482 Notes and Memoranda. 



nine are found distributed in the whorls of the great nebula, and which are not 

 shown in the drawings of Lord Rosse. In addition to these objects, of which I 

 hope to discover more, I would call attention to divers branches of the spiraloid 

 nebula as crossing each other in a different manner. The configuration of the 

 most brilliant spirals, as indicated in our drawing, establishes the accuracy of the 

 representation given by Sir J. Herschel. The branch which ties the smaller to 

 the greater nebula, cuts the two principal spirals of the latter, near the place where 

 these branches cross, in such a way that the interlacing of the curves presents the 

 aspect of a spherical triangle. The companion nebula itself exhibits a spiral 

 form, and not the appearance of a planetary disk, surrounded by an uniformly 

 distributed atmosphere." In a communication with which we have been favoured 

 by M. Chacornac, he informs us that he does not intend to compare the Foueault 

 telescope in point of power with the giant at Parsonstown. This observation of 

 the distinguished astronomer has reference to the remarks made in our last number. 



Paraffin Oils. — At the request of the Manchester Sanitary Association, Mr. 

 Charles O'Neil, F.C.S., has examined many specimens of paraffin oils. Out of 

 twenty-five bought in Manchester, sixteen agreed with genuine samples of the 

 Paraffin Company; the other nine differed from these, and from each other; 

 three or four purported to be American, and were called petroline, kerosine, and 

 photogene. He also obtained fourteen samples from the springs in Pennsylvania 

 and Canada. One sample from London and one from Liverpool formed an ex- 

 plosive vapour with air at as low a temperature as 60° Fahr., and might be con- 

 sidered decidedly unsafe. At 85° there gave an explosive mixture with air. Of 

 the remainder, only four formed an explosive mixture at 100°. Of the rest, three 

 did the same at 120°, and the twenty that were left did so at 150°. Of the twenty 

 that would not make an explosive mixture at 120°, two were American, and eighteen 

 Young's, all of whose manufacture were found safe. Out of thirty-two samples, 

 twenty were quite safe, three less so, and nine dangerous. In specific gravity, the 

 American oils are generally below 816°, but two bad samples were as high as 865°. 

 Thus specific gravity is no test of their safety. Nor is the boiling point, as many 

 substances have so high a diffusive power as to compensate for high boiling points 

 — coal naphtha, for example, which boils at 260°, gives an explosive mixture almost 

 instantly even at the freezing-point. 



Canine Madness. — M. Berthaud, writing in La Patrie, states that two mad 

 dogs were recently taken to the Veterinary School of Alfort, and shut up in a 

 cage. They exhibited all the symptoms of hydrophobia, and made desperate 

 efforts to escape and attack the bystanders. After some days both had puppies, 

 and in turns they manifested maternal affection, and gave way to paroxysms of 

 their malady. At the expiration of a time not named they died, and the 

 puppies which survived are kept to see whether they will become afflicted with the 

 maternal complaint. 



Bolides. — Professor Newton, U.S., describes two of these meteors, which he 

 saw on the 2nd and 6th of August, 1860. The first, he says, was dissipated in our 

 atmosphere, or in the earth, and he thinks its enormous velocity would account for 

 its dissipation before it reached the ground. Those which let fall meteoric stars 

 he thinks travel at a lower speed. 



The Companion of Sirius.— M. Lassell, on hearing of Mr. Alvan Clark's 

 discovery, directed his telescope (at Malta) to search for it, and found it with a 

 power of 231. The angle of position was 83°"85, the distance from the great star 

 4""92. Mr. Lassell is astonished at the discrepancy in the measuren ion is of dis- 

 tance, which at Cambridge, U. S., appeared 10'' - 37 on the 20th of February ; at 

 Paris, 20th March, 7"-4 ; at Malta, 11th April, 4"92. 



Railways and Health. — Dr. Oallard communicated to the French Aeademy 

 a paper on this subject, in which he shows from statistical evidence that the Jokers 

 and guards are not subject to any special maladies peculiar to their vocation, and 

 that with reference to throat and pulmonary attacks during winter, much good is 

 effected by their taking a cup of tea or coffee, or a basin of soup every two hours, 

 or less. 1h many districts, where intermittent fevers had prevailed from time ini- 



