NOTES. 



863 



choice. Of such animals only a small frac- 

 tion are night feeders by nature or choice. 

 The real night feeders bats, lemurs, loriscs, 

 etc. are mostly insect-eaters, and their day 

 sleep is sound, almost to lethargy so that 

 it is extemely difficult to disturb their slum- 

 ber. Between these two kinds of sleep is 

 the form enjoyed by the large carnivora 

 and the domestic animals. Tigers and lions 

 have no reason to be afraid of anything but 

 man, and sleep soundly and carelessly. Yet 

 they possess the power of vigilance in sleep, 

 which they can use, if required. Domestic 

 animals, under man's protection, sleep well, 

 and usually wake deliberately. Dogs are 

 drowsy or wakeful, and, according to their 

 state of mind and circumstances, seem to 

 sleep lightly or heavily at will. " Nothing 

 can be more slow, reluctant, and leisurely 

 than the enforced waking of a petted house- 

 dog when it does not wish to be disturbed. 

 It will remain deaf to a call, twitch its feet 

 if tickled, but not unclose its eyes, and 

 stretch and yawn like a sleepy child. But 

 mention something interesting to the same 

 dog when sleeping, such as the word ' walk,' 

 or click the lock of a gun, and it is on its 

 feet in an instant, and ready for enterprise." 

 Even human sleep, this writer adds, " can 

 be made vigilant by solicitude or previous 

 resolve. It is a common experience that 

 persons who are heavy sleepers can awaken 

 at a certain hour by resolving to do so, or if 

 roused by a sound previously agreed on 

 recognize it as a call to awaken and do 

 awaken instantly." 



The Tanning School of Freiburg. What 

 is probably the only tanning school in the 

 world as distinguished from schools in 

 which the chemistry of tanning is taught 

 was opened in 1889 at Freiburg, Saxony. 

 Instruction is given in it in the theory and 

 practice of the preparation of leather, in tan- 

 ning, and in finishing. It is supported con- 

 jointly by the state, the city of Freiburg, and 

 friends. It is attended by pupils from all 

 parts of the world. It is completely fitted 

 up with all the machinery and apparatus for 

 tanning, and has rooms and machines for 

 the unworked skins, lime baths, vats, cut- 

 ting, rolling, and pressing. The machinery 

 is all from the United States, and the director 

 of the mstitution is an American tanner. 



Besides him, the teaching force includes a 

 body of chemists, teaclicrs, and a corps of 

 practical tanners. The students give two 

 hours a day ten hours a week in assisting 

 at the operations of the tanners. Hides from 

 all parts of the world are experimented upon 

 every year, with all kinds of tanning pro- 

 cesses, barks, and materials. The processes 

 of the old and new schools are shown and 

 compared ; and it is said that the former 

 give good and expensive, and the latter 

 quick and cheap results. Lectures are given 

 in the winter on subjects related to tanning; 

 and excursions to tanneries, to the woods 

 where the bark is collected, and to the yards 

 where the bark is stored, are a part of the 

 instruction. 



NOTES. 



The process of manufacturing calcium 

 carbide by heating in an electric furnace a 

 mixture of coal dust and lime is now well 

 known. The appearance of this material, in 

 masses, is like that of the mineral serpen- 

 tine, it being greenish gray in color, with a 

 luster like that of feldspar. If a few drops 

 of water are thrown on this seeming rock, 

 gas is given off, which, if ignited, burns 

 with a brilliant flame, and will continue to 

 blaze, if supplied with water, till the mineral 

 is exhausted. It is proposed to use acety- 

 lene gas thus produced for local gas engines. 

 A charge of the mineral is placed in a closed 

 vessel in which a regulated supply of water 

 is admitted. A little water entering evolves 

 a quantity of gas, whose pressure shuts off 

 the water, and, as the gas is exhausted, 

 more water is admitted to renew the supply. 



The fiftieth anniversary of the discov- 

 ery of ansesthesia by Horace Wells was cele- 

 brated in Hartford, Conn., December 10th, by 

 a meeting and banquet of about fifty dentists 

 of the State. It was claimed by some of the 

 speakers that there w as now no question as 

 to Dr. Wells's priority in the discovery ; and 

 the story of the early experiments was told 

 by Dr. G. Q. Colton, whose administration of 

 laughing gas fifty years ago suggested to Dr. 

 Wells the idea of using it as an anaesthetic. 



Mr. J. Gray read a paper in the British 

 Association on the Distribution of the Picts 

 in Britain, as indicated by Place Names. The 

 Picti of North Britain and the Pictones or 

 Pictavi of South Gaul are both mentioned 

 by Roman writers. The evidence of place 

 names shows that probably the whole inter- 

 vening country was at an earlier date occu- 

 pied by the same race. The language of the 

 Picts was Basque. The name Pict is derived 



