Notes and Memoranda. 241 



ceedings of the Royal Society a paper detailing additional facta, which tend to 

 show that an external influence operates on the production and behaviour of sun 

 spots. All the planets might act in this way with a force proportioned to their 

 masses and distances, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter being presumed the most 

 influential, the first from proximity, the second from being both near and tolerably 

 large, and the third from its great size. The question to be resolved is whether 

 the spots break out, increase and decrease in any regular manner, corresponding 

 with the relative positions of planets and the sun. An examination of thirty -two 

 series of spots shows that their behaviour seems to be connected with the positions 

 of Yenus "in such a manner that spots dissolve when that part of the sun's 

 surface in which they exist approaches the neighbourhood of this planet, while, 

 on the other hand, as the sun's disc recedes from the planet, spots begin to 

 break out, and reach their maximum on the opposite side." 



Diffusion of Cbystallized Substances thbough the Body. — Dr. Bence 

 Jones calls the attention of the Eoyal Society to facts of this class ascertained by 

 spectrum analysis. He found that if half a grain of lithium was given to a guinea 

 pig for three successive days, it could be detected in every texture of the body. 



Insect Metallurgists. — Cosmos describes an article by Dr. Sjogreen, a 

 Swedish naturalist, in which it is stated that the particles of pure iron found in 

 Swedish lakes result from the deoxydizing action of certain insects. Their larva? 

 are stated to absorb oxygen from the oxydes of iron, and to give themselves a 

 coating of the pure metal, which acts like a cocoon, and protects them during 

 metamorphosis. 



Eepoet on Spontaneous Geneeation. — Our readers will recollect that the 

 French Academy appointed a commission to witness* and report upon the expe- 

 riments and counter-experiments of Messrs. Pasteur, Pouchet, etc., on this sub- 

 ject. The experiments hitherto made and reported upon confirm the statements 

 of M. Pasteur that if due pains are taken to destroy existing germs in a fermenti- 

 ble liquid, and to prevent the access of fresh germs, no life is manifested. The 

 liquid used by M. Pasteur was obtained by washing yeast from beer. Other expe- 

 riments are to be made with infusions of hay during the approaching spring and 

 summer. 



Modified Sulphue. — In a former number we mentioned that a modification 

 of sulphur could be produced by fusing it with a little iodine. Messrs. Moutier 

 and Dietzenbach have laid further remarks on this subject before the French 

 Academy. One four hundredth part of iodine changes the sulphur, so that on 

 cooling it remains plastic, and is only partly soluble in sulphide of carbon, 

 Napthaline, paraffine, creosote, camphor, and spirit of turpentine, mingled with 

 sulphur to the extent of one four hundredth or one six hundredth, permit it to cool 

 in a soft ductile state, which passes slowly into the usual hard brittle condition. 

 Oil and wax make the sulphur soft, but leave it entirely soluble in sulphide of 

 carbon. The experimenters have ascertained that the carbon particles effect the 

 change in these cases. 



Bond's Discoveet in the Oeion Nebula. — "We learn from the address of 

 the President of the Astronomical Society, as given in Monthly Notices, that Pro- 

 fessor G. V. Bond, to whom the Society's gold medal was awarded just before his 

 lamented death on the 17th February, discovered " a great re-entering loop of 

 nebulous matter, extending around nearly the whole of the previously known 

 portion, and enclosing as with a nebulous wall a large space exterior to the well- 

 known figure. It was discovered by employing with the 22-feet refractor of 15 

 inches aperture, an eye-piece magnifying 90 times with a field of 30'." 



Abnoemal Memory. — The last illness of Friedrich Struve, the late Director of 

 the Poulkowa Observatory, was characterized by a not unusual, but very inte- 

 resting condition of the memory, which is , thus alluded to in the biographical 

 memoir to be found in the Monthly Notices : — " When he began to recover from 

 the exhaustion occasioned by the first attack of his malady, his memory, for all 

 events of recent occurrence, wholly failed him, while at the same time it exhibited 

 its usual, or even increased tenacity in things long passed away. On such occa- 

 sions, he would seem to be living wholly ha the scenes of the past, reciting pas- 



