696 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Prussia, where it originated in consequence of the first-infected person 

 having eaten a kind of sausage not thoroughly cook<jd. It was made of 

 pork which contained the microscopic worm known as trichina spiralis. 

 These trichinae make their way through the lining of the human intestines 

 and are found in immense numbers in the muscles. Dr. Miiller states that 

 when he was called to the town to see a patient, eighteen or twenty persons 

 had died, and eighty more were afflicted with all the symptoms of tricliinge 

 fever. The symptoms of the disease correspond with those of the typhus, 

 with the addition of an enlargement of the spleen and intense pain in the 

 muscles, particularly in the calf of the leg. On examining small portions 

 of muscle from living patients with the microscope, crowds of these 

 trichinse could be seen. Picric acid was administered without success. 

 Leuckart states that trichiufe are not killed in pork by salting or freezing 

 it, nor on its becoming putrid. Imperfect smoking and imperfect cooking 

 of the pork will not destroy them. Their complete destruction is only 

 effected when every portion of pork has been raised to a temperature above 

 the boiling point. .^ 



The Lalande Prize. 



The prize of the French Academj^ which, it will be remembered, was 

 last year awarded to Alvah Clark, of Cambridge, Mass., has this year been 

 given to M. Chacornac, for his astronomical observations. He has discov- 

 ered seven small planets altogether, and first reported to the academy the 

 curious phenomenon of a variable nebula in the constellation Taurus. 



Spontaneous Generation. 



This question, which has long been discussed in the French Academy, 

 is soon to be settled. M. Pasteur and M. Pouchet, the leading disputants, 

 are to repeat their experiments before a committee of prominent members, 

 whose decision shall be regarded as final. 



Albumen Transformation. 



M. Schutzurbergen has reported to the academy experiments which prove 

 that coagulated albumen and casein may be transformed by dialysis into 

 a soluble albumen coagulable by heat. 



A Great Gun. 



An iron gun has just been successfully cast at the Fort Pitt foundery, 

 and cooled on the Rodman plan of circulating cold water in the core, the 

 mold being set perpendicularly. 170,000 pounds of iron was melted for 

 this purpose in three furnaces, and the pouring was completed in twenty- 

 two minutes. 



The following is a statement of the dimensions : 



Weight of gun in the rough 160,000 lb. 



Weight when finished 112,000 lb. 



Total length, finished 20 ft. 4 in. 



Length of bore 1 7 ft. 6 in. 



Diameter of bore 20 inch. _ 



Maximum diameter of gun 5 ft. 3 in. 



Minimum diameter 2 ft. 10 in. 



