November 19, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



45 3^. 



Munich, it would appear that gold-beater's skia is 

 a EQUch better dialyzer than parchment paper, so 

 extensively employed for that purpose in chemi- 

 cal and other laboratories. Taking gold-beater's 

 skin as the unit, Zott ascribes the following figures 

 of effectiveness to the substances named : gold- 

 beater's skin, 1 ; sow-bladder, 0.7 ; parchment 

 paper, 0.5 ; leather 2 mm. thick, 0.02 ; caoutchouc, 

 0.001. Porous earthenware cells, employed as 

 dialyzers, are but one-sixtieth as effective as gold- 

 beater's skin. 



— T. B. Stowell, Ph.D., in a paper read before 

 the American philosophical society, has given in a 

 most concise and thorough manner the anatomy 

 of the trigeminous nerve of the domestic cat. Dr. 

 Stowell has in tliis contribution to comparative 

 neurology cleared tip many poiiits which have 

 hitherto been obscure, and has thus indirectly 

 been of great service to students of human physi- 

 ology. His paper on the vagus nerve in the same 

 animal, read before the same society some years 

 ago, was equally valuable, and together they will 

 have an important bearing on the future of neu- 

 rological science. 



— Professor Vogel calls attention to the effect 

 upon plants of growing them under unnatural con- 

 ditions. He states the hemlock does not produce 

 Conine in Scotland, and that the cinchona plants 

 will not yield quinine when grown in hot-houses. 

 He finds that tannin is produced in greatest quan- 

 tity in those which have had a full supply of 

 direct sunlight. 



— Dr. Shoemaker of Philadelphia records in the 

 Therapeutic gazette his experiences under the in- 

 fluence of ether. In the first period, which was 

 brief and without excitement, he was able to ask 

 a rational question about the sheet with which he 

 was to be covered ; but immediately thereupon 

 control over the vocal apparatus was lost. Of this 

 he was conscious. Then came the second or un- 

 conscious period. Tluroughout this time there was 

 present the single impression of "two endless 

 parallel lines in swift longitudinal motion, each 

 line being deflected at a certain point to form a 

 wave." All this was set on a misty background, 

 showing little of the lines at once, though the 

 lower line was clearly moving from left to right. 

 The lower line gave ascending waves, which inter- 

 sected with the descending waves of the upper 

 line. There was also a low but distinct, constant 

 whir, as if due to the running lines. These lines 

 occupied the whole mental field. There were no 

 visions, no dreams of past experiences, not even a 

 conception as to what being it was that was re- 

 garding the two lines, or that there was any such 



being. All trace of personality was gone. Then 

 the lines began to move irregularly ; the patient 

 drew a deep breath ; it dawned upon him that he 

 was looking at the lines, and the third period (of 

 recovery) was begun. Then came, in an order 

 which could not be remembered, a series of curious 

 impressions. He felt that he had glimpsed the 

 essential nature of human existence. The lines 

 were the existence of the soul, of his soul ; and 

 the waves were his animal life, and were thus a 

 temporary modification of a primary condition. 

 The idea was felt to be new and important, and 

 ought by all means to be remembered. But the 

 attempt was in vain ; there was a spiritual power 

 controlling him and preventing it. Though an 

 unimaginative man, it took days to shake off the 

 feeling that another phase of existence had been 

 revealed. 



— The accompanying cut illustrates a meteoro- 

 logical observatory for automatic instruments,, 

 erected by Mr. W. H. Childs last May on Mount 



Wantastiquet, over the eastern side of the Con- 

 necticut River, opposite Brattleboro', Vt. It is- 

 1,060 feet above the river, or about 1,500 feet 



