NOTES. 



575 



the observations described by Prof. Picker- 

 ing is an actual change of color which, elim- 

 inating all probable sources of error, the 

 planet really seems to undergo. He believes 

 that some time in the future these changes 

 will be understood and their laws determined. 

 He thinks the greatest danger lies from op- 

 tical illusion. 



NOTES. 



A correspondent of the London Specta- 

 tor, Violet Davies, tells the following story 

 of " a canine member of the Society for the 

 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals " : " Last 

 week a sick dog took up its abode in the field 

 behind our house, and, after seeing the poor 

 thing lying there for some time, I took it food 

 and milk and water. The next day it was still 

 there, and when I was going out to feed it, I 

 saw that a small pug was running about it, so 

 I took a whip out with me to drive it away. 

 The pug planted itself between me and the 

 sick dog, and barked at me savagely, but at 

 last I drove it away, and again gave food and 

 milk and water to my protege. The little pug 

 watched me for a few moments, and as soon 

 as he felt quite assured that my intentions 

 toward the sick dog were friendly, it ran to 

 me, wagging its tail, leaped up to my shoul- 

 der, and licked my face and hands, nor 

 would it touch the water till the invalid had 

 had all it wanted. I suppose that it was sat- 

 isfied that its companion was in good hands, 

 for it trotted happily away, and did not ap- 

 pear upon the scene again." 



The vermilion-spotted newt (Diemyctylus 

 viridescens), as described by Simon H. Gage, 

 has the curious property of changing from 

 the aquatic to the terrestrial life and again 

 to the aquatic, modifying or partially modify- 

 ing its breathing organs to correspond with 

 each change of medium. It appears that, 

 after having lived on the land, the prepara- 

 tion for reproduction requires the terrestrial 

 forms to enter the water, when the life be- 

 comes for a greater or less time once more 

 partially aquatic, and that " the surroundings 

 of larval " life and the necessity for respira- 

 tion brought about by the prolonged stay un- 

 der water required for fertilization and ovu- 

 lation recall by a kind of organic memory 

 the mode by which respiration was accom- 

 plished in larval life. The tree-toad and the 

 yellow-spotted salamander are likewise capa- 

 ble of partially returning to an aquatic mode 

 of respiration ; and the siren, after having 

 had its gills so far absorbed as to be mere 

 stubs, returns to the water and reacquires 

 them. 



An extraordinary grotto was recently re- 

 vealed at Tavernay, Fiance, by an explosion 

 during the progress of the ordinary work in 



a quarry. This subterranean gallery, with 

 walls polished as if by water, is about 1,500 

 feet long, and ends in a chamber about 40 

 feet in diameter and six feet high. 



The expedition sent in 1891 from Bow- 

 doin College to Labrador has confirmed the 

 truth of the reports that have been vaguely 

 current for many years of the existence of 

 a great cataract in Labrador. The stream 

 forming the falls and rapids rises in the pla- 

 teau known as " the Height of the Land." 

 The spray of the falls was visible to the ex- 

 plorers when twenty miles away. The river, 

 rushing through a gorge hardly more than 

 150 feet wide, makes a sheer plunge of 200 

 feet. Below the falls are rapids, which pro- 

 long the whole descent to quite 500 feet. 

 The explorers sailed down the river for 300 

 miles below the falls. 



At the last anniversary meeting of the 

 Royal Society the Copley medal was awarded 

 to Prof. Rudolph Virchow for his services in 

 natural history, morbid anatomy, histology, 

 pathology, and ethnological and archajologi- 

 cal science ; the Rumford medal to Nils C. 

 Duner, of the University of Lund, Sweden, 

 for his work in spectroscopic astronomy ; 

 Royal medals to Prof. Charles Pritchard, of 

 Oxford, for photographic investigations in 

 astronomy, and J. N. Langley for physio- 

 logical researches ; the Davy medal to Prof. 

 Francois Marie Raoult for his researches on 

 the freezing-point of solutions and on the 

 vapor pressures of solutions ; and the Dar- 

 win medal to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker. 



Among the Laos of the Siamese domin- 

 ions, according to an article in the Kew Bul- 

 letin, tea leaves are not used for making an 

 infusion as in other countries, but are pre- 

 pared wholly for the purpose of chewing. 

 They are steamed and then tied up in bundles 

 and buried in the ground for about fifteen 

 days. Leaves thus prepared, which are 

 called mieng, are said to keep two years or 

 more. The habit of chewing mieng is nearly 

 universal among the Laos, and is said to be 

 almost indispensable to men engaged in hard 

 work. 



Experiments on the suitability of alumi- 

 num for horseshoes made in a Russian regi- 

 ment of Finnish dragoons have resulted fa- 

 vorably. The horses were shod with three 

 iron shoes and one aluminum shoe. When 

 it was time to renew the shoeing, the shoes 

 of aluminum were found to have worn as 

 well as those of iron. None of them were 

 broken, none showed any traces of rust. 

 Among the advantages anticipated from the 

 use of aluminum in horseshoes are greater 

 facility in forging and a reduction of the 

 load to be carried by the horse's feet. 



The American Microscopical Society has 

 funds supplied it, from which it offers two 

 prizes of fifty dollars each for the best pa- 

 pers giving results of original investiga- 



