NOTES. 



575 



ally be secured in a year. A little indigo is 

 grown for domestic use, and almost takes 

 care of itself. In many respects the bamboo 

 takes the place of metals, although iron, 

 copper, and brass are well known, and have 

 been from very early times. The young 

 shoots make an excellent vegetable, and pa- 

 per and twine of great strength are produced 

 from the fiber. The fields are cultivated 

 like gardens, well hoed and clear of weeds. 

 All the tools with cutting edges are of na- 

 tive manufacture, and steeled and tempered 

 on the edge. 



NOTES. 



In the excavation of the ancient Roman 

 city at Silchester, England, twelve rectangu- 

 lar inclosures or buildings have been found, 

 all of the same type, and containing fur- 

 naces, obviously of an industrial character, 

 and of various sizes. The circular furnaces 

 correspond exactly with the dyeing furnace 

 at Pompeii, and are supposed to have been 

 used for a like purpose. The supposition is 

 corroborated by the large number of wells 

 discovered. A number of other furnaces 

 with a straight flue are supposed to have 

 been intended for drying. Several rooms are 

 traceable which, it is presumed, were in- 

 tended for the storage of goods and mate 

 rials, and open spaces with no remains of 

 flues which may have been used for bleach- 

 ing grounds. A number of querns for hand- 

 grinding the madder-roots used for dyeing 

 purposes have been discovered. 



A man shot through the brain, says Mr. 

 Victor Horsley, dies, not through failure of 

 the heart's action, but through the want of 

 breath occasioned by the explosive effect of 

 the bullet passing through the wet brain 

 substance, and consequent injury to the 

 base of the brain. The heart goes on beat- 

 ing, but respiration stops ; indeed, the heart 

 is stimulated, not depressed, when a bullet 

 enters the brain; and the proper treatment 

 of a man thus shot is the same as that re- 

 sorted to in the case of drowned people one 

 should try to set up artificial respiration. 



The investigation of the effect of metals 

 on the growth of bacteria has been continued 

 by Dr. Meade Bolton. His process was to 

 inoculate a tube of melted jelly with particu- 

 lar microbes, and pour the contents out on 

 a sterilized glass plate, after which bits of 

 the metal under examination were laid on 

 the jelly while it was still soft. If the metal 

 has an inhibitory action on the microbes, 

 then a clear zone is left around it after the 

 colonies have developed in the other parts 

 of the jelly. The width of this zone, Dr. 

 Bolton found, varied very considerably with 



different organisms, as well as with different 

 metals. Throughout the investigation it 

 was found that those metals that are I'esist- 

 ant toward chemical reagents in general 

 failed to produce an effect on the microbes ; 

 while those metals which are readily attacked 

 by chemical reagents all exhibited a marked 

 inhibitory action upon the growth of bac- 

 teria. This result is probably due to a solu- 

 tion of the metal taking place in the me- 

 dium. 



Provision is made in the Missouri Bo- 

 tanic Garden for the furtherance of advanced 

 research in botany and cognate sciences, and 

 facilities are freely given to professors of 

 botany and other persons wishing and com- 

 petent to perform such work. The garden 

 is rich in native and exotic species of plants, 

 and horticulturists' varieties under cultiva- 

 tion ; the herbarium includes nearly two 

 hundred and fifty thousand species, fairly 

 representative of the vegetable life of Eu- 

 rope and the United States, with specimens 

 from other regions, and is supplemented by 

 a large collection of woods ; and the library 

 is representative of the present condition of 

 the science in its various departments, and 

 contains besides nearly five hundred botan- 

 ical volumes prepared before the period of 

 Linnaeus. Botanists wishing to pursue their 

 studies here are invited to communicate on 

 the subject with Prof. William Trelease, di- 

 rector, St. Louis. 



The rapid decrease in the population of 

 Ireland from 8,300,000 to 4,600,000 in fifty 

 years is ascribed by Dr. Grimshaw, regis- 

 trar general, to three causes : the frequent 

 failure of the potato crop ; the emigration 

 stimulated by the high wages in America 

 and the low wages at home ; and the lack of 

 manufacturing industries, the result of which 

 is that when the crops fail the people be- 

 come destitute and have to leave the coun- 

 try. Notwithstanding the decrease in the 

 population, the registrar general believes 

 that the country has gained in wealth. 



Prof. Simon Newcomb has been elected 

 by the French Academy of Sciences an asso- 

 ciate academician as successor to the late 

 Prof. Helmholtz. 



In addition to the general courses of in- 

 struction of the Marine Biological Labora- 

 tory at Woods Holl, Mass., special lectures 

 will be given on Embryologv, by C. O. Whit- 

 man ; Botanical Museum Development, by 

 J. M. McFarlane ; Matter and Energy, by A. 

 E. Dolbear ; and evening lectures will be de- 

 livered by specialists on biological subjects 

 of general interest. Forty private labora- 

 tories are provided for investigators. The 

 course of invertebrate anatomy will embrace 

 simply a study of typical marine inverte- 

 brates, through lectures, laboratory work, and 

 excursions ; that in vertebrate anatomy has 

 been arranged for those who desire a thorough 



