Recent Proceedings of Societies. 



Academy of natural sciences, Philadelphia. 



May 11. — Dr. Leidy read a communication from 

 Dr. V. Gonzalez, giving an account of the scorpions 

 of Durango. Mex., and the deadly effects of their 

 sting. They are found everywhere in the city, and 

 every effort has been made to exterminate them, but 

 without effect. A reward of a cent and a half for 

 males, and double that amount for females, is paid 

 by the authorities, and the records indicate that some 

 years over one hundred thousand are captured and 

 destroyed. The sting, especially in the case of 

 children, is invariably fatal ; the victim, if under 

 two or three years of age, dying 1 in a few hours, and 

 sometimes in a few minutes, in strong general con- 

 vulsions. No antidote for the poison has as yet been 

 discovered, and the assistance of Dr. Leidy is asked 

 by the writer in his endeavor to determine some suc- 

 cessful mode of treatment. It was suggested by 

 Messrs. Horn, Heilprin, and Leidy that the Mexican 

 scorpion must differ from the species found in Florida 

 and California, as the sting of the latter is not usual- 

 ly graver than that of a wasp. He also read an 



interesting letter from Eugene A. Rau of Bethlehem, 

 Penn., giving an account of recent cases of fatal 

 trichiniasis arising from imperfectly cooked measly 

 pork which had been eaten for a week from Jan. 6, 

 1886. The family consisted of a man and wife, and 

 two daughters aged five and thirteen years. The 

 older daughter, and the mother, aged thirty-seven 

 years, have died ; the other members of the family, 

 although affected, are recovering. In the mother, 

 who died March 8, the deltoid muscles showed under 

 the microscope three to nine, the rectus femoris two 

 to six, and the diaphragm one to three, trichinae 

 in a field view about one-fifth of an inch in diameter. 

 In the daughter, who died Feb. 19, trichinae were 

 found embedded in the deltoid muscle, in some por- 

 tions as many as forty-two being counted on the 

 field of view under the microscope. No other por- 

 tions of the daughter were examined ; but the lungs, 

 heart, liver, spleen, and kidneys in the mother were 

 found to be unaffected. The pork used was home- 

 raised, and, according to the owner, the animal did 

 not at any time show signs of ill health. An ex- 

 amination of two other hogs raised on the premises 

 was made, but no trichinae were found. As usual 

 in such cases, the meat was imperfectly cooked or 

 fried, the tenderloin, sausage meat, spare-ribs, etc., 

 all being freely used. For several days while in 

 water, the human trichinae showed signs of life, 

 coiling and uncoiling when freed from the muscular 

 fibre ; but the stage of development found in the 

 pork showed no activity under the same conditions. 



Calendar of Societies. 



Torrey botanical club. Neiv York. 

 Mayll. — Dr. Britton, Leaf-forms in young and 

 adult trees of Populus grandidentata ; P. H. Dud- 

 ley, Duct-formation in several common timber-trees. 



American academy of arts and sciences, Boston. 



May 12. — Oliver W. Huntington, The crystalline 

 structure of iron meteorites ; Edward C. Pickering, 

 Photographic observations of the eclipses of Jupiter's 



satellites ; William A. Rogers and Miss Anna Win- 

 lock, A catalogue of polar stars for the epoch 1875.0 

 resulting from all the available observations made 

 between 1860 and 1883, and reduced to the system of 

 the catalogue of Publication XIV. of the Astrono- 

 mische gesellschaft. 



Biological society, Washington. 

 May 15. — John B. Smith, Ants' nests and their in- 

 habitants ; T. H. Bean, The trout of North America, 

 with exhibition of specimens ; L. 0. Howard, On 

 some new Chalcididae ; C. Hart Merriam, Habits of 

 the short-tailed shrew (Blaina). 



Publications received at Editor's Office, May 10-15. 



Bagnall, J. E. Handbook of mosses. London, Sonnenschein, 

 1886. 8+96 p., illustr. 



Bayley, E. C. History of Gujarat. London, W. H. Allen 

 & Co., 1886. 20+519 p., map. 8°. (New York, Scribner & Wel- 

 ford.) 



Becker, G. F. Cretaceous metamorphic rocks of California. 

 New Haven, Amer.journ. sc , 1886. [10] p. 8°. 



Berjon, A. La grande hysterie chez l'homme. Paris, 

 Bailliere, 1886. 8-J-80 p., 10 pi. 8°. (New York, Christern. $1.) 



Birch. Dr, Samuel, biographical notices of, from the British 

 and foreign press. With an introduction by Walter de Gray 

 Birch, F.S.A. London. Triibner, 1886. 12+95 p., portr. 12 . 

 (New York, Scribner & Welford.) 



Butler, A . W. A list of the birds observed in Franklin coun- 

 ty, Ind. Brookville, Soc.^ nat. hist., 1886. [28] p. 8°. 



Carnelley, T. Physico-chemical constants. Melting and 

 boiling point tables. Vol. i. London, Harrison, 1885. 24+352 p. 

 f°. 



Christison, Sir Robert, the life of. Ed. by his sons. Vol. i.: 

 Autobiography. Edinburgh, Blackwood, 1885. 14+428 p., 

 portr. 8°. (New York, Scribner & Welford.) 



Cremona, L. Elements of projective geometry . Tr. by Charles 

 Leudesdorf. Oxford, Clarendon pr., 1885. 24+310 p., illustr. 

 8°. (New York, Macmillan, $3.25.) 



Cuyer, E., 3nd Alix, E. Le cheval. Livr. i. and ii. Paris, 

 Bailliere, 1886. 144+44 P-i 4 pl-> illustr. 4 . (New York, 

 Christern, $2.50.) 



Gray, P., and Woodward, B. B. Sea-weeds, shells, and 

 fossils. _ London, Sonnenschein, [1886.] 94 p., illustr. 12 . 



Jewitt, L. English coins and tokens. London, Sonnenschein, 

 1886. 128 p., illustr. 12 . 



Kirby, W. F. British butterflies, moths, and beetles. Lon- 

 don, Sonnenschein, 1885. 93 p., illustr. 12 . 



Lachese, L. de. Tarassis troubles de l'ame et du corps chez 

 l'homme dans -les temps modernes et dans l'histoire. Paris, 

 Bailliere, 1886. 40 p. 8°. (New York, Christern, 50 cents.) 



MacRitchie. D. Accounts of the gypsies of India. London, 

 Kegan Paul, Trench & Co , 1886. 10+254 p., illustr., map. 

 i2°. _ (New York, Scribner & Welford.) 



Minchin, G. M. A treatise on statics with applications to 

 physics. Vol. ii. 3d ed. Oxford, Clarendon pr., 1886. 8+512 p., 

 illustr. 8°. (New York, Macmillan, $4.) 



Morache, G. Traite d'bygiene militaire. 2d ed. Paris, 

 Bailliere, 1886. 8+926 p., illustr. 8°. (New YorK, Christern, 



Is) 



Poincare, L. Traite d'hygiene industrielle. Paris, Massoti, 

 1886. 8+640 p., illustr. 8°. (New York, Christern, $4.) 



Riggenbach, R. Beobachtungen iiber die dammerung ins- 

 besondere iiber das purpurlicht und seine beziehungen zum 

 Bishop'schen sonnenring. Basel, Georg, 1886. 105 p., illustr. 

 12 . (New York, Stechert.) 



Ulrich, E. O. Contributions to American palaeontology. 

 Vol. i. Cincinnati, The author, 1886. 35 p., 3 pi., illustr. 8°. 



Wiley, H. W. Methods and machinery for the application of 

 diffusion to the extraction of sugar from sugar cane and sorghum. 

 Washington, Government, 1886 85 p., 24 pi. 8°. 



Wright. W. The empire of the Hittites. 2d ed. London, 

 Nisbet &■ Co , 1886. 26+246 p., 27 pi., map. 8°. (New York, 

 Scribner & Welford.) 



Advertised Books of Reference. 



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 leading American scientists. Edited by J. S. Kingsley, Ph.D. 

 Vol. I. Lower Invertebrates. Vol. II. Crustacea and Insects. 

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