MISCELLANY 



637 



five to six francs, and there has been a 

 steady decline ever since. In 1870 the 

 price was four francs, in 1871 3.50 francs, 

 in 1872 three francs, in 1873 2.50 francs. 

 There is now a very general disposition to 

 abandon this culture, and since 1872 the 

 amount produced has been growing less 

 from year to year. This decline is also, in 

 a great measure, due to the introduction of 

 new dyestuffs of mineral origin. 



Detection of Arsenic in Organic Matter. 



Dr. Armand Gautier proposes a new meth- 

 od for separating arsenic from animal mat- 

 ters, and for detecting its presence. By 

 combining the sulphuric-acid and the nitric- 

 acid processes he has obtained very satisfac- 

 tory results, as regards both the rapidity of 

 the operation and the exactness of the deter- 

 minations. He first treats the matter sup- 

 posed to contain arsenic with nitric acid, 

 then with sulphuric acid, and finally with 

 nitric acid again. By the first operation 

 the organic substances are disaggregated ; 

 by the second they are destroyed very rap- 

 idly, and by the third, with the addition of 

 more nitric acid, the last traces of organic 

 matter are eliminated, while the formation 

 of sulphide of arsenic is prevented. Having 

 made a number of quantitative experiments, 

 M. Gautier never met with a discrepancy 

 amounting to so much as one-tenth of a 

 milligramme between the amount of arsen- 

 ic introduced and that found. 



Timidity of Birds, Dr. J. G. Cooper, in 

 the Naturalist, comments on the " sociable 

 and confiding disposition " of the birds of the 

 Western United States, compared with the 

 same species eastward. This difference, 

 he remarks, has been noticed by several 

 writers, but the reasons have so far been 

 scarcely mentioned. According to the au- 

 thor, the chief reason is that in the West 

 bird-collectors and idle boys are less numer- 

 ous, while sportsmen find larger game so 

 plenty that they do not waste ammunition 

 on small birds. Besides this, the prevalence 

 of prairies over most of the Western region 

 makes any garden full of trees and shrubs 

 a rare nursery for the woodland species, 

 where they find more protection from hawks 

 and weasels than in their native groves, 

 while they may also levy a small contribu- 

 tion on the fruits iu return for the insects 



they destroy, and their lively songs. In 

 California, the poison intended for ground- 

 squirrels has also destroyed millions of birds 

 about the fields, and left them unhurt in 

 gardens. 



Fattening Oysters. Salt oysters, on be- 

 ing transferred to fresh water, are " fat- 

 tened " in the course of two or three days ; 

 if allowed to remain longer they become 

 lean again, and are flavorless. Prof. Per- 

 sifor Prazer, of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia, holds that this 

 change cannot be due to an increase of 

 flesh, and attributes it rather to a simple 

 distention of the tissues, owing to the ad- 

 mission into them of a greater quantity of 

 fluid. During the oyster's period of growth 

 on the sea-coast, its tissues are constantly 

 saturated with the ocean-brine ; on remov- 

 ing the animal to merely brackish or to 

 fresh water, the conditions are at once fa- 

 vorable for osmose to be commenced. The 

 fresher and less dense liquid without per- 

 meates inward more rapidly thau the more 

 saline and denser liquids within escape, and 

 the effect is to swell the tissue, as a cow's 

 bladder half filled with air and immersed in 

 a vessel of hydrogen is swollen, or still 

 more nearly like the swelling of a bladder 

 half filled with copper sulphate when im- 

 mersed in water. " It is worth while to in- 

 quire," adds Prof. Frazer, " whether means 

 could not be devised to effect this fattening 

 while yet not depriving the oyster of the 

 salty flavor which is its chief charm to many 

 consumers. Perhaps an immersion in con- 

 centrated brine for several days and its sub- 

 sequent removal to ocean-water would suf- 

 fice." 



" Shooting-Stars." We make a few se- 

 lections from an interesting paper on " Shoot- 

 ing-Stars," by Prof. C. A. Young, published 

 in the Boston Journal of Chemistry. These 

 shooting-stars, he says, are very small, for 

 the most part weighing certainly not more 

 than a few grains, and possibly only some 

 thousandths of a grain mere particles or 

 cloudlets of dust, which are traveling in 

 space under the same laws as those which 

 govern the motions of the planets and com- 

 ets, and with a velocity as great. Their 

 least velocity is more than thirty times that 

 of a cannon-ball. When they encounter 



