SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
211 
wire or with clips to prevent moisture entering between them. Such a rope 
would be stronger, and much more easily erected, than one of wire with 
the wires parallel over the span. And it would be much more rigid than a 
wire rope of twisted strands, and probably also more durable from its greater 
compactness. — Engineering, Feb. 1868. 
MEDICAL SCIENCE. 
Experiments on Animals with Soluble Silicates. — Herr Schwann, the cele- 
brated author of the cell theory of development, has laid before the Belgian 
Academy of Sciences a paper of M. Husson’s on this subject. The results 
of the author’s experiments throw some light on the important question : 
Why are certain substances, when introduced into the body, found to be 
subsequently deposited in particular organs only ? M. Husson administered 
alkaline silicates to dogs, and afterwards sought them in the several tissues. 
What was the result ? He found only traces of them in the blood ; they 
were absent from the brain, the bones, the liver, and the bile. The muscles, 
however, and the spleen contained deposited silica in considerable quantity, 
and the greatest quantity was found as a deposit in the urine. M. Flusson’s 
explanation may be correct — at all events it is interesting. He says that the 
silicates travelled along freely through the tissues till in the muscles the 
lactic acid developed during contraction precipitated the silica, and thus 
prevented its further removal. In the urine it w^as precipitated by the 
biphosphate of lime. The deposit in the spleen is, he confesses, beyond his 
power of explanation. — Vide “The Microscope Scalpel and Balance,” in 
Medical Times for February. 
The Structure of the Bed Corpuscle has been investigated by Herr Briicke 
in a paper read before the Vienna Academy of Sciences. According to this 
physiologist, the corpuscle is composed of two substances — a soft and spongy 
material which he terms the oecoid, and an enclosed structure endowed with 
vitality, and which he styles the zooid. This latter is, he says, made up of two 
parts — 1st, a central part which corresponds to the nucleus ; and 2nd, a 
peripheral part, which extends into the interstices of the oecoid and binds all 
the structures together. His researches have been confined to nucleated 
blood-globules. — Vide Elnstitut, December 26. 
Chemistry of Mineral Springs. — The mineral waters of Austria — especially 
the three springs of Ebriach, Ursprung, and Sztojka — have received attention 
from Herr Bedtenbacher, who has lately submitted them to analysis. The 
waters of the first are remarkable for carbonates and carbonic acid, those of 
the second for sulphur compounds, and those of the third for the large pro- 
portion of potash they contain. 
The Development of Tendons. — A paper which has been published by 
Herr Obersteiner on the development of tendons shows us negatively the 
advantage of such a record as that w^e have begun. This physiologist has 
presented a memoir to the Academy of Vienna, in which, so far as we can 
see, he only repeats what is stated in many books, and wliich is strongly 
asserted by Virchow, viz. that the fibres of tendon (^. e. the elastic or yellow 
