186 Scientific Intelligence. 



6. Observations on the influence of Cold on JVew-born Children.— 

 Dr. Trevisan has been making researches in Italy, principally at 

 Castle Franco, analogous to those of M. M. Villerrai, and Milne Ed- 

 wards, in France. The conclusions at which he arrives, are : — In 

 Italy, of one hundred Infants born in December, January, and Feb- 

 ruary, sixty six died in the first month, fifteen more in the course of 

 the year, and nineteen survived ; of one hundred born in spring, forty 

 eight survive the first year ; of one hundred born in summer, eighty 

 three survive the first year ; of one hundred born in autumn, fifty 

 eight survive the first twelve months. He attributes this mortality of 

 the infants solely to the practice of exposing them to cold air a few 

 days after their birth, for tlie purpose of having them baptized at the 

 church. As well as M. M. Milne, Edwards, and Villermi, Dr. Tre- 

 visan calls the attention of the ecclesiastical authority to measures 

 suited to put a stop to such disasters, without violating the precepts 

 or practices of rehgion. — Idem. 



7. Mortality among Leeches during storms. (Fer. Bull.) — That 

 atmospheric changes have a remarkable influence upon leeches, is a 

 well established fact. In 1825, M. Derheims, of St. Omer, ascribes 

 the almost sudden death of them, at the approach of, or during 

 storms, to the coagulation of the blood of these creatures, caused by 

 the impression of the atmospheric electricity. This opinion, which 

 at that time was the result of theory, he confirmed in the month of 

 March last, by direct experiment. — Idem. 



8. Ossification of the Vitreous Humor. (La Clinique.) — M. 

 Krekn has lately met vdth that rare case, the ossification of the vitre- 

 ous humor of the eye. It occurred in a man seventy years old, who 

 died of gastritis ; the preparation is placed in the Strasburgh Muse- 

 um. The left eye was healthy, but the right presented the following 

 appearance : — The globe was diminished in size, had lost its spheroi- 

 dal figure, and presented the appearance of four wrinkles or furrows, 

 corresponding with the insertion of the recti muscles. It was heavy 

 and hard. When a horizontal section was made from behind forward, 

 the schlerotic was found to be very thick, particularly at its posterior 

 part, near the entrance of the optic nerve ; the instrument was soon 

 arrested by a hard body, filling the whole space of the eyeball behind 

 the crystalline lens, and consequently occupying the place of the 

 vitreous humor. Immediately within the schlerotic was the choroidc 



