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the passage, en toute piece , of the blood-corpuscles through the capillary 
walls, as observed by Cohnheim and others, can be explained. Dr. Norris 
used for the purpose a solution of soap and metal rings of various dia- 
meters, set in handles, to hold the films, the spheres being the ordinary 
blown soap bubble. When such a bubble was allowed to fall upon a film, 
it at once assumed a flattened ovoid form, and projected equally on either 
side of the film, moving readily across it as the frame was inclined from one 
side to the other. By a dexterous application of the blowpipe Dr. Norris 
next took away the bubble from the opposite side of the film to that 
to which it had been first applied, leaving the latter unbroken. Thus the 
sphere had passed through a film which presented no opening of any kind 
without rupturing it. Solid bodies well moistened externally, such as an 
orange, or a mass of glass, were also passed through. A certain proportion 
of moisture Dr. Norris has found to be essential to the cohesion of the 
colloidal substances ; for if the sphere and the film were kept apart for a 
few seconds, no such result ensued ; the sphere rested on the film without 
cohering to it or changing its shape. Applying the knowledge acquired by 
these experiments to the migration of the blood-corpuscles through the 
capillary tissues, it may be conjectured that such a relation as regards 
moisture exists between the corpuscle and the wall of the vessel in the 
normal state as to prevent the passage of the one through the other ; but, 
if this relation be disturbed by any cause, cohesion of the opposed surfaces 
occurs, and the sphere (blood disc) passes through the film (wall of the 
capillary). The aggregation of the corpuscles into rouleaux, under certain 
conditions, may also perhaps be similarly accounted for. — Vide Lancet 
(March 18). 
How are the Miasmata of Marshes destroyed ? — An interesting controversy 
is at present going on, says “ The Lancet,” in Italy between Dr. Fattorini 
and the well-known Dr. Pantaleoni, of Borne. The latter stated broadly, 
at the Congress of Florence in 1869, that the most efficient manner of ren- 
dering marsh land healthy is to allow a large population to inhabit it. He 
gave as an example a portion of central France called Sologne, which 
formerly was very deadly, owing to marsh miasmata, and which now, 
being densely populated, has become a very healthy district. These 
opinions were repeated and dilated upon by the same author in the Italian 
journal “ Lo Sperimentale ” (September, October, and November, 1870). 
Dr. Fattorini retorts, however, that draining is the principal means of 
lessening the unhealthiness of such districts, and that the natural conse- 
quence of Dr. Pantaleoni’s tenets would be that people should be thrust 
into unhealthy localities to diminish the amount of miasmata. 
Fusion of the Anthropological and Ethnological Societies. — We are happy to 
say that this fusion has been at last accomplished. The title of the new 
body, named by Professor Huxley, is the Anthropological Institute of Great 
Britain and Ireland. 
Health of Baron Liebig. — We rejoice to hear of Baron Liebig’s recovery. 
He is now lecturing at the University of Munich with all his old energy. 
Blatynemic men in Denbighshire. — The remains of these men has been 
the subject of a communication of much interest by Mr. Boyd Dawkins, 
F.R.S., and Mr. Busk, F.B.S., to the “ Journal of the Ethnological Society” 
