P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY 



251 



those ferment-granules, and they can be 

 developed quite similarly. M. Terrigi has 

 specially devoted himself to the means of 

 disinfection, which may prevent the decaying 

 process and development of the granules ; 

 he found chloride of lime, lime, and chlo- 

 ral, the most efficacious. With aspirators 

 and air-filtering apparatus he ascertained 

 that the germs rose to a height of fifty cen- 

 timetres (about twenty inches) above the 

 marsh-bottom, where they could easily be 

 carried away by the winds. M. Terrigi 

 found the " malaria-melanin " (as they call 

 it) abundant in the liver and spleen of 

 Guinea-pigs that had breathed the marsh- 

 air for some time. 



How the Chinese go a-Fisbing, Under 

 the title "Fishing Extraordinary" a writer 

 in Chambers's Journal describes various 

 singular devices used in different countries 

 for catching fish. Some portions of the 

 narrative are calculated to put a strain upon 

 the credulity of the reader, as, for instance, 

 when we are informed that " the lakes and 

 rivers of China, and especially of the north, 

 are so abundantly stocked with fish, that in 

 some places the men called fish-catchers 

 make their living by actually seizing and 

 drawing them out with their hands." If 

 any of our readers should happen to dwell 

 in the vicinity of such fish-abounding 

 streams, they will be pleased to learn how 

 these fish-catchers set about their work. 

 Here is the modus operandi : The man goes 

 into the water, and proceeds, half walking, 

 half swimming, raising his arms above his 

 head and letting them drop, striking the 

 surface with his hands. Meanwhile his feet 

 ^are moving on the muddy bottom. Pres- 

 ently he stoops with a rapid dive and brings 

 up a fish in his hand. His object in striking 

 the surface is to frighten the fish, which, 

 when alarmed, sink to the bottom; then 

 the naked feet feel them in the mud, and, 

 once felt, the practised hand secures them 

 in a moment. 



Another Chinese method of fishing de- 

 scribed by this writer is very ingenious. It 

 is usually practised at night, and depends 

 upon a peculiar power which a white screen, 

 stretched under the water, seems to possess 

 over the fishes, decoying them to it and 

 making them leap. A man sitting in the 



stern of a long, narrow boat, steers her with 

 a paddle to the middle of a river, and there 

 stops. Along the right-hand side of his 

 boat a narrow sheet of white canvas is 

 stretched; when he leans to that side it dips 

 under the surface, and, if it be a moonlight 

 night, gleams through the water. Along 

 the other side of the boat a net is fastened, 

 so as to form a barrier two or three feet 

 high. The boatman keeping perfectly still, 

 the fish, attracted by the white canvas, ap- 

 proach and leap, and would go over the nar- 

 row boat and be free in their native waters 

 on the other side, but for the screen of net- 

 ing, which stops them and throws them 

 down before the man's feet. 



The rse of Anti-Ferments. To prevent 

 fermentation, a wine-grower in New Jersey 

 added to a twelve-gallon keg of new wine 

 about one gramme (loi grains) of salicylic 

 acid, or a very little more than the minimum 

 quantity as given by Neubauer. Soon the 

 wine lost its natural flavor, and acquired a 

 flavor something like that of camphor. A 

 sample of this altered nine having been sub- 

 mitted to Dr. Endemann for examination, he 

 at once referred the new flavor to the pres- 

 ence of salicylic ether. In a communication 

 to the American Chemical Society, Dr. Ende- 

 mann writes : " The formation of this ether 

 may be understood if we regard the cir- 

 cumstances. The wine was only one year 

 old, and could not be considered ripe 

 and ready for sale, and should therefore 

 have received not the minimum quantity 

 but rather more salicylic acid, to entirely 

 prevent after-fermentation. The quantity, 

 therefore, being insufficient, salicylic acid 

 came in contact with alcohol in statu nas- 

 cendi, which caused this abnormal action. 

 Wine-growers are naturally very suspicious 

 of chemicals, and are therefore very apt to 

 make the same mistake that is, they prefer 

 to use the minimum quantity; and I should 

 not be surprised if similar experiences had 

 followed the application of this substance 

 in other places." 



Determination of Copper. Mr. J. M. Mer- 

 rick, of Boston, proposes a new method of 

 determining very small quantities of copper. 

 It is intended as a supplement to Bergeron 

 and I'Hote's colorimetric test, which fails to 



