282 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



derived from albuminous substances by the agency of water. 

 In illustration of this, he states, as the result of his investi- 

 gations, 1. That albumen, from the Qgg^ suspended in ropes in 

 cold and pure water, and exposed for some little time to its 

 influence, loses its character of albumen, and spontaneously 

 assumes the nature, appearance, and constitution of fibrine. 

 Thus it coagulates, and independently of the application of 

 heat, and becomes solid and insoluble characteristics which 

 distinguish fibrine from all other analogous substances. 2. 

 That under the microscope, which was used in all these ex- 

 periments, albumen thus transformed by water exactly re- 

 sembles blood fibrine, with the same reactions, etc. So great 

 was the resemblance that a medical gentleman from Man- 

 chester selected this substance under the microscope for the 

 real genuine blood fibrine, in preference to a specimen of the 

 fibrine substance itself. 1 A, January 5, 1872, 4. 



GROWTH OF FINGER NAILS. 



A curious investigation has lately been made by Professor 

 Dufour, of Lausanne, in regard to the rate of growth of the 

 finger nails, in which it is stated that the professor has ex- 

 tended his examinations over a period of more than twelve 

 years. The actual results obtained, however, do not seem 

 quite commensurate in importance with the time that must 

 have been occupied, the principal conclusion being that the 

 rapidity of growth in the nail of the little finger is less than 

 that of the larger fingers and the thumb the difference be- 

 ing about one ninth. As a general rule, the nail grows one 

 millimeter, or the twenty-fifth of an inch, in ten days, and the 

 rapidity of the growth of the thumb nail is probably a little 

 greater than that of the finger nails. 3 J?, May 9, 1872, 110. 



INFLUENCE OF SCARCITY OF FOOD ON WOMAN'S MILK. 



JVL Decaisne, of Paris, has lately communicated to the Acad- 

 emy of Sciences of that city an important paper on the mod- 

 ification which woman's milk undergoes in consequence of 

 insufficient food, having unfortunately too good opportunities 

 for such determination during the starvation period of the 

 siege of Paris. After detailing the particulars of his experi- 

 ments, he sums up the results in the following conclusions: 

 1. That the effect of insufficient food on the composition of 



