XOTES. 



719 



sparingly soluble in water, alcohol, and 

 ether, and is partly dissolved by caustic po- 

 tassa. Cold nitric acid affects it but little. 

 Oil of vitriol makes with it a red solution. 

 Tlie yellowish powder becomes orange-red 



NOTES. 



Professor William Lee, M. D., of Wash- 

 ington, is the author of the article entitled 

 " The Extreme Rarity of Premature Buri- 

 als," published in the August " Monthly." 

 The misspelling of the name was an edito- 

 rial blunder, for which we beg to apologize 

 both to Dr. Lee and to our readers. 



M. Toussaint has been investigating the 

 question of the transmission of tubercle, by 

 means of experiments on the hog. He caused 

 animals to eat the lungs of tuberculous 

 sheep, and tried inoculation by the blood and 

 by milk, and found that the animals became 

 diseased in every case. Similar effects were 

 produced upon healthy animals which lived 

 with tuberculous ones. 



The production of nickel has assumed 

 great importance in Norway within a few 

 years. Eleven mines had been opened be- 

 tween 1861 and 1865, which yielded an 

 average of 3,450 tons a year. In 1875 

 fourteen mines had been opened, which fur- 

 nished a maximum of 34,500 tons. The 

 larger part of the yield is exported in the 

 condition of ore, the rest is reduced on the 

 spot. 



The fiftieth annual meeting of the Brit- 

 ish Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence will begin at Swansea, August 25th. 

 Dr. Andrew Crombie Ramsey, Director-Gen- 

 eral of the Geological Survey of the United 

 Kingdom and of the Museum of Practical 

 Geology, will preside and deliver the open- 

 ing address. The secretaries are Captain 

 Douglas Galton, F. R. S., and Philip Lutley 

 Sclater, Ph. D., F. R. S., general secretaries, 

 and J. E. H. Gordon, assistant secretary. 



The Swiss Natural History Society will 

 hold its general meeting from the 12th to 

 the 15th of September, at Brieg, in the Can- 

 ton Vaud. 



The death of Mr. Alfred Swaine Taylor, 

 a well-known English physician and toxi- 

 cologist, is announced. He was born in 

 1806, studied in the leading medical schools 

 at home and abroad, was the first holder of 

 the chair of Medical Jurisprudence in Guy's 

 Hospital, and was the author of several pro- 

 fessional treatises, especially on the subjects 

 of poisons and poisoning, chemistry, and 

 medical jurisprudence. 



The French Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science holds its meeting for this 

 year at Rheims, August 12th to 19th. An 

 exposition of local industry and archaeology, 

 and excursions, the most notable of which 

 is to the Han Grottoes, in Belgium, are ar- 

 ranged for in connection with the meeting. 



A committee was appointed in 1876 by 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia, at the request of the Centennial 

 Commission, to report upon the subject of 

 the insects and plants that might be intro- 

 duced to our soil through the medium of 

 foreign exhibits. The report upon plants 

 has been delayed till this year in order that, 

 by taking several seasons for the examina- 

 tion, the committee might be sure that no 

 species escaped them. They now announce 

 that they have found in the Exhibition 

 grounds plants of but thirteen species, and 

 those only in isolated specimens showing 

 no disposition to spread. Some of the spe- 

 cies are from the western part of our coun- 

 try, some from Europe, and a few from 

 Japan. 



Professor Christian August Friedrich 

 Peters, of Kiel, editor of the "Astrono- 

 mische Nachrichten," died May 8th, after an 

 illness of several months. He was born in 

 Hamburg in 1806 ; was appointed an assist- 

 ant in the observatory at Hamburg in 1834; 

 to the Russian observatory at Pulkowa, 

 where he remained for ten years, in 1839; 

 was named Professor of Astronomy in the 

 University of Konigsberg in 1849; and di- 

 rector of the observatory at Altona, which 

 was afterward removed to Kiel, in 1854. 

 His most important memoirs were on " Nu- 

 tation," on " The Parallax of the Fixed 

 Stars," and on the " Proper Motion of 

 Sirius." 



Professor W. H. Miller, of the Univer- 

 sity of Cambridge, died May 20th, in his 

 eightieth year. He succeeded Dr. Whewell 

 as Professor of Mineralogy in 1832, and 

 published his treatise on " Crystallography," 

 a work which was almost universally accept- 

 ed as a standard, in 1838. His " Manual of 

 Mineralogy" appeared in 1854, and was full 

 of the results of his own research. He was 

 the author of several other books and me- 

 moirs. 



At a show of birds lately held in Berlin, 

 several canaries were exhibited that attract- 

 ed much attention on account of the pecu- 

 liar colors of their plumage. Some were 

 green, others red and light brown, and 

 others of a soft gray tint, while all differed 

 more or less from the light yellow of the 

 common bird. These variations of color 

 were produced by the daily use of cayenne 

 pepper in the food of the birds. The pep- 

 per is given in small quantities at first, and 

 the birds appear to like it, but the immedi- 



