MISCELLANY. 



761 



tained but a minute quantity of animal acids, 

 of composition analogous to those secreted 

 by the flea or the bed-bug. In the insect 

 last named there are special organs for the 

 secretion of these acids, but no such organs 

 have been found in the potato-bug. The 

 conclusion reached by the authors is, that 

 the potato-bug is not poisonous, and that 

 the cases on record of poisoning supposed 

 to be caused by the bug are in fact traceable 

 to Pa lis -green. 



In the discussion which followed the 

 reading of this paper. Prof Riley said that 

 his own investigations had satisfied him of 

 the poisonous properties of the doryphora. 

 "Experiments on frogs," said he, "are not 

 conclusive. Some people are far more sen- 

 sitive than others to poisonous influences ; 

 and much greater difierences are to be ex- 

 pected to exist between man and reptiles in 

 this respect." Prof. Cook stated the results 

 of a series of experiments which he too had 

 made on frogs. He starved the frogs before 

 administering to them a decoction of potato- 

 bugs, and the effect on the reptiles was to 

 make them very sick. 



Chemistry. A number of chemical pa- 

 pers were contributed by Prof. J. Lawrence 

 Smith. One of these was descriptive of an 

 apparatus for exhibiting the absorption of 

 gases by palladium. The apparatus con- 

 sists of slips of palladium and platinum j 

 on being introduced into a flame, the palla- 

 dium-slips coil up like a scroll, while the 

 platinum-slips retain their original form. 

 Another paper was on " Graphite Oxide, as 

 prepared from the Graphites of the Sevier 

 County Meteoric Iron, and DeKalb County 

 Meteoric Iron." Further, he exhibited a 

 pound-weight of caesium alum. He gave an 

 account of his unsuccessful attempts to 

 obtain caesium in the pure state. Small 

 particles of the metal were obtained mixed 

 lai'gely with a carbonaceous compound, but 

 they could not be detached from the black 

 mass, as they took fire on being exposed to 

 the atmosphea'e. 



Meteorology! A new meteorological in- 

 strument, designed to measure the effects 

 of various climatic conditions on the human 

 body, was described by John W. Osborne, 

 of Washington. The instrument has a mo- 



tive power, furnished by a clock, which agi- 

 tates two pounds of water heated to the 

 temperature of the blood. The water is 

 contained in a paper vessel which permits 

 some evaporation. The water for these 

 experiments was heated somewhat above 

 blood-heat, for quickness in registering and 

 reading. The vessel containing the heaied 

 water represents the human body, and the 

 effects of heat, cold, wind, and moisture, 

 can be measured just as they affect the hu- 

 man body, and thus the precise extent of 

 these changes can be registered and formu- 

 lated. 



Velocity of Electricity.. We take from 

 the New York 'J imes the following abstract 

 of Prof. Joseph Lovering's paper on " An 

 Acoustic Method of measuring the Teloci- 

 ty of Electricity." Practically, he said, 

 electricity has no velocity. According to 

 one experiment, when a very long conductor 

 was used, electricity traveled at the rate of 

 288,000 miles per second. This rapidity is 

 considerably lessened when a shorter con- 

 ductor is used, and may come down to 

 barely 800 miles per second. For satisfac- 

 tory experiment, therefore, the longest pos- 

 sible lines should be used. A wire from 

 Cambridge, Massachusetts, to San Fran- 

 cisco, and thence back through Canada to 

 Massachusetts, about '7,200 miles in all, 

 transmitted a message in two-thirds of a 

 second, and some of this time was wasted 

 through thirteen repeaters. Electricity 

 traveled over 4,000 miles of cable in one 

 second, even under some unfavorable con- 

 ditions. Prof. Lovering's system connects 

 the wire with tuning-forks, the vibrations 

 of which indicate the ten-thousandth part 

 of a second, or even less. The application 

 can be made, however, only by those who 

 are familiar with acoustics. . 



Transportation of Fish-Eggs. A recent 

 shipment of salmon-eggs from Glasgow to 

 New Zealand was unsuccessful. The cause 

 of this failure is not known, as every pre- 

 caution was taken by Mr. Frank Buckland, 

 who superintended the shipment, to insure 

 success. The length of time, says No- 

 hire, during which the eggs were packed 

 on board ship was one hundred and twenty- 

 one days, or only nine days longer than the 



