fourteenth volumes of the ' Annalesde I'Observatolre imperial de Paris.' The derivation of the limes of tbe phenomena of Jupiter's aalellites is based on the * Tables icliptiques des satellites da Jupiter, par le Baron de Damoiseau,' Paris, 183Q. Profeaaor Adams's extension of these tables, now employed in the British ' Nautical almanac,' will expire in two

This epliemerls is now most deficient in its list of standard stars, the number and relative positions of those in the list being entirely inadequate to the needs of field and observatory work. Cataii^ues of stellar co-ordinates of high precision are now so nu- merous that there would seem to be no good reason why the British 'Nautical almanac' xliould hesitate in following the ' Berliner astronomischesjahrbuch,' the ' Connaissancn des temps,' and the ' American epbcni- erls,' all of which bave within a few years adopted very full lists of standard stars. Also great improve- ments might be suggested for other parts of the work.

Ever since the year 1834, when the English 'Nauti-

��cal almanac' became an astronomical ephemeris as well, the management of this pnblication has been characterized by a conservatism, which, in these limes of change just for change. Is delightful to b*- hold. But even conservatism maybe unwise; and, if the Britisli ' Nautical almanac,' as an astronomical epbemerls, is to hold in the future tUe place it hoi held in the pasl,acommitteeof reconstruction, some- what like that 'relative to the improvement of the Nautical almanac' in 1830, would seem to be re- quired to effect the needed modifications.

David P. Todd.

��'r m^H >r>tMa

��The agricultural department at Washingtoi just issued a volume of some three huudred and flttj pages devoted to the above subject, as the result of the investigations of its veterinary division, — an office distinct from the more newly establlsbed ' bureau of animal industries.' The subject-matter, l)ei[ig made up of the reports of the veterinarlan7iii- chiet and his assistants, is of a sort that will, In k way, be interesting and instructive reading for erinarlana, and to a certain extent for compai pathologists.

The volume opens with a description of a ' vet nary experimental station' recently located, in nection with the department, near Washington, whtdi seems to afford abundant facility for the propoeed work, and from which, in the future, much that will tend greatly to aid in protecting our animal iiitercell from the ravages of disease will undoubtedly resolk Then follows a detailed report of outbreaks of con- tagious pleuro-pneumonia among cattle in Connecti- cut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, These have an historical interest, but nothing mon, because these states have repeatedly been aliowii to contain this exotic disease; and it has just as repeat- edly been shown that a more or less constant Inter- change of it goes on with the natural traffic of cattle within their borders.

An exceedingly interesting and carefully written report Is mode by Dr. IJalnion upon an enEoiitic out- break of ergotism among cattle in Coffey county. Ran. It is very much to be regretted, for the soke of the department, the cattle interests of Eanaaa, and the veterinary profession, that, under the tAv- cumstancei. Dr. Salmon did not himself attend to lli« matter when flrst it was reported to be an outbreA of ' fiiot and mouth disease,' Instead of trusting to Important a decision to such an unsafe man as ' T- B.* Trumbower proved to be, who, by his own report of tbe matter given in this same volume, teems to bav* arrived upon the ground on the afternoon of March S, to have examined the cattle and tbeir eurroundings carefully, and to have then entertained the opinion that the trouble was due to ' foot and mouth diseoH,' until the 30th of the same month, when he was joined by Dr. Salmon. He then suddenly l>ecame aa flrmiT convinced that the trouble was due to ei^tlsm.

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