NOTES. 



575 



one of the boys who had died was examined, 

 and the microscope showed living trichinae 

 in his muscles, but none of the appearances 

 of enteric fever were discovered. A new 

 cask of salt pork had been opened just be- 

 fore the disease appeared, the meat from 

 which is supposed to have communicated 

 the trichina? to the boys. This view is con- 

 firmed by the fact that the disease ceased 

 soon after the use of the pork was stopped. 

 The method of cooking the meat ou the 

 vessel seems to have been defective and not 

 sufficiently thorough to insure the beating 

 of the whole mass to the temperature at 

 which the trichinas are destroyed. 



Sensitive Organs of Deep-Sea Animals. 



M. 0. Grimm has sought to explain how 

 it is that we find in the great depths of seas 

 and lakes animals without eyes, and besides 

 them others in which those organs are high- 

 ly developed. According to his view, the 

 light received by animals living in these 

 depths is extremely feeble, but is never 

 totally wanting. An adaptation to these 

 special conditions has taken place. With 

 certain crustaceans, the eyes have gained a 

 considerable volume ; with others, the eyes 

 tend to disappear and to be replaced by 

 other sensitive organs. In the Niphargus 

 and Onesimus, for instance, the existence 

 has been detected of extremely developed 

 sensitive organs which may be supposed to 

 serve as organs of touch, taste, and smell. 

 Niphargus Caspius has very small eyes, 

 which can hardly be considered as anything 

 but the remains of normal organs, and can 

 hardly be of any use to an animal living at 

 a depth of from thirty-five to ninety fathoms, 

 but it has highly developed organs of smell 

 and touch on its antennaj. The Onesimus, 

 whose eyes are also very rudimentary, have 

 neither on the antennae nor other parts of 

 the body sensitive organs like those of the 

 Niphargus, or at least such as they have are 

 very little developed ; but a close examina- 

 tion will discover, on the external blade of 

 their foot-jaws (maxillipedes), well-consti- 

 tuted organs of sense, although they are 

 hidden and of a very different structure 

 from those of Niphargus. In explanation 

 of this difference in the nature of the sen- 

 sory organs of genera so nearly related to 

 each other, M. Grimm remarks that the 



species he has found with organs of sense 

 on their antennae always live in the water 

 and never go into the mud. The Onesimus, 

 on the other hand, keep constantly in the 

 mud of the bottom and seek their food by 

 digging, as the moles do. Under such con- 

 ditions, delicate organs of sense on the an- 

 tennae would be of no use, and have become 

 nearly obliterated, while the situation has 

 favored the development of organs in a 

 protected position. 



NOTES. 



The next meeting of the French Associ- 

 ation for the Advancement of the Sciences 

 is to be held in the city of Algiers, on the 14th 

 of April. The people and authorities of the 

 city are busily makmg preparations to give 

 the Association a worthy reception and wel- 

 come. Liberal appropriations have been 

 made by the council for the material organi- 

 zation of the meeting, and a large committee 

 of citizens, under the presidency of M. Po- 

 mell. Senator and Director of the Superior 

 School of Sciences, is preparing a programme 

 of excursions, which will be well filled out. 

 51. Chauveau, Director of the Veterinary 

 School at Lyons, will be president, M. Jans- 

 sen, the astronomer, vice-president, and M. 

 Jlaunoir, of the Geographical Society, secre- 

 tary, of the meeting. 



We have news of the recent death of 

 Michel Chasles, the eminent French mathe- 

 matician. JI. Chasles was the author of an 

 historical memoir on the origin and devel- 

 opment of methods in geometry, and of nu- 

 merous works in pure mathematics, and in 

 1865 received, in recognition of his discov- 

 eries, the Copley medal of the Royal Society. 



The name of the author of the useful 

 little work noticed in our last number, under 

 the title ' What to do first in Accidents or 

 Poisoning," is Charles W. Dulles, not Dal- 

 las, as it was there erroneously printed. 



The death is announced of Dr. John 

 Stcnhouse, F. R. S., a distinguished Scotch 

 chemist, at the age of seventy-one. lie was 

 a pupil of Graham, Thomson, and Liebig, 

 held the chemical lectureship at the Medical 

 School of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Lon- 

 don, for six years, and was subsequently ap- 

 pointed non-resident Assayer of the Royal 

 Mint. He wrote a large number of papers 

 on chemical subjects, and was the recipient 

 of a medal from the Royal Society, of which 

 he was long a member. 



AccoRDixG to the researches of Gustav 

 Ilausen, the antennae of insects are organs 



