MISCELLANY. 



525 



journal is usually printed, the maker under- 

 taking to supply 50 tons at a price not ex- 

 ceeding A\d. per lb. ; and a premium of 

 100 for the best ream of paper made en- 

 tirely from jute, in size and weight as 

 above, the maker supplying 100 tons at 4d. 

 per lb. Old jute bagging may be bought in 

 any quantity, in Dundee, at 9 10s. per ton. 



Facts for Speneer. Some striking illus- 

 trations of governmental negligence are 

 given in the Lancet, in an article on " Army 

 Medical Services." The writer states that 

 in the armies of the first French Empire 

 there was one surgeon to each 130 men. 

 The French troops sent to Algeria in 1830 

 had only six surgeons to each 1,000 men. 

 In the Crimean War the proportion was 

 less than one (0.72) per 1,000. Through- 

 out the war, the average number of pa- 

 tients under the care of each surgeon was 

 300. In the Italian War affairs were about 

 as bad less than one surgeon per 1,000 

 men. After Magenta, each surgeon had 1*75 

 wounded men, and after Solferino 500 under 

 his charge. If he devoted 2\ minutes to 

 each case, every moment of 24 hours would 

 be taken up. The writer refers in terms 

 of commendation to the medical and sani- 

 tary service of the United States during the 

 late War of Secession. During the war be- 

 tween Austria and Prussia, 26,000 wounded 

 of both armies were left, after the battle of 

 Koniggratz, totally without medical assist- 

 ance, and unsupplied with food or water. 

 The French army in the late war with Prus- 

 sia had only two medical officers per 1,000 

 men, but 4^ veterinary surgeons per 1,000 

 horses ! 



A Singular Race. A French traveller, 

 M. Duveyrier, describes, in " Ocean High- 

 ways," a curious race, the Imohagh (called 

 in our maps Tauricks or Tuaregs), who 

 dwell in the heart of the Sahara. They are 

 pure Berbers, with white skin, but their un- 

 cleanly habits give them the appearance of 

 blacks. The men alone wear a thick black 

 veil over the face, while the women dis- 

 pense with that covering. A man would 

 consider himself dishonored were he to 

 expose his face, and he takes precaution 

 against any involuntary breach of decorum, 

 by wearing his veil at all times, whether 



sleeping, walking, fighting, riding, and even 

 speaking to his father. As a general rule, 

 the Imohagh despise fire-arms, as fit only 

 for cowards, " but they fear them extreme- 

 ly " remarks M. Duveyrier. 



They treat their women with great re- 

 spect. No Imohagh woman would consent 

 to her husband indulging in plurality of 

 wives ; and, what is perhaps more singular 

 still, the women alone know any thing of 

 the art of writing. In political affairs the 

 weaker sex exercise a powerful influence ; 

 and, when a chief dies, the supreme author- 

 ity descends to the eldest son of his eldest 

 sister. 



Reproduction of Eyes in Crawfish. 



That the crawfish has the power of repro- 

 ducing an eye which it may happen to lose 

 is a fact quite familiar to naturalists, but 

 we are indebted to M. S. Chantran, of the 

 French Academy of Sciences, for the dis- 

 covery that this power of reproduction 

 varies according to the animal's age. In a 

 recent number of the Comptes Reitdus, M. 

 Chantran gives the results of his observa- 

 tions on this subject, from which it appears 

 that a crawfish one year old quickly and 

 effectually repairs such injuries, while in 

 animals two or more years old reproduction 

 is uncertain in its operation, and never per- 

 fect. His first experiment was with a num- 

 ber of one-year-old animals. In October, 

 18*71, after the close of their moulting sea- 

 son, he clipped off their eyes. Moulting 

 commenced in May of the year following, 

 and in September, after four months, the 

 eyes were perfectly reproduced. 



The next experiment was with animals 

 two years old. These he deprived of their 

 eyes, either immediately before moulting 

 set in, or in the interval between two 

 moults. The results in these cases were 

 various. In some of the animals, after 

 three or four months, the eyes were repro- 

 duced, but then the pupils were so dis- 

 figured as to leave it doubtful whether they 

 could serve for the purpose of vision ; in 

 others, one pupil was considerably smaller 

 than the other. 



Finally, in the case of full-grown ani- 

 mals, which moult less frequently the fe- 

 males but once a year, and the males twice 

 the author's results did not show any re- 



