POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



49 



capsules, at varying intervals. In the same 

 hospital three cases of chronic rheumatism 

 were treated with salicylic acid without any 

 good results. In his private practice Dr. 

 Yaudell has used this drug in five pro- 

 nounced cases of acute rheumatism with en- 

 tire success; and in another case this drug, 

 combined with quinine, broke up the dis- 

 ease. The author writes that salicylic acid 

 is best given in milk ; it gives the milk a 

 sweetish-sourish taste ; a little tickling and 

 sense of slight constriction may be felt 

 about the throat, and an insignificant cough 

 is not uncommon. He adds : " Salicylic acid 

 is the first and only remedy that has proved 

 itself at all reliable in the control of acute 

 rheumatism in my hands. Salicylate of 

 soda has shown no superiority over salicylic 

 acid." 



Notes on Fish-culture. The one great 

 difficulty met with in hatching the striped 



ba 



SS IS, 



according 



to an intelligent cor- 

 respondent of Forest and Stream, the fact 

 that spawners of this species are very rarely 

 found. About four years ago, we are in- 

 formed, a few ripe " rock-fish " (striped bass) 

 were found in the Roanoke River, North 

 Carolina, and about 100,000 young fish were 

 hatched from their spawn. One reason 

 assigned for the diminution of this fish is 

 the fact that they are marketed before they 

 reach maturity. Prof. Baird favors the 

 enactment of a law prohibitng the marketing 

 of these fish when less than twelve inches 

 long. Striped bass frequently attain a weight 

 of sixty and eighty pounds ; and it has been 

 held that they do not spawn until they 

 attain a weight of about twenty pounds. 

 The same correspondent cites, as an evi- 

 dence of the success of salmon-propagation, 

 the recent capture of a nine-pound salmon 

 in the Delaware. The fish was a California 

 salmon a variety with which the Delaware, 

 Potomac, Susquehanna, and other rivers, 

 were supplied a few years ago. It is sup- 

 posed they return in five or six years, 

 though difference in the temperature of 

 the water, currents, and other conditions, 

 may accelerate or retard the return. Over 

 400,000 eggs of California salmon were 

 shipped last fall to New Zealand, where 

 they nearly all arrived in excellent condi- 

 tion. 



Florida Lizards. During a sojourn in 

 Waldo, Florida, Mr. Henry Gillman has 

 studied the characters and habits of a great 

 variety of lizards, and, in a brief commu- 

 nication to the American Naturalist, states 

 some of the results of his observations. 

 One point which he has been enabled to 

 determine is the possession by the lizards 

 of Florida of the power of " chameleoniza- 

 tion," or of changing color. The author 

 states positively that the lizards of Florida 

 possess this power in a remarkable degree. 

 Thus, he has seen a small, yellowish-brown 

 lizard, on quitting the ground, instantly as- 

 sume the dull gray-hue of a weather-beaten 

 fence-rail, along which it glided. Passing 

 under some olive-tinted foliage, it next 

 adopted that color, which was succeeded 

 by a bright green, as the animal reached 

 and rested under the grass and leaves of 

 like shade. The original yellowish-brown 

 color was again assumed on the lizard re- 

 turning to the ground. Each of these 

 changes was almost instantaneous, and the 

 entire series could not have occupied much 

 more than one-quarter of a minute of time. 



International Scientific Service. Of Prof. 

 Grote's paper, mentioned in our October 

 number, on an International Scientific Con- 

 gress, and read at the meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Association, we find a very good abstract 

 in the Polytechnic Review, from which jour- 

 nal we quote the essential points of the 

 paper. The author referred to the excel- 

 lent work done by national scientific asso- 

 ciations, such as the British Association and 

 the American Association, but said that 

 there is urgent need of a still broader or- 

 ganization of an international congress of 

 scientific men. Foremost among the prob- 

 lems which Science is striving to solve is 

 that of the origin of our species. The elu- 

 cidation of this question concerns the whole 

 race, and no merely national organization 

 possesses the means of exploring the whole 

 field. Then, the various scientific explora- 

 tions in Africa, Australia, and the polar 

 regions, need cooperative assistance to 

 realize the best results from the outlays, 

 while the new knowledge they bring is the 

 common inheritance of all enlightened na- 

 tions. Now, where all participate all should 

 contribute. Prof. Grote's plan of an inter- 



