244 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



the right leg foremost, could not be persuaded by any art to depart 

 from his instructions ; till, after vain efforts for several months to 

 make his paces more classical, his rider recollected that he had 

 once or twice slightly started at a particular spot in the road, and 

 gone off with the left foot ; he determined to make trial of the 

 association with this spot, and having succeeded almost at once in 

 the experiment, he put out his lefl hand to caress the animal's neck ; 

 and this motion was soon understood as a signal for the same pace, 

 so that by thrusting forwards the left hand, the object was attained 

 in any other part of the road, until the leg was substituted for the 

 arm, in the regular manner. 



9. Measurements and Weight of a Sea-gull. — These measurements 

 being taken with reference to the means by which a bird sustains 

 itself in the air do not profess to be particularly accurate. The 

 object was to ascertain generally the proportion of surface exposed 

 to the air, and the weight it had to sustain. 



f. in. 



Between the tips of the wings 4 10 



From the beak to the end of the tail 2 4 



Estimated average width of the wings through the 



4 f 10 in 7i 



From the end of the tail to the setting on of the wings 9 

 Width of the tail part near the wings, i. e. of the body 



there 5 



Width of the extremity of the tail when moderately 



extended 9 



Length of each wing . . , , 2 3 



Thickness of the body 5 



The weight of the bird, with all its feathers, was 3 lb. 4 J^ ounces, 

 or 52 J ounces avoirdupois. 



10. Excision of Teeth. — We copy the following remarks from Mr. 

 Fay's communication on the subject to the Society of Arts : — " In 

 the centre of every tooth is a little cavity, in which is expanded a 

 nervous pulp, forming the principal seat of sensation in that organ ; 

 the nervous twigs pass through the roots of the teeth by very minute 

 passages into this cavity, where they are spread out. The base of 

 this cavity is situated a little above the level of the neck of the tooth, 

 and it struck me that when caries had extended so far as to expose this 

 nervous matter to the various agencies, from which, in the healthy 

 state of the parts, it is protected, it would be easy to remove that part 

 of the tooth containing the cavity, the seat of the pain, and thus allow 

 the sound roots to remain in their sockets undisturbed, to support 

 the adjoining teeth ; as it is a notorious fact that the entire removal 

 of one tooth, however easily performed, causes the adjoining ones 

 to become prematurely loose, and ultimately to fall out, in conse- 

 quence principally of the absorption of the alveolar process. 

 Minutely to describe how this happens would occupy too much 



