174 Intelligence and Miscella7ieous Articles. 



imum tubes furnish the dew-point at the time of maximum tempera- 

 tures ; I say in most cases, for there are times in unsettled weather 

 when the result is fallacious. I watched the instrument through 

 May and June last in the sun ; the dew-pomt at time of maximum 

 temperature reached 17° in town, while the dew-point at minimum 

 temperature never exceeded 3° ; this last occurred when the earth 

 was screened by high thin clouds. 



I believe this arrangement originated with me in the spring of last 

 year ; and I now submit it for the consideration of your readers, to 

 say whether or not the weak point I have mentioned be sufficient 

 to condemn it for practical use. 



I remain, Gentlemen, 



Your most obedient humble Servant, 



Liverpool, November 23, 1841. R. Adik. 



INFLUENCE OF COMETS. 



Dr. Forster has just published a short Essay on the Influence of 

 Comets, in which, alluding to a controversy long going on between 

 him and M. Arago on this subject, he says, in conclusion, " I do not 

 pretend that there is any calculable amount of influence exercised 

 by comets sufficient to account for their apparent influence on our 

 atmosphere. I assert merely, that on comparing catalogues of these 

 bodies with terrestrial and atmospheric commotions, the coincidences 

 are too numerous to belong to the chapter of accidents. The doc- 

 trine of chances forbids such a supposition." 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FIBRIN, ALBUMEN, AND CASEIN. 



MM. Scherer and Jones, operating in the laboratoiy of M. Lie- 

 big, have found that vegetables contain three azotized bodies, which 

 they have called vegetable fibrin, vegetable albumen, and vegetable 

 casein. These substances possess precisely the same elementary 

 composition. 



^'^egetable fibrin is the matter which does not dissolve when gluten 

 is treated with alcohol ; the portion soluble in this liquid they have 

 named vegetable gluten. Vegetable albumen is found in the juice 

 of vegetables, and casein is extracted from peas, beans, or lentils ; 

 when these are treated with water, the portion dissolved is the 

 casein. 



On comparing the properties of these three bodies with those of 

 the corresponding bodies of animal origin, that is to say, albumen, 

 fibrin, and casein, it is found that the vegetable substances possess 

 all the properties which belong to those of animal organization. 



On submitting these different matters to analysis, MM. Scherer 

 and Jones found that they are isomeric. These unexpected results 

 throw great light on physiological phaenomena ; they explain the re- 

 ciprocal transformations which fibrin, casein, and albumen undergo 

 in the animal organization ; they also lead to this very remarkable 

 physiological consequence, that herbivorous animals find in vegeta- 



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