Fkbruary 8, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



1G5 



niinution in the (luantity of sugar wiis due 

 to the dooom posit ion of this substance by 

 the diphtheria batillus, with the production 

 of lactic acid. Tlic diphtheria bacilli only 

 remained alive in the udder for a short 

 time — from four to five days — and their 

 number steadily diminished. Sulx-utaneous 

 injections of cultures of the diphtheria bacil- 

 lus in the cow produced a serious fever, with 

 lo.><s of appetite, etc.. but there was no irri- 

 tation on the udder, the milk did not change 

 iu its appearance and contained neither dij)h- 

 theria bacilli nor the toxins due to these. 



C-OXSrSIPTION OF WIXE AND BEER IN DIFFER- 

 ENT COUNTRIES. 



During the years 1886-90 the mean an- 

 nual consumption of wine, stated as num- 

 ber of liti-es per head of population, was, 

 in Spaiu, 11.5; in Greece, 100. .3; in Bul- 

 garia. 104.2: in Portugal, 95.6: in Italy. 

 95.2: in France, 94.4; in Switzerland, 60.7: 

 in Roumania, 51.6: in Servia,35.0: in Ger- 

 many, 5.7: in Belgium, 3.2; in Holland, 2.2: 

 and in Great Britain and Ireland. 1.7. 



In 1890 a.verage consumption of l)eer. 

 stated as number of litres per head of popu- 

 lation, was, in Belgium, 177.5; in Great 

 Britain and Ireland, 136.2; in Germany, 

 105.8: in Denmark, 102.9; in the United 

 States, 58.0; in Switzerland, 40.0: in Xoi"- 

 way, 37.5; in Holland, 34.(>: in France, 

 22.5: and in Italy. 0.9. (Bulletin de I ' Lut. 

 infernaf. de Statistique. VII. 2." Sive. 1894. 

 p. 309.) 



m.\(:netic waves. 



At a late meeting of the Mathcmatico- 

 Pliysical Club in Cambridge, Mass., Profes- 

 sor Dolbear showed that magnetic waves 

 prtKluced by the vibrations of a magnet 

 making two thousand vibrations per second 

 could easily be heard by listening to a mag- 

 netic teleplione held in the neighborhood 

 without any emploj'ment of its coil. The 

 inductive action of the waves upon the mag- 

 net of the telephone being direct instead of 



being fii-st transformed into an electric cur- 

 rent as in the common way of using it. 

 Two sympathetic tuning fork.s may, if mag- 

 netized, react in the same way as they will 

 from sound vibrations and one ijiake the 

 other vibrate through a thick wall, thus 

 showing that such walls are transparent to 

 magnetic waves. The reactions show that 

 the periodic change of form due to vibra- 

 tion changes the strength of the magnetic 

 field at the same rate. A few turns of wire 

 about the bend of a U magnet maj* have 

 the ends fastened to a telephone circuit, 

 when, if the magnet be struck so as to pro- 

 duce a sound, it will give so loud a sound 

 in the telephone as to probably surprise 

 one who has not tried the experiment 

 before. 



ANATOMY. 



The Bibliographie Anatomlque begins its 

 third year with the announcement of in- 

 creased success. It is to be enlarged to 

 make room for a greater number of original 

 articles, and at the same time the subscrip- 

 tion is to be raised from seven and a-half to 

 ten francs. This excellent publication gives 

 a current classified list of all anatomical ai-- 

 ticles i)ublished iu French, and difiers from 

 other similar journals in adding brief re- 

 sumes of all the more important articles. 

 In practice it covei-s (juite thoroughly the 

 field of vertebrate morphology, and it may 

 therefore be recouunended for the support 

 of American investigator.s. 



CARNIVOROUS PLjVNTS. 



Profes-sor Tuom.\s Meeuan, in an article 

 on Darlingtonia Califoniica in the January 

 issue of Meehan'.< Monthly, notes that the 

 so-called carnivorous plants are just as able 

 to get their food from the earth as other 

 plants do, and that the animal food which 

 they undoubtedly consume through their 

 foliage can only be looked upon as a gas- 

 tronomic luxury in no way to be classed 

 among the necessaries of life. 



