NOTES. 



255 



The tannate of quinine has been substi- 

 tuted for the sulphate by Dr. Listach, of 

 Bona, Algeria. Having employed the tan- 

 nate in numerous cases, he found that it 

 produced neither headache, nor deafness, 

 nor singing in the ears, ordinarily produced 

 by the sulphate. Unlike the latter ,_ also, it 

 possesses no bitter taste, nor does it cause 

 over-excitement in nervous females. 



M. Smith has written a paper, for the 

 French Geological Society, on the carcasses 

 of mammoths found in Siberia, with their 

 flesh and integument preserved. He main- 

 tains that these animals were essentially 

 arctic (like the musk-ox), that they found a 

 grave in their native home, and that they 

 were not drifted to Siberia by currents, as 

 some have thought. 



A' new process for water-proofing leather 

 consists in the exhaustion of the air from 

 the pores of the leather, and then filling 

 them up with a substance which unites with 

 and adheres to the fibre, thereby strengthen- 

 ing without impairing the elasticity of the 

 material, while at the same time it is ren- 

 dered impervious to moisture. 



In 1804, when Sir Humphrey Davy was 

 but twenty-six years old, Dr. Dalton, the 

 famed originator of the atomic theory, con- 

 sulted him as to the best mode of preparing 

 his lectures, and afterward described him 

 as " a very agreeable and intelligent young 

 man, the principal failing in whose charac- 

 ter as a philosopher is that he does not 

 smoke." 



To distinguish benzole, which is made 

 of coal-tar, from benzine, which is made 

 from petroleum, Brandberg recommends 

 that a small portion of the substance under 

 examination be poured upon a little piece of 

 pitch in a test-tube, when, if the liquid is 

 benzole, it will immediately dissolve the 

 pitch to a tar-like mass, while benzine will 

 Bcarcely be colored. 



A distinguished physiologist makes the 

 assertion that about the heaviest tax on the 

 memory is that imposed by the profession 

 of the pianist. Rubenstein lately played by 

 heart a piece which, according to actual 

 count, contained but ten less than sixty-three 

 thousand notes ! 



Bread made with sea-water is recom- 

 mended for patients suffering from dyspep- 

 sia, phthisis, and scrofula. Those who have 

 tried it testify that it is " extremely pleas- 

 ant "' to the taste. 



The use of anaesthetics in veterinary 

 practice is highly spoken of by an experi- 

 enced veterinary surgeon of London. 



An aching tooth has been extracted 

 from the jaw of a member of the British 

 Odontological Society, the dental canal 

 cleansed, and the decayed portion cut 

 away ; and then the tooth was replaced in 

 its socket, as in the case of artificial teeth. 

 In two weeks, it is said, the tooth was ser- 

 viceable. 



M. Barety, member of the Biological 

 Society of Paris, describes an interesting 

 case of sweating, confined to the right side 

 of the face. The curious phenomenon oc- 

 curred at the outset of a fatal meningitis (in- 

 flammation of membranes covering brain 

 and spinal cord), and lasted an hour. 



During the last ten years, 2,778 photo- 

 graphs of the sun have been taken at the 

 Kew Observatory. It is now announced 

 that the almost continuous photographic 

 record of the state of the sun's disk thus 

 obtained is soon to be brought to a close. 



Hallwachs has found that both green 

 and red colored carpetings frequently con- 

 tain arsenic. He asserts that the brilliant 

 dark-red colors, now so popular, contain 

 enormous quantities of this poisonous sub- 

 stance, burning with the blue flame of 

 arsenic, and giving its characteristic gar- 

 lic odor. 



It has been found that the clothes fitted 

 to new recruits in the English army soon 

 become too small across the chest, and too 

 tight around the neck, owing, it is stated, to 

 the increased development given by gym- 

 nastic and military exercises. 



Lithofracteur is rapidly replacing pow- 

 der as a means of removing obstructing 

 wrecks. Two charges of fifty pounds each 

 recently accomplished on a sunken wreck 

 what would have required tons of gunpow- 

 der, and much difficult labor. 



In Smith America are found earthworms 

 that oftentimes attain a length of 40 inches, 

 and which have a circulatory system of great 

 perfection. They are found to possess hearts 

 composed, like those of the higher animals, 

 of a soft auricle and of a very muscular ven- 

 tricle. 



The fossil horse is found among the ter- 

 tiary and quaternary formations in Ecuador, 

 showing that this continent possessed that 

 animal previous to the Spanish settlement, 

 though he became extinct. 



At Chatham, England, there is a man 

 who regularly refuses to have his children 

 vaccinated, and will not pay the fines. The 

 Anti-Vaccination Society support his wife 

 and family while he is in prison. 



