80 Notes and Memoranda. 



headache. He mixed five centigrammes of the morphia with two grammes of 

 powdered sugar, and in some cases strengthened the dose. He thinks digitalis, 

 nux vomica or strychnine, iodide of potassium, calomel, etc., may be administered 

 with advantage in this way. 



The Leporides. — Some time ago there was a good deal of talk about the 

 leporides, or crosses between hares and rabbits, that were alleged to be raised in 

 considerable quantities by an enterprising Frenchman. Dr. Pigeaux, writing in 

 the " Bulletin de la Societe Imperial Zoologique d'Acclimation," observes, " To 

 sum up, therefore, we would affirm that leporides exist, undoubtedly, under both 

 forms, with predominance of the hare or of the rabbit ; but as a species, or even 

 as a variety, we cannot admit them, since, like all other crosses, they have only an 

 accidental productiveness." He adds that their flesh has neither the whiteness of 

 the rabbit nor the flavour of the hare. 



Coaii-Eields of Brazil. — A paper read before the Geological Society shows 

 the existence of large coal-fields in the province of St. Catherine's, Brazil. The 

 coal is found to be of good quality, and its profitable working will depend on 

 facilities for transport. 



Meteoric Appearances on June 11. — "We have received the following from 

 Mr. D. A. Freeman : — "It was stated in the c Gazzata Ticinese' of June 20, that 

 in several of the Swiss cantons, at Basle, at Zurich, at San Gall, at Geneva, there 

 was observed on June 11, at 9 p.m., the sky being serene, a meteor of great 

 splendour, which for an hour showed remarkable changes, and terminated by 

 assuming the appearance of a small cloud." — [From the " Opinione," published at 

 Florence, June 23.] We find in " Comptes Eendus," June 17, the following letter 

 from M. Silbermann, referring to a remarkable meteor seen by him about the 

 same time : — " Thursday, June 11, at 8.10 p.m., a shooting star, more brilliant 

 than the finest of 13th November last, passed a little north of the zenith, moving 

 with extreme slowness from the west to the north-east. I reckoned that it took 

 two seconds and a half to traverse an arc of about 20 degrees. Before becoming 

 extinct it manifested a remarkable recrudescence of splendour, shooting forth 

 yellowish green sparks. Before the last instant it was exactly like a fusee 

 d? artifice, burning with white fire. M. Louft at Palaiseau, and M. Auzou at 

 St. Aubin d'Eeroville (Eure), inform me that they noticed the same facts." In 

 " Comptes Eendus," June 24, M. Bonnafont states : — " On the 11th of this month, at 

 8 to 8.15 (about), I was sitting in my garden at Antony, near Paris, when towards 

 the north a splendid meteor appeared. Its form appeared to resemble an 

 enormous Congreve rocket (fusee a Id Congreve), with a red incandescent point 

 in front. Immediately afterwards this body exhibited a very brilliant yellow- 

 white colour, like a hood, over two-thirds or less of its length, from which 

 streamed an incandescent, hairy train, leaving considerable traces in the atmo- 

 sphere. M. Barba, engineer of the Imperial Marine, studying the points I 

 indicated to him, was able to lay down its exact trajectory. At the moment the 

 bolide appeared to me, it was N. 3° E. of the meridian of Paris, and 22° 30 above 

 the horizon. It then described a parabolic curve, with the convexity towards the 

 zenith, and constantly approaching the horizon, disappeared in a few seconds 

 behind my house, at 34° N.E. Its height above the horizon was then 16°." 



