536 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



American Institute Polytechnic xVssociation, | 

 December 24:th, 1863, j 

 Chairman, S. T). Tillman, Esq.; Secretary, Mr. B. Garvey. 

 The Chairman commenced the miscellaneous business by reading the fol- 

 lowing interesting" summary of the latest scientific news: 



Salts of Thallium Poisonous. 



The new metal, thallium, is found to be more poisonous than lead. The 

 carbonate and sulphate thallium have been given, with fatal effects, to 

 fowls, dogs and rabbits. 



Corn from Buried Pompeii. 



M. DeLuca has analysed some uiiground corn found in a bakery, recently 

 opened in Pompeii. The grains had, for 1,800 years, kept their original 

 form, but M'cre of a brownish-black color; they retained the nitrogen and 

 nearly all the carbon usually found in corn, but all traces of starch, gluten, 

 sugar and fatty matter were lost. 



Anti-adipose. 



Bromide of ammonia, according to the report of Dr. C, D, Gibb, taken 

 in very small doses for a long time, acts with greater certainty than any 

 other known substance in causing an absorption of fat and diminishing the 

 ■weight of the human body. 



Why the Stomach is not Digested. 



The old answer to the question, why the secretions of the stomach do 

 not act upon the inner coats, was the resisting power of " the living prin- 

 Tciple;" but since vital force has been admitted to be the result of forces 

 constantly generated in conformity to natural laws, a more direct cause for 

 the protection of the stomach itself is demanded. The resisting power 

 does not exist in the epithelial lining, for where a portion of the mucous 

 membrane has been removed, food will afterward be digested without the 

 elightest sign of attack being made upon the inner coats of the stomach. 

 Dr. Davy refers the immunity observed to the circulation of an alkaline 

 current of blood within the walls of the organ, the effect of which is to 

 destroy the solvent properties of the digestive fluid by neutralizing its 

 acidity. 



Salts in Rain Water. 



In a memoir to the French Academy of Science on rain water, Mr. Robi- 

 net states that he has made 118 observations during the last year and a 

 half on the water falling in Paris. 



He found the water more or less charged with saline matter, principally 

 sulphate of lime, which decreased in quantity as the rain continued. Ni- 

 trate of silver dissolved in it, gave, in time, various shades of red, and 

 formed a reddish deposit which contained silver. The exact nature of the 

 substance which produced the phenomena of coloration is unknown. 



Chemical Action of the Sun's Rays. 



Dr. Phipson has observed that a solution of sulphate of molybdic acid or 

 molybdic ammonia, with excess of sulphuric acid, when exposed to the 



