POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



285 



staff-cells proceeding from the hypodermis, 

 with which those nerves are connected ; and, 

 third, of a supplementary apparatus, com- 

 posed of cavities or cones filled with a serous 

 fluid, which may be regarded as out-foldings 

 of the epidermis. The organs appear to be 

 most highly developed, as would naturally 

 be supposed, in those insects which appear 

 to use the sense of smell in seeking for 

 food. The greatest number of smelling 

 cavities and cones are found among wasps 

 and bees, the honey-bee having fourteen or 

 fifteen thousand cavities and about two hun- 

 dred cones in each antenna, the leaf-wasp 

 a smaller number. The flesh-and-dirt flies 

 have from sixty to a hundred and fifty or- 

 gans of smell, while the flies that live on 

 plants have only five or six cavities to each 

 feeler. 



Photographing the Corona. Professor 

 Huggins announces that he has succeeded 

 in photographing the solar corona without 

 the assistance of an eclipse. It having been 

 shown by Professor Schuster's observations 

 of the last eclipse that the coronal fight as 

 a whole is very strong in the region of the 

 spectrum extending from about G to H, 

 he conceived that by making exclusive u=e 

 of this part of the spectrum, while enjoying 

 the best possible conditions of exposure and 

 concentration, it might be possible to take 

 a photograph of the kind sought. He found 

 a commercial violet (pot) glass which effected 

 the separation required, and using this and 

 a potassic permanganate solution in his 

 later experiments with a reflecting tele- 

 scope, and gelatine plates, he obtained 

 twenty successful photographs between June 

 and the 28th of September of last year. 

 Captain Abney, whose experiments during 

 the last eclipse have made him a competent 

 judge, declares the photographs as trust- 

 worthy as any that were taken then. Pro- 

 fessor Huggins believes that there is little 

 doubt that under the most favorable con- 

 ditions the corona may by his method be 

 successfully photographed from day to day 

 with a definiteness which would allow of 

 the study of the changes which are doubt- 

 less always going on in it. By an adjust- 

 ment of the times of exposure, the inner or 

 the outer corona could be obtained as might 

 be desired. 



Cram Examinations. " Hot-house Edu- 

 cation" is the title of a pamphlet recently 

 published in England, on the absurdity of 

 the examinations in vogue there, which are 

 systematically prepared for by cramming. 

 Dr. Crichton Browne is authority for the 

 statement that, by submitting boys of twelve 

 or thirteen to the examinations, " we may 

 be able to select those of the quickest wits, 

 and those most susceptible of cram ; but we 

 should certainly not bring to the front those 

 of the greatest grasp of intellect and force 

 of character," and that to institute such ex- 

 aminations at such an age seems to be offer- 

 ing a premium on precocity. In the exami- 

 nations of older candidates, tests are often 

 exacted of a kind which an examiner who 

 has been quoted by Mr. Froude described as 

 setting a paper " for which Macaulay might 

 possibly get full marks." A case is cited 

 by Mr. Digby, the author of the pamphlet 

 we have referred to, of an examiner who 

 had to appeal to the Geographical Society 

 for the answer to a problem which he had 

 set to candidates, but could not for the 

 time being solve himself. Another instance 

 is that of an examiner for the army who 

 gave out as a subject of composition, " A 

 Visit by Sir Roger de Coverley and the 

 ' Spectator ' to Lord's Cricket - Ground." 

 Such cases might, perhaps, be met by fixing 

 the rule that those who make the examina- 

 tions should be required to pass them. 



The Right to Rest. The London " Spec- 

 tator " calls for the establishment of a new 

 rule of etiquette, that a man who announces 

 that he is seeking rest shall be let alone. 

 In the hurry and strain of modern intellect- 

 ual life, a necessity has arisen for periodic 

 rest. " Overwork " is now recognized by 

 physicians as a specific cause of disease, and 

 a few of them are making the effects of 

 over-cerebration, under a hundred names, a 

 distinct specialty. The incomes of several 

 first-class doctors in London are derived 

 almost entirely from men whose brains are 

 overworn, and whose nerves are so " over- 

 strung," or " understrung," or " gone to 

 pieces," or are " so excited," that they ean 

 neither sleep, nor work, nor remain quiet. 

 These specialists have become abnormally 

 discerning, and " can tell almost at a glance 

 where anxiety has been the cause of disease, 



