SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
221 
No zinc was found in water drawn from the boilers. The opinion stated was 
that a small hut continuous disengagement of hydrogen is maintained over 
the whole surface of the iron in contact with the water, the hubbies forming 
a film which separates the metallic surface from the scale-forming substance. 
— Engl. Meehan. March 3. 
Currents of High Tension. — M. Plante employs secondary batteries of 
high tension made of plates of lead which constitute powerful accumulators 
of Voltaic electricity. By associating a number of batteries containing from 
400 to 800 of these couples, a discharge is obtained equal to from 600 to 
1,000 Bunsen batteries arranged for tension. All are arranged in simple 
circuit, and can be charged in a few hours by some Grove’s or Bunsen’s cells. 
By turning commutators all can be united in tension, and the enormous 
quantity of electricity thus accumulated made use of in a few seconds. If 
two copper wires be inserted in water, contained in a flat glass cell, acidulated 
with ~th of sulphuric acid, and connected with such a secondary battery, or 
even with 15 or 20 Bunsen’s batteries, a thick cloud of protoxide of copper 
issues from the end of the positive wire. If a strong magnetic pole be 
brought into the neighbourhood the cloud assumes a spiral form, of which 
the component rays turn in a left or right-handed direction, according as the 
pole is north or south. 
ZOOLOGY. 
On Lingula. — Professor E. S. Morse has communicated to the Boston Society 
of Natural History the results of an investigation of the structure and habits of 
Lingula, which he made on the coast of Japan. In a species of this curious and 
interesting genus of Brachiopods he discovered auditory capsules, resembling in 
position and general appearance the corresponding organs described and figured 
by Claparede in certain tubicolous annelids. The circulation in Lingula ho 
maintains to be due entirely to ciliary action, and he altogether denies the 
presence of anything like a pulsatory organ. With regard to the habits of 
Lingula he states that when it is partially buried in the sand the anterior 
margins of the pallial membranes contract in such a way as to leave three 
large oval openings, one in the centre and one on each side. The long 
bristles of this region are then arranged in such a way as to form funnels 
leading directly to the openings, and these funnels acquire firm walls by the 
accumulation upon the bristles of the mucus flowing from the animal. A 
constant current is seen passing down the side funnels and up the central 
one. The Lingulce bury themselves very readily in the sand, and the 
peduncle agglutinates a sand tube, by means of which, when in confinement, 
they attach themselves to the surface of the vessels. — Silliman’s Journal , 
February 1878. 
Solid-hoofed Deer and Pigs. — In our notice of the “ Bulletin of the United 
States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories,” we have 
mentioned that Dr, Coues has described the occurrence of a solidungulate 
condition in the Virginian deer, and in a peculiar Texan breed of pigs. Of 
the case of the deer, though not uninteresting, little need be said ; the 
consolidation having been apparently observed only in a single specimen, and 
being confined to the horny hoof itself, the bones of the foot retaining their 
