188 Scientific Intelligence— Zoology— Miscellaneous. 
ZOOLOGY. 
13. The Infusoria of the Dead Sea and the River Jordan.— 
The celebrated Ehrenberg has lately examined the water of the Dead 
Sea and of the river Jordan, in a zoological point of view. He 
finds the water of the Dead Sea to abound in infusoria, but nearly 
all of them of fresh or brackish water species,—a fact illustrative of 
the opinion which maintains that this lake never formed any part of 
the general ocean. The waters of the Jordan abound in infusoria, 
all of the fresh-water kinds, and the greater number peculiar to that 
river,—a fact rendering it probable that great rivers, like basins of 
the ocean, have their peculiar and characteristic species. These 
very interesting facts shew how the researches of Ehrenberg are 
opening up a novel field to the hydrologist : the microscope, indeed, 
in the hands of this illustrious naturalist, has already unfolded 
the marvels of a new world. We trust our naturalists are fully 
aware of the importance of accurate microscopical examinations of 
the sea around Britain, also of our springs, lakes, and rivers, and 
are convinced they will find in such delightful researches a rich har- 
vest of most interesting and far-leading discoveries.* 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
14, Alleged Burying Alive.—In the midst of exaggeration and 
invention, there was one undoubted circumstance which formerly ex- 
cited the worst apprehensions,—the fact that bodies were often found 
turned in their coffins, and the grave-clothes disarranged. But what 
was ascribed, with seeming reason, to the throes of vitality, is now 
known to be due to the agency of corruption. A gas is developed in 
the decayed body, which mimics, by its mechanical force, many of 
the movements of life. So powerful is this gas in corpses that 
have lain long in the water, that M. Devergie, the physician to the 
Morgue at Paris, and the author of a text-book on legal medicine, 
says, that unless secured to the table, they are often heaved up, and 
thrown to the ground. Frequently, strangers seeing the motion of 
the limbs, run to the keeper of the Morgue, and announce, with 
horror, that a person is alive. All bodies, sooner or later, generate 
gas in the grave, and it constantly twists about the corpse, blows out 
the skin till it rends with the distension, and sometimes bursts the 
coffin itself. When the gas explodes with a noise, imagination has 
converted it into an outcry or groan; the grave has been reopened, 
the position of the body has confirmed the suspicion, and the lacera- 
tion been taken for evidence that the wretch had gnawed his flesh 
in the frenzy of despair. So many are the circumstances which will 
occasionally concur to support a conclusion that is more unsubstantial 
than the fabric of a dream.—(Atheneum, No. 1140, p. 1115.) 
* Under Infusoria we here include Poligastria, &c. 
