SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. ■ 95 



impossible to run without immediately stopping to take breath, the oppression is 

 So acute as to produce fainting. The cause is attributed to the diluted state of 

 the air, which does not permit of a sufficiency of oxygen being absorbed to meet 

 the expenditure of muscular force. But how do the natives of the elevated pla- 

 teaux escape? Why does the oxygen enter in their blood in sufficient quantity to 

 augment combustion and produce the requisite strength ? Perhaps their blood is 

 composed a little different from ours, and capable of absorbing, in a given time, 

 more oxygen than the inhabitants of the plain. To solve the question, M. Paul 

 Bert demanded that samples of the blood of animals normally living more than 

 4,400 yards above the level of the sea, be sent to him for examination. He re- 

 ceived some, of several species of animals, and in a very putrified state, but M. 

 Jolyet has demonstrated that blood in that condition absorbs just as much oxygen 

 as when fresh. 



In France, the blood of herbivorous animals absorbs from four to five per 

 cent cubic inches of oxygen, and that of man six per cent ; now in the Cordilleras, 

 the blood of the lama absorbs nine cubic inches, the vigoque, seven and one-half, 

 the alpaca, seven; the guinea-pig, six; the hen, seven and one-half; the domestic 

 pig, nine, and the sheep, seven per cent. These results would indicate greater 

 absorptive power on the part of the local animals; but it has yet to be shown, 

 that such utilize the oxygen as we do, and that their weight of blood is the same. 



The Academy of Science has been called upon to give an opinion upon the 

 subject of quarantines and particularly of that in connection with the Suez Canal. 

 M. de Lesseps complains bitterly of such restrictions, as simply fettering com- 

 merce, and failing to protect public health. Dr. Tholozan, physician to the Shah 

 of Persia, and author of authoritative works on oriental cholera and plagues, is an 

 opponent of quarantines, which no nation besides, practices alike. M. Bonley, 

 the head inspector of veterinary colleges in France, asserted that since these sani- 

 tary restrictions were imposed on Egypt, either for pilgrims or ships passing 

 through her territory, Europe has been spared from the periodical plague of 

 cholera. 



The Academy has named a commission to study the climatic changes ex- 

 perienced in France where winter tends to be -merged into spring. M. Blarier 

 attributes the change to an alteration in the direction of the Gulf stream, which 

 has already destroyed the sardine fisheries on the coast of Britany. 



The nervous system continues to attract much popular, as well as scientific, 

 attention. Well studied, the subject is certainly calculated, as Brown Sequard 

 has shown, to throw much light on ecstacy, hypnotism and kindred phenomena. 

 The Brothers Weber have shown that the nerves do not always act as " exciters," 

 but in addition, as "breaks " or "checks." The pneumo -gastric nerve, if it be 

 irritated, can stop the beatings of the heart ; profound moral emotion can pre- 

 vent the contraction of the muscles, so that the arms fall powerless; a rapid im- 

 pression on the skin can bring about the stoppage of respiration : these actions 



