SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. ' ' 287 



trary to the observed laws of gravitation. Comets, he thinks, are bodies which 

 become highly electrified on approaching the sun; their substance becomes dif- 

 fused, producing the phenomenon upon space, and opposite to the sun, of great 

 luminous excitability, so as to extend millions upon millions of leagues but with- 

 out involving any loss of the comet's substance. The same authority again ex- 

 pounds his views on the habitability of planets. Our planet, remarks M. Flam- 

 marion, resembles a cup, too small to contain life, which manifests itself in all 

 imaginable and unimaginable conditions, even developing to its own detriment, 

 as in the case of parasitical life. The soil, water, air, all is full of being, of em- 

 bryos, germs, and fecundity. Life literally overflows everywhere, transforming 

 its manifestations, following time and place, seeking ever new theatres of action. 

 Why then ought planets not be such theatres ? Mars for instance, has many 

 analogies with the earth ; it possesses an atmosphere, thick it is true, containing, 

 as ours, watery vapor in suspension ; it has polar snows, continents, seas ; seasons 

 akin to ours, but double their duration. But the planet Mars appears to have 

 neither great oceans nor great continents ; it has rugged coasts, complicated by 

 inland seas, islands, peninsulas, straits, capes, gulfs and canals. It may be in- 

 ferred too, that comparatively, there is less water on Mars than the earth. 



M. Bonley does not deny that cold kills trichines in hams, but some acade- 

 micians still hesitate as to using such affected meat. As a general remark, meat 

 submitted to cold preservation is not consequently bad, and does not possess the 

 objections incident to raw rheat so much prescribed for weakly children. Re- 

 specting this latter subject. Dr. Vulpian remarks, it is sanctioned by experience, 

 though incapable of scientific demonstration. Pounded raw meat then, favors 

 digestion and restores strength. 



Monsieur Cadet has measured the number of red and white globules in our 

 blood; the average number in the one twenty-sixth of a cubic inch, is 5,200,000; 

 it can reach as high as nearly 7,000,000; the number of white is 8,000 or one for 

 every 650 red globules. In the blood df adults the red globules are regular in 

 form and nearly equal in diameter; rarely are small globules found, as is the case 

 with the blood of new born infants and giants; the blood of the new born is rich- 

 er in red globules than that of adults. Eating and digestion augment the number 

 of white globules ; fasting increases the red, not in the absolute sense, but by in- 

 ducing a greater concentration of red globules in the liquid of the blood. 



The Academy of Sciences has been occupied with the fractional differences 

 existing as to the exact position of the axis of the earth, and the consequent dif- 

 ference in position of the stars as determined by astronomers from different 

 standpoints. Messrs. Faye and Folie consider that these problems are intimate- 

 ly associated with the constitution of the globe. Is the latter a crust, covering a 

 centre of liquid fire ; is it a perfectly solid mass ; or, has the globe a kernel of 

 solid matter, bathed in a fluid substance, the latter in turn being surrounded by 

 a crust ? 



