March 17, 1870| 
THE infallibility of photographic reproductions, says the 
Photographic Fournal, cannot be prized too highly. In the copy- 
ing of elaborate tabular forms, containing numerous figures and 
intricate calculations, the aid of the camera is sometimes of the 
greatest importance. To obtain an exact and reliable copy of a 
complex document of this description by clerical means involves 
much time and labour, beyond the chance and risk of error ; but 
with the camera a reproduction may be secured in a couple of 
hours, in which all the figures are exact, the totals correct, the 
calculations checked, the words spelt right, and to which the 
observation ‘‘ certified a true copy” may be appended without 
hesitation. 
Tue Vicar of Cushendun, county Antrim, communicates the 
following to Science Gossip :—‘‘ The following incident was told 
me the other day by a resident, who vouches for the truth of 
it, and which happened close to his residence in Cushendun, 
county Antrim. A rat, nearly white with age, and blind, was 
frequently seen led to the water by a young rat, by means of 
a straw, of which the old rat held one end and the young 
rat the other. This incident corroborates a similar statement 
given by Jesse in his ‘Gleanings of Natural History.’” 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
THE new number of the Zeitschrift ftir Biologie (VI. i.) contains 
an interesting paper by Subbotin ‘‘ On the Physiology of Fats.” 
Towards an answer to the question—Is there in the animal 
organism any direct passage of fat from the alimentary canal to 
the cells of adipose tissue? a lean dog was fed for a month on 
meat, spermaceti, and common fat. Of the 1,000 grms. of sperma- 
ceti swallowed, Soo, at least, were absorbed; but the merest 
trace only of spermaceti could be found in the fatty tissue of the 
body at the close of the experiment. Spermaceti, therefore, 
though absorbed and consumed in the economy, is not stored 
up unchanged. Hence there is a presumption that the same is the 
case with other fats (though it is obvious that many possible 
events might negative the presumption). Towards solving the 
further question—Are fats formed in the body out of proteids? a 
dog reduced to the utmost leanness was fed on leanest meat and 
palm oil (palmitin and olein) for twenty-five days, during which 
he gained three kilos in weight. The fat of the body was, at 
the close, found to contain 139 per cent. of stearin, though none 
had been taken. A very considerable quantity of stearin had 
therefore been formed inthe body. A very lean dog was fed for 
six weeks on leanest meat, and a soda soap made with palmitic 
and stearic acids only. At the end of the experiment, the dog 
having gained over three kilos in weight, the fat of the body was 
found to consist of 53°6 per cent. palmitin, 13°4 per cent. stearin, 
and 33 per cent. olein. A large quantity of olein had therefore 
been formed in this case. Butif olein was thus formed, possibly 
~ the palmitin and stearin were likewise formed from proteids, 
and not by synthesis of the fatty acids with the glycerin of the 
economy. Subbotin further points out that olein is more abun- 
dant in the sub-cutaneous than in the deep-seated fat, possibly on 
account of a less energetic transformation of proteids in the 
cooler surface regions. So also in cold-blooded animals the fat 
is proportionally richer in olein.—The same number contains a 
long paper by Vierordt, in which that distinguished physiologist 
continues his researches on the connection between the delicacy 
of touch and mobility of any part of the body. In this memoir 
he confines his attention to the arm from the shoulder downwards, 
working upon data provided by his pupils Kottenkamp and 
Ullrich, who have made a study of the sense of touch in all 
parts of the arm, to a much greater extent and with much fuller 
detail than did Weber, and whose elaborate results are given in a 
paper immediately preceding Vierordt’s. In the arm Vierordt 
finds striking illustrations of his hypothesis that the delicacy of 
touch in any point in a region of the body which is moved as a 
whole, is proportional to the distance of the point from the centre 
of movement of the region. There are also hygienic papers 
by Pettenkofer and others on the cholera epidemic of 1865 at 
Gibraltar, and typhus and drinking water at the barracks at 
Neustift. 
The Yournal of Botany, New Series, No. 1 (double number 
for January and February, 1870), contains the following articles: 
IVE TD OFLLE 
513 
—‘‘ Suggestions on the ‘Species’ question as regards Rubus,” 
by the Hon. J. B. Leicester Warren ; ‘‘ Notes on Quercus Wal- 
lichiana Lindl,” by Dr. Hance; ‘‘ Descriptions of four new 
Chinese Crassulacee,” by Dr. Hance; an interesting and impor- 
tant ‘‘ Review of the contributions to Fossil Botany, published 
in Britain in 1869,” by Mr. Carruthers, containing references to 
all papers on vegetable palazontology published in Britain during 
that period, with observations and a synopsis of the genera and 
species described in them. ‘‘ Cinchona cultivation in, Bengal,” 
being an official report from Mr, C, B. Clarke, officiating super- 
intendent of the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, and in charge of 
the Cinchona cultivation in Bengal, for the year ending March 
31, 1869. It appears from this report that during the year the 
number of plants of Cinchona at the Darjeeling Government 
plantations was increased by 673,654, making a total (including 
those in private plantations) of upwards of three million plants, 
covering 965 acres. By far the larger number of plants are of 
the species C. officinalis and succirubra, with a few of C. Calisaya 
and micrantha, C. Pahudiana being considered worthless. The 
tallest plant of C. seccirubra is 19 feet high, and of C. officinalis 
11} feet. There is besides a small plantation of C. suecirubra 
at Nunklow, in the Khasia Hills. ‘‘ Review of the genus /Va7- 
cissus,” by Mr. J. G. Baker. An abridgment and translation by 
Mr. A. W. Bennett of Van Horen’s paper in the Bulletin de la 
Soc. Roy. de Bot. de Belgigue, ‘On the hibernation of Lemnacez,” 
showing the production in several species of duck-weed of sub- 
merged leaves adapted to live through the winter. ‘The 
genus Ascobolus,” by M. Boudier, from the Annales des Sctences 
Naturelles, Reviews of books, proceedings of societies, and 
shorter articles. 
The Geological Magazine for the present month (No. 69) opens 
with an article by the editor on the Liassic Pterodactyle 
(Dimorphodon) as described by Professor Owen in the volume 
of memoirs just published by the Palzontographical Society. 
The most important paper in the number is one by Mr. Poulett 
Serope, ‘On the character and composition of lavas,” and next 
to this, in general interest, two articles on “Faults in Strata,” 
by Mr. W. T. Blandford and Mr. G. H. Kinahan.—Two of the 
remaining papers are by lady geologists, namely, a description 
of the Pleistocene deposits of North Shropshire, by Miss 
Charlotte Eyton, and a notice of vegetable fossils in the Water 
Blain iron mines in South Cumberland.—A paper on ‘‘’The 
Water-bearing Strata in the neighbourhood of Norwich,” by 
Messrs. Taylor and Morant, contains some remarks upon sand- 
pipes in the chalk ; and the final article is the conclusion of Mr. 
Davies’ paper ‘‘On the Millstone Grit of the North Wales 
Border.’ —The usual notices of memoirs, reports of proceedings, 
letters, and miscellaneous intelligence make up the rest of the 
contents, 
Revue des Cours Scientifigues, March 8.—This number con- 
tains a report of the congress of German naturalists and medical 
men at Innspruck; a paper on ‘‘ Alsace during the Tertiary 
period,” read by M. Delbos at the Mulhouse Conferences; a 
review of M. Gréhant’s researches on the excretion of urea and 
on the respiration of fish, also a fifth list of subscribers to the 
Sars fund. 
The Revue des Cours Scientifiques for the 12th inst., contains 
an admirable lecture by M. Wolf, of the Paris Observatory, on 
the Figure of the Earth, and a translation of Dr. Tyndall’s 
lecture on Dust and Disease. 
Moniteur Scientifique, February £5.—This number con- 
tains several abstracts of papers on dyeing materials, by Messrs. 
Hofmann, Martius, and Weidel.—A paper descriptive of the 
peat at Avigliana, near Turin, by MM. Kopp and Fino, shows 
that, in the air-dried state, its efficacy as fuel is little more 
than one-fourth that of coke.—In a paper by M. Fremy on 
nitrous acid, he points out the production of nitrous oxide by 
the reaction of nitrous acid with sulphurous acid, regarding this 
as one of the causes of loss in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, 
when there is an excess of sulphurous acid in the chambers. 
In the reaction of nitric acid with nascent hydrogen, he has 
ascertained the production of another substance besides nitrous 
acid and ammonia. By means of sodium amalgam he obtained 
it in large quantity but not sufficient for complete examination. 
Arsenious acid and arsenites give, with sodium amalgam, a 
similar product. Both the nitrogen and arsenic compounds are 
characterised by a remarkable reducing power. M, Fremy is 
continuing his examination of the subject. 
