c>3t> 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



After his death, there was found in Che 

 brain of Mr. Lawler a globular calcareous 

 mass half an inch in transverse diameter, so 

 wedged into its substance as to obstruct the 

 backward flow of the blood. There were 

 indications that this mass had occupied a 

 different position, and was dislodged at the 

 time of his fall. This case confirms the 

 growing opinion that the faculty of language 

 is associated with the left hemisphere of the 

 brain, and demonstrates, as far as one case 

 can, that the posterior lobe takes part in 

 the operations of speech and written lan- 

 guage. 



Aseent of Mount Seward. This mountain 

 is, with the numerous lesser peaks connect- 

 ed with it, the most westerly of the Adiron- 

 dack range in New York. The ascent in 

 company with a guide has recently been 

 made, and its barometrical measurement 

 taken by Yerplanck Colvin, Esq. The as- 

 cent took two days and a part of a third. 

 The barometric observations were laid be- 

 fore Prof. Hough, of the Dudley Observa- 

 tory, who made the computations, and gave 

 as the result an altitude of 4,462 feet. Mr. 

 Colvin speaks of the wanton waste by fire 

 of the woods, and the consequent diminu- 

 tion of the rivers, and recommends to the 

 State government the creation of an Adiron- 

 dack park, or timber preserve, suggesting 

 that the officers necessary for its care might 

 be supported by a per-capita tax upon 

 sportsmen, artists, and tourists a tax 

 which he says they would willingly pay if 

 the game should be protected from unlaw- 

 ful slaughter, and the grand primeval forest 

 be saved from ruthless desolation. 



A Fonr-legged Fish. The members of 

 the Australian Eclipse Expedition, if they 

 were unsuccessful in the primary object of 

 their voyage, saw some strange things along 

 the shores to the north of the great Conti- 

 nent of Australia. Mr. Foord tells a won- 

 derful story, " amply attested by witnesses," 

 A a fish with four hands. This extraordi- 

 nary creature was found crawling on a piece 

 of coral dredged up from the bottom of the 

 sea. " The body was that of a fish," says 

 Mr. Foord, before the Royal Society on 

 January 22d, "but, wonderful to relate, it 

 had in the place of fins four legs, terminated 



by what you might call hands, by means of 

 which it made its way rapidly over the coral 

 reef. When placed on the skylight of the 

 steamer, the fish stood up on its legs, a* 

 sight to behold. It was small, and some- 

 thing like a lizard, but with the body of a 

 fish." It is to be hoped that a full and sci- 

 entific description of this latest marvel of 

 deep-sea dredging may soon be published, 

 as the specimen appears to have been 

 brought back to Melbourne. Mr. White, 

 too, of the same expedition, tells strange 

 tales about the rats. " The little island," 

 he said, " upon which we pitched our tent 

 was overrun with them, and what was most 

 extraordinary, they were of every color, 

 from black to yellow, and some tortoise- 

 shell." Nature. 



Fnngi in Cow's-Milk. On this subject, 

 Prof. Law, of Cornell University, makes a 

 communication to The Lens for July. He 

 says the presence of living organisms in 

 milk has been recognized by various observ- 

 ers. In milk of an abnormally blue color, 

 cryptogams and swarms of infusoria have 

 been noticed, and kindred objects have been 

 seen in milk of a yellow and greenish 'int. 

 Dr. Percy's " Report to the New York Acad- 

 emy of Medicine, in 1858, 'On Swill Milk,' 

 shows the presence of spores in such milk 

 when drawn, and the growth of mycelium 

 within twenty-four hours thereafter, though 

 the liquid had stood in a well-corked bottle 

 in the interval. This report shows, fur- 

 ther, the tendency of such milk to induce 

 severe and even fatal disorders of the di- 

 gestive organs of infants, fed upon it exclu- 

 sively in its fresh condition." Prof. Law 

 examined some specimens of milk, two 

 of which, after twelve hours' exposure, be- 

 ing " placed under the microscope, showed 

 an abnormal adhesiveness of the oil-glob- 

 ules, which had accumulated in dense mass- 

 es instead of remaining apart as in healthy 

 milk. Intermixed with the globules were 

 dark - colored, spherical bodies of a much 

 larger size, 'spores,' and filaments. Upon 

 examination of the water drunk by the 

 cows, it was found to contain numerous 

 spores of low forms of vegetable life. The 

 cows yielding the morbid milk appeared 

 in health so far as appetite, rumination, 

 pulse, breathing, and state of skin were con 



