3*4 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



was an excellent botanist, and the author 

 of " Spicilegium Musculogioe Hibernicae," a 

 treatise on Irish mosses, published at Yar- 

 mouth in 1804. The earliest botanical writ- 

 ings of the elder Hooker were, to a great 

 extent, also upon mosses. 



In the year ending April 1, 1873, there 

 were bred in the Central Park Menagerie, 2 

 lions, 2 pumas, 1 leopard, 1 spotted hyena 

 (the first born in America), 1 camel, and 1 

 Cape buffalo. The total number of animals 

 in the menagerie is now : quadrupeds, 199 ; 

 birds, 347 ; reptiles, 35. The additions 

 during the year numbered 48, viz., 25 mam- 

 mals, 21 birds, and 2 reptiles. 



The Minnesota State Geologist is au- 

 thority for the statement that there is 

 enough iron-ore in the neighborhood of the 

 Black River Falls, in that State, to supply 

 the whole demand of the Union for the next 

 ten centuries. 



The following extract from a letter re- 

 cently received in London, and sent by Dr. 

 Beke to the Times, gives the latest infor- 

 mation regarding the whereabouts and con- 

 dition of Dr. Livingstone : 



"Born A, August 12, 1873. 



" I am proceeding, to-day or to-morrow, 

 to Munuco, Upper Congo. In a few days 

 we expect there the Livingstone Expedition, 

 which cannot proceed from St. Salvador. 

 Livingstone himself is a prisoner in a town, 

 twenty days from here, but is entirely with- 

 out means to pay his ransom. Assistance 

 has, however, been sent to him, and he may 

 be here in a month or so." 



In the department of the Vienna Expo- 

 sition devoted to medical and surgical in- 

 struments and preparations, certain anatom- 

 ical specimens exhibited by Dr. Marini, 

 of Naples, have attracted special attention. 

 He has invented processes for the preserva- 

 tion of bodies, both in the leathery or tanned 

 state, and in the natural condition of the tis- 

 sues. In the latter case, the tissues preserve 

 their natural softness and even their trans- 

 parency. Among the specimens exhibited, 

 was a foot which had been prepared in 1864. 

 On making an incision into this, the under- 

 lying tissues appeared to be as fresh as in a 

 cadaver one day old. The tendons, liga- 

 ments, and fatty tissue, preserved all their 

 usual characters, the muscles alone being 

 in a slightly inferior state of preservation. 

 The same solutions which are used for em- 

 balming bodies may be employed in the 

 treatment of malignant ulcers. For this 

 purpose they are largely diluted. Dr. Ma- 

 rini has made experiments in the Naples 

 Hospital, with a view to determine the value 

 of his solutions in such cases, and the re- 

 port of the surgeons as to the efficacy of the 

 treatment is very favorable. 



Dr. F. Grace-Calvert, the eminent chem- 

 ist, died, Friday, October 24th, aged fifty- 

 nine. He received his early education in 

 France, and received the appointment as 

 assistant chemist at the Gobelin tapestry- 

 works, under his master, Chevreul. In 1846 

 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry 

 to the Manchester Royal Institution, a post 

 which he held down to his death. As an 

 analytical chemist his renown was world- 

 wide. 



During the past summer, two ship-loads 

 of oysters were imported into England from 

 Virginia for transplantation. If this ven- 

 ture proves a success, eight or ten steamers 

 will be sent from England to Hampton 

 Roads for oysters next season. 



According to statistics collected by Dr. 

 T. Harrington Tuke, the number of lunatics 

 in England increased during the ten years 

 ending June, 1873, from 1.86 per thousand 

 of the population to 2.58. Dr. Tuke is in- 

 clined to attribute this increase to the ad- 

 vance in wages, which allows the laboring 

 class enlarged means of undue indulgence 



The trials at William shaven with the 

 new Hertz torpedo gave the most surprising 

 results, the torpedoes disposing of the ob- 

 jects attached with the utmost punctuality 

 and in a strikingly summary manner. Their 

 construction is as yet a secret ; but there is 

 no doubt that the German navy is now in 

 possession of a most powerful and destruc- 

 tive weapon which will not only effectually 

 proteet the coasts of the empire, but will 

 also enable the government to employ all its 

 resources in building ships for aggressive 

 purposes. 



The Peruvian Amazons Exploring Com- 

 mission lately issued a report, from which 

 it appears that malarious fever prevails on 

 both banks of the mighty river, causing a 

 large mortality among the native popula- 

 tion. Adults and children are given to the 

 filthy habit of geophagy or clay-eating, a 

 practice productive of innumerable physical 

 evils. It is common to find on the Amazons 

 children of three years of age smoking, and 

 not averse to rum. 



Prof. Palmieri, director of the Obser- 

 vatory of Mount Vesuvius, has constructed 

 for the Empress of Russia a metallic ther- 

 mometer, which gives a signal at every ap- 

 preciable change of temperature. The ap- 

 paratus is so sensitive that the indicator is 

 almost always moving. When the varia- 

 tions of temperature reach a certain de- 

 gree, little bells begin to ring, and notice is 

 thus given of the rising or falling of the 

 mercury. The instrument also marks the 

 highest and lowest degrees of temperature 

 which have taken place during a certain pe- 

 riod. 



