IO 



SCIENCE. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 

 The Eggs of Eels. — We direct attention to an alleged dis- 

 covery of eggs in eels, and also to the fact that both sexes 

 had been observed nearly two hundred years ago. The fol- 

 lowing extracts are made from the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Society about the year 1690: 



" Until about twelve months since, it was currently be- 

 lieved that eggs had never been seen in eels, and it was con- 

 sidered quite an interesting discovery when a New England 

 fisherman then discovered them in situ, and also observed 

 specimens of eels both of the male and female sex. 



" Thus a vexed point which had been discussed for two 

 hundred years, was settled satisfactorily, when, as I under- 

 stand, Professor Packard confirmed the fisherman's dis- 

 covery. 



'• Recently, while looking over some papers read before 

 the Royal Society of England, dating very far back, I found 

 that a Mr. Benjamin Allen about the year 1690, read a paper 

 before the society, claiming to have examined two eels, and 

 ' found one with egg,' and another with ' fixed young ones, 

 fastened to very small placentae each, which was fixed to the 

 intestine.' ' The eggs were on the outside of the intestine.' 

 He also said, 'the parts distinguishing the sex are discov- 

 erable ; those of the male affix to the extremity of the kid- 

 ney ; the female had a slender gland transversely lying near 

 the bowel.' 



" A discussion followed, and a Mr. Dale raised a doubt 

 on account of Mr. Allen's anatomical details being inconsi- 

 tent with nature, and from the fact of Leuwenhoek finding 

 a uterus in all eels he examined, and also ' masculine seed,' 

 from whence he conjectured they were Hermaphrodite. 



" He, however, so far confirmed Mr. Allen on one point, 

 as to state that one Walter Chetwynd, Esq., had in the 

 month of May, ' found them to be viviparous, by cutting 

 open the red fundaments of the females, from whence the 

 young eels would issue forth alive.' 



"No other member is reported as having spoken on the 

 subject, and so the matter rested." 



The Mode of Suckling of the Elephant Calf. — In 

 some of the accounts recently published of the birth of an 

 elephant in a menagerie in America it is stated that up to 

 this time naturalists had always believed that the elephant 

 calf obtained its mother's milk by means of its trunk, and 

 not directly by the mouth. 



Whether this be the case or not, Aristotle was certainly an 

 exception, as the following passage from the twenty-seventh 

 chapter of the sixth book of his " Historia Animalium " (Ed. 

 Bekker, Oxford, 1837) clearly proves — "0 81 OKbfivoq, orav 



; : r//T(ii, thf/.tun 7<.t gtuikit/, OV 7i.j (IVKTTJpi, Ku) .iuAi^it 1,111 jiTitTrn 



tiliir yim/Ofir. — "And the calf, when it is born, sucks with 

 its mouth and not with its trunk ; and it both walks and sees 

 as soon as it is born " — (Nature.) J. C. G. 



At a recent meeting of the Buffalo Microscopical Club 

 Mr. Jas. W. Ward exhibited a piece of glass which had been 

 over a picture on one of the walls of his residence. It was 

 covered with a very peculiar and interesting species of fun- 

 dus, and withstood the action of soap and water in attempt- 

 ing to remove it. He attributed the growth to the exhala- 

 tions of the breath of persons who had been in the room, 

 and since noticing this fungus on the glass had examined 

 several of a similar nature in other rooms and found them 

 alike. Mr. Ward's observations brought forth an interesting 

 debate, relative to the observations of the different members 



of the Club on similar growths. Dr. I [owe thought it simi- 

 lar to the fungus which attacks the body of the Musca </"- 

 in, tun (house By). These are contagious, and can be given 



b) one fly to another. Dr. Barrett likened it to the fungi 



which permeates the walls of hospitals and other public 

 buildings. 1'iesidenl kellirott, since the matter had been 

 lit to his notice, had examined the windows of the 

 Central School build in;-, and the City and County 1 I all, and 

 found fungi on them, although not to such an extent as on 

 the glass Mr. Ward exhibited. 



Since the publication of Mr. Ward's notes, a Mr. Thomas 

 Garfield has written to the Scientific American attributing the 

 so-called fungus to a stain, or rust, which is often observed 

 by glass makers on glass, caused by an excess of soda or pot- 

 ash, which produces an efflorescence. Mr. Ward, however, 

 re-affirms that the patches are fungi, and he is satisfied of 

 their vegetable and superficial nature. 



MICROSCOPY. 



The Hayden Trial Evidence. — Dr. Treadwell writes to the 

 " American Monthly Microscopical yournal" disclaiming the 

 assertions regarding the possibility of identifying human 

 blood, which had been attributed to him. It was charged 

 that Dr. Tredwell claimed, after measuring only four cor- 

 puscles (having accidentally lost the others), that ranged 

 from ^aVr " to 33-g-$" in diameter, to have asserted : " I am 

 quite positive that these were human blood corpuscles, and 

 that they did not belong to the pig, sheep, goat, horse or 

 cat." Dr. Tredwell now savs, " I gave no opinion what- 

 ever as to any blood being human blood, except in dis- 

 tinction from the blood of some animal or animals named, 

 and I defy any person to show that I have ever expressed 

 such an opinion in any of the numerous cases in which I 

 have testified." 



On the half shell. — Mr. K. M. Cunningham suggests a 

 quick way of getting marine diatomaceae: by taking a 

 peck of fresh oysters and brushing the back of each into a 

 basin of water, this process will give Pleurosigma? and 

 Coscinodisci in abundance. 



Thin glass covers. — A microscopist has taken the trouble 

 to measure the thin glass covers purchased at a first class 

 house, and found that in two ounces but one third was 

 correct in their thickness y£o to j^ of an inch, two thirds 

 belonging to a cheaper grade. Only one sixty-eighth were 

 200 of an inch in thickness, the majority being only fit for 

 opaque objects. 



Infection from Mosquitos. — The discovery that mosquitos 

 carry filaria in their probosces, and infect the human 

 subject with that much dreaded worm parasite, has at- 

 tracted considerable attention among the English Micros- 

 copists. The matter has been brought before the Ouekett 

 Microscopical Club, by Dr. Cobbold, the President, who is 

 one of the highest authorities on this subject. Particulars 

 of various cases were given in which it was proved that 

 those suffering from filaria had received the contagion 

 from mosquitos, and mosquitos themselves infected with 

 fiiaria were shown. 



Filaria are very minute worm-like parasites, which on 

 entering the human body, breed until they increase to 

 countless numbers. By recent advices we learn they have 

 the power of entering and leaving the blood at pleasure ; 

 they usually invade the circulation about seven o'clock in 

 the evening, and increase until about midnight, after 

 which time they retire to other parts of the system. 



Trichina in Fish. — It is again asserted that trichinas 

 have been found in fish, this time at Ostend, in Belgium. 

 This is against previous experience, but as it is stated the 

 worms were found in the flesh, it appears more probable 

 that the statement may be correct. 



Curious fungous deposit. — Dr. P. C. Jensen gives a 

 drawing in " New Remedies " of a peculiar organized de- 

 posit, existing in a number of specimens of Acid Phos- 

 phoric. Dil., of commercial grades. Under a power of 75 

 diameters its appearance is that of a fibrous network very 

 analogous in appearance to the Tela Contexta, as found in 

 the mosses, anastomosing and exhibiting very well defined 

 oblong muriform cells placed end to end. In the inter- 

 stices of its central ramification are seen small bodies re- 

 sembling nuclei. These nuclei are nearly double the size 

 of the diverging fibres constituting the mass of the deposit. 

 The color of the deposit is of a grayish white, with diffusive 

 and elastic properties. 



