FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. 563 



-ance augments the infirmity, especialh' the day succeed iug drinking. The 

 ungraceful movement of the eyes of Albinos, M. Dransart believes, is to be 

 ■attributed to a poverty of blood, and he connects them with miners, who 

 •are subject to ansemia. 



All is not yet cleared up as to the physiological role of the spleen ; it is 

 now generally supposed to take an active part in the constitution of the 

 blood, serving too as a kind of reservoir; it also belongs to that class of 

 glands which do not pour their secretions outside of their organs. It can 

 be removed from the sj^stem without producing any fatal consequences ; 

 ■dogs experience no difference in point of health when their spleen is ex- 

 tracted, and the operation, it is stated, j)romotes the fattening of stock 

 destined for the butcher. Dogs thus oi)erated upon die very suddenly, 

 and apparently from no specific cause. Once removed, the spleen cannot 

 be reproduced ; salamanders can replace some organs if destroyed. M. 

 '■Schiff, states that in the case of animals whose spleen has been removed, the 

 white predominates over the red globules of blood, as in the the case of 

 povert}" of the latter. He also observed the spleen when experimenting 

 on dogs, secreting a special ferment- which, mixing with the pancreatic 

 juice, imparted marked aid to 'the process of digestion. 



Boiler explosions are frequent, owing to incrustations forming on the 

 plates. M. Heret, a well known chemist, has emploj'ed lime-water to fix or 

 neutralize the fatty acids introduced by the steam from the greasing of 

 the cylindrical boxes; these form a kind of soap in the water destined to 

 feed the boilers. These fatty acids attack the sides of the boiler, producing 

 enormous crusts of black soapy, ferruginous matter ; these isolate the metal 

 from the water, and hence it becomes dangerously heated. By passing a so- 

 lution of lime into the feed water, the calcarous soap becomes insoluble, and 

 the glycerine rendered free_ exercises no action on the metal. Tlie process 

 has been now adopted in the French nav}'. 



It has been defined, that man is the onl}- animal which laughs ; Graves 

 has stated he is the only animal that cooks, and indeed humanity may be 

 •said to'be divided into two epochs, that preceding, and following, the dis- 

 •covery of cookery. Pre-historic man, resembled savages of the present 

 day, whether on the continent of America, in Australia, or Polynesia, 

 where fish, animals, and loathsome insects are eaten raw, as a kind of 

 change from fruits. Man was not as some savants allege, originally a veg- 

 etarian ; the latter is perhaps an artificial kind of alimentation. Brahmins 

 only became frugiferous when agriculture put within their reach that kind 

 of food. Vegetables are easily consumed by birds and cattle, because they 

 have gizzards and paunches — appropriate organs, but wanting to man; 

 hence, the necessity of the culinary art to make rice and millet digestible. 

 But to cook, it was essential to have fire, and for a long time humanity was 



