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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE - GOSSIP. 



of a long oval form, and was evidently intended by ' 

 the bee for one of the sides of her cell. 



In concluding this short paper, I will merely say 

 that if any quiet person wants a quiet sensation, or 

 a surfeited lepidopterist is thinking of a change, let 

 him take up the study of bees, and I assure him 

 his labours will be compensated by abundant 

 interest. W. H. Warner. 



StandlaJce, Oxon. 



MICROSCOPY. 



The Lymph of Small-pox. — Dr. Klein gave 

 an account of his now well-known microscopical 

 researches on the lymph of small-pox at a recent 

 meeting of the Linnean Society. The virus resides 

 in the solid particles of the lymph, and not in its 

 fluid portion. These solid particles, he showed, 

 were identical with the organisms (Schizomycetous 

 fungi), called by Dr. Burdon-Sanderson Micrococci. 

 They are likewise produced by the granules con- 

 tained in their interior. Dr. Klein has produced 

 the pocks on sheep by artificial inoculation of these 

 germs. On examination of a pock produced in this 

 manner, the micrococci were found in the lymphatic 

 spaces which are formed in the skin at an early 

 stage. They occur in masses or in myceloid threads. 

 At a later stage signs of fructification were ob- 

 served, and conidia of a penicillium-Yike character 

 were produced in the spaces. The same growth is 

 found in the cavities of the pustules subsequently 

 developed. Dr. Klein has also produced the disease 

 by the injection of lymph directly into the vein. 

 The pustules thus formed were quite the same as 

 those produced by inoculation, and the sane pent- 

 cillium growth was found in their interior. The 

 paper was illustrated by various microscopical pre- 

 parations, &c. 



Angular Apertures. — At a recent meeting of 

 the Microscopical Society, Mr. Henry Slack read a 

 paper on the relation of angular aperture to surface- 

 markings and accurate vision, in which he showed 

 the fallacy of the present system of using high- 

 angled objectives for these purposes,to the'exclusion 

 of those of small angular aperture, and pointed out 

 that extreme angles were only to be obtained at the 

 expense of accurate correction and penetrating 

 power. 



Copper in Animal Organisms.— MM. Bergeron 

 and Hote have recently conducted some interesting 

 investigations on this subject. The livers and kid- 

 neys of fourteen human bodies were examined for 

 copper. In two the presence of this metal could 

 only be proved qualitatively, but in eleven others 

 the quantities of copper ranged from 0'7 to one 

 millegramme. In one individual, seventy, eight 

 years old, the copper amounted to 1'5 millegramme. 



Great care ivas taken that copper was not introduced 

 into the liquids tested for it. The above gentlemen 

 think that copper constantly finds its way into the 

 human body, in consequence of the daily use of 

 copper vessels, coins, &c. ; that the greater quantity 

 of the metal is again eliminated from the system ; 

 but that a minute quantity is retained by the secre- 

 tory organs, as the liver and kidneys, under any 

 conditions of age or sex or mode of living. 



Stentors. — A short time ago I noticed several 

 gelatinous-looking globules, from |th to \th. of an 

 inch in diameter, attached to chara in a glass jar 

 which had been standing in a sunny window for some 

 weeks. I transferred one of them to a zoophyte- 

 trough, and examined first with a pocket lens, and 

 then with the microscope, when I found it to con- 

 sist of an immense assemblage of stentors, appa- 

 rently Stentor pohjmorpha, imbedded in a mass of 

 dirty-looking jelly, evidently formed by the united 

 exuvise of the colony, and from the centre of which 

 they radiated in all directions, with their ciliated 

 mouths projected in quest of prey. The trough was 

 placed on one side, and, on examining it on the fol- 

 lowing morning, I found the assemblage broken up, 

 though the mass of viscous matter remained. The 

 stentors were some of them swimming freely about, 

 and others associated in groups of from half a dozen 

 to twenty attached to a common centre by their 

 basal disks, and already commencing a fresh deposit 

 of exuvium. I have often kept stentors before, 

 but never noticed their associating themselves in 

 this way. Can any of your microscopical cor- 

 respondents inform me whether it is a common 

 occurrence ? — Edward Hor.viaille, Dover. 



Bermuda Tripoli.— At a meeting of the Boston 

 Natural History Society, Mr. C. Stodder called the 

 attention of the members to a note in Science- 

 Gossip for May, 1SG4, on the locality of the cele- 

 brated "Bermuda Tripoli," signed "F. K.," in 

 which the writer says that Mr. Geo. Norman, of 

 Hull, "found that it came from Nottingham, Mary- 

 land." Mr. Stodder, supposing that its locality 

 might be known to other observers independent of 

 Mr. Norman, wrote to Professor Johnston, of Balti- 

 more, who had supplied some of the members with 

 the Nottingham deposit. Professor Johnston's 

 reply is published in the current part of the Monthly 

 Microscopical Journal. In this communication it 

 will be seen that the'writer was the actual discoverer 

 of the identity of the Bermuda Tripoli with the de- 

 posit from Nottingham :—" I had resolved to visit 

 Bermuda Hundreds (in Virginia) for the purpose of 

 making an exploration, when, about the 1st of April 

 (1S60), my valued friend, P. T. Tyson, Esq., State 

 Geologist of Maryland, sent me a number of small 

 parcels of Tripoli which he had procured in different 

 parts of the State. One of these, marked Notting- 

 ham, attracted my particular attention, for I had 



