POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



285 



position may be effected by microbic organ- 

 isms, or by the digestive ferments of the 

 healthy body ; and they are various accord- 

 ing to the particular organism or ferment 

 that sets them up, and according to the tem- 

 perature at which they occur, and the length 

 of time that they continue. Some of the 

 products of decomposition are poisonous in 

 various degrees of activity, while others are 

 innocuous. When kept separate, the poison- 

 ous products remain unchanged for a long 

 time, but when mixed together they are apt 

 to undergo further decomposition and be- 

 come inert. Besides temperature, the de- 

 gree of moisture in the subject of decom- 

 position or in the atmosphere, and electrical 

 conditions as when milk is " soured by 

 thunder "exercise modifying influences, 

 which have not yet been definitely ascer- 

 tained. The difference between the prod- 

 ucts of decomposition in hot and cold weath- 

 er is illustrated by the alkaloids obtained 

 from decomposing maize in summer and 

 winter. The winter alkaloid has a narcotic 

 and paralyzing action ; but in summer an- 

 other alkaloid is also yielded, which has a 

 tetanizing action something like strychnine. 

 On account of the greater rapidity of the 

 putrefactive process, albuminous substances 

 become poisonous much sooner in summer 

 than in winter, and again lose their poison- 

 ous properties more quickly by further de- 

 composition. As putrefaction may go on to 

 a certain extent after the introduction of 

 food into the intestinal canal, poisons may 

 be formed from the part eaten, and pro- 

 duce dangerous symptoms, while no poison 

 can be found in the remaining parts of the 

 same food. 



The Hypothetical Planet Neith. Seven 

 times since the invention of the telescope a 

 lesser body has been observed near Venus 

 in such a situation as to suggest that it 

 might be a satellite of that planet. The ob- 

 servations can hardly have been illusive, 

 though they were only fleeting ones, for 

 they were made by skilled astronomers. The 

 last one was in 1764. M. J. C. Houzeau, 

 of the Brussels Observatory, has examined 

 the data of them in an endeavor to deter- 

 mine the nature of the body. They do not 

 agree with the supposition that it is a satel- 

 lite, or that it is an intra-Mercurial planet. 



They are consistent, however, with the sup- 

 position that it moves in an orbit about 

 equal to or a little larger than that of Venus, 

 with which it comes in conjunction at in- 

 tervals which are multiples of a little less 

 than three years ; for the intervals between 

 the observations all represented such mul- 

 tiples. Supposing the observations to be 

 correct and to indicate the real existence of 

 such a body, M. Houzeau proposes for it the 

 name of Neith. The search for this planet 

 would furnish good occupation for amateur 

 astronomers. 



Causes of Financial Stringency. The 



" Edinburgh Review " ascribes the present 

 general monetary scarcity to the vast expan- 

 sion of trade since the middle of the centu- 

 ry, which was in great part an effect as well 

 as an accompaniment of the new supply of 

 gold that came in at that time ; the decline 

 which has taken place in the yield of the 

 gold-mines ; and the large augmentation in 

 the demand for gold which has been occa- 

 sioned by the extensive demonetization of 

 silver. The influence which the large addi- 

 tion to the world's stock of specie since 1848 

 has exerted upon the value of money, though 

 important, has been by no means so great 

 as was expected. " The doctrine that changes 

 in the amount of the circulating medium are 

 really of no consequence, inasmuch as such 

 an increase is pari passu attended by a pro- 

 portionate change in the value of money, so 

 that the effective power of the currency re- 

 mains unaltered, is now all but extinct, and 

 can survive only in minds which are imper- 

 vious to the remarkable lessons of the last 

 thirty years," which have "demonstrated 

 afresh the correctness of the old and com- 

 mon-sense view of the matter namely, 

 that if there is an increase of business 

 operations, or other effective requirements 

 for money, a proportionate addition to the 

 currency will only serve to keep the value of 

 money at its previous level ; and, if trade or 

 these monetary requirements increase faster 

 than the amount of currency, prices will fall 

 (or the value of money will rise), however 

 large the annual additions to the currency 

 may be. More remarkably, and on a far 

 grander scale, the same truth or principle 

 was illustrated in the history of the three 

 centuries which followed the discovery of 



