NOTES. 



127 



NOTES. 



It has been found by Lechartier and 

 Bellamy that zinc is constantly present in 

 appreciable quantities in the liver of the 

 human subject and of many lower animals. 

 It also occurs in hen's-eggs, in wheat, bar- 

 ley, and other grains. These facts are of 

 interest for forensic medicine. 



Ir is to be hoped that the following lu- 

 cid " directions for the formation of the 

 letter ra" are not a fair sample of the kind 

 of instruction given in public schools 

 throughout the United States : " The letter n 

 is one space in height, three spaces in 

 width ; commence on the ruled line with a 

 left curve, ascending one space, joined by 

 an upper turn to a slanting straight line, 

 descending to the ruled line joined angu- 

 larly to a left curve, ascending one space, 

 joined by an upper turn to a slanting line, 

 descending to the rule joined by a base, 

 turn to a right curve ascending one space." 



Land that has been flooded by the sea 

 is generally barren for years afterward. 

 According to a German chemist the cause 

 of this barrenness is the presence of an 

 excess of chlorine salts ; such land has a 

 tendency to remain damp, and there is a 

 formation of ferrous sulphate, which is 

 highly injurious to plants. The land should 

 be drained as quickly as possible, sown with 

 grass or clover, and allowed to rest. 



La Nature cites the great age of an 

 orange-tree in the gardens of the Versailles 

 Palace as an illustration of the longevity of 

 that species of plants. This ancient tree, 

 known as the " Grand-Connetable de Fran- 

 cois I.," and also as the " Grand-Bourbon," 

 has now stood more than four hundred and 

 fifty years. It is sprung from some seed 

 of the bitter-orange sown in a plant-pot, 

 at t!i3 beginning of the fifteenth century 

 by Eleanor of Castile, wife of Charles III., 

 King of Navarre. Several plants were 

 produced from the same lot of seeds, and 

 they were all kept in one box at Pampe- 

 luna till 1499. In 1684, more than two 

 hundred years after being first grown from 

 the seed, these orange-trees were taken to 

 Versailles. The "Grand-Connetable" is 

 in all probability the oldest orange-tree in 

 existence; it is still in a very healthy state, 

 and does not appear to suffer from the ef- 

 fects of age. 



The coal of the Placer Mountains coal- 

 mines in Arizona Territory possesses, ac- 

 cording to Prof. Raymond, the hardness, 

 specific gravity, fixed carbon, and volatile 

 matter, of anthracite ; it ignites with diffi- 

 culty, but burns with intense heat. The 

 supply is declared to be "inexhaustible." 



A correspondent of the Bulletin of the 

 Kuttall Ornithological Club narrates in that 

 journal an instance of the persistency of a 

 house-wren in nest-building. The nozzle of 

 a pump in daily use was repeatedly found to 

 be obstructed with sticks, which on investi- 

 gation proved to be nest-building material 

 taken in by a wren. One morning the bird 

 was allowed to carry on its work for two 

 hours, and then he had filled the pump so 

 full that water could not be obtained until 

 a part of the sticks had been removed. The 

 nest was three times destroyed before the 

 bird abandoned his w r ork. 



The belief that fish is specially adapted 

 to feed the brain, and that fish-eaters are 

 therefore more intellectual than the average, 

 does not find much favor with Dr. Beard. 

 He says that this " delusion is so utterly op- 

 posed to chemistry, to physiology, to history, 

 and to common observation, that it is very 

 naturally almost universally accepted by the 

 American people. It was started," he adds, 

 " by the late Prof. Agassiz, who impulsively, 

 and without previous consideration, appar- 

 ently, as was his wont at times, made a 

 statement to that effect before a committee 

 on fisheries of the Massachusetts Legisla- 

 ture. The statement was so novel, so one- 

 sided, and so untrue, that it spread like the 

 blue-glass delusion, and has become the ac- 

 cepted creed of the nation." 



On the question whether birds hiber- 

 nate, we have received from Mr. L. S. Ab- 

 bott, of Reading, Michigan, a communication 

 in which he states an observation made by 

 himself, which goes to show that at least 

 some birds do hibernate. While living in the 

 backwoods of Ohio, our correspondent often 

 noticed the swallows toward evening cir- 

 cling around the top of a sycamore-tree, in 

 the hollow of which they would soon dis- 

 appear. To determine whether the birds 

 remained within the tree during the winter, 

 Mr. Abbott had the tree cut down some time 

 after the beginning of the cold season. The 

 swallows were found within, clinging to the 

 shell of the tree, stiff, motionless, and to all 

 appearance in a state of suspended anima- 

 tion. The tree was hollow from the ground 

 up, and the swallows were attached to the 

 shell along its whole length. 



A singular instance of heredity is re- 

 corded in a note from M. Martinet to the 

 Paris Academy of Sciences. In 1 871 several 

 chickens on a farm held by the author were 

 affected with polydaetylism, having a super- 

 numerary claw. This had been transmitted 

 to them by a five-clawed cock raised on 

 the same farm a year or two before. The 

 type was propagated rapidly until in 18*73 

 an epidemic ravaged the poultry-yard. At 

 present, without any selection, this variety 

 is very numerous ; it has been propagated 



