268 



small portion on a small frog, The frog died after developing the tetanus 

 characteristic of strychnine poisoning. The case is of interest because 

 of the length of time which elapsed before the body was exumed, there 

 being few, if any, cases recorded where strychnine has been found in an 

 exhumed body after so long a time ; also, because a considerable portion 

 of the strychnine was retained in the fatty matter and required different 

 means from those usually employed for its separation. A full account of 

 the case will appear in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. 



The absorption of poison by dead animal tissue. By P.S. Baker. 



The alarming frequency of the criminal use of arsenic has led to the study 

 of its effects on the bodies of living and dead animals. 



There has been reason to believe that arsenic was introduced into the 

 bodies of men after death, and that involved the investigations of the 

 courts in more or less confusion. Inquiries have therefore been made as 

 to whether arsenic may or may not be absorbed by the corpse from ex- 

 ternal sources, and the answers to these inquiries have never been satis- 

 factory. 



The author has found by numerous experiments on cats that arsenic in- 

 jected under the skin, from twenty to thirty minutes after death, will 

 penetrate to the internal organs ; but if the injection be made later than 

 seventeen hours after death, it could not be found in the internal organs. 



The work is still in progress to answer several questions involved in the 

 study. 



On the variation of strength of timber at different parts ok the cross 



SECTION OF the TREE. By PrOF. T. GrAY. 



[Abstract,] 



In Bulletin No. 8, of the Forestry Division of the U. S. Department of 



Agriculture, Prof. J. B. Johnston refers to this subject in connection with 



a series of tests on long-leafed pine. Prof. Johnston's experiments showed 



a variation of about 12 per cent, of the average tensile strength, the maxi- 



