NOTES. 



7 6 7 



of being poisoned, and it was when under 

 the latter emotion that harmony seems to 

 have been most powerful and curative. 

 Airs (tarantclle) have been preserved which 

 were employed in arresting or moderating 

 the frenzied rotations and leaps of those 

 urged on by dread of the bite of the taran- 

 tula, and by other causes ; and that some 

 interference was required is evident, for, 

 although large numbers of those affected 

 recovered, many resisted all coercion, and 

 danced themselves to death." 



The tunes which were regarded as reme- 

 dial are said to have been of peculiar char- 

 acter, and to have contained transitions 

 from a quick to a slow measure, and to have 

 passed gradually from a high to a low key. 

 The sensibility to music was so great that, 

 at the very first tones of their favorite mel- 

 odies, the affected sprang up, shouting for 

 joy, and danced on without intermission 

 until they sank to the ground exhausted and 

 almost lifeless. Although thus excitable, 

 no external or audible music was requisite 

 to suggest or sustain such movements. Ap- 

 parently stimulated by some internal rhythm, 

 the performers danced, sometimes with in- 

 furiated, but always with measured steps, 

 wheeling hand-in-hand in circles, not mere- 

 ly from street to street, but from town to 

 town, dropping down when exhausted, but 

 having their places supplied by fresh re- 

 cruits. When under this inspiration, the 

 rudest of the victims exhibited gracefulness 

 in dancing, and manifested displeasure when 

 false notes were introduced into the music. 



Utilization of Sewage.— The following 

 facts, with regard to the utilization of the 

 sewage of the city of Paris, are taken from 

 the official returns: At Clichy, a bend of 

 the Seine forms a sandy, level peninsula, of 

 some 5,000 acres. The barrenness of this 

 peninsula is proverbial, and hence it was on 

 this land that a portion of the city sewage 

 was first directed, with a view to put the 

 utility of this kind of fertilization to the 

 severest possible test. The preliminary 

 works were begun in 1868, and completed 

 in May, 1869. From that time between 

 5,000 and 6,000 cubic yards of the sewage 

 have been raised daily by engines of 40- 

 horse power and centrifugal pumps, and of 

 this two-thirds were received into tanks for 



chemical manipulation, the remainder being 

 applied to a piece of land 12 or 15 acres in 

 extent. At the end of several months the 

 results of this experiment upon a naturally 

 poor soil were such that the neighboring 

 farmers asked to be included in the benefits 

 derived from the sewage. Owing to the 

 extreme permeability of the soil, 20,000 

 cubic yards of sewage could be annually 

 absorbed per acre, and the farmers obtained 

 crops of 70,000 lbs. of cabbages, 60,000 lbs. 

 of carrots, and 150,000 lbs. of turnips. All 

 land suitable for irrigation rose in value. 

 No evil effects on the health of the inhabit- 

 ants could be detected, and a village sprang 

 up around the works. A Parisian perfumer 

 established his manufactory on the outskirts 

 of the irrigated land, and obtained a supply 

 of the sewage- water for his gardens of aro- 

 matic herbs, more especially of peppermint. 

 It is worthy of note, in this place, that the 

 finest mignonette of Covent-Garden Mar- 

 ket, London, has long been grown from sew- 

 age-irrigated soil. 



NOTES. 



An Honor to Prof. Henry. — Prof. Jo- 

 seph Henry, secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, has received from the French 

 Government a superb porcelain vase, as a 

 testimonial of his services as the United 

 States representative of the commission on 

 the international standard metre. — Journal 

 of the Telegraph. 



New Fossil Man. — In the Revue Scien- 

 iifique for December, it is stated that a 

 third skeleton of a troglodyte has been dis- 

 covered by M. Riviere, in the caves of Men- 

 tone. This new skeleton, judging from the 

 various and numerous implements by which 

 it was surrounded, lived at an epoch far 

 more remote than that assigned to the skele- 

 ton now in the Museum of Paris. The in- 

 struments of warfare and other objects 

 found with it, though composed of flint 

 and bone, are not polished. They are only 

 sharpened, and, by their coarse execution, 

 appear to belong to the palaeolithic age. 

 On the upper part of the skeleton was a 

 large number of small shells, each pierced 

 with a hole, which appeared to have formed 

 a collar or bracelets. No pottery nor any 

 bronze object was found. — Lancet. 



In an article on " Furs and their "Wear- 

 ers," published in the December Popular 

 Science Monthly, the fur-seal of Alaska 

 and the sea-otter were inadvertently con- 

 founded. In a letter kindly calling atten- 



