176 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII. , No. 159 



stomach on the upper side, and involved in nu- 

 merous loops of the intestine. There seems to be 

 no doubt that the poison lay in this part ex- 

 clusively. Changes of size, color, and fatty de- 

 generation were affirmed by Coldstream to exist 

 in the liver when of a poisonous nature, but Dr. 

 Wolff says that none of these changes are suffi- 

 ciently constant to base a positive decision upon 

 them. The last-named writer does not believe 

 that the poison is due to any foreign substance, 

 such as copper, etc., in the organ, but that it 

 originates there. Virchow has shown the re- 

 semblance between the action of this poison and 

 that from fishes, which not seldom occurs ; and it 

 is not at all improbable that many cases of the 

 latter are due to the ingestion of the liver. 



The symptoms of the mussel-poisoning were of 

 three different kinds, — exanthematous (dermal 

 eruptions), choleraic, and paralytic. On rabbits, 

 experiments only produced paralysis and loss of 

 power, with increasing difficulty in respiration, 

 ending in death. 



It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine 

 in any given case whether a mussel is dangerous 

 or not ; and Dr. Wolff, therefore, advises that this 

 food should be avoided as much as possible, at 

 least when one does not know whence it is ob- 

 tained. Under all circumstances the liver should 

 not be eaten. It has further been ascertained, 

 however, that the poison is rendered inert by 

 cooking the shell-fish in a solution of soda. 



NEW BOOKS. 

 - WATER-METERS,' by R. E. Browne (New York, 

 Van Nostrancl), is one of the well-known science 

 series, and gives a description of certain me- 

 chanical devices. The book will be of service to 



hydraulic engineers. ' The preservation of 



timber by the use of antiseptics,' by S. B. Bolton 

 (New York, Van Nostrand), is another of the 

 series, and contains a reprint of a paper read be- 

 fore the English institution of civil engineers. 



' Rameses the Great,' from the French of F. De 

 Lanoye (New York, Scribncr), is a history of 

 Egypt thirty-three hundred years ago, and at- 

 tempts to picture Egyptian life of that date. 



'The phenomena and laws of heat,' by A. Cazin 

 (New York, Scribner), is a popular account of the 

 modern theory of heat, based upon experimental 

 results. The author avoids referring to heat as a 

 mode of motion, or trying to give any conception 

 of what its ultimate nature may be. ' The in- 

 telligence of animals,' by E. Menault (New York. 

 Scribner), contains descriptions of the intellectual 

 manifestations displayed among various insects, 

 fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals, interspersed 

 with numerous anecdotes of their intelligence. 



It contains a number of illustrations of varying 

 excellency, and will be of more especial interest 



to a younger class of readers. ' A farmer's 



view of a protective tariff,' by Isaac W. Griscom 

 (Woodbury, N.J., The author), is a farmer's plea 

 for free trade. It is written in a more sober and 

 judicious spirit than characterizes many of the 

 pamphlets belonging to the tariff discussion. He 

 denies that the agriculturist is getting any more 

 for his products than before the civil war. No 

 system of protection can have much influence 

 upon the prices of those staples of agriculture of 

 which the country produces more than it con- 

 sumes ; and the law of equalization of profits 

 will quickly modify the prices of such crops 

 as are supposed not to depend for their price 



on a distant market. 1 La photographie 



appliquee a l'histoire naturelle,' by M. Trutat 

 (Paris, Gauthier-Villars), contains an intelli- 

 gent and fresh account of the apparatus and 

 methods for photography of natural-history ob- 

 jects, illustrated with fifty-eight woodcuts. A 

 number of phototype plates are given, showing 

 both the excellences and defects of photography 

 for the production of natural-history figures. The 

 work lacks conciseness, and contains considerable 

 matter in zoology and botany not germane to the 

 subject under consideration. The author, also, is 

 rather too strongly prejudiced in favor of the 

 merits of photography to be an altogether safe 



guide. ' Chemical tables for schools and 



science classes,' by A. H. Scott-White (New York, 

 Scribner & Welford), purports to be a text-book 

 for examinations in which a knowledge of ele- 

 mentary analysis is required. The book is the 

 outgrowth of the difficulty found by the author in 

 having notes satisfactorily taken. 



The German quinquennial census, on the 1st 

 of December last, so far as the published returns 

 reach, gives a decided increase of the city popula- 

 tions. Berlin, especially, shows an unexpected 

 growth. This city, which now numbers 1,316,382 

 inhabitants, ranks as the third European city in 

 size ; and this does not include the close-lying 

 suburbs. Since 1880 the increase has been over 

 sixteen per cent, and within twenty years the city 

 has doubled in size. A few of the other more 

 important cities show the following populat ions: 

 Breslau, 298,893, an increase of 15,981; Munich. 

 260,005, with 30,082 increase ; Dresden, 245,550, 

 with -24.732: Leipzig, 1 70,076. with 20,995; Frank- 

 fort. 153.765. with 17.034. Some of the middle 

 German towns have grown remarkably, notafew 

 showing an increase of from twenty to forty per 

 cent. Only ;i single city has fallen off in popula- 

 tion, Ausbach, which has a loss of 0.15 per cent. 



