NOTES. 



127 



ing. The toad then sought for a stone or 

 clod ; but, as none was to be found, he 

 lowered his head and crept along, pushing 

 the locust against the ground. But the 

 ground was too smooth (a rolled path) and 

 the angle at which the locust lay to the 

 ground too small, and thus no progress was 

 made. " To increase the angle, he straight- 

 ened up his hind-legs, but in vain. At 

 length he threw up his hind-quarters, and 

 actually stood on his head, or rather on the 

 locust sticking out of his mouth, and, after 

 repeating this once or twice, succeeded in 

 getting himself outside his dinner." 



On another occasion the author saw an 

 American toad disposing of an earthworm 

 in the following way. The worm was so 

 long that it had to be swallowed by sec- 

 tions. But, while one end was in the toad's 

 stomach, the other end was coiled about 

 his head. "He waited until the worm's 

 writhings gave him a chance, and swallowed 

 half an inch ; then, taking a nip with his jaws, 

 waited for a chance to draw in another half- 

 inch. But there were so many half-inches 

 to dispose of that at length his jaws grew 

 tired, lost their firmness of grip, and the 

 worm crawled out five-eighths of an inch 

 between each half-inch swallowing. The 

 toad, perceiving this, brought his right hand 

 to his jaws, grasping his abdomen with his 

 foot, and, by a little effort getting hold of 

 the worm in his stomach from the outside, 

 he thus, by his foot, held fast to what he 

 had gained by each swallow, and presently 

 succeeded in getting the worm entirely 

 down." 



The Son's Envelope. — Prof. Charles A. 

 Young's paper, read at the American As- 

 sociation, on a liquid solar crust, led to a 

 very animated discussion. The author is 

 inclined to hold, with Faye, Secchi, and oth- 

 ers, that the sun is mainly gaseous. At the 

 same time, the eruptions which are continu- 

 ally occurring on its surface almost compel 

 the supposition that there is a crust of some 

 kind which retains the imprisoned gases, 

 and through which they force their way in 

 jets with great violence. According to the 

 author, this crust may consist of a more or 

 less continuous sheet of descending rain — 

 that is, a downfall of the condensed vapors 

 of those materials which we know from the 



spectroscope exist in the sun. The con- 

 tinuous efflux of the solar heat is equiva- 

 lent to the supply that would be developed 

 by the condensation from steam to water 

 of a layer of about five feet thick over the 

 whole surface of the sun every minute of 

 time. As this tremendous rain descends, 

 the velocity of the falling drops would be 

 retarded by the resistance of the denser gases 

 underneath ; the drops would coalesce until 

 a continuous sheet would be formed ; and 

 these sheets would unite and form a sort of 

 bottomless ocean resting on the compressed 

 vapors beneath, and pierced by innumerable 

 ascending jets and bubbles. It would have 

 an approximately constant depth, because 

 it would turn to vapor at the bottom as 

 rapidly as it grew at the surface, though 

 probably the thickness of this crust would 

 continually increase at a slow rate, and its 

 whole diameter grow less. 



In other words, Dr. Young would re- 

 gard the sun as an enormous bubble whose 

 walls are steadily thickening, and its di- 

 ameter ever lessening, in proportion to the 

 loss of heat. The hypothesis offers no pe- 

 culiar explanation of the sun-spot?, but will 

 agree with any of the current explanations 

 of that phenomenon. 



NOTES. 



Prof. Strong, of the Drew Theological 

 Seminary, Madison, N". J., is organizing an 

 expedition to Egypt and the Holy Land. 

 It will start about Christmas, and will em- 

 brace in its personnel, engineers, artists, 

 scientists, and a select party of tourists, all 

 under charge of Prof. Strong, assisted by 

 Prof. T. Norman and Mr. George May 

 Powell. 



The Boston Medical and Surgical Jour- 

 nal reports a case of semi-asphyxiation from 

 the inhalation of coal-gas, which was very 

 successfully treated by the administration 

 of oxygen. Four men sleeping in one room 

 had inhaled coal-gas. Of these one died 

 before medical aid arrived ; the other three 

 were taken to the hospital. Here fresh air 

 and stimulants were resorted to, but the 

 most marked effects followed the adminis- 

 tration of oxygen gas. The inhalation of 

 this agent was followed by an almost in- 

 stantaneous improvement in the condition 

 of the patients. It was found that the sup- 

 ply of oxygen had to be kept up for some 

 time after the appearance of improved 

 respiration, for, when the administration 



