Aug. 3i, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



199 



General ^oteg. 



Composition of Tussur Silk. — According^ to Messrs. 

 Bastow and Appleyard, the fibroine of tussur silk differs 

 decidedly in its composition from that of ordinary silk. 

 It contains less carbon, considerably less nitrogen, 

 and more oxygen than the fibroine of mulberry silk. It 

 is less readily acted upon by acids, alkalies, and by 

 chloride of zinc. 



The Ruby Mines of Burma. — At depths varying 

 from ten to thirty feet there occurs, in the flatter lands 

 of the valleys, a stratum of corundum varying from a 

 few inches to a few feet in thickness, and abounding in 

 small rubies, most of which, however, are irregular in 

 shape. So rare is a ruby of the first water that one of 

 three carats is worth ten times as much as a diamond of 

 the same size. 



Liverpool Astronomical Society. — The Journal of 

 the Liverpool Astronomical Society appears this month 

 under the new editorship of Mr. Isaac H. Isaacs, who 

 promises a " Popular History of Astronomy " from his 

 pen, intended specially for those beginning astronomical 

 work. This publication is a very creditable one, and 

 contains, in addition to the more formal " Proceedings," 

 a variety of information of a useful type. 



Paraguay Tea (Mate). — Attempts are being made to 

 introduce mate into European consumption. It is said 

 {Humboldt) to contain r'5 to 1*7 per cent, of caffeine. 

 Its physiological action is essentially like that of tea, 

 though it is less exciting, and does not occasion sleepless- 

 ness. It is also free from tannin, and can, therefore, be 

 safely consumed along with gelatinous and albuminous 

 matters. The total yearly consumption exceeds 60 

 million lbs., 28 million lbs. of which are produced in 

 Brazil and the rest in Paraguay. 



Action of very Cold Baths. — According to M. Ch. 

 F. Quinquand (Comptes Rendas de la Societe de la Biologic), 

 very cold baths occasion a notable increase of the ab- 

 sorption of oxygen, of the carbonic acid expired, of the 

 total volume of air respired, and of the oxidation of the 

 tissues. Very hot baths act in a similar manner, but to 

 a less extent. Both very hot and very cold baths may 

 prove rapidly fatal. A dog cooled down to a rectal 

 temperature of 73^ to 75 Fahr. can be saved by plung- 

 ing it into a bath at 122 , when it recovers in a few 

 minutes. 



Archaeological Association. — The British Archaeo- 

 logical Association, of which the Marquis of Bute is this 

 year the president, began its sittings in Glasgow on Mon- 

 day. Sir James King, Lord Provost, welcomed the 

 members to the city, and Sheriff Berry and Mr. John 

 Honeyman, Chairman of the Reception Committee and 

 President of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, gave 

 them greeting. The members afterwards visited the 

 ancient Celtic camp at Langside, near Glasgow, and 

 were present when a memorial, recently erected on the 

 site of the battle of Langside, was handed over to the 

 patrons of Hutchison's Hospital. They afterwards 

 visited the cathedral. 



The Grotto of Reilhac. — According to a correspon- 



dent of Cosmos, an interesting grotto has been found at 

 Reilhac, in the canton of Livernon and department of 

 Lot. The owner of the grotto, on digging, found several 

 layers of earth, each of rather more than half a yard of 

 thickness, and separated from each other by a kind of 

 concrete. In these layers there have been found a 

 number of flint implements (hatchets and knives), arrows 

 of bone, and some truncheons of bone (for each of which 

 the sum of 100 francs has been offered him), many 

 antlers of deer, among which is one of extraordinary 

 magnitude, which may have belonged to a reindeer. 

 He found also a bone of unusual magnitude, which he 

 parted with for 50 francs, some curious fragments of 

 pre-historic pottery, jaw-bones and teeth of an incredible 

 size. He is selling these bones to rag-men at 1 sou per 

 kilo! 



Contribution to our Knowledge of the Connec- 

 tion between Molecular Structure and Physiological 

 Action. — W. Filehne (quoted in Humboldt) finds that it 

 is possible from atropine, which has feeble locally 

 anaesthetic properties, to split off tropaic acid and tropine. 

 In like manner, from homatropine, which has a decidedly 

 more paralysing action upon the ends of the nerves of 

 sensation, there may be split off amygdalic acid and 

 tropine, and from cocaine, benzoic-ecgonine. Amygdalic 

 acid stands chemically in the middle between benzoic 

 acid and tropaic acid. The conjugation of ecgonine with 

 benzoic acid seems to be the essential point in the de- 

 cisive anaesthetic property of cocaine, since ecgonine 

 itself is inactive in this respect. We have thus a series 

 of increasing activity passing from tropaic acid through 

 amygdalic acid to benzoic acid. The author, therefore, 

 conjectures that the substitution of benzoic acid for 

 tropaic acid or amygdalic acid would produce anaesthetics 

 more powerful than atropine and homatropine. The 

 benzol tropine thus obtained verified his conjecture. A 

 series of other alkaloids were combined with benzoic 

 acid, and all these benzoyl-derivatives proved to have an 

 action like cocaine. 



Lightning Accidents. — In the British Medical Journal 

 there is an account by Drs. Cook and Boulting of the 

 injuries received by two sawyers on the Spaniards Farm 

 at Hampstead. The man most injured, the elder of the 

 two, was leaning against an oak tree. There was no 

 rain nor any sign of a thunderstorm. The other was 

 sitting on a block of wood 3 ft. away, and two saws, 

 6| ft. long, were leaning against the fence about 2 ft. 

 from the trunk of the tree. The first man saw nothing 

 and felt nothing ; he was struck senseless instantaneously. 

 The second heard a deafening thunder clap and felt 

 stunned for some minutes, but had no sensation of pain. 

 Then he discovered that his clothes were smoking and 

 burning, although not ablaze. He then saw his com- 

 panion lying senseless on the ground, quite still, as if 

 dead, and his clothes partially torn from him. Having 

 put out the fire in his clothes, he crawled (he could not 

 walk) to the road near and shouted for assistance, which 

 soon arrived, and both men were conveyed to the in- 

 firmary, where, upon being roused, the elder man re- 

 gained consciousness to a slight extent. Burns were 

 found on the right side from the shoulder to the feet. 

 The legs of the other man also had marks as of burns ; 

 both were in a state of collapse. After eleven days in the 

 one case and fourteen in the other the men recovered. 



