I have one slab four or five inches thick, containing two footprints of a bird, which I split into five layers, the impression being distinct in each layer, although on the upper sur face, it only shows a straight mark three or four inches long over each impression, the mud having been so soft as to close up, leaving no depression, while the lower slab shows where the foot rested. I have spent many days the past season searching for these interesting relics of olden time. I have traversed the valley from the north line of this state (Massachusetts) to Wethersfield in Connecticut, and had almost despaired of finding anything new, but in January Ï spent a few days more in my favorite amusement of quarrying the rocks. I opened a new quarry on the bank of Connecticut River, near the mouth of Fall River, and after seven or eight days labor, I succeeded in obtaining two or three hundred foot prints of various birds and quadrupeds, many of them are entirely new. I only forward you a sketch of the footprints of one of the quadrupeds, (reduced one-half,) you will see that this is a walking, and not a leaping, animal, the fore feet are very small in proportion to the hind ones, the toes are very slim and tapering, terminating in a point, with a sharp claw which is very distinct, the toes are wide spread and curve outward very much, which is not the case with any of those I have heretofore obtained; the fore foot shows only the impression of the toes, while the hind foot shows the impression of a very long heel, (or it may be a part of the leg ;) though it is not as deep as the toes, it is the deepest at the part near them, and extends back an inch or inch and a half, showing no joint back of the connection of the toes with the heel. 10. Gold in Canada.-I have had an opportunity lately of seeing the masses of gold found in the valley of the Chaudière. Mr. Charles De Lèry, the proprietor of the seigniory on which the precious metal is found, showed me the original mass, first found in 1833, of which mention is made by Lt. Baddeley of the Royal Engineers. Its weight is about 1052 grains troy (exactly 68-203 grammes). Other masses of equal weight have also been found in the bed of the same stream. The weight and density of these were taken which were respectively, Weight, 66 66 Grains. 1058.56 Grammes. 7.022 48.095 68.598 Density. 16.00 15.54 12.86 Mr. Numerous smaller masses have also been found. The density indi cates the presence of silver in the gold-which the faint color also confirms. The analysis of a fragment by Mr. Hunt gave 13.67 pr. ct. silver. The less density of the larger mass was owing, doubtless, to foreign matter mechanically entangled as well as to interstices filled with air. The lumps are worn smooth as is usual in alluvial gold, but fragments of quartzose gangue could still be detected in some of them. De Lèry informs me that they were firmly imbedded in what appeared to him to be slate, but which is probably a concrete of detritus, cemented by oxyd of iron. Chromic iron, titaniferous iron, serpentine, spinel, rutile, and talcose rocks remind us very strongly of the mineralogical characters of the Russian gold regions, and their occurrence with the gold in Canada certainly affords favorable grounds for the hope that this may become a rich auriferous region. As yet no excavations have been made on any scale of magnitude sufficient to warrant an opinion of the actual wealth of the deposit. A few tons of gravel have, however, been washed in a rude way with the Berks rocker, which have yielded about $4 of gold to the ton of gravel. B. S., Jr. 11. Liebenerite-a New Mineral, (Journ. de Ph. et de Ch., March, 1848; Phil. Mag., xxxii, 544.)—This name has been given to a mineral of a greenish-gray color, crystallized in hexahedral prisms, and found disseminated in a red felspar porphyry at Monte Viesena, near Forno, in the valley of Flems (Vallé de Fassa). M. Marignac has submitted this mineral to analysis, and has determined its mineralogical characters. Its density is 2-814; its hardness between that of carbonate of lime and fluor-spar. Its composition, taking the mean of three experiments, was found to be 12. Produce of Gold in the Ural and Siberia in the year 1846, (Erman's Russ. Archiv. 1847, Bd. vi, p. 318; Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., No. 13, Feb., 1848.)—According to a notice in the Kommertscheskaja * This Journal, 1835, vol. xxviii, p. 112. Gaseta,' or Russian Commercial Journal, published by the Ministry of Finance, in February, 1847, there had been remitted to the mint at St. Petersburg 1397-378 poods of gold, the produce of the imperial and private mines in the Ural and Siberia during the year 1846. There was still expected 325-368 poods of gold, the produce of these mines in that year. The total produce therefore of Russian gold in 1846 was 1722-746 poods, or about 62,792 lbs. avoirdupois, whilst in the previous year (1845) it was only 1371-800 poods, or 49,522 lbs. avoirdupois. The annual increase, which had fallen in the last two years to 47 and 30 poods, has consequently risen to 351 poods, or 12,670 lbs. avoirdupois, which much surpasses any previous increase; the largest formerly, or that between 1842 and 1843, being only 323-80 poods. III. ZOOLOGY. 1. Pancreatic secretion, (L'Institut, No. 748, May 3, 1848.)-M. CL. BERNARD in his recent investigations, arrives at the conclusion that the secretion of the pancreas is the agent indispensable to the digestion of fatty substances. It is a limpid fluid, viscous and alkaline, having the physical properties nearly of the saliva. The following are the principal experiments bearing on this subject which he has made. 1. On mixing the pancreatic juice with oil in a glass tube, the oil is immediately and completely emulsionated; and the same takes place with hog's lard, butter or suet, at a temperature of 35° or 40° C. 2. No other fluid of the animal economy possesses this property of emulsionating simultaneously neutral fatty substances. The bile, saliva, serum of the blood, gastric juice, have afforded me no such results. 3. The action of the pancreatic juice on fats is not a saponification or chemical combination. It is at first an emulsion and a subdivision of the fatty matter operating under the influence of an organic substance peculiar to the pancreatic juice. Sometimes this substance which is destroyed and precipitated by heat, produces other modifications much more complex on fatty bodies. 4. In the neutral fatty substances emulsionated by the pancreatic juice, an energetic acid reaction is rapidly developed and the odor of butyric and sebacic acids, which becomes very decided if butter or suet are used. With MM. Barres will and Marguerite we have examined the products of this nature, and have found that the fatty bodies are changed to a fatty acid and glycerine. 5. Bile removes spots of grease long exposed, while the pancreatic juice does not; because the former dissolves the fatty acids, though not, as the latter, the fat itself. 6. A mixture of the bile and pancreatic juice, as in the duodenum, will dissolve both the fat and the fatty acids. 7. In saying that the pancreatic juice decomposes fatty bodies into fatty acids and glycerine, I would not imply that the fatty bodies are absorbed in these two conditions. In ordinary cases, they are absorbed in the state of a simple emulsion. It is to the fat thus taken up, that the chyle owes its milky appearance. But, without the pancreatic juice there is no emulsion formed, and consequently no absorption of fatty substances. 8. I have tried the two pancreatic ducts of dogs, and in the rabbit, the single pancreatic duct which opens very low into the intestine. After this operation, the chyliferous system of the dogs and rabbits. which were fed intentionally with fatty matters, contained no fat, whilst the intestine was filled with fatty matters not emulsionated. 9. This function of the pancreas, now for the first time ascertained, proves that they have no relation to the salivary glands, and that the expression abdominal salivary gland is altogether inappropriate. 2. Sponge, (L'Institut, No. 751, May 24, 1848.)-According to recent observations of M. Laurent, the reproductive bodies of two species of marine sponge, the Spongia usitatissima and S. bacinulosa are contained in the cellules of the fleshy parenchyma. These are regarded by him as oviform bodies and not ciliated gemmules, as described by Mr. Grant in his researches on several species of marine sponges. These oviform bodies or simple ovules, consist of a single germinative substance enclosed in a more or less dense envelop. The individuals dying, M. Laurent was not able to present with exactness the data for determining so important a point in zoology; and the ob servation is mentioned to excite attention to the subject among such as are favorably situated for such investigations. The sponges examined are those with a horny texture throughout, and called Ceratopongia, to distinguish them from those containing calcareous spicula (Calcipongia) and those with siliceous spicula (Silicipongia.) M. Lallemand sug gested that the term spore applies best to such ovules as M. Laurent describes. The latter then cited in support of his opinion the results of his researches on the eggs or simple ovules of the Hydræ and fresh water sponge, which without regular fecundation (since these animals are completely agamous) are still transformed into embryonnary bodies, which become distinct isolated individuals, whose development from birth to their death he had described and figured. IV. ASTRONOMY. 1. Neptune; by SEARS C. WALKER, (in a letter to the editors dated Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 17, 1848.)-In the Ephemeris of Neptune computed for early distribution in the Smithsonian Contributions, I omitted to mention that the date there given is for the true place of the planet, and that for comparison with direct observations, the aberration time must be added to that date. I subjoin a table of Neptune's aberration time, for the term of the Ephemeris, in parts of a day. A small term used in computing the planet's place as a fixed star referred to the mean equinox, was retained in the Ephemeris. This should have been omitted its value is here appended. It is to be applied according to its sign to the Ephemeris places. These omissions are of no impor. tance in finding the planet by the Ephemeris; they amount on the av erage to only seven seconds of space. They should be applied how. ever in comparisons of theory with observations. I subjoin three recent meridian observations of Neptune, made by Mr. Rumker, the Director of the Hamburg Observatory. They were communicated to me by Prof. Peirce through his correspondent, Dr. Benjamin Apthorp Gould. SECOND SERIES, Vol. VI, No. 17.-Sept., 1848. 36 Mean Time, Hamburg Observatory. Neptune's Dec. Obs.-Eph. Obs.-Eph.' in R.A. in Dec. -0-83 1848, July 10d. 15h. 1m. 27s. 3334° 29′12′′-2-11° 16′59′′-3-0-06 11 14 57 27 5 334 28 13 7-11 17 23 9 +251 -0 68 12 14 53 27 4334 27 91-11 17 46 -6 +078+1 ·86 By the mean of the three results, (Observation-Ephemeris) +1 08 -0.12 Should no greater discrepancies appear in the entire series for this opposition, the theory of Neptune furnished by my elements and Prof. Peirce's Tables of the Perturbations, may be considered as completed till the Opposition of 1849. I subjoin the tables above referred to. 2. The tenth Asteroid, Diana.-A new planet has recently been discovered by Prof. Kaiser, at Leyden. It belongs to the group between Mars and Jupiter, performing its revolution in about three years and eight months. The asteroid discovered by Mr. Graham, has been designated by the name of Metis. 3. Shooting Stars of August 10, 1847, (communicated by E. C. HERRICK.) The night of August 8th, 1847, was here overcast and rainy. The two nights following were also overcast. The evening of the 11th was less unfavorable, the sky being partly clear. Messrs. Wm. E. Moore, Andrew T. Pratt, J. Donnell Smith, and myself, took a station in the open air, and began the watch for the expected meteors, at 9h 15m. The sky soon grew cloudy, and from 10 to 11 remained wholly overcast. We therefore left the field, and have good reason to suppose that no opportunity for observation occurred during the night. |