i68 



SCIENCE. 



NOTES. 



Periodic Movements of the Ground. — P. Plantamour 

 gives an account of his observations on the movements of 

 the ground from October i, 1879, to September 30, 1880. 

 The most remarkable feature is the sinking manifested oh 

 the eastern side from the end of November, 1879, t0 trie 

 end of January, 1880, which is much greater than might be 

 expected from the absolute cold of the month of December, 

 only — 15 . A rise of lemperature is always accompanied 

 with an elevation of the ground level, and a fall of the 

 thermometer is marked by a subsidence. 



On M'Boundon, the Ordeal Poison of the Natives 

 of the Gaboon ; New Physiological, Chemical, Histo- 

 Chemical and Toxicological Researches. — The poison 

 employed contains exclusively one base, strychnine. E. 

 Heckel and F. Schlagdenhauffen propose to examine 

 whether the distinction between the teianising and the 

 paralysing species of the strychnos family may not depend 

 simply on the proportion of the base which they contain. 



Electric Phenomena of Tourmaline and of Hemi- 

 hedral Crystals with Inclined Surfaces. — The hypo- 

 thesis which J. and P. Curie put forward is that there ex- 

 ists a constant difference of tension between the opposite 

 surfaces of two successive layers. Tourmaline being a 

 compound body the different parts of a crystalline molecule 

 may be formed of different substances, which would ex- 

 plain the difference of tension of the opposite extremities 

 of two molecules. 



Violet Illumination of the Retina under the In- 

 fluence of Luminous Oscillations. — A. Charpentier, fix- 

 ing his eyes immovably on a sky illuminated bv a uniform 

 white light, and moving two fingers of his right hand rap- 

 idly and alternately backwards and forwards before them, 

 saw, after a minute, a remarkable change in the uniform 

 aspect of the heavens. There appeared on a white ground 

 a mosaic composed of rather deep violet-purple hexagons, 

 separated from each other by white lines, and forming a 

 very regular design. The oscillations of the fingers should 

 be from 300 to 400 per minute. He thinks that these 

 hexagons are due to the cones in the fovea and in the 

 yellow spot, and that the white lines are due to their in- 

 tervals. 



A Glycoside Extracted from Common Ivy. — The 

 glycoside in question, Cg4Hm0 22 , is resolvable into a non- 

 fermentible sugar, which reduces Fehling's liquid, and a 

 neutral body, tasteless, inodorous, dextro-rotary, and 

 agreeing with the formula C62H44O12. — L. Ver.net. 



Radiophony. — Radiophonic effects are thermic, not 

 luminous, and are produced by gases alternatel} - heated 

 and cooled, and not by solids or liquids. — E. Mercadier. 



Permanence of Hydrocyanic Acid for a Month in 

 the Bodies of Animals Poisoned with the Pure Acid. 

 — Hydrocyanic acid, if administered in a sufficient quantity 

 to animals, preserves them perfectly for a month. It re- 

 mains in the tissues, and especially in those of the stomach 

 for the same time. It appears to combine intimately with 

 the animal tissues. In the Carnivora it is more difficult to 

 extract it by distillation than in the Herbivora. C. Brame. 



Inferior Organisms Present in the Air. — The mi- 

 croscopic beings in the air are very unequally distributed. 

 The germs of beer-yeast are not everywhere present. 

 Bacteria are much less common than the moulds, such as 



Pcnicillium glaucum, Mucor stolonifcr, etc. — E. C. Hansen. 



Chemical Constitution of Albumen. — The transfor- 

 mation of albumen into peptones is produced by a hydra- 

 tation, which in each phase takes place at a fixed part of the 

 molecule. The regressive formation of albumen from its 

 peptones is produced by a similar de-hydration. When 

 the molecule loses calcium and phosphoric acid the car- 

 boxylic groups appear, and give an acid reaction to the 

 groups thus obtained. In certain phases the molecule may 

 lose a portion of sulphur without being destroyed or chang- 

 ing its properties.— Dr. A. Danilewsky. 



New Researches on the Albumens of Milk. — The 

 albumen of milk is a mixture of stroma-albumen, with 

 small quantities of orro-proteine and the synto-protalbes. 

 The lacto-proteine of Millon and Commaille is a mixture 

 of soluble synto-protalbes, of snytogenes, and of peptones, 

 which alone are precipitated by mercuric chloride. The 

 same mixture with small quantities of peptones represents 

 the galactine of Morin. — Dr. Danilewsky and P. Raden- 

 hausen. 



Development of the Cadaveric Alkalies (Ptomaines). 

 — MM. Brouardel and Boutmy have verified the presence 

 of these poisons in the viscera of persons who had died 

 either from the action of poisons or otherwise. The organs 

 of an individual asphyxiated by carbonic oxide were ana- 

 lysed some hours after death, and found free from poison. 

 On being re-examined eight days afterwards the)' contained 

 a solid organic base, presenting the general characters of 

 the alkaloids and proving fatal in small doses to frogs and 

 guinea-pigs. The ptomaines are produced in the dead 

 bodies of men and animals, and vary in their nature under 

 circumstances not yet ascertained. They are poisonous in 

 the majority of cases. 



Report presented by M. Troost on Behalf of the 

 Committee of the Chemical Arts on the Malleable 

 Nickel of MM. Gaspard and Belle. — The metal is first 

 brought to a state of complete fusion, its surface is 

 freed from all traces of scoriae, a small quantity of metallic 

 zinc or magnesium is introduced, the whole is stirred up 

 and run. The metal thus added seems to lay hold of all 

 traces of foreign matter derived from the sides of the cruci- 

 ble. Such nickel is ductile and malleable at all tempera- 

 tures below its point of fusion, and can be welded either 

 with itself or with iron or steel. Plates and wires of iron 

 or steel can thus be coated with nickel. 



Specific Magnetism of Ozone. — Ozone being more mag- 

 netic than oxygen it is easy to see that the relation of the 

 specific magnetism of ozone to that of oxygen is notably 

 greater than the supposed relation of their densities. The 

 specific magnetism of ozone is then greater than what 

 would correspond to the quantity of oxygen which it con- 

 tains. — H. Becquerel. 



Detection of Ergot in Flour. — The suspected sample 

 is treated with cold ether or boiling alcohol to dissolve the 

 greater part of the coloring-matters of the flour. The re- 

 sidue is then extracted with ether, mixed with a small 

 quantity of sulphuric acid, and the extract is examined 

 with the spectroscope. The ethereal extract of ergot, if 

 concentrated, absorbs all the refrangible portion of the 

 spectrum beyond D ; if the solution is diluted, the spectrum 

 is enlarged, and there appear three absorption bands : the 

 first between D and E, wave-length 538 ; the second be- 

 tween E and F, wave-length 467. Hoffman agitates the 

 acid ethereal extract with a little solution of sodium bicar- 

 bonate, which seizes the coloring-matter of the ergot and 

 takes a fine violet color, whilst the coloring-matters of the 

 flour remain in the ether. 



ADDENDA. 



In " Science," March 2, in paper on Amplitude of Vi- 

 bration of Atoms, for paragraph beginning: "For other 

 atoms than hydrogen," etc., read, " For other atoms than 

 hydrogen, where they have the same energy, their amplitude 

 will vary inversely as the square root of their mass, so that 



for oxygen the amplitude at 0° will be li^f = .04 its diameter 



V16 



and its maximum temperature will be 6419x4=25676° 

 Cent. Also the maximum temperature of the sun would be 

 about 500000° Cent." A. E. D. 



The Odontornjtties. — In our last week's notice of the 

 Odontornithes, in the middle of the second paragraph, on 

 page 148, the dental series are said not to " reach the tip of 

 either }aw ( " K In place of " either" substitute " the upper.' 



