394 Scientific Intelligence. Zoology. 



wheat de la Trinite and de pays. M. Payen being desirous of 

 investigating if still greater differences could be found in the 

 hardest corns, and in those which are the softest, subjected to 

 analysis, the wheat of Taganrock, of Odessa, and of Poland, on 

 the one hand, and the whitest wheats that are employed in La 

 Mennerie of Paris on the other ; and he found that the former 

 contained from 0.029 to 0.031 of nitrogen, whilst the others on- 

 ly gave from 0.019 to 0.020. M. Payen adds, that he means 

 to continue these researches on the maxima and minima of nitro- 

 gen by procuring samples of the hardest corns of southern coun- 

 tries, and the softest that are raised in the northern regions. 



ZOOLOGY. 



12. Influence of Light and Darkness on the Human Body. 

 Dr Allen, in his work on the influence of the atmosphere on the 

 human frame, adduces, among others, the following examples as 

 proofs. He says, that A. Von Humboldt was acquainted with a 

 Countess who at sunset invariably lost her voice, and did not 

 again recover it till sunrise. Aristotle mentions the case of an 

 innkeeper who lost her understanding every evening at sunset, 

 but recovered it next day. Baillou relates an account of a fe- 

 male who was deprived of her mental powers at sunset, but had 

 them restored the following morning. But these examples are 

 more connected with the influence of light and darkness than 

 with that of the atmosphere. Nothing proves this influence bet- 

 ter than an experiment that is often made, and which is easily 

 repeated. When an individual has taken too much wine he 

 becomes much more conscious of the influence of the wine on his 

 brain, and of over-excitement, when the light is removed and he 

 is suddenly left in darkness. He is then no longer able to stand, 

 and the chair on which he is sitting, or the bed on which he is 

 reposing, seems to him to make rapid revolutions. When he is 

 again placed under the influence of light all these phenomena cease. 

 In early life, says a German physician, I made a curious experi- 

 ment of this kind on myself. At a merry breakfast party, I 

 drank a few glasses too many of Malaga wine. It was not till 

 about twelve hours afterwards that, when lying in bed I extin- 

 guished my candle, the effect of the wine on my brain became 

 perceptible. Every thing seemed then to move round me in a 



