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time. Dr. Gould stated that his own observations would give con- 

 firmation to this conjecture. Sea water would remain pure for 

 any length of time, if some marine vegetable were placed in it ; 

 otherwise it became putrid, and required to be changed every twen- 

 ty-four hours. It struck him, that the experiment of Dr. J. set- 

 tled the disputed question as to the vegetable or animal nature of 

 the Corallina. It must be a vegetable. 



Dr. Wyman mentioned an experiment by Dumas, in which a 

 fish was kept alive in a closely stopped jar of water containing Con- 

 ferva. While the light acted upon the vegetable matter, a suffi- 

 cient quantity of oxygen was disengaged for the respiration of the 

 fish, the fish giving out enough carbonic acid for the nourishment 

 of the plant. When the light was excluded, the fish died. 



Dr. Wyman made some remarks on some late experi- 

 ments of Doyere of Paris, made with a view to test the fact 

 first recorded by Lenenhoeck and Spallanzani. of the revi- 

 fication of animalcules after complete desiccation. 



He has shown Spallanzani's experiments to be correct; and has 

 succeeded in reducing to dryness rotifers and tardigrades by the 

 complete evaporation of the drop of water in which they were 

 contained ; and, after exposing them to a heat equal to that of boil- 

 ing water, they were easily reanimated by being moistened with 

 distilled water. Dr. Wyman also stated that an experiment of his 

 own showed them to be equally capable of bearing extreme cold. 

 The water containing some, having been frozen for many days, the 

 animalcules were found alive and active in the water when thawed. 



Dr. Abbot stated that, to his knowledge, seven specimens 

 of the Great Cinereous Owl, (Stri.v cinerea,) had been taken 

 in Massachusetts within the past year; a bird hitherto con- 

 sidered by ornithologists as very rare in our State. 



ADDITIONS TO THE CABINET. 



Dr J. B. S. Jackson presented the teeth of Delphinus globiceps 

 fixed on a black tablet in their order, showing, in the upper jaw, 

 nine on each side, and, in the lower jaw, eight on one side and 

 ten on the other. He remarked that the jaw exhibited no trace of 

 the existence of the deficient teeth. Dr. J. also presented a very 



