SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 243 
augments the digestive process, and while the gastric juices do not at all affect 
starch, they rapidly transform fibrine. 
Messrs. de Fonvielle and Lontin have produced a new and elegant form of 
electro-magnetic rotation, very ingenious, and that will be an addition to lessons 
in physics. The apparatus consists of a galvano-metric frame, in the center is a 
piece of iron on a pivot, which is polarised by a magnet, fixed on the exterior of 
the frame. When the electric current traverses the galvano-metric spirals, the 
piece of iron revolves with a grand rapidity. ‘The principle is not novel and de- 
pends on the difference in intensity of the alternative currents. The latter if 
produced by a Gramme machine, and made intermittent, will serve equally well. 
M. Lichtenstein has placed the insects, which produce the gall nut, in some 
tubes, in time they deposited young insects, which perished, as he did not know 
their peculiar food. He observed that during August other insects replaced those 
that had left the gall nut, and produced young, the latter disappearing in the 
tender twigs of the (poplar) tree, forming thereon a kind of pad. 
Asparagus, the variety white stems and purple heads, is a favorite spring 
dish in France, and the Italians in their love for that comestible are surpassed 
by the French. The market gardens of Argenteuil eclipse those of Ravenna. 
Does asparagus exercise a nutritive action? It is doubtful; it contains a little 
phosphate of lime and potash. However, it is a very light and agreeable aliment, 
admirable for convalescents, on condition that the sauce suits their stomach. 
Asparagus excites the appetite and has a diuretic action. The root of the plant 
is employed against jaundice and affections of the bladder, it relieves, according 
to some hypertrophy of the heart. It is employed as a calmant by others, as it 
does not irritate the stomach, like digitalis; it is bad for those recovering from 
articulated rheumatism; there are authorities who profess asparagus will cure 
hydrophobia. As a curative agent it may be safely concluded to have no effect. 
Dr. Delpech demands that rearing bees on the outskirts of the city be pro- 
hibited. Several fatal cases of stinging have occured, especially in the face, the 
neighborhood of the nervous centers, where the blood, changed by the venom of 
the sting, rapidly decreases the activity of the nervous system, thus suspending 
the functions essential to the maintenance of life. 
In the Cevennes, sheep are largely reared for their milk, which is made into 
‘cheese, the Roquefort being the most celebrated; even in the time of Pliny the 
sheep cheese of Lozére (Luzara) was famous,and was sent from Nismes to Rome. 
Two curious facts to note in connection with this breed of sheep, reared for milk- 
ing purposes ; many have four nipples, cases occurring of yielding milk by each, 
and the ordinary two teats are very voluminous. 
M. Toussaint has studied the subject of phthisis in pigs, and finds that it is 
hereditary, and can be contracted by the progeny while sucking, by inocculation 
‘or co-habitation. The disease resembles galloping consumption in human beings, 
and brings about death in a few weeks. In sheep the malady takes a chronic 
form. 
IV—16 
