720 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of blotting paper saturated with sea-water 

 and applied in the same way was not seized ; 

 when soaked in the juice of fish, it was seized 

 with the same energy as the piece of fish, but 

 was often given up ultimately without being 

 swallowed ; soaked with sugar, it was accept- 

 ed more daintily ; but if saturated with qui- 

 nine it was refused, the tentacles drawing 

 back. On the outer surface of the body, and 

 on the part between the tentacles and the 

 mouth, quinine had no effect ; nor did sev- 

 eral other drugs of similar properties. Meat 

 placed within or near the mouth of a widely 

 open animal was not noticed ; it was seized 

 only when the tentacles were touched. 



Among some recently observed interest- 

 ing results of application of cold, M. Raoul 

 Pictet has found that at —150° all chemical 

 reaction is suppressed. Thus, if sulphuric 

 acid and potash are brought together at this 

 temperature, they do not combine. Litmus 

 paper, introduced, keeps its color. It is pos- 

 sible to restore energy to these substances 

 by passing the electric current, and the cur- 

 rent passes readily, whatever the substances ; 

 at — 150° all bodies are good conductors. The 

 disappearance of affinity at a low temperature 

 can be utilized to get absolutely pure sub- 

 stances ; and M. Pictet has thus obtained al- 

 cohol, chloroform, ether, and glycerin. 



A law has been enacted in Ontario for- 

 bidding the spraying or sprinkling of fruit 

 trees while they are in bloom with any mix- 

 ture containing Paris green or other sub- 

 stances poisonous or injurious to bees. The 

 object of the legislation is to protect the bees 

 from harm, the honey from possible taint of 

 poisoning, and to avoid possible obstacles to 

 the complete fertilization of the fruit. 



The Prussian Government has decided to 

 introduce the use of the centigrade ther- 

 mometer instead of that of Reaumur, which 

 was still in use in some parts of the king- 

 dom. 



From a 

 tics as to 

 conditions 

 Tilden has 

 ogy, so far 

 hypothesis 

 characters, 



careful review of the characteris- 

 inheritability of certain diseased 

 of the human system, Henry J. 

 drawn the conclusion that pathol- 

 from offering any support to the 

 of the transmission of acquired 

 pronounces against it. 



Among the congresses to be held at Chi- 

 cago by the World's Congress Auxiliary of 

 the Columbian Exposition will be an interna- 

 tional conference on aerial navigation. Its 

 objects will be to bring about the discussion 

 of some of the scientific problems involved, 

 to collate the results of the latest researches, 

 to procure an interchange of ideas, and to 

 promote concert of action among the students 

 of this inchoate subject. The meetings will 

 be held on the afternoons of August 1st, 2d, 

 and 3d. The topics to be discussed will be 

 arranged under the three headings of Scien- 

 tific Principles, Aviatiou, and Ballooning. 



OBITUARY NOTES. 



The death is announced of John Obadiah 

 Westwood, President of the British Entomo- 

 logical Society. He was born in 1805, at 

 Sheffield, and was appointed a Professor of 

 Zoology at Oxford in 1861. He received a 

 royal medal from the Royal Society for his 

 scientific work in 1855, and was elected a 

 member of the Entomological Society in 

 Paris, to succeed Humboldt, in 1860. He 

 was author of an introduction to the Modern 

 Classification of Insects, British Butterflies 

 and their Transformations, and other works 

 of a similar nature. 



F. von Hellwald, a well-known Aus- 

 trian writer on ethnography, died in Bavaria, 

 November 1, 1892, in the fiftieth year of his 

 age. He entered the army, but left it in 

 1864 to engage in scientific studies, then re- 

 entered it and took part in the Austro-Prus- 

 sian War. He was for several years editor 

 of Das Ausland. Since 1882 he had devoted 

 himself chiefly to the production of works 

 relating to geography and the history of civ- 

 ilization. 



James Plant, of Leicester, a distinguished 

 English local geologist, died in November, 

 1892, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 

 He was chairman of the British Association's 

 Committee on Erratic Blocks. 



Prof. E. N. Horsford, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity, died in Cambridge, Mass., January 

 1st. After four years of service as teacher 

 of mathematics and natural sciences in Al- 

 bany Female Academy, he spent two years of 

 study and research in the Liebig Laboratory 

 at Giessen. Returning home, he became Rum- 

 ford Professor of Science applied to the Arts. 

 He afterward submitted plans which led to 

 the foundation of the Lawrence Scientific 

 School, where he spent nineteen years. He 

 then w T ent into business in the manufacture 

 of chemicals, and became President of the 

 Rumford Chemical Works. He published a 

 paper more than thirty years ago on stilling 

 the waves with oil. He was interested in 

 archaeology ; published a lexicon of five In- 

 dian languages ; and tried to determine the 

 location of the ancient settlement of Norum- 

 bega on Charles River, Mass. 



Amedee Guillemin, one of the most suc- 

 cessful and eminent French popularizers of 

 science, died early in January, at his native 

 village of Pierre, France. He was born in 

 1826, and began the publication of his cele- 

 brated works in physics and astronomy in 

 1864, with La del (the sky). This was fol- 

 lowed by similar works on comets, etc., The 

 Physical World, the Petit encydopedie popu- 

 laire, in sixteen volumes, the books on Steam 

 and Railroads in the Library of Wonders, 

 etc. He was a frequent contributor to La 

 Nature. 



