190 THE MICROSCOPE. Dec. 



rinth of open spaces and passag-es connected with each 

 other and with a subterranean outlet. A cool current of 

 air, therefore, always of the same humidity and tempera- 

 ture, flows in a never-interruptedstreamthroug-hthecaves. 

 There is nothing- in the milk or in the preparation of the 

 cheeses that give them that peculiar flavor and delicious 

 mellowness for which they are so renowned. This is en- 

 tirely effected by the method by which they are cured. 

 When the cheeses are ready for treatment they are taken 

 to the caves, and after being allowed to cool are carried to 

 the salting room. They are rubbed with salt on one face 

 and then piled on the top of each other until the cave is 

 full. After standing- twenty-four hours or so, the reversed 

 side is salted, and once more they are piled up as before. 

 The cheeses have to be frequently reversed, in order that 

 the moisture may be even throughout, and to develop the 

 fung-us which has previously been sown in the curd. In 

 forty-eight hours the cheeses become viscous, and are rub- 

 bed with a coarse cloth. In the course of another two days 

 the fungus will appear on the outside, in the form of a 

 sticky paste. This is carefully scraped off with knives, 

 tog-ether with a thin stratum of crust, and set aside for 

 food. The cheeses are now sorted out; the most solid ones 

 placed on the floor. In eight days' time they become 

 covered with a yellowish red mould, together with other 

 minute vegetation, which is removed and given to the pig's. 

 The scraping is continued until the character of the mould 

 changes, showing that the curd has altered its condition, 

 and announcing- its completion of the cure. Then they 

 are again carefully scraped and wiped, and wrapped in 

 tin foil, and are ready for the market. Roquefort cheeses 

 have been cured for centuries by this process, and stand 

 as a triumph of uneducated art. — Commercial Gazette. 



A Giant Lens. — The largest telescopic lens in the world 

 is now completed. It is the great refractor made by Alvan 

 Clark of Cambridg-e for the Chicago Universit}-; and it will 

 be used at the Universitj-'s new observatory, now in pro- 

 cess of completion at Lake Geneva, on the Wisconsin side 



