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SCWJS^CE. 



[Vol. Vlll., No. 179 



are preparing their Ucence-es-sciences : the other 

 visitors are either licentiates who are preparing 

 their doctorate theses, or doctors who are pursuing 

 new researches. The fauna is very rich, and the 

 species are numerous. The tides being very high, 

 there is a good deal to be found at low water, 

 under the rocks, or in the pools. The laboratory 

 is open from May to October. 



In 1881, Professor de Lacaze-Duthiers began 

 forming another laboratory, a winter one, on the 

 Mediterranean coast. This is the laboratory Arago 

 of Banyuls, close to the Spanish frontier. The 

 state had little to do with the establishment of this 

 laboratory : Professor de Lacaze-Duthiers preferred 

 asking money right and left, of the municipal 

 boards, of the towns of Perpignan, Banyuls, etc., 

 and succeeded in getting money enough to build 

 a very commodious laboratory in a very short 

 time. Having been an inmate of this laboratory 

 during a whole winter season, — the Banyuls 

 laboratory is open from November to June, — I 

 am qualified to speak of it ; and it must be said 

 that the organization is a very good one. 



As there is no tide in the Mediterranean, the 

 animals are fetched by two or three boats belong- 

 ing to the laboratory : they are furnished with all 

 the necessary implements, and have a crew of 

 four men. Those of Roscoflf need only two or 

 three sailors. 



At Banyuls the persons who work in the labo- 

 ratory do not live in it : each has his working- 

 room, but one must lodge and board in the village, 

 where good enough accommodations can be found. 

 I had there a whole house, with accommodations 

 for five persons, at the rate of twelve dollars a 

 month. Living is cheap ; and I can say from 

 personal experience, that, for a biological student, 

 nothing can be pleasanter than a season at Ban- 

 yuls, where the climate is generally fine, and the 

 scenery very pretty, looking out on the blue Medi- 

 terranean. 



The laboratory comprises an aquarium, with 

 tanks full of pretty and curious specimens of ma- 

 rine life, a library, a collection of preserved speci- 

 mens, and accommodations for twenty-five per- 

 sons. There are three boats and one life-preserver. 

 Although the fauna is not as rich as it is in Ros- 

 coff, the animals are numerous. The Medusae, 

 Siphonophora. and many other Coelenterata are 

 especially pretty, and on some days are to be 

 found in enormous numbers. The laboratory of 

 Banyuls is especially reserved for students who 

 have already taken their degree of licentiate, and 

 are preparing a thesis, or for scientists who wish 

 to study some zoological questions ; but it is not 

 open to beginners, to persons who have not yet 

 had practical experience in zoology. 



After havmg founded his first laboratory, that 

 of Roscoff, Professor de Lacaze-Duthiers founded, 

 in 1872, his Archives de zoologie experimentale et 

 generale, so as to be able to publish the works of 

 his pupils and of the persons who come to his lab- 

 oratories. This paper has succeeded so well, that 

 it is at present overcrowded, and cannot accept all 

 that is proposed for publication. 



These results show that Professor de Lacaze- 

 Duthiers's fu-st seventeen years in the Sorbonne 

 have been very useful to zoology, especially if one 

 considers the number of papers he has published, 

 and the number of pupils he has had, and has 

 yet. 



In consequence of Milne-Edwards"s death. Pro- 

 fessor de Lacaze-Duthiers has taken the professor- 

 ship of comparative anatomy: that of zoology has 

 been given to one of his best pupils, M. Delage. It 

 is to be hoped that M. de Lacaze-Duthiers will be 

 able to continue a long time making himself use- 

 ful to science. The students, on hearing his ad- 

 dress some days ago concerning his past worJc, all 

 concurred in this feeling, and made it known by 

 very liberal and hearty cheers. 



In one of my last letters I spoke about the great 

 services rendered by photography in the recent 

 caving-in of a quarry near Perigueux. MM. Lang- 

 lois and Siemens have continued taking photo- 

 graphs of the yet buried victims, and have dis- 

 closed new facts. The photographs, taken in the 

 way I have already explained, show three corpses, 

 of which one was immediately and easily recog- 

 nized ; another is supposed to be a man who was 

 in the qviarry at the time of the accident ; the 

 third is unknown. These photographs not only 

 show all the tools and implements the victims had 

 with them, such as saws, planks of wood, a cart, 

 etc., but they also show that the unfortunate men 

 must have lived some time, since one of them, 

 who always wore short-cut hair, is seen on the 

 photograph to have very long locks. It is certain 

 that these men lived some time, and that the 

 smoke perceived some days after the accident was 

 due to their having built a fire to warm them- 

 selves or to do some cooking. The public feeling 

 is very much excited against the directors of the 

 quarry for not having earnestly tried to get at the 

 victim when it might still have been useful. 



At the last meeting of the Societe de psychologic 

 physiologique a good many strange facts were 

 made known by different persons, concerning 

 instances of somnambuhc sleep induced at a dis- 

 tance. It would seem that certain persons are 

 able to induce sleep in a subject, Madame B., by 

 pure mental operation, by willing it, at a distance 

 of some hundred yards. The fact is a very inter- 

 esting one ; but it seems that it would be better, 



