312 Extracts from the Journals. [April, 



municated to the Royal Academy of Sciences, was, that the vari- 

 ous specimens which they had examined, contained besides a sort 

 of free stone insoluble in hydro-chloric acid, 



1. A proportion of Azote varying from 0.017 to 0.014 



2. " Water " 0.0115 to 0.009 



3. " Silicia ) 



4. " Albumen, S 0.025 



5. " Oxide of Iron ) 



6. Some traces of lime. 



These chemists did not find any phosphate of lime, although it 

 was so stated by Mr. Barruel. The Royal Academy of Sciences 

 charged Messrs. Taquelin and Thenard, to make a report of the 

 labors of Julia, Fontenelle, Payen and Chevallier. At the session 

 following that of which we speak, a commission of the Linnaan 

 Society of Paris presented a new analysis, which is less methodi- 

 cal and less scientific than that of the three chemists, and con- 

 firms their results. After this Messrs. Vauquelin and Thenard 

 reported a third examination, from which it appeared that of six 

 fragments of the anthropolite of Moret, which they had analyzed, 

 one only presented traces of phosphate of lime. This new result 

 tended to confirm the exactness of the preceding analysis, and to 

 demonstrate that the human fossil of Fontainbleau is simply a free 

 stone to which a human form and origin has been too readily 

 attributed. 



The editor adds in a note to the above article. We have been informed 

 that a company of chemists occupied at this moment in the analysis of divers 

 fossil bones which had been submitted to them by M. Cuvier, have already 

 found considerable quantities of phosphate of lime in several of them. With- 

 out doubt when their labors shall have terminated, these new analyses will 

 not carry any new conviction, or afford any type by which to know henceforth 

 true human fossils. As lo the animal matter found in the fossil of Fontain- 

 bleau, we know that the same chemists found it also in many other stones 

 ■which they have analyzed. 



Prof. E. Solly has communicated to the British Association a 

 series of experiments on the influence of galvanic electricity on 

 the germination of seeds. The seeds of barley, wheat, rye, tur- 

 nips, and radish were exposed to feeble currents of electricity; 

 the plants came up .sooner, and were healthier than those which 

 were not electrified. On the other hand, opposite results were 

 obtained by a number of experiments. Out of 55 experiments, 

 21 appeared to favor the electrical influence, 10 decidedly against 

 it, and 25 showed no effect whatever. 



Prof S. stated that he felt doubtful whether the observed were 

 really due to electricity. — Year Book of Facts. 



