ZOOLOGY. 373 



o. That alcohol, if brought in contact with the venom, is, to a certain 

 extent, an antidote. 



6. That serpents do possess the power of fascinating small animals, and 

 that this power is identical with mesmerism. 



7. That the blood of small animals, destroyed by the venom of ser- 

 pents, bears a close resemblance to that of animals destroyed by light- 

 ning or hydrocyanic acid ; it loses its power of coagulation, and cannot be 

 long kept from putrefaction. Dr. J. Oilman, St. Louis Med. and Surg. 

 Jour. 



ON THE OCCURRENCE OF DEATH AT DIFFERENT DAILY PERIODS. 



The hours most fatal to life are thus determined by a writer in the Lon- 

 don Quarterly Review, from the examination of the facts in 2,880 cases : 



If the deaths of the 2,880 persons had occurred indifferently at any hour 

 during the 24 hours, 120, it might be supposed, would have occurred at 



each hour. But this was by no means the case. There were two hours 

 in which the proportion was remarkably below this, two minima in fact 

 namely, from midnight to 1 o'clock, when the deaths were 83 per cent, below 

 the average, and from noon to 1 o'clock, when they were 20$ per cent, be- 

 low. From 3 to 6 o'clock A. M. inclusive, and from 3 to 7 o'clock P. M., 

 there is a gradual increase, in the former of 23 per cent, above the average, 

 in the latter of 03 per cent. The maximum of death is from 5 to 6 o'clock 

 A. M., when it is 40 per cent, above the average ; the next, during the hour 

 before midnight, when it is 24 per cent, in excess ; a third hour of excess is 

 that from 3 to 10 o'clock in the morning, being 18^ percent, above. From 

 10 A. M. to 3 P. M. the deaths are less numerous, being 16 per cent, 

 below the average, the hour before noon being the most fatal. From 3 

 o'clock P. M. the deaths rise to o percent, above the average, and then fall 

 from that hour to 11 P. M., averaging 6 per cent, below the mean. 

 During the hours from 9 to 11 o'clock in the evening, there is a minimum 

 of 6 per cent, below the average. Thus the least mortality is during the 

 mid-day hours namely, from 10 to 3 o'clock ; the greatest during early 

 morning hoiirs, from 3 to 6 o'clock. About one-third of the total deaths 

 were children under five years of age, and they show their influence of the 

 latter more strikingly. At all hours, from 10 o'clock in the morning until 

 midnight, the deaths are at or below the mean ; the hours from 4 to o P. 

 M. and from 9 to 10 P. M. being minima, but the hour after midnight 

 being the lowest maximum : at all the hours from 2 to 10 A. M. the deaths 

 are above the mean, attaining their maximum at from 5 to 6 o'clock A. M., 

 when it is 45 per cent, above. 



