by any people except physiologists, and even by them only in a doubtful sort of way, for they thought that its indication gave merely the period and direction of a sudden change of P.D., and they feared that the magnitude of the variation could not be deduced from the excursion of the meniscus formed at the junction of the threads of mercury and dilute sulphuric acid.

It may be well to mention that we use the letters "P.D.," not merely because they appear to us to be a convenient abbreviation for "potential-difference," but because Mr. Burch, by employing them throughout his book, shows that he has the same opinion.

The book commences with a description of the best methods of constructing a capillary electrometer to which the author's experience has led him, and the reader is warned regarding the faults which he is likely to meet with in the practical use of the instrument, and instructed how to overcome those that can be remedied without making a new instrument.

The first two points that Mr. Burch determined to ascertain experimentally, when he began his work on the capillary electrometer in 1886, were: (1) Does any current pass through the instrument after the meniscus in the capillary tube has reached its stable position for the particular P.D. applied; and (2) does any leakage take place through the instrument if the applied P.D. be withdrawn after the meniscus has been deflected? To each of these questions experiment gave a negative answer, and he was, therefore, led to the conclusion that, although the circuit of a capillary electrometer is composed entirely of conducting substances, and, although there is no visible insulating dielectric, the instrument

transmits no current with a P.D. of less than o'5 volt,

but merely receives and maintains a charge as if it were a well-insulated condenser.

The capacity of different capillary electrometers was found by the author to vary between o'1 and 30 microfarads, but instruments having a capacity of between 0'5 and 2 microfarads gave the best results. When the capacity is unchanged on moving the mercury thread through a considerable portion of the capillary tube the electrometer is found to be equally sensitive throughout that part of the tube.

The author concludes that this instrument is essentially adapted to the poor man, since its cost, including that of the microscope, is less than that of any other electrometer of the same sensibility. It also has the advantage of responding with extreme rapidity to every change of potential.

Various methods are described in detail for obtaining records on photographic plates, having a rapid linear or circular motion, and the author shows how the instantaneous value of a rapidly varying P.D. can be deduced at any point of the photographic curve from the fact, which he proves, viz. that the value of the applied P.D. is measured at any moment by the instantaneous distance of the meniscus from the zero position plus the rate of motion of the meniscus at that moment. And in the case of the photographic plate moving circularly, he points out that the second term, depending on the instantaneous value of the velocity of the meniscus, is given by the length of the subnormal to the curve at the particular point.

The book concludes with some interesting examples of curves obtained with telephones, direct and alternate current dynamos, &c., from which the value of the capillary electrometer may be clearly seen.

The reasoning in some parts of the book is not very clear; and, while the figures of the parts of the apparatus itself are in many cases bold and well executed, those illustrating the geometrical reasoning, and the results obtained with the photographic plates, are not as intelligible as one would like. We hope to see Part ii. of this book at an early date; and, for the benefit of those who do not resemble the author in being masters in the use and the theory of the capillary electrometer, we trust that he will not hesitate to sacrifice compression to clearness. W. E. A.

OUR BOOK SHELF.

A Handbook to the Geology of Cambridgeshire, for the Use of Students. By F. R. Cowper Reed, M.A., F.G.S. 8vo. Pp. x2 + 76. (Cambridge: at the University Press, 1897.) THE geology of Cambridgeshire possesses a special interest for many students. From Cambridge itself there have sprung a greater number of expert British geologists than from any other seat of learning in this country. Though founded by John Woodward, the school was created by Sedgwick; and it has been carried on with signal success by Prof. Hughes. This success, as the present Professor has cordially acknowledged, is partly due to the band of brilliant assistants he has gathered around him. Thus special instruction is given in all branches of geology, and the author of the predepartment of stratigraphical paleontology. To a casual sent work has during recent years rendered aid in the visitor the scenery and geology of Cambridgeshire may offer but few attractions, for the country is mostly lowlying, and there is much clay-land and fen. Oxford affords a greater variety of scenery and a more attractive series of fossiliferous formations. Nevertheless, there is much in Cambridgeshire geology to arouse interest when once an enthusiasm for the science has been kindled, and there was need of a concise handbook which should clearly describe and explain the leading facts that have been made known. The excellent "Sketch" by Prof. Bonney dates back to 1875, and the more detailed geological survey memoir on the neighbourhood of Cambridge, by Penning and Jukes-Browne, was issued in 1881. The present work is a model of what a county geology should be. The zones in the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks, the phosphatic nodules in Lower Greensand and Chalk, the glacial deposits, valley-drifts, and recent accumulations, are all duly described and accompanied by full records of the fossils. If we find fault at all, it is that the author has entered at too great a length into certain contrary views regarding the formation of the Chalky Boulder Clay, for the extraordinary "diluvial theory," as he himself admits, “finds few supporters at the present time." Even the view of S. V. Wood, jun. (noted on p. 168), was modified in that geologist's latest publication.

Our author rightly wanders a little out of the county to give some account of the Red Chalk of Hunstanton, because it is so frequently visited by Cambridge students.

Brief chapters are given on the antiquity of man and on water supply. With regard to the latter subject, we would question the statement (quoted by the author) that "if the Oxford Clay was pierced we might reasonably expect an abundant supply of water." The outcrop of Lower Oolites is some distance away, while at St.

Neots the water that was obtained at a depth below the surface was saline in character. A full and useful

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

work.

H. B. W.

Wild Traits in Tame Animals. By Louis Robinson, M.D. Pp. vii + 329. Illustrated. (Edinburgh and London Blackwood and Sons, 1897.)

DR. ROBINSON points out in his introduction that the amateur naturalist is a valuable and necessary member of the scientific community. He detects a tendency on the part of the professional naturalist to warn the amateur off the ground. Whether any such mischievous claim of proprietorship is actually set up is not clear to us; the naturalist who pursues his hobby for recreation only is, according to our own experience, welcomed by everybody, if only he is a good fellow, who will bring in his own contributions, great or small, to the general stock, and not spread false information. Dr. Robinson's animated defence of the amateur naturalist may there. fore be gladly allowed to prevail; we are only surprised to learn that any defence is needed.

Our author holds that no one in these days can study animals with due profit who is not a Darwinian; he would have his amateur naturalist "an evolutionist down

an

to the tips of his toes." We are not so heartily on his side here. There is risk of spoiling a quick and trustworthy observer by saturating his mind with theories. If natural facts are reported to us, they do not gain in credibility by being expressed in evolutionary phrase. It is good that every naturalist should think upon his facts, but let him think independently, not as evolutionist, nor as a partisan of any school whatever. We like the papers which form the bulk of the book much better than the introduction. Dr. Robinson discourses upon dogs, horses, donkeys, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, cats and poultry. The first two of these seem to us the most interesting, but all possess good points. The author gives us a lively object-lesson upon each animal, trying to explain its structure and habits by the mode of life of its wild progenitors. Very many of his interpretations have been anticipated; that is to be expected; but everything is cast into a new and engaging form; it reads like personal experiences illuminated by the writer's own reflections. No reader who thinks for himself will accept all Dr. Robinson's conclusions, but he will find his interest in the subject heightened, and his sagacity exercised by these amusing dissertations.

L. C. M.

The Psychology of the Emotions. By Th. Ribot. Pp. xix + 455. (London: Walter Scott, Ltd., 1897.) IN this book Prof. Ribot gives a very complete account of his subject. In the first part he deals with pleasure and pain and the general nature of emotion. He advocates a theory of emotion which he terms "physiological." Feeling is regarded as a primary aspect of mental life, closely connected with biological conditions; and the author seems to think that it is hopeless in this region of psychology, at any rate, to depend wholly on purely psychological methods, the subject only becoming intelligible by going beyond consciousness and treating it in its physiological relations. As part of this general theory Prof. Ribot adopts, with some qualification, the theory illustrated by James in the words, "we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble." In the second part, dealing with the special forms of emotion, no attempt is made to give an elaborate classification; but the chief aspects of emotional life are described in the order in which they seem to have developed. In this part, and especially in the chapters on character and temperament, the author brings out the great value of pathology in the study of psychology.

pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscrip's intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.]

The Passive Condition of Resting Protoplasts. THE appearance in your last issue of a short paper recently communicated to the Royal Society by myself and Mr. F. Escombe, on the "Influence of very Low Temperatures on the Germinative Power of Seeds," affords me an opportunity of calling attention to two important papers which only became known to us after our own was in print. Both these communications materially strengthen the argument against the necessary existence in resting protoplasts of ordinary respiratory exchanges, or of any metabolic changes resulting in "intra-molecular respiration."

The first paper is by W. Kochs (Biol. Centralbl., 10 (1890), 673), who has shown that dry seeds, placed for many months in the vacuum of a Geissler's tube, do not evolve an amount of carbon dioxide or nitrogen capable of detection by subsequent spectroscopic examination of the contents of the tube, a fact which certainly negatives the idea of any gaseous evolution by "intra-molecular respiration."

The other omission is one which is much less excusable, since it has reference to a very important letter communicated to your columns by Prof. Giglioli as recently as October 3, 1895.

In continuation of certain experiments, described in 1878, on the power of resistance of seeds of Medicago sativa to the action of certain gaseous and liquid chemical reagents, Prof. Giglioli re-examined the seeds which had been placed under these special conditions continuously for a period of more than sixteen He found that some of the seeds retained their vitality years. even when surrounded by atmospheres of nitrogen, chlorine, hydrogen, arseniuretted hydrogen, and nitric oxide; whilst immersion for sixteen years in strong alcohol, and in an alcoholic solution of mercuric chloride, still left a large number of seeds capable of subsequent germination.

That we have been anticipated in some of the conclusions of our paper, based on a totally different method of experiment, will be clearly seen from the following quotations from Prof. Giglioli's letter:

66

My experiments encourage, moreover, the suspicion that latent vitality may last indefinitely when sufficient care is taken to prevent all exchange with the surrounding medium.". . . “It is a common notion that life, or capacity for life, is always connected with continuous chemical and physical change. The very existence of living matter is supposed to imply change. There is now reason for believing that living matter may exist, in a completely passive state, without any chemical change whatever, and may therefore maintain its special properties for an indefinite time, as is the case with mineral and all lifeless matter. Chemical change in living matter means active life, the wear and tear of which necessarily leads to death. Latent life, when completely passive, in a chemical sense, ought to be life without death.

Prof. Giglioli concludes his letter with a reference to the possi bility of an extra-terrestrial origin of life on the earth, through the medium of meteorites. HORACE T. BROWN.

52 Nevern Square, Kensington, December 13.

Discovery of a Large Supply of "Natural Gas" at Waldron, Sussex.

THE discovery of this gas occurred accidentally while boring for water in the parish of Waldron, Sussex. The boring was commenced in the lower strata of the "Ashdown sand' (Hastings beds), and was continued to the depth of 377 feet, when the work was stopped. A strong smell of "gas" having been noticed, a light was applied to the top of the lining tube of the bore, and a flame immediately sprang up to the height of 15 or 16 feet, and burned with great fury until it was put out by means of damped cloths being thrown on to the top of the tube (Fig. 1).

It is not quite certain at what level the first release of the gas occurred; and the workmen say that they noticed the smell of it for nearly a month before the testing with a light occurred, during which time boring was carried on,

An iron cap has now been fixed on the top of the tube with a vent. allowing an escape of the gas to take place continuously (see Fig. 2). When lighted this jet flares out about the same size and colour as one of the " naphtha flarers" commonly

FIG. 1.-Flame of natural gas from bore-hole at Waldron, before the present cap was fixed on the tube. The broken line near the top shows the height of the flame through the six-inch bore-tube.

used for lighting at fairs and markets, viz. about 12-inch flame. This cap and vent have now already been fixed about fifteen months, and the gas from the vent can be lit at any time, and shows no sign of diminution.

FIG. 2.-Bore-tube in well, with cap having a small vent fixed upon the top. The flame of natural gas is shown rising to the left.

I have taken samples of the gas, and submitted it to the county analyst for East Sussex (Mr. S. A. Woodhead), and he informs me, although he has not yet completed his analysis, that the gas is probably derived from petroleum. The presence of certain beds impregnated with petroleum underlying these

Wealden beds in East Sussex, has been noticed before while making deep shafts and borings.

Many of the beds in the Purbeck strata (Brightling series) consist of dark leathery shales which emit a strong odour of petroleum, and small traces of it are also occasionally met with in the Gypsum quarries at Netherfield (Sussex). Beds of lignite, and a variety resembling "Cannel coal" (about 2 feet thick) have been met with near the surface in the parish of Waldron (Lower bed of Ashdown sand, Fairlight clays), and several bands of lignite were pierced by the boring at Waldron where the "gas" was found.

The gas is probably derived from these beds of lignite, and perhaps from the petroleum shales of the Purbeck beds; cr possibly, but less probably, from the Kimeridge clay underlying these beds (Sub-Wealden boring), which contains a hard, light-coloured bed rich in petroleum.

In reading through the quarterly reports of Mr. Henry Willett, made during the progress of the Sub Wealden boring (Netherfield, 1875), I find that strange oscillations had been noticed in the depth of the water in the bore-tube. These were attributed to the accumulation and discharge of carbonic acid, and of inflammable gases derived probably from the petroleumbearing strata beneath. The discharge of these gases was proved by the extinction of light at various depths, and by an explosion at another time."

The discovery of the gas has hitherto been kept a secret among a few. There appears to be at present an ample supply of gas for the lighting of a town if the necessary plant were erected in connection with the tube, and there also seems to be, so far as one can judge, a constant supply. How long it may continue is, of course, a matter of conjecture; but having already run to waste so long without any decrease in force, I think that the supply might be made use of with reasonable prospects of lengthy continuance.

This notice must be regarded as a preliminary one merely, as I am making experiments with the gas, and examining the cores of the boring with a view to ascertain the source of the supply. CHARLES DAWSON.

Uckfield, Sussex.

THE ORIENTATION OF GREEK TEMPLES.

IN giving an account of my second series of observations on the orientations of Greek temples, and the chronological deductions which may be made from them, it seems desirable to recapitulate as briefly as possible the main points which underlie the inquiry.

The subject was introduced to me about eight years ago by Sir Norman Lockyer, who had discovered that there was a very strong probability that in every case the axis of an Egyptian temple, or in other words its orientation, was aligned to that point of the local horizon where at the time of its foundation some conspicuous star rose or set, and that in the case of temples oriented within zodiacal limits, it was also so arranged that on the day of the principal feast of any particular temple, which always took place on a day when the sun at its rising would shine upon the altar or statue of the god, the star should be seen from the sanctuary, through the always narrow eastern opening, shortly before sunrise.

There is plenty of evidence from various sources that heliacal stars, as they are called; that is, stars when just visible at their rising before their light is overpowered by the rays of the rising sun, or setting whilst still distinguishable, were very much observed by the ancients. And the use of an heliacal star so observed in connection with temple worship was to give warning to the priests to enable them to be ready for the sacrifice or other function at the exact moment of sunrise. Roughly speaking, a bright heliacal star would in Greece give nearly an hour's warning of the sun's approach, though somewhat less in Egypt.

If in almost every case a connection, such as I have indicated, between the orientation of a temple and the

1 Abstract of a paper read before the Royal Society, March 11, 1897. On the Orientation of certain Greek Temples, and the Dates of their Foundation, derived from Astronomical Considerations -being a supplement to a paper on the same subject published in the Transactions of the Royal Society in 1893-by F. C. Penrose, F.R.S

sunrise effect in the sanctuary, preceded by an heliacal star, can be established, it carries an amount of probability of the truth of the theory which it is very hard to gainsay.

To us the practical use of such theory is, that it gives the means of determining very approximately the date of the foundation of any temple, namely the time when the sunrise and the heliacal star were so connected.

As seen from a given point at its rising or setting, the amplitude of a star (that is, its bearing from true east or west) is subject, as time goes on, to a slow alteration resulting from the displacement of the star, in consequence of the celestial movement called the precession of the equinoxes, and this can be calculated with great precision so as to show the date at which it would have been visible as the forerunner of the sun from the sanctuary of a temple. There is architectural evidence in Egypt that attempts had been made to retain the use of such stars, and in two ways: one by a structural alteration in the eastern opening, so as still to allow of its being seen; and the other as evidenced by finding that a temple, architecturally of later date, but of the same cult, had been built alongside of an older temple which had lost the star which had at one time served as its morning clock.

Sir Norman Lockyer having been satisfied that the principles of temple building, as above mentioned, had prevailed in Egypt, and being led by a cursory examination of Greek examples to suspect that the same would be found to prevail in that country also, invited me to take up this inquiry with respect to Greek temples, which led to my making a preliminary communication to the Society of Antiquaries in 1891, and a more detailed report to the Royal Society in 1893, of which an abstract appeared in NATURE, May 11, of that year. The paper itself was published in the Transactions of the Royal Society (vol. 184, pp. 805 et sqq.) to which the supplement, already referred to, was published in vol. 190, pp. 43 et sqq. The first series contains more than thirty examples, the second nearly as many, and both collections entirely confirm the view of the matter already made highly probable from Egyptian sources. Indeed the second series, chiefly drawn from colonial Greece, is in one respect more satisfactory than the previous one.

The architectural remains of the greater number of the temples in Greece proper, comprised in the first list, do not accord with the early dates derived by calculation from their orientations; and it is necessary to assume that in the majority of cases a temple, of which we find the ruins, was built parallel to the lines of an earlier structure which had conformed to the orientation postulate, and the date arrived at is that of the first foundation on the site. Traces of such earlier foundation can, however, be actually found or inferred in a sufficiently large proportion of the whole to justify the assumption; but in more than half the cases they have either disappeared or not yet been found. In the colonial examples of the last series, however, quite two-thirds of the orientation dates are consistent with the architectural remains now stand ing, without need of any hypothesis respecting foundations as yet undiscovered.

All the temples I have met with in Magna Grecia or Sicily are what may be named solar temples; namely, those which admit of being lighted through an eastern door by the sun when rising in the line of the axis. Three of them, indeed, lie on the solstitial limits; of this I did not find any examples in Greece. The nature of the inquiry in a solar temple is of this kind, viz.: given the angle of orientation, and the apparent height of the eastern horizon, we calculate the declination which the sun would have required to illuminate the sanctuary at its rising (allowance being made for the variation of the obliquity of the ecliptic many years ago, an allowance which may require a small correction when an approxi

mate date has been arrived at). From this the sun's right ascension is computed, giving generally two values -one vernal, the other autumnal. The next search is made for a suitable star. It must be remembered that in the case of a rising star the declination cannot differ much from that of the sun, or else it could not be seen through the same narrow opening, and to be serviceable as a warning star, it must precede in right ascension by a suitable interval; if too short the star could not be seen, if too long its warning would be inconveniently early. Thus the data for the preliminary search are: for declination, that already ascertained for the sun, and for right ascension, one hour less may be taken.

It would occupy too much space to enter into the details of the calculation which involves the change due to the movement of the star from precession; but if the result shows that a conspicuous star or constellation, either in the spring or autumn (and within the limits of possible archæology), occupied approximately the position required by the hypothesis, the discovery will justify a more exact computation. Should it, however, fail for a rising star, there still remains the search for a setting star which would fulfil the proper conditions. The search is conducted on analogous principles, but with difference in detail.

In more than fifty cases which I have tried by the four lines of investigation indicated above, I have succeeded in finding in each one solution, and one only. In two I have obtained an alternative possible star; the choice between the two requiring to be settled archæologically. In not one case of which I had full particulars have I failed to find an answer.

An objection has been made that, as there are so many stars in the heavens, some solution of the problem is inevitable, without there having originally been any intentional correspondence. The answer is not difficult. Firstly, there are very few available stars. They must be of sufficient brightness: a third magnitude star is the very minimum, and could only be resorted to (unless in a close constellation like the Pleiades or Aquarius) if situated very much by itself, so as not to be mistaken for any other. They must also be near enough to the ecliptic to be seen through the narrow eastern opening. A list of fourteen single stars and two star groups exhausts the whole possible number. Moreover, they must be so placed in the firmament as to satisfy the condition required for warning stars. Again, in the two hundred trials made for the fifty temples, as mentioned above, would there (in the case of the assumed multitude of stars) have been one hundred and fifty misses to the fifty hits which were wanted; and if there had been no arrangement, and the orientations had been fortuitous, would the most ancient sites have always secured the oldest orientation dates, and those of which the recent foundation is historically known have taken their proper rank?

It is true that the sequence might have been acceptable, but not so the exactness of the dates. These must depend upon the correctness of certain assumptions with regard to the elements of the problem, especially as to the altitude of the star and the depression of the sun at the heliacal phase, if it may be so called.

From a good deal of attention which I paid to the visibility of stars in twilight I derived the following rules, from which all the calculations have been made, except in a very few cases where local circumstances required some modification. The rules are made for the case of rising stars. When setting in the morning twilight they may be seen nearer to actual sunrise; but it is probable that the same rule would have been applied, as the same time would have been required for warning, whether a rising or setting star was used. It may be observed that rising stars seem to have been the favourites, in proportion of about three to two.

In ordinary fair weather in Greece or in South Italy I

found that a first magnitude star can be seen at an altitude of 3° when the sun is 10 below the true horizon. A second magnitude should require an altitude of 3 30. with the sun depressed 11°; whilst a third magnitude star, of the use of which there are very few examples, would require a depression of 13. A general confirmation of these elements may be drawn from Biot's "Recherches sur l'Année Vague des Égyptiens," in which he derives from Ptolemy that in Egypt a solar depression of 11 was considered proper for the observation of heliacal stars. This seems a very reasonable mean for the rules of solar depression applying to stars of different magnitudes as given above.

Following these rules, I obtained orientation dates for the temples I examined last year as below.

agree in style with the dates assigned to them by the theory. Mention is made by Diodorus of the temple of Jupiter strongly confirmatory of the orientation date 430 B.C. At Segesta the date arrived at is too early by about 100 years to agree with the character of the architecture. It may have been that the Segestans, who seem always to have been a struggling community, may have taken a very long time to have brought their temple to the state of finish at which at last it arrived, for it appears never to have been quite completed.

Selinus offers the example of one temple-a temple remarkable for the archaic character both of its masonry and its sculpture-of which the orientation date anticipates the arrival of the Hellenic colony which occupied the place in 628 B.C., but in the other examples in that

For the sake of comparing the above with dates that are archæologically probable, and confining the inquiry to the Greek colonies, we may observe :

The Doric capital at Taranto is of an extremely ponderous type, and may well be assigned to the seventh century. A Lacedemonian colony under Phalanthus is reported to have taken possession of Tarentum about 700 B.C.

At Metapontum, at the temple near San Sansoni, nothing but foundations remain; the architectural character of the other is quite in accordance with the orientation date. The city was one of the most ancient in South Italy. One column only remains of the temple on Cape Colonna near Cotrone, and its character is that of the fifth century. In the case of this celebrated temple we clearly have the case of a rebuilding on the old lines. The foundations of the older temple of the Locrians near Gerace were discovered under the substructions of the later temple. Its orientation date, 610, is quite consistent both with the early Ionic architecture which was found, and that of the Hellenic colonisation, 683 B.C. That of the later temple is also in accordance with the architecture of the fifth century. Girgenti was occupied by a Greek colony B.C. 582, but a city with so commanding a site had, no doubt, an earlier foundation; and we may feel confident that the temple of Juno Lacinia, though the present structure is Hellenic, was founded by the earlier inhabitants. The remains of the other temples

September 30 October 4

March 5

September 20

September 26

...

November 12

a Arietis rising

JB Lupi setting

Antares rising

8 Geminorum setting
y Pegasi rising
a Arietis rising
B Geminorum rising
B Tauri setting
a Arietis rising
Spica setting

a Arietis rising
Spica setting
a Arietis rising
a Arietis setting

y Pegasi rising Spica rising a Arietis setting Spica rising Spica setting Antares rising B Geminorum rising

city the orientation dates are quite consistent both with the architecture and with Hellenic citizenship. Syracuse was colonised in 734 B.C. The orientation date of the "Duomo" temple is eighty years too early for agreement with that epoch. The architecture is indeed very rude, but perhaps some small variation in the elements of the calculation should be made, which would bring it within the Hellenic period. The dates of the other two temples at Syracuse are extremely probable. The date, 535 B.C., assigned to the Temple of Neptune at Postum, appears to be thoroughly suitable to its massive but advanced style, and is confirmed by a passage in Herodotus, in which, although he does not make any allusion to the temple, yet speaks of a Posidonian architect of great celebrity at that very date. The temple of Isis at Pompeii is remarkable from there being evidence of a large window having been formed in the temenos wall centrally placed with regard to the eastern axis of the temple, doubtless for the admission of the rising sun and its warning star. The window had been filled up with brickwork at some subsequent date. The last point touched upon in the paper has reference to a group of ten temples of late foundation, of most of which the dates are accurately known. At first these temples seemed to be exceptions to the rules which connect the orientation with heliacal stars, but by allowing a few more degrees of solar depression than what is absolutely necessary for distinct vision, they are found to conform in all other respects. The explanation