MISCELLANY. 



2 19 



iiess the origin of every one of the samples. 

 The corpuscles of the human blood aver- 

 aged a^jTT inch diameter, those of the ox- 

 blood 4 8^4, and the sheep's blood z'^St- 



The Cineinuati Zoological Garden. We 



are indebted to Mr. G. H. Knight, of Cincin- 

 nati, for an account of the Zoological and 

 Botanical Garden about to be established 

 in the northern suburbs of that city. The 

 projected garden is to be, as far as possi- 

 ble, a complete representation of the fauna 

 and flora of this continent. Efforts will be 

 made to render the ground a complete ar- 

 boretum, in which each tree and shrub will 

 be plainly labeled according to the scientific 

 classification, with the common name ap- 

 pended. Fresh and salt-water aquariums, 

 on a large scale, will add to the popular at- 

 tractions as well as to the scientific value 

 of the establishment. Nor will the collec- 

 tion be restricted to a representation of the 

 animal and vegetable worlds ; there is also 

 to be a novel geological feature added, viz., 

 an artificial section of the earth's crust, 

 made up of the actual component rocks in 

 their natural positions, accompanied, possi- 

 bly, by some of their paleontological char- 

 acteristics ; that is to say, their extinct 

 fauna and flora restored. The tract of land 

 secured for this garden is, for the most part, 

 an elevated plateau of about sixty-seven 

 acres, very central and accessible in loca- 

 tion. The Cincinnati Zoological Society, to 

 whom all the credit of this great enterprise 

 is due, have already in hand over $100,000 

 for the beautification of the grounds and 

 the construction of the necessary buildings, 

 laying out of paths, etc. A naturalist, who 

 brings a large practical experience in the 

 care of wild animals, and a landscape-gar- 

 dener, who has been engaged in similar 

 works elsewhere, have been engaged, and 

 are already busily at work examining the 

 ground and making necessary preparations. 



The Dietetic Value of Gelatine. The 



theory that gelatine passes through the 

 system undigested, and thus contributes 

 nothing toward the nourishment of its tis- 

 sues, has recently been subjected to a re- 

 examination by Etzinger, with results that 

 appear to contradict the current view. By 

 submitting fine gelatine, and also the vari- 



ous gelatine-yielding tissues, such as bones, 

 cartilages, tendons, connective tissue, etc., 

 to the action of artificial gastric juice, he 

 shows, in accordance with Boerhaave and 

 others, that gelatine is digestible, breaking up 

 and becoming dissolved more or less rapidly, 

 according to the form in which it is pre- 

 sented to the solvent. Being satisfied on this 

 point, the next question was, " Is the gela- 

 tine, after solution or digestion, of any ser- 

 vice in nutrition?" To determine this, a 

 careful dieting of animals was instituted, 

 with coincident analysis of their urine and 

 faeces. The results showed that, in the cases 

 of bone, cartilage, and tendons alike, these 

 substances not only undergo digestion, but 

 are absorbed into the blood, and play an 

 important part in nutrition. Instead, there- 

 fore, of being entirely cast aside as useless 

 articles, they may be consumed in moderate 

 quantities with decided advantage. 



The Origin and Strnetare of Folgn- 

 rltes. Mr. Frank Buckland publishes, in 

 Land and Water, an account written by his 

 father, the late Prof. Buckland, of certain 

 vitreous tubes discovered in sand-hills, near 

 Drigg, in Cumberland. Three of these 

 tubes were found on a single hillock about 

 thirty feet above the level of the sea, the di- 

 ameter of each being about an inch and a 

 half. An excavation having been made about 

 one of them, it was found to descend per- 

 pendicularly through the sand about thirty 

 feet. At about twenty-nine feet, the sand 

 was succeeded by a bed of pebbles. Here 

 the tube came in contact with a piece of 

 hornstone porphyry, from which it glanced 

 off at an angle and then resumed its verti- 

 cal position. Below this point the tube, be- 

 coming extremely delicate, was frequently 

 broken, and at the distance of a foot the 

 sand fell in, preventing further investiga- 

 tion. The tube appears to have tapered in 

 its descent, its diameter at the bottom of the 

 excavation being only half an inch. Small 

 lateral branches proceeded from diflferent 

 parts of the stem, not over two or three 

 inches in length, nor one-quarter inch in di- 

 ameter at the points of insertion. They 

 were conical, the point* being turned down- 

 ward. The outside of the tube is coated with 

 an agglutinated sand, which, viewed with a 

 lens, is seen to consist of black and opaque 



