Polytechnic Association Proceedings 815 



then well rinsed in lukewarm water, and finally dipped into water 

 containing a slight proportion of starch. The lace is then taken 

 from the bag, and stretched on pins to dry. 



DETECTING BELLADONNA. 



Mr. H. C. Scorby read a paper lately before the Sheffield Literary 

 and Philosophical Society, in which he set forth the difficulties 

 which the toxicologist encounters in his efforts to prove a case of 

 poisoning by belladonna. These difficulties are obviated by the use 

 of the micro-spectroscope. The spectrum of the juice of bella- 

 donna is very distinct, especially when the coloring matter has been 

 added to a solution of carbonate of soda. A small fraction of a 

 single berry is sufficient to produce the spectrum bands characteristic 

 of the belladonna. 



THE WALRUS. 



A young male walrus has lately been placed in the Zoological 

 Gardens, London. He is probably not more than a year old, and 

 has only partially developed tusks; is eight feet long, and weighs 

 about two hundred and fifty pounds. He was captured by Capt. 

 R Wells, of the whaler Arctic, in latitude sixty-nine degrees N., 

 and longitude sixty-four degrees W., on the the 24th ot August 

 last. Several hundred of these animals were met on ice, and 

 attacked by a boat's crew. Among those killed was a lage female; 

 on towing the body toward the ship, a young male was seen diving 

 and sw^immiug aroimd its deceased parent; he was captured by a 

 noose S"\vimg over his head, and hauled on board. For several 

 days the young captive was kept tied to a ring-bolt on the deck, 

 and refused food altogether. Subsequently he was induced to 

 swallow thin slips of boiled pork, and was thus fed until the vessel 

 reached the Shetland islands, when a supply of fresh muscles was 

 provided for his use. The stranger excites great interest at the 

 Gardens. The only specimen before seen there was in a moribund 

 state on its arrival, and lived but a very short time. 



SPIDERS. 



Father Babaz has communicated to the French Academy of 

 Science an account of his experiments with spiders, and the man- 

 ner in which he ascertained a fact hitherto unknown to naturalists, 

 viz: That most spiders possess not only the faculty of spinning a 

 thread, but also that of projectiug one or several, sometimes of the 

 length of five or six meters, which they use to traverse distances 

 with, and affix their thread to a given point for the support of their 



