314 Scientific Intelligence. — Zoology. 



peared over a considerable part of tlie dorsal region serous bulla;, 

 similar to those of pemphygus. The limbs still preserved their 

 natural suppleness, and on the eighteenth day the lips still re- 

 tained their red vermilion colour. For nine days the forehead 

 continued furrowed with vertical wrinkles, and all this time the 

 countenance preserved an expression never presented by the 

 face of a dead body. The body was kept for nineteen days in 

 a warm room : it exhaled not the least fetid odour, and there 

 was observed on no part of its surface any cadaveric lividity. 

 The emaciation was very considerable, a circumstance which, if 

 it had existed, might have served to explain these different phe- 

 nomena. — Dublin Journal of Med. and Chem. Science, Vol. v. 

 No. xiv, p. 304. 



20. Chemical Composition of Oyster Shells. — Professor Ro- 

 gers, in Silliman's Journal for July 1834, gives the following as 

 the result of his examination of the chemical nature of the shell 

 of the common oyster {Ostrea edulis) : — Carbonate of Lime, 

 95.18; Phosphate of Lime, 1.88; Silex, 0.40; Water, 1.62; 

 Insoluble animal matter, 0.45 ; Loss, &c. 0.46 ; = 100.00. Oys- 

 ter shell is therefore a carbonate of lime, nearly in a state of pu- 

 rity ; and it is in this light tliat it should claim attention, either in 

 agriculture or medicine. Professor Rogers adds, " the scollop 

 shells {Pecten Jeffersonius and P. Madisonius) of the marl beds 

 of the Southern States, yield a larger proportion of animal mat- 

 ter than the recent oyster shell ; and indeed in many instances 

 these shells seem to have sustained no loss of this or in fact of 

 any of their original constituents. The larger kind of coral 

 (^Astrea), which belongs to the same marl, contains a very mi- 

 nute portion of animal matter, and nearly the same per-centage 

 of phosphate of lime as the oyster shells. 



21. Use qfOpiuvi. — The use of opium and the hookah is almost 

 universal in the country, and in these the Cutchee finds a solace 

 for every distress of mind or of body. Whether at home or 

 abroad, the hookah is his constant companion. He has recourse 

 to it at every moment of leisure ; and I have myself travelled 

 with horsemen in the service of his Highness the Rao, who, al- 

 though they kept their horses at a smart pace, contrived to 



