118 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[June, 



Poison Detected with the 

 Microscope. 



Mr. C. M. Yorce sends the fol- 

 lowing account of how the micro 

 scope afforded important aid in de- 

 tecting poison in an article of food. 



In Cleveland, Ohio, "an entire 

 family were taken violently sick, 

 after eating some stewed prunes 

 that were given to a member of the 

 family by a neighbor and relative. 



" The remainder of the prunes 

 was submitted to Dr. W. B. Rezner, 

 the Health Officer of the city, and 

 was examined by him and myself 

 with a microscope ; and it was 

 found to contain a large proportion 

 of pulverized cantharides,or Spanish 

 fly, thus confirming the suspicions 

 excited by the nature of the symp- 

 toms. Other observers subsequent- 

 ly verified the observation. The 

 fragments of the beetles being iden- 

 titied, not only with the entire in- 

 sect, as obtained from a druggist, 

 but with the dry powdered article 

 obtained from the same source." 



— We wish to call the attention of 

 the editors of the Cincinnati Medi- 

 cal News to the fact that the appro- 

 priation of articles published in other 

 periodicals, without accrediting 

 them to their source, is a practice that 

 deserves the appellation of stealing. 

 The contents of a periodical are the 

 property of its publisher, his stock 

 in trade. Morally, no other pub- 

 lisher has the right to reprint them. 

 However, we have no objection to 

 seeing any article we may publish 

 in the pages of any other reputable 

 periodical, if the editor will be so 

 courteous as to give us credit for it 

 at the time ; but when a journal 

 come out one month with several 

 articles taken bodily from our col- 

 umns, and credits one to Micro- 

 scopic Journal^ and then comes 

 out the next month with one of our 

 editorials, appropriated as an origi- 



nal contribution, entirely ignoring 

 its source, we think it is time to 

 protest against the practice, 



NOTES. 



— In the Zeitschrift fur Mikroskopie 

 there is a description and an illustration 

 of Dr. Weber-Liel's " Ear-Microscope," 

 which is designed to assist in examining 

 the interior parts of the ear for medical 

 and scientific purposes. 



By means of a flexible tube provided 

 with a mouth-piece, the air can be rarified 

 or compressed within the ear, and the 

 movements of the parts of the ear can be 

 distinctly observed. 



The vibrations of the parts can also be 

 studied, while speaking or singing in the 

 mouth-piece mentioned above. It is 

 claimed that the instrument is valuable for 

 detecting important pathological changes 

 in the ear. In the same periodical there 

 is an interesting article on the examina- 

 tion of food, manufactured articles, etc., 

 for technical purposes. 



— The Catalogue of North American 

 Musci, arranged by Eugene A. Rau and 

 A. B. Hervey, A.M., has been published. 

 It is an elegant, well-printed pamphlet of 

 52 pages, with the matter well arranged. 

 It is more than twice as large as the authors 

 intended to make it at the time of their 

 first announcement, and they have been 

 obliged, therefore, to raise the price to 50 

 cents for a single copy, or $1.00 for three 

 copies. 



We hope that botanists will not be 

 tardy in showing their appreciation of the 

 great labor which has devolved upon the 

 two gentlemen who have compiled this 

 Catalogue. 



We cannot doubt that it is a very use- 

 ful and valuable book ; the names of the 

 authors are a sufficient guarantee that 

 the work has been accurately done. 



" The classification is mainly that adopt- 

 ed by Prof. Shimper in his Synopsis of 

 European Mosses. 



" All the authentic species and varieties 

 reported, from Mexico to the Arctic re- 

 gions, have been included and their habi- 

 tats given with as wide a range as the 

 examination of references and several 

 good herbaria would permit." 



— Some time ago we received a bottle 

 of a rubber cement from Mr. A. P. Brown, 

 of Camden, N. J. Since that time we 

 observed that Mr. Brown has prepared 



