NOTES. 



575 



Dr. W. F. Morgan, of Leavenworth, 

 Kansas, communicates to the " Medical Rec- 

 ord" a story which would indicate that 

 swallows have considerable surgical skill as 

 well as intelligence. In a nest he found a 

 young swallow much weaker than its mate, 

 which had one of its legs bandaged with 

 horse-hairs. Taking the hairs away, he found 

 that the bird's leg was broken. The next 

 time he visited the nest, he found the leg 

 again bandaged. He continued to observe 

 " the case," and in two weeks found that the 

 bird was cautiously removing the hairs, a 

 few each day. The cure was entirely suc- 

 cessful. 



Professor Robert vox Helmholtz has 

 published in Widermann's "Annalen" the 

 final results of the experiments and argu- 

 ments on the formation of mist. The air 

 must contain a normal quantity of solid 

 particles of dust, and must be free from 

 bodies that will act chemically on aqueous 

 vapor. 



The Himmelbjerg, or Heaven Mountain, 

 has until recently enjoyed the distinction of 

 being the highest mountain in Denmark. 

 It is four hundred and eighty -two feet high. 

 It has now to yield the palm to two peaks 

 recently measured in the forest of Ky, the 

 highest of which is five hundred and thirty- 

 two feet above the sea. These mountains 

 have not been named ; and it would indeed 

 be hard to find a suitable name for a mount- 

 ain overtopping the " Heaven-peak." 



The fact has recently been confirmed by 

 a number of observers that the electric eel 

 can exert its power through the water to a 

 distance. Professor W. Mattieu Williams 

 relates that he once plunged both hands 

 into water containing one of these fish, in- 

 tending to grasp it, but failed to reach it ; 

 but he received a very severe shock when 

 at some distance, probably three or four 

 inches, " the sensational nature of the ex- 

 periment rendering any approach to accu- 

 rate estimation of the distance quite impos- 

 sible." 



The bascule is a new instrument for rec- 

 reation, which has been developed out of the 

 primitive see-saw by Mr. Piercy, of Birming- 

 ham, England. His first specimen was con- 

 structed for his own family. The bascule 

 consists of a wooden beam, which is sup- 

 ported on a four-legged iron stand. The 

 seats are so arranged as to remain always 

 horizontal, whatever the position of the 

 beam may be, while the adjustment for play- 

 ers of unequal weight is effected by a bal- 

 ancing block, which is slid along the beam 

 till it reaches the point where it is wanted, 

 and is there locked in position by the act of 

 loosing the handle. The bascule has also a 

 horizontal movement, and can be used as a 

 merry-go-round. 



A story of two sagacious crows is told 

 in " Land and Water " by the Rev. F. 0. 

 Morris, on the authority of a land-owner of 

 Loch Orr, who saw the birds annoying two 

 hares. Although he could not see clearly, 

 on account of the high grass, he was sure 

 the hares had young ones, which the crows 

 were trying to carry off. After the hares 

 had fought the birds for some time, one of 

 the " black robbers " managed to attract 

 their attention, and led them off a little, 

 while his confederate flew round and seized 

 a small animal, which screamed loudly, 

 when both birds flew away. He was satis- 

 fied that their purpose had been to get one 

 of the young ones of the hares, and that 

 they had succeeded. 



Sir William Thomson has described a 

 new form of spring-balance for the measure- 

 ment of terrestrial gravity. One end of 

 the spring is fastened, while the other end 

 is weighted sufficiently to keep the spring 

 straight when horizontally fixed. The 

 spring is adjusted within a brass tube on a 

 slope of about one inch in five, in which 

 position it is in nearly unstable equilib- 

 rium. The observation consists in marking 

 the number of turns of the micrometer se- 

 ries attached to the spring which are re- 

 quired to bring the weight from the bal- 

 anced to the horizontal position. The in- 

 strument is sensitive to a forty -thousandth 

 of the force of gravity, and to differences 

 of temperature of fa C. 



It is proposed to erect a monument to 

 the memory of Thomas Edward, the Scotch 

 naturalist whose death we have recently no- 

 ticed. A committee has been formed, un- 

 der the auspices of the town authorities 

 and the scientific and literary clubs of Banff 

 for the furtherance of this object, and in- 

 vites subscriptions. 



M. Chevrecl, who attended the meeting 

 of the French Academy of Sciences on the 

 17th of May, was there presented, in antici- 

 pation of his attaining a hundred years of 

 age in August, with a bronze bust of him- 

 self, executed by M. Paul Dubois. The pres- 

 entation was made at that time instead of 

 waiting till the coming of M. Chevreul's 

 birthday, on account of the approach of the 

 summer vacation, which would take many 

 of the members of the Academy away from 

 Paris. 



Herr Familiant, of Berne, has been 

 studying the brain of a lioness, and finds 

 that in form it is nearly intermediate be- 

 tween that of the dog and that of the cat. 

 It is distinguished from both by relatively 

 small projection of the cerebellum and nar- 

 rowness of the lobits puriformis. Further, 

 the chief fissures of the brain of carnivoras 

 are also to be found, with minor differences, 

 in that of primates. 



