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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
killed by five grains. A guinea-pig weighing sixteen ounces will be put by 
two grains into deep sleep, and by five grains into fatal sleep. A rabbit 
weighing eighty-eight ounces will be thrown by thirty grains into deep 
sleep, and by sixty grains into fatal sleep. The human subject, weighing 
from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty pounds, will be 
made by ninety grains to pass into deep sleep, and by one hundred and forty 
grains into a sleep that will be dangerous ; finally, he concludes that a dose 
of 180 grains is a fatal dose. 
Accommodation of the Eye. — Dr. W. E. Dudgeon is one of the last observers 
who has given us his views on this subject. His opinion does not appear 
very well supported, but it is briefly as follows : — 1. There is no increase in 
convexity of the surfaces of the crystalline lens. 2. That the required 
shortening of the focus of the crystalline is effected by a slight movement 
of rotation of the crystalline from without inwards. 3. That the contrac- 
tion of the pupil during this act corrects any tendency to the formation of 
a blurred image on the retina by cutting off the more obliquely impinging, 
and, therefore, superfluous rays of light. He rather fails in determining the 
cause of the motion. Still the paper is interesting, and those who consult 
the Homoeopathic Journals, in one of which it appeared, will do well to 
consult it. 
Dinners at Pompeii. — The Pompeian dinners, according to the “Food 
Journal ” for January, usually comprised three courses. The first consisted 
of eggs, olives, oysters, salad, pickles, &c. ; the second of made dishes, fish, 
and roasts ; the third of pastry, confectionery, and fruits. From a painting 
discovered at Pompeii we have the representation of a large feast in those 
days. An immense dish containing four peacocks stood in the centre of 
the table, surrounded by lobsters, one holding a blue egg in its claws, 
another a stuffed rat, another an oyster, and the fourth a basketful of 
grasshoppers. At the bottom of the table were four dishes of fish, and 
above them partridges, hares, and squirrels, each holding its head between 
its paws. This was all encircled by a sort of German sausage, apparently; 
and then came a row of yolks of eggs; a row of peaches, melons, and 
cherries ; and lastly, a row of vegetables of different sorts. 
The Intestinal Movements. — In one of the Vienna Medical Journals for 
last year, Drs. Mayer and Basch are led to conclude, after a long series of 
experiments, that the cause by which the intestinal movements are produced 
is primarily the presence (especially the afflux) of the venous blood in the 
intestinal walls. The previously-recognised arrestive action exercised by 
the nervi-splanchnici upon the intestinal movements may be explained on 
the same principle by the vaso-motor fibres which they contain. 
How Casein is formed in Lacteal Glands . — It is stated in a recent number 
of Pfliiger’s “ Archiv ” that Dr. Daenhardt succeeded in extracting, from 
the lacteal glands of suckling guinea-pigs, a body which, by the addition 
of a mixture of the white of egg and carbonate of soda, was capable of 
forming casein. The doctor deduces from this that, as by a ferment of the 
saliva sugar is produced from starch, so by this ferment of the lacteal glands 
casein is produced from the albumen. 
A peculiar Aspirator , which is specially recommended for thoracentesis, 
has been invented by Dr. Vald. Rasmussen, of Cophenhagen. The distinc- 
