HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



143 



lime of the parent are hereditary in the offspring, and 

 lience the jealous care exercised by families and the 

 state to prevent the diseases in question, being com- 

 municated to the healthy. J. W. Baylis, says the 

 whole question hinges on whether these diseases be 

 acquired or congenital. There are many diseases 

 peculiar to man that must, at all events, have been 

 acquired during the lifetime of the race. Not to talk 

 of diseases the result of immorality, there must have 

 been a time when neither drunkenness nor suicide were 

 manifest. I believe the earlist tendency to a 

 hereditary love of alcoholic spirits arose from our first 

 ancestors who began to indulge too freely, and not 

 from the temperate and moderate. In saying this I 

 know the avidity with which savages take to our 

 intoxicants. Most of these savages have, however, 

 some stimulant or narcotic of their own, less potent 

 than ours, which is therefore preferred. Indeed the 

 "building up of that degree of temperance and wisdom, 

 with regard to the use of stimulants, must have been 

 a process that has risen since distillation and fermen- 

 tation were invented. No doubt it would be acquired 

 somewhat in the lifetime of a parent, and heredity 

 would strengthen it. There are families whose 

 genealogies show us a procession of sober individuals, 

 just as there are others who present us with a 

 long succession of topers. In the same way we 

 might ask concerning every contagious or infectious 

 disease peculiar to man, or to circumstances inter- 

 woven with civilisation, Who took it first ? Was it 

 not acquired first of all in the lifetime of some in- 

 ■dividual ? If so, then, being hereditary, it seems a 

 fair case for those who believe in use-inheritance. — 

 y. Shaw, Tynrofi, Dumfriesshire. 



Trout. — The following extract is from this season's 

 price list of the Howietoun'Fishery, Sterling : — "The 

 Rainbow trout in the second generation, have proved 

 much more satisfactory than was anticipated (from 

 noting the imported ova). Where a depth of water 

 of eight feet or over can be obtained, and where the 

 fish can be confined, we now recommend them as 

 the quickest growers and the most beautiful salmonoid 

 we have yet met with. But they must have deep 

 water." I recently had the pleasure of turning 

 about 2200 Loch Leven (6". Levenensis) yearling 

 trout into reservoirs near here, which had been 

 hatched and reared by the managers of this fishery : 

 and I noted that although some of them were in 

 unchanged water for over seventeen hours, there were 

 only two dead fish in the tanks ; the rest were so 

 strong that they " cut to cover," almost before we 

 could get a sight of them in their new abode. — Thos. 

 Winder, A.M.I.C.E., Sheffield. 



Cure for Bite of Mad Dog. — In searching a 

 number of ancient documents, I recently found the 

 following curious receipt, which may perhaps be of 

 sufficient interest to deserve a place in the pages of 

 Science-Gossip. I preserve the original spelling 

 and punctuation. "An infalliable cure for the Bite 

 of a mad dog brought from Tonquin by Sir George 

 Cobb Bart. Take 24 grains of native Cinnabor 

 24 grains of factitious Cinnabor and 16 grains of 

 INIusk ; grind all these together into an exceeding 

 fine powder ; and put into a small tea-cup of Arrack 

 rum or brandy ; let it be well mixed and give it y* 

 person as soon as possible after y'^ bite ; a second 

 dose of y° same must be repeated thirty days after ; 

 and a third may be taken in thirty days more, but 

 if the symptoms of madness appear on y*^ persons 

 they must take one of y' above doses immediately 

 and a second in an hour after, and if wanted a 

 third must be given a few hours afterwards. The 



above receipt is calculated for a full grown person, 

 but must be given to children in smaller quan- 

 tities in proportion to their ages. This medicine 

 has been given to hundreds with success and Sir 

 George Cobb himself has cured two persons who 

 had y° symptoms of madness upon them. If in the 

 madness they cannot take in liquid, make it up into 

 a bolus with honey : after the two first doses, let it be 

 repeated every three or four hours till y° patient be 

 recovered. This repetition to be omitted unless 

 necessary. Take all imaginary care that the musk be 

 genuine." This mem. bears date 1760. — Thos. 

 Winder, A.M.I.C.E., Sheffield. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To CORRHSPONDENTS AND EXCHANGERS. — As WC nOW 



publish SciKNCE-GossiP earlier than formerly, we cannot un- 

 dertake to insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We must adhere to our rule of 

 not noticing queries which do not bear the writers' names. 



To Dealers and Others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the "exchanges" offered are 

 fair exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are 

 simply Disguised Advertisements, for the purpose of evading 

 the cost of advertising, an advantage is taken oi our gratuitous 

 insertion of "exchanges," which cannot be tolerated. 



We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or 

 initials) and full address at the end. 



Special Note. — There is a tendency on the part of some 

 exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow 

 this in the case of writers of papers. 



To OUR Recent Exchangers. — We are willing and helpful 

 to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dis- 

 guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us 

 to appear unless as advertisements. 



W. M. Osmond. — The micro-photo of the articular process 

 foimd on the body of an Indian caterpillar is very remarkable. 

 We should advise you to send a photo to Mr. Beddard, Pro- 

 sector, Zoological Society. 



Miss R. — You will find a good description of how to bleach 

 and prepare skeleton leaves, seed-vessels, &c., in the volume of 

 SciENCE-Gossip for 1873. 



C. S. — Get " Notes on Collecting and Preparing Natural 

 History Objects," edited by J. E. Taylor, published by W. H. 

 Allen & Co., y. dd. Also all the vols. (2^'. 6d. each, 8 in 

 number) of "The Fauna and Flora of the British Islands," 

 published by the S.P.C.K., except those you name. "The 

 Playtime Naturalist" (London; Chatto, 55.) will help you 

 considerably. " Elementary Microscopic Manipulation," by 

 T. C. White.—" Half-hours with the Microscope," by Dr. 

 Lankester (W. H. Allen, ^s. 6d.). 



S. A. Chambers. — The specimen you sent us was 'a some- 

 what dwarfed var. of the purple dead nettle [Lamiuat pur- 

 pur euni). 



P. T.— Apply to Messrs. W. Wesley & Son, Essex Street. 

 Strand, who keep all sorts of secondhand scientific .books on 

 all sorts of subjects. 



R. W. — Get Mr. F. Enock's list of entomological prepara- 

 tions, with the descriptions accompanying them, published 

 two or three years ago by him. 



We are informed that a Rambler's Field Club for the South- 

 west of London is now in course of formation. Apply for 

 information to Mr. W. Andrews, Landseer Street, Batter- 

 sea, S.W. 



R. M. S. — The " Diatomiste " may be obtained of J. Tempere, 

 168 Rue St. Antoine, Paris ; price of each number, 4^. 



T. Brown (Bolton). — The matrix of the fragment of mill- 

 stone grit is chiefly a partly decomposed felspar. There is also 

 a secondary deposit of silica. 



EXCHANGES. 



Wanted, living British spiders. Micro preparations given 

 in exchange. — John Rhodes, Blackburn Road, Accrington. 



Wanted, to exchange foreign postage stamps with moderate 

 collectors of from looo to 2000. Also, what offers in stamps 

 for collection of British butterflies and moths, about 650 speci- 

 mens, in good condition? — Stanley Morris, School Hill, Lewes, 

 Sussex. 



Wanted, foreign shells and unmounted diatoms, polycistines, 



