390 Notes and Memoranda. 



tooth." Viewed as an opaque object, or when illuminated by the parabolic 

 reflector, the horizontal section of the Orycteropus tooth presents a very elegant 

 appearance, which we recommend to the attention of those engaged in ornamental 

 design. Both in form and colour it suggests patterns for a tesselated pavement, 

 or for fabrics of a fictile or textile kind. 



The Acam oe Solutions. — From a paper read by Mr. Shadbolt, and from 

 observations made thereupon at a recent meeting of the Microscopical Society of 

 London, it appears that the Acari which occurred in the electrical experiments of 

 Mr. Cross and Mr. Weekes, and which have since been found in nitrate of silver 

 baths, belong to a species widely diffused. Numbers have been discovered adhering 

 to the walls of a room, and they make their way into any fluids that may be 

 accessible. Thus the mystery of their origin is cleared up, as it might have been 

 long ago, if philosophers had not fancied that their orthodoxy would be com- 

 promised by investigating any fact, that for the moment appeared to support the 

 theory of spontaneous generation. It is still puzzling to know how they manage 

 to exist in solutions of a caustic or poisonous kind, which, to all appearance, 

 oan contain nothing for them to eat. Mr. Richard Beck exhibited a fine specimen 

 under a binocular microscope, and it closely resembled the Acarus Crossii figured 

 in " Noad's Electricity." 



Asbestos Paper. — Cosmos states that a considerable quantity of paper is 

 made in the Northern States of America, containing one-third of amianthus, or 

 fibrous asbestos, which is obtained at a very low prije. This paper burns with 

 flame, but leaves a white residue of the original shape, on which characters that 

 were written with common ink can be read. 



Imitation of the Human Voice. — " On the Boulevard de Magenta, Paris, 

 a remarkable exhibition has been opened. It consists of an instrument which, 

 especially in its upper notes, imitates the human voice so that it might be mistaken 

 for it. This instrument, invented by M. Faber, formerly a Professor of Mathe- 

 matics in Germany, represents a woman seated, having a larynx constructed 

 of caoutchouc upon physiological principles. It has a range of two octaves, and 

 sings any airs with the tone, pitch, and force of a woman's voice." — Cosmos. 



75th Asteroid.— This body was discovered in September by Dr. Peters, of 

 Hamilton College, New York. It looks like an 11 magnitude star. 



Circumpolar Planets. — M. Eadau observes in Cosmos that, like Danae, the 

 planet Niobe can become circumpolar in our latitudes, and that it was so, even for 

 Borne, on the 27th October. 

 - The Meteoric Stone oe Chassig-nt. — M. Daniour has analyzed the meteoric 

 stone that fell at Chassigny on 3rd October, 1815, and finds it to be essentially 

 composed of silica, magnesia, and protoxide of iron, thus bearing a strong resem- 

 blance to the precious stone called peridot, and especially to liyalosiderite, " which 

 only differs from olivine in a somewhat smaller proportion of protoxide of iron, 

 isomorphous with magnesia." In physical aspect the Chassigny stone is distin- 

 guished from other meteorites by its pale yellow tint ; it appears composed of 

 roundish grains, with a vitreous lustre, among which are others of a black tint. 

 It scratches glass with difficulty, has a specific gravity of 3 - 57, contains no nickel 

 • nor iron in the metallic state, and it is not magnetic, except in the thin black crust 

 that covers it. This latter circumstance M. Damour attributes to the fusion of the 

 superficial layer having changed the protoxide of iron into Fe O Fe 2 3 . He 

 remarks that peridot olivine is found in the meteoric iron brought from Siberia by 

 Pallas, and in that from the desert of Atacama, in the form of vitreous grains. 

 Further details will be found in Comptes Eendus, 13th October, 1862. 



A Blue Bolide.- — M. Eudes-Deslongchamps and his son were in their garden 

 at Caen on the 19th September, when the darkness was suddenly lit up by an 

 intensely blue bolide, the train of which was white. M. D. states that the blue 

 colour was like that produced in fireworks by chloride of copper, and he asks in 

 the paper, read before the French Academy, whether the bolide may not have 

 contained that metal. 



_ Zodiacal Light.— The French expedition to Mexico will devote attention to 

 this curious appearance, and we notice amongst the papers upon it recently read 



