300 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVEUY. 



the circulation, when the part is thawed, soon kills thn animal. 

 7. A hali-lVozen animal, thcrclore, may live a long time if kept in 

 that state, as the altered globules do not get into the circulation ; 

 l)iit it (luickly tiii'S when the frozen part is thawed. 8. In all cases 

 of death I'roin freezing, the fatal result is due to the alteration of 

 the blood gloi)ules, and not to any eilect on tlie nervous system. 

 9. The less rai)itlly, therefore, a frozen part is thawtnl, the more 

 slowly the altered globules enter the circulation, and the greater 

 are the chances of the animal's recovery. 



TERIOD OF GROWTH IN MAN. 



Prof. R. A. Gouhl, from statistics derived from the register of 

 two and a half millions of men in the United States Army, has 

 brought out the remarkable fact that mi^i attain their maximum 

 gtature much lat<'r than is generally supposed. This takes place 

 commotdy at 2d or 'M) years of age ; l)ut there are fre({uent in- 

 stanei's of growth until :!.'), not very noticeable, — a yearly gain of 

 a tenth of an inch perhaps, still a growth. After 35 the stature 

 subsides in similar proportions, partly perhaps from the conden- 

 sation of the cartilages, partly because of the change in the angle 

 of the hip-ljone. The age for maximum stature comes earliest to the 

 tallest men, as if it were the necessity of unusual development. For- 

 eigners were shorter than men of native birth. The heights of 

 men seemed to depend on the place of enlistment. A Massachu- 

 setts man enlisting in Iowa was an inch taller than if he had staid 

 at home. 



As we go -west, men grow taller. One man measured more 

 than 6 feet 10 inches. Out of one million, there were five hundred 

 thousand who measured more than G feet -i inches ; but men of such 

 stature do not wear well. In Maine, men reached their greatest 

 height at 27, in New Hampshire at 35, in Massachusetts at 29, in 

 Kew Jersey at 31. The tallest men, of 09 inches, come from 

 Iowa. Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, and Missouri, 

 give us men a little over 68 ; and the average of all shows the 

 Americans to be " a very tall people." 



THERAPEUTICAL ACTION OF MINERAL WATERS. 



Though the remedial property of mineral waters be established, 

 their modus operandi is as yet hardly ascertained, and is at present 

 the subject of a very animated controversy in the French Acad- 

 emy, between M. Scoutetten and certain other savants. M. Scou- 

 tetten details a number of experiments and conclusions, from 

 which we extract the following : 1. When platinum-electrodes are 

 placed in ordinary water, contained in vessels of glass or porce- 

 lain, no trace of dynamic electricity is apparent. 2. When the 

 same experiment is tried with minei-al water, the deviation of the 

 needle is considerable. 3. When the same mineral water is ex- 

 amined at various periods subsequent to the date at which it was 

 drawn from its source, and at different temperatures, it is found 

 that the higher the tempei-atm-e is the greater is the electric mani- 



