CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 221 



using their flesh for food is exceedingly great, and very numerous 

 cases of severe disorder and death are on record. With reference to 

 pleuro-pneumonia, which brings so many beasts prematurely to the 

 shambles, it is satisfactory to learn that, although the flesh is deterio- 

 rated, it " cannot be called poisonous ; " and, strange as it may seem, 

 the occurrence of this disorder has furnished the milkmen with a 

 profitable mode of carrying on their trade. Professor Gamgee says, 

 " In the city of Edinburgh there are dairymen who never knew what 

 it was to make money until pleuro-pneumonia appeared. They ori- 

 ginally paid ten or fifteen pounds for a rich-milking Ayrshire, Avhich 

 they kept a twelvemonth or more. They now pay twenty-five or 

 thirty pounds for a fat cross-bred short-horn cow, which they calculate 

 on selling diseased within three months from entering their dairy, and 



they find the latter system most profitable They have gone 



so far a"s to say, ' We do not want disease out of the country ; it is 

 keeping everything high.' ' 



PHOSPHORESCENCE. 



The experiments of M. de Reichenbach tend to prove that phos- 

 phorescence is a usual consequence of all molecular phenomena, and 

 not the result of combustion or oxidation. Mr. Phipson proved this 

 last point some time ago, when he showed that dead fishes shine in 

 the dark, even under water, and in the absence of oxygen. 



According to M. de Reichenbach there is phosphorescence during 

 fermentation or putrefaction, crystallization, evaporation, condensa- 

 tion of vapors, the production of sound (vibrations therefore), 

 and the fusion of ice ; a considerable glow is remarked when a gal- 

 vanic pile in activity, a block of ice in fusion, or a solution of sul- 

 phate of potassa in the act of crystallizing, is observed in the dark. 

 The human body itself is not devoid of phosphorescence. In a 

 healthy state it emits a yellow glow. When in ill health the glow 

 becomes red. The author considers that this observation may possi- 

 bly be of use in diagnosis. To perceive these phenomena the eye 

 ought to have been previously rendered sensitive by remaining some 

 hours in perfect darkness, and even then all eyes are not equally 

 impressionable. But, if several persons unite in performing the ex- 

 periment together, there will always be a certain number who are 

 able to see the phenomena. 



These facts of the production of light remind -the author of obser- 

 vations published some time ago by M. Wullner, according to which 

 every molecular movement is accompanied by a disengagement of 

 electricity. Poggendorjf's Annalen. 



PHOSPHORUS IN THE BRAIN OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 



As the results of various chemical examinations, Prof. Borsarelli 

 arrives at the following conclusions: 1. The medium quantity of 

 phosphorus found in the brain of man and some other animals is 

 more than triple that assigned to this organ by Persoz and Oper- 

 mann. It varies from 1.352 to 1.790 per cent. 2. The phosphorus 

 of the animal economy is found in largest quantity in the brain, in a 



