MISCELLANY. 



125 



To illustrate this a chart is given, on 

 which lines of equal barometric pressure 

 are drawn, the lines of highest pressure be- 

 ing at and near the centre of the area, but 

 diminishing as the distance from the centre 

 is increased. These areas have a long and 

 a short diameter, the one being in some 

 cases twice or thrice that of the other. 



The relation of barometric pressure to 

 rainfall receives further attention in the 

 present paper, and the conclusions previous- 

 ly arrived at are fully sustained. 



The rainfall is greatest while the baro- 

 metric pressure at the centre of the storm 

 is diminishing, or the storm increases in 

 intensity while the barometer continues to 

 fall ; and, on the other hand, the storm di- 

 minishes in intensity while the barometer 

 at the centre of the storm is rising. 



The progressive movement of storms 

 seems to be sometimes interrupted, and they 

 remain stationary over a section of country 

 for some days. This occurs off the coast 

 of Newfoundland, and the cause of it is at- 

 tributed to unusual precipitation of vapor. 

 In that region the rainfall is about fifty-six 

 inches in a year, while at two hundred miles 

 from the coast it is only forty inches. 



Preservation of Entomological Speci- 

 mens. M. Felix Plateau having recommend- 

 ed the use of yellow glass in the windows 

 of rooms containing entomological collec- 

 tions, as a means of preserving intact the 

 natural colors of the specimens, M. Capron- 

 nier, of the Entomological Society of Bel- 

 gium, made some experiments to determine 

 the value of this suggestion. He made five 

 small, square boxes, each covered with a 

 pane of yellow, violet, green, blue, or color- 

 less glass. He then fixed in the middle of 

 each box one of the inferior wings of Eu- 

 chelia Jacobece, which are of a deep carmine 

 color, uniform in tone. Each wing was 

 partly covered with a band of black paper, 

 and their position was so arranged as to 

 leave exposed successively each of the parts 

 during a period of fifteen, thirty, and ninety 

 days. The result was as follows : Colorless 

 Glass. The carmine tint visibly attacked 

 after exposure of fifteen days ; alteration 

 more sensible after thirty days ; after ninety 

 days the carmine had passed into a yellow- 

 ish tint. Blue. The same results as with 



colorless glass. Green. A change indi- 

 cated on the thirtieth day ; on the ninetieth 

 the alteration was marked. Yellow. After 

 ninety days the carmine color almost intact. 

 M. Capronnier accordingly concludes that a 

 yellowish color should be preferred in every 

 arrangement of an entomological room. 



Anti-Vivisection Legislation. In com- 

 menting upon the bill for regulating the 

 practice of vivisection in England, Iron re- 

 marks upon the absurdity of a Parliament 

 of sportsmen, supported by a mob out-of- 

 doors, passing such a law. "Either of 

 them" (sportsmen or mob) "for the mere 

 pleasure of killing, or in the treatment of 

 domestic animals, inflicts more unnecessary 

 pain on the animal creation in one day than 

 the whole body of physiological inquirers 

 do in a year. The physiological worker 

 will, if this bill passes, have to pursue his 

 unrequited labors under the supervision of 

 a policeman, and with a ticket-of-leave ; and 

 the result will be that original, unremuuer- 

 ated research of a most important class will 

 not only continue to be pursued without 

 endowment, but under the risk of penal 

 servitude, the tournament of doves, pheas- 

 ant-battues, and horse-racing, being all the 

 while in full swing." A petition, signed by 

 all the leading members of the medical pro- 

 fession, has been presented to the House of 

 Lords, demanding certain modifications in 

 the bill. 



Meats cooked by Cold. It is a fact of 

 familiar experience that extreme cold pro- 

 duces in organic substances effects closely 

 resembling those of heat. Thus, contact 

 with frozen mercury gives the same sensa- 

 tion as contact with fire ; and meat that 

 has been exposed to a very low temperature 

 assumes a condition like that produced by 

 heat. This action of intense cold has been 

 turned to account for economical uses by 

 Dr. Sawiczevosky, an Hungarian chemist, as 

 we learn from La Nature. He subjects 

 flesh-meats to a temperature of minus 33 

 Fahr., and having thus " cooked them by 

 cold," seals them hermetically in tin cans. 

 The results are represented as being entire- 

 ly satisfactory. The meat, when taken out 

 of the cans a long time afterward, is found 

 to be, as regards its appearance and its 



