NOTES. 



Hi 



the electric current. If we put a light pres- 

 sure upon the leaves of the condenser, the 

 sound will be diminished in proportion as 

 the pressure is increased, till it ceases. Re- 

 versing this experiment, M. Tr^ve put a con- 

 denser into a Geissler tube, and brought the 

 two poles of the inductive current of the 

 Kuhmkorff coil to bear upon it through the 

 electrodes of the tube. The tube was then 

 connected with an air-pump. The condenser 

 sounded as usual when the current was di- 

 rected to it under the ordinary atmospheric 

 pressure; as the air was withdrawn, the 

 sound became more feeble, till, when a vac- 

 uum was produced, it ceased, and instead of 

 it there shone a clear, bright light, sparkling 

 like pearls, from the leaves of the condenser. 

 It was not like the pale and vague light of 

 the Geissler tubes, but something, he says, 

 quite different, sharp and distinct a con- 

 densed light. 



Caves in Japan. Professor Morse also 

 described a number of artificially construct- 

 ed caves which he had examined in various 

 parts of Japan, giving sketches of them 

 on the blackboard. These caves varied con- 

 siderably in their design, but agreed in their 

 general proportions, and were evidently in- 

 tended as receptacles for the dead. They 

 were excavated in soft rock on the sides 

 of hills the apertures small, and in some 

 cases showing grooves for the adjustment of 

 slabs of rock or other material to close them. 

 The absence of remains in these caves could 

 be explained by the fact that in earlier 

 times outlaws and refugees often used them 

 as places of shelter and residence, and laws 

 had finally been passed by the governors of 

 some of the districts, causing the caves to be 

 filled up, or their entrances obstructed, to 

 prevent their being used in this manner. 



NOTES. 



During an excursion to the White Moun- 

 tains made in July, 1879, Mr. W. H. Pick- 

 ering visited a moving mass of snow in 

 Tuckerman ravine, which he describes as pre- 

 senting many of the phenomena of an Alpine 

 glacier, only on a greatly reduced scale. The 

 surface of the snow was convex, being high- 

 est at the middle ; where not exposed to 

 the sun it was very hard, and differed from 

 ice only in color. Stones previously plated 



upon the surface of the patch showed that 

 the middle had a motion of about eight inch- 

 es per day, the sides moving more slowly. 

 In Mr. Pickering's opinion, it corresponds 

 with the upper portion of a glacier, and 

 might, perhaps, be called an incipient gla- 

 cier. 



An illustration of the fixedness of the 

 characters of plants is shown from the analy- 

 sis of specimens of the oleaginous Chinese 

 pea {Soya hispida) from Hungary, China, 

 and France. Only insignificant differences 

 in composition were discovered notwithstand- 

 ing the peas had grown in widely separated 

 countries under very different conditions of 

 climate and soil. 



Professor Benjamin Peirce, F. R. S., 

 LL. D., died in Boston October 6, 1880, aged 

 seventy-one years. He graduated at Har- 

 vard College in 1829, was made Professor 

 of Mathematics and Js^atural Philosophy in 

 that institution in 1833, and Perkins Pro- 

 fessor of Astronomy and Mathematics in 

 1842. 



The minute organisms or microbes, 

 which M. Pasteur has shown to be concerned 

 in epidemics and contagious diseases, are so 

 very minute that they may sometimes easily 

 escape detection, especially in pure water. 

 In such case they mny be killed, without 

 being deformed, by certain chemical agents, 

 among which is osmic acid, and will sink to 

 the bottom in such quantities as to admit of 

 microscopic examination. The deposit may 

 be examined after several hours (twenty- 

 four or even forty-eight) if the water has 

 been very pure. Coloring reagents mixed 

 with dilute glycerine may also be used with 

 advantage in the work. 



A CONSIDERABLE number of the workmen 

 engaged in the boring of the tunnel of St. 

 Gothard were prostrated by a dangerous 

 anemia. M. E. Perroncito, who has been 

 investigating the causes of the disease, has 

 found that all those who were affected by 

 it were also troubled by certain species of 

 parasitic worms, the mere presence of which 

 was sufficient to account for the develop- 

 ment of disease. This case is not an iso- 

 lated one. Dr. Giaccone, a medical atten- 

 dant of the St. Gothard company, states 

 that a disease of identical character ap- 

 peared during the boring of the tunnel of 

 Frejus. 



An ostrich, long on exhibition at Rome, 

 having been suffocated by thrusting its neck 

 between the bars, there were found in its 

 stomach four large stones, eleven smaller 

 ones, seven nails, a necktie pin, an envel- 

 ope, thirteen copper coins, fourteen beads, 

 one French franc, two small keys, a piece 

 of a handkerchief, a silver medal of the 

 Pope, and the cross f an Italian order. 



