536 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII. , No. 20! 



had but one lung, the left. The right was rudi- 

 mentary, and had never been inflated. The heart 

 was also malformed, having but one auricle and 

 one ventricle, both being the left. 



— The New YorJc medical record has the follow- 

 ing, not very flattering account of the family of 

 the great Caesar : " In the C laud ian- Julian family, 

 beginning with Julius Caesar himself, and ending 

 with Nero, we have an almost imbroken line of 

 neuroses. Caesar himself was epileptic ; but prob- 

 ably the disease developed late in life, from ex- 

 posure and excesses, and did not much affect his 

 health. Augustus, his grand-nephew, had, it is be- 

 lieved, writer's cramp. Julia, his daughter, seems 

 to have been little more than a nymphomaniac ; 

 she had an imbecile son. Tiberius was a man 

 naturally heartless, cruel, and licentious ; in his 

 later years he seems to have lost all moral sense, 

 and illustrated the most shameless sensibility 

 and cruelty. Caligula, reputed great-grandson of 

 Augustus, was epileptic as a boy, badly formed 

 and weak-minded as a man. He stuttered, was 

 insomnious, and apparently had hallucinations. 

 Claudius was also weak-minded, timid, and credu- 

 lous, with unsteady gait, weak knees, shaking 

 head, and dribbling lips." 



— In speaking of the preservation of dead 

 bodies, Oaillard's medical monthly says that Ed- 

 ward I., who died in 1307, was found not decayed 

 four hundred and sixty-three years subsequently. 

 The flesh on the face was a little wasted, but not 

 putrid. The body of Canute, who died in 1017, 

 was found fresh in 1766. Those of William the 

 Conqueror and his wife were perfect in 1522. In 

 1569 three Roman soldiers, in the dress of their 

 country, fully equipped with arms, were dug out 

 of a peat-mass near Aberdeen. They were quite 

 fresh and plump after a lapse of about fifteen hun- 

 dred years. In 1717 the bodies of Lady Kilsyth 

 and her infant were embalmed. In 1796 they 

 were found as perfect as in the hour they were 

 embalmed. Every feature and limb was full. 

 The infant's features were as composed as if he 

 had only been asleep for eighty years. His color 

 was as fresh and his flesh as plump and full as in 

 the perfect glow of health. The smile of infancy 

 and innocency was on his lips. At a little distance 

 it was diiTficult to distinguish whether Lady 

 Kilsyth was alive or dead. 



— The British schooner Souvenir (Captain 

 Fraser) reports to the U. S. hydrographic office 

 that they encountered a very severe electric storm 

 on the 24th of November, off Block Island. A. 

 heavy gale was blowing from south-west to west. 

 There was terrific squalls with remarkably bril- 

 liant lightning and tremendous thunder, and tor- 



rents of rain. The vessel was completely covered 

 with St. Elmo's fire, and the sea was full of phos- 

 phorescence. The compasses and barometer were 

 very greatly affected, the former varying from one 

 to three points either way, and the mercury in the 

 latter trembling and ' pumping ' violently. 



— During the annual meeting of the American 

 society of microscopists at Chautauqua, N.Y., 

 last August, some of the members under charge 

 of the ' working session committee,' collected, by 

 means of a surface-net, quite a number of fresh- 

 water forms from the lake. The Crustacea found 

 included, of the Copepoda, two species of Diapto- 

 mus, two of Cyclops, and one each of Episcmra 

 and Ergasilus ; of the Cladocera, there were found 

 Daphnella brachyura (Lievin), Daphnia ceder- 

 stromii (Schoedler), Chydorus sphaericus (O. Fr. 

 MuUer), Leptodora hyalina (Lilljeborg) ; also Ceri- 

 odaphnia and Bosraina. The Crustacea were put 

 in the hands of Mr. C. S. Fellows for identifi- 

 cation, who will report at the next meeting of the 

 association. 



— The Brazilian government has appropriated 

 ten thousand dollars for an agricultural experi- 

 ment-station, aud inquiries are being made abroad 

 for a competent specialist to take charge of it. 

 There is an agricultural school near Bahia, in 

 charge of Dr. F. M. Draenert, a German, but thus 

 far there are no experiment-stations in the empire. 



— Despatches from Buenos Ayres state that 

 cholera is on the increase there. Seventeen new 

 cases and nine deaths were reported in the city in 

 one day. In Rosario thu-ty-four new cases and 

 twenty-five deaths occurred, and at Cordova 

 twelve cases and five deaths. 



— A case of actinomycosis is said to exist in 

 Springfield, 111., in the person of a young lady 

 employed in a manufacturing establishment in 

 that place. Its common name is ' lump-jaw,' and 

 appears as a tumor of the jaw. Although afl'ect- 

 ing cattle and swine, it very rarely attacks human 

 beings. This is certainly true for this country, 

 although thirty cases are said to have occurred in 

 Germany in four years. It is a disease caused by 

 a vegetable parasite, the actinomycis or ray-fun- 

 gus. Some place this parasite among the Schizo- 

 mycetes, others among the fungi. The disease 

 may also appear in the lungs and in the intestines. 

 The germs are supposed to enter the jaw through 

 decayed teeth or the tonsils, and the resulting 

 tumor shows itself at the angle of the jaw. 



— The nineteenth annual meeting of the Kan- 

 sas academy of science was held at Emporia, Kan., 

 Nov. 17, 18, and 19. The welcoming address was 

 given by Pres. A. R. Taylor of the State normal 



