82 Notes and Memoranda. 



ration. We do not publish the positions of the comet between July, 1865, and 

 March, 1866, as given by Dr. Michez, as it will be better to do so at a later 

 period. We may, however, say, for the benefit of distant subscribers, that on 

 July 24 the E.A. will be Oh. 18m. 37s., D. + 18° 40' S. 



Eaethqtxake at Florence. — M. P. de Tchihatchef describes to the French 

 Academy an earthquake felt at Florence and its vicinity on the 11th December 

 last. The observations of Prof. Donati show that the centre of the disturbance 

 was at Fierenzuola, a village forty-five kilometres, or rather more than twenty- 

 seven miles from Florence. This convulsion is remarkable, not only because 

 earthquakes are rarely felt at Florence, but because it is the first time volcanic 

 action has been manifested in the limestone {massif ealoaire) of the Appennines 

 situated north of the city. The occasional concussions previously felt at Florence 

 have come from the Pontifical States, which lie in an opposite direction. 



Cabbboabd Cells eoe Mounting- Miceoscopic Objects. — At a recent 

 meeting of the Microscopical Society, Mr. Henry Lee exhibited specimens of 

 dells cut from tubes of cardboard, which, being very cheap and easily made, will 

 be found exceedingly useful in the mounting of dry and opaque objects. They 

 are constructed in the same manner as the sides of pill-boxes, by rolling gummed 

 paper on a wooden mandril, and cutting rings from the tubes thus formed when 

 dry and hard. It will be seen that they can readily be made of any required 

 depth, diameter, or thickness. 



Beowning's Spectroscope Btjenee. — Mr. Browning has introduced a con- 

 venient Bunsen burner, mounted so as to slide up and down a rod for adjustment 

 of height. The same rod carries a moveable holder for a piece of platina wire, or 

 anything else which it is desirable to introduce into the flame. 



Antipathies op Dogs. — A brown retriever known to the Editor, very good- 

 tempered to most people, and very quarrelsome with most dogs, recently ex- 

 hibited decided symptoms of anger when patted by a gentelman he usually made 

 friends with. The dog's master suggested that it was probably because the visitor 

 had been caressing his own dog with the same hand. To test this, the other 

 hand, to which the objection could not apply, was tried, and the retriever immedi- 

 ately manifested his accustomed pleasure at being noticed. 



New Electeo Magnet. — M. de Moncel has described to the French 

 Academy a new electro magnet devised by M. Ca^lier, and reported to possess 

 great power. He does not employ covered wire for his spirals, and the statement 

 says the only condition is that the different spiral layers shall be separated from 

 each other by envelopes of paper, and that the bobbins shall be of wood or copper, 

 covered internally with an insulating substance. An electro magnet of this con- 

 struction, having iron cores 4| centimetres long (nearly 1'8 inches), and 7 milli- 

 metres wide (rather more than J inch), with one spiral composed of wire, 

 mm- 277 diameter,* making 103 turns, supported 3-900 kilogrammes, or more 

 than 8 lbs. 



* The millimetre is 0.039 inch. Our readers will find "Bowling's Metric Tables" very 

 useful to solve these questions. 



