P OP ULAR MIS CELL A NT. 



119 



within a certain distance from us, the light 

 from the stellar masses would predominate 

 over that of the gaseous envelope. The 

 spectrum would, therefore, be an ordinary 

 stellar spectrum. Suppose such a cluster 

 to be removed farther and farther from us, 

 the light from each star would be diminished 

 in proportion of the inverse square of the 

 distance ; but such would not be the case 

 with the light from the enveloping surface 

 formed by the gaseous envelopes. The light 

 from this envelope received on a slit in the fo- 

 cus of an object-glass would be sensibly con- 

 stant because the contributing area would 

 be increased in the same proportion that the 

 light from each part is diminished. The 

 result would be that, at some definite dis- 

 tance, and all greater distances, the prepon- 

 derating light received from such a cluster 

 would be derived from the gaseous enve- 

 lopes and not from the isolated stellar 

 masses. The spectrum of the cluster 

 would, therefore, become a linear one, like 

 that from the gaseous surroundings of our 

 own sun. 



Duration of the Flight of Bees. To de- 

 termine the length of time that bees can con- 

 tinue to fly about, Dbnhoff took some of those 

 insects from a hive, just as they came out of 

 the entrance-hole, and placed them under a 

 glass bell at a temperature of 66 Fahr. 

 First they ran hastily up and down the 

 sides of the glass, and flew about in the 

 jar. Their movements grew gradually slow- 

 er, and after forty-five minutes they all sat 

 quietly together, or moved very slowly and 

 clumsily, and were unable to fly. On being 

 allowed to crawl upon a pencil, and then 

 thrown off, they fell down perpendicularly 

 without moving their wings. On killing one 

 or two, the honey-bags were found to be 

 empty. The author then fed the others 

 with a sugar solution, and after three or 

 four minutes threw some of them into the 

 air. They were now able to use their wings 

 a little. A minute or two later they ap- 

 peared to be as lively as ever. The author 

 remarks that if the temperature is under 

 66 Fahr. the bees lose the power of flying 

 even sooner, and recover it more slowly. 

 With higher temperatures the power re- 

 turns sooner. Donhoff's conclusion from 

 these observations is that the bee " loses 



the power of flying because it does not pos- 

 sess the necessary strength to be converted 

 into muscular action, and that this strength 

 returns to its system because in sugar it 

 finds the necessary vital support." 



Singing -Flames and Inaudible Vibra- 

 tions. " Singing-flames " are known to be 

 sensitive to the faintest sounds, provided 

 the rate of vibration of the latter is suffi- 

 ciently high. But are they equally sensi- 

 ble to vibrations that are so rapid as to 

 be inaudible ? This question has been 

 studied by Prof. W. F. Barrett, and the 

 results of his experiments, as stated by 

 him in a communication to Nature, will 

 be read with interest. Prof. Barrett em- 

 ployed a flame produced by coal-gas con- 

 tained in a holder under a pressure of 

 ten inches of water, and issuing from a 

 steatite jet having a circular orifice of 0.04 

 inch diameter ; the height of the flame when 

 undisturbed was just two feet, but it fell to 

 seven inches under the feeblest hiss or the 

 clink of two coins. On sounding the low- 

 est note of a " Galton whistle," little effect 

 was produced on the flame ; a shrill dog- 

 whistle produced a slight forking, but that 

 was all. Raising the pitch of the Galton 

 whistle, the flame became more and more 

 agitated, until when Prof. Barrett had near- 

 ly reached the upper limit of audibility of 

 the left ear, and had gone quite beyond the 

 limit of the right, the flame was still more 

 violently agitated. Raising the pitch still 

 higher, till he had quite ceased to hear any 

 sound, he was astonished to observe the 

 profound effect produced on the flame. At 

 every inaudible puff of the whistle it would 

 fall fully sixteen inches, and give its char- 

 acteristic roar, at the same time losing its 

 luminosity, and, when viewed in a revolving 

 mirror, presenting a multitude of ragged im- 

 ages, with torn sides and flickering tongues. 

 Nor was this effect sensibly diminished by 

 a distance of some twenty feet from the 

 flame ; even at fifty feet the effect was very 

 pronounced. 



Funtions of the Ccrebellnm. The re- 

 searches and experiments of Flourens have 

 been considered conclusive as to the co- 

 ordinative function of the cerebellum in 

 animal movements. That eminent physiol- 



