NOTES. 



ill 



long as a dog three or four times its size. 

 Cold-blooded animals, fish, non-venomous 

 snakes, and invertebrate animals, all die 

 when bitten. There seems to be a certain 

 difference in the action of the colubrine and 

 viperine snakes. In poisoning by the colu- 

 brine snakes, the blood coagulates firmly, 

 but in death by the viperine it remains per- 

 manently fluid at least this was the case in 

 many of Dr. Fayrer's experiments. 



A New Fire-Eseape. At the Interna- 

 tional (London) Exhibition of 1872, Major 

 E. R. Wethered exhibited a fire-escape, con- 

 sisting of a canvas cradle, with a guard- 

 band to be passed beneath the arms, a 

 strong rope, and a pulley furnished with a 

 clamp, which can be worked by the hand, 

 as the fugitive descends. At an alarm of 

 fire, the sashes of the window are to be 

 thrown into close correspondence at the 

 top. The rope is then thrown around them 

 at one side and hitched with a hook. The 

 lateral pull of the weight will jam the sashes 

 in the frame. The pulley, having five fric- 

 tion rollers, between which the rope runs 

 sinuously, and a clamp worked by lever and 

 handle, is fixed a little above the cradle. 

 The free end of the rope is coiled on a reel, 

 and is thrown out of the window, unwind- 

 ing as it falls. In addition to the clamp, 

 the descent of the cradle may be governed 

 by the left hand of the fugitive, running 

 along the rope. 



Necessity of Carefulness in Old Age. An 



old man is like an old wagon; with light 

 loading and careful usage it will last for 

 years ; but one heavy load or sudden strain 

 will break it, and ruin it forever. Many 

 people reach the age of fifty, sixty, or even 

 seventy, measurably free from most of the 

 pains and infirmities of age, cheery in heart, 

 and sound in health, ripe in wisdom and ex- 

 perience, with sympathies mellowed by age, 

 and with reasonable prospects and oppor- 

 tunities for continued usefulness in the 

 world for a considerable time. Let such 

 persens be thankful, but let them also be 

 careful. An old constitution is like an old 

 bone broken with ease, mended with diffi- 

 culty. A young tree bends to the gale, an 

 old one snaps and falls before the blast. A 

 single hard lift ; an hour of heating work j 



an evening of exposure to rain or damp; a 

 severe chill ; an excess of food ; the unusual 

 indulgence of any appetite or passion ; a 

 sudden fit of anger ; an improper dose of 

 medicine any of these, or other similar 

 things, may cut off a valuable life in an hour, 

 and leave the fair hopes of usefulness and 

 enjoyment but a shapeless wreck. 



NOTES. 



The friends of Prof. Huxley will be 

 glad to learn that the latest reports of his 

 health are most encouraging. He broke 

 down last year, and went to Egypt to recu- 

 perate, but returned but little better than 

 he left. He seemed to have been very hard 

 hit, and his friends feared that it might be 

 long before he would recover himself. He 

 has lately been elected Lord Rector of Ab- 

 erdeen University, for three years, which is 

 significant, as showing the way the currents 

 of thought and sympathy are setting. 



It is reported that a cargo of Australian 

 beef, in the fresh state, has been brought to 

 New Orleans without damage, notwithstand- 

 ing the fact that the temperature of the 

 atmosphere, for a large part of the distance, 

 ranged as high as 90 degrees. The carcasses 

 were packed in ice, also produced in Aus- 

 tralia, by a process so economical that it is 

 thought this method of transportation may 

 be made a pecuniary success. 



A very good liquid glue is got by dis- 

 solving glue in nitric ether. It is more te- 

 nacious than that made with hot water, and 

 may be rendered almost damp-proof, by in- 

 troducing a few pieces of caoutchouc, and 

 letting the solution stand a few days, with 

 frequent stirring. As the ether will dissolve 

 only a fixed amount of glue, the mixture 

 cannot be made too thick. 



The Mechanics' Magazine notes the cast- 

 ing, at Woolwich, of an enormous steam- 

 hammer, consuming 100 tons of metal. 

 The anvil-block, to serve as a piece de re- 

 sistance for this enormous engine, after cool- 

 ing off for three months, was not yet cold 

 enough to be removed. 



An apparatus has been recently de- 

 vised in Germany for obtaining specimens 

 of water at any desired depth pf the ocean. 

 A strong, heavy vessel, entirely closed and 

 empty, has a valve through which water 

 may be admitted, but which is only put in 

 motion by means of powerful electro-mag- 

 nets connected therewith. These magnets 

 are also connected with a wire which ac- 

 companies the rope, by means of which 

 the apparatus is lowered from the ship. 

 When the empty vessel, which is in fact a 



