PR ee ee 
Correspondence of J. Nicklas. 97 
Art, XV.— Correspondence of J. Nickles, dated Paris, Feb. 28, 1858, 
Electricity, by A. de la Rive-——The third and last volume of this re- 
markable work has just appeared after a delay of two years, caused by the 
erefore of acquiring kn knowledge in a departments. Thus fhe 
splat to medicine have compelled him to ae himself with 
ysiological phenomena, and the 4 Seg spplisaticie: to become 
in the details of practical mechan 
This third volume commences with a profound study of electricity ti 
"_ its relations to natural phenomena. Commencing with the BLE bee 
| actions of animal or vegetable origin—he then passes to atmospheric 
electricity—then to terrestrial magnetism, its causes and the attendant 
phenomena, among which comes the Aurora Borealis, an effect according 
to De la Rive, of the action of ele ectricity on terrestrial magnetism. 
As to the causes of terrestrial magnetism, the author seems to adopt, 
with Secchi, the theory propoun nded- Sa us on this subject in 1844, and 
- brought out in this Journal in 1853.* The cause, according to this the- 
ory, resides in the sun, which acts upon the earth as in the ordinary ex- 
periment by rotation a magnet acts upon a body having a rotating move- 
ment. But whence the magnetism of the sun? The reader will find 
our views on that subject in the volume of this Journal just referred to. 
E The remainder of this volume is occupied with the applications of elec- 
c tricity, mechanical, physical, chemical and physiological. De la Rive has 
let nothing of interest escape his attention; and with the aid of his son, 
he has brought the whole the plan of his wor 
On the wees Belt Ra Biading remageh eran 
ees —In our correspondence of soma 1856, : 
sare sega a ee se ot ransformation — 
ap proteine substances and especially of the waite of an egg, into ee 
through Sx ycbatil by means of beri Mr. Staedler, profowor af : 
Chemistry at Zurich, in repeating the experiment of Mr. Béchamp eee: 
great care, has in fact ebtained a crystalline substance precipitable by - 
oxalic acid and by nitrate of mercury; this substance was ek ag 
= potash, a. me the albumen and perma SIE rot Mk -em- 
ploy f Béchamp’s error, according to” Prof. Staedler, is. 
_ connected with the dinigiiaed just mentioned e feeble 
solubility of the displaced benzoic acid, and the other on ‘the i 
of be 
nzoate of mercury. 
Natural Dia —NMr. Cagniard- Latour, one of di jetueipal: neous 
- ticians, has satisfied 1 himself noe he hears the sound ia of the musical 
penne? within his head when he agitates it from side to side; 
Jobard has confirmed this « nin himself, and asserts 
hat any one can verify it, if he will disembarrass his neck of the cravat 
sollar and place himself : from all noise. 
Ge Td plains fact. iss niet) Ta ts caused by the 
— the malleus against the incus in the ear—a contact easily 
* This Journal, xvii, 116, xviii, 386. 
D SERIES, Vor. XXVI, No. 76.—JULY, 1958. 
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