283 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Dr. Carl Yogt has declared, peremp- 

 torily, that "the organisms in meteorites 

 announced by M. Hahn have no existence ; 

 what have been described as such result 

 from crystalline conformations which are 

 absolutely inorganic. None of the imag- 

 ined organisms have the microscopic struct- 

 ure belonging to the organisms with which 

 they have been associated. In particular, 

 the asserted sponges do not show the struct- 

 ure of either existing or fossil sposges ; 

 the so-called corals do not show that of 

 polops or anthozoa ; and the imagined cri- 

 noids do not show the structure of known 

 crinoids. The observed structures are due 

 to an opaque crust, or result from optical 

 illusions, caused by an incomplete method of 

 conducting microscopic researches." 



Signor Roncelli, of the Italian Parlia- 

 ment, has devised a simple and practical 

 method of voting by electricity. Each 

 member of the House has in front of him 

 a metal plate bearing his name or number, 

 on which are three buttons, marked respect- 

 ively, "Ay," "No," and "Abstain." The 

 buttons are connected with a central print- 

 ing apparatus which prints in three separate 

 columns the ayes, noes, and abstentions, ac- 

 cording to the buttons touched by the mem- 

 bers; while, with every addition to each 

 column, the sum of the votes in the column 

 is automatically recorded. 



M. Delahaye has published in the 

 " Revue Industrielle " some facts concern- 

 ing extraordinary pressures of wind that 

 have been observed in railway management 

 in India. On the 5th of October, 1864, two 

 trains on the Eastern Bengal Railway, one 

 of eight cars, the other of twelve, were 

 blown over during a violent storm. Four 

 other cars were blown down a side-track, and 

 overturned near the station by colliding with 

 other cars which had also been blown there. 

 On the 21st of September, 1878, a long 

 freight-train on the same railway, while 

 going about eight miles an hour, was blown 

 back nearly a mile, although the engine had a 

 full head of steam and the breaks were put 

 on. Half the train was taken off, when the 

 rest could barely make headway. The In- 

 dian railway service affords several other 

 cases of trains that were stopped or greatly 

 hindered by strong winds. 



M. Pitre de Lisle has described a sin- 

 gular class of stone celts or hatchets which 

 have been found so far only in Brittany and 

 Northwestern France. They differ from 

 other stone hatchets in having a knob or 

 button-like termination on the butt or 

 hammer end, while other hatchets taper 

 away to a more or less conical point in this 

 part. The blades vary in length from about 

 three inches to about fifteen inches, and are 

 all made of rocks belonging to the family 



of diorites. M. de Lisle calls these instru- 

 ments haches d tete, or haches d bouton 

 hatchets with heads, or hatchets with but- 

 tons. He believes that the object of the 

 expansion was to give greater security to 

 the fastening of the blade or to the holding 

 of it in the hand. 



Sir Robert Christison, Professor of Ma- 

 teria Medica in the University of Edinburgh, 

 died January 27th, in the eighty-fifth year 

 of his age. He was the son of a professor 

 in the university, was graduated as Doctor 

 of Medicine in 183 9, and became Professor 

 of Medical Jurisprudence in the university 

 in 1822, and of Materia Medica in 1832. 

 His specialty w T as poisons, on which he pub- 

 lished a "Treatise" in 1829 that is still 

 recognized as a work of great value. He 

 received numerous honors on account of his 

 eminence in his department, and held many 

 public positions for which his gifts of knowl- 

 edge and experience furnished important 

 qualifications. He was elected to the presi- 

 dency of the British Association in 1876, but 

 declined it on account of his advanced age. 

 He was noted in his youth as the most ac 

 complished athlete in the university. 



Besides the contributions in physical 

 science which have, within a year or two, 

 appeared in European journals, from Jap- 

 anese students, we find that they are doing 

 their share of the work in biological science 

 as well. "Within a few months there have 

 appeared in the " Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science," London, an article 

 on the structure of the gills of Lamelli- 

 branchiates, by Mr. Mitsukuri ; and another 

 paper, by the same author, on the develop- 

 ment of the suprarenal bodies in mamma- 

 lia. In the " Zoologischer Anzeiger," Leip- 

 sic, Mr. Ijima gives a condensed summary of 

 a memoir on the structure of the ovary, and 

 the origin of the egg and the egg-string in 

 Nephelis ; and Mr. Iwakawa gives the results 

 of his observations on the genesis of the egg 

 in Triton. The two latter-named gentlemen 

 have never been abroad. 



A wealthy land-owner in the Tyrol has 

 made an application of the microphone to 

 the detection of subterranean springs. He 

 fixed the microphones at the spots where 

 he supposed water might exist, each being 

 connected with its telephone and battery. 

 Then, at night, he put his ear to each of the 

 instruments and listened for the murmur- 

 in"- of the waters and in several cases 

 heard it. 



An exposition of electricity is to be held 

 in the Palais Royal at Munich, under the 

 auspices of a committee, of which Dr. G. de 

 Beetz, of the Royal Scientific School, is 

 president. 



