FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
563 
are developments from granules of the vitelline membrane 
of an egg, or from epithelial cells of the tongue, and that for 
their appearance no spores are required, nor germs floating 
in the air, but only the transformation of a morphological 
element . — Monthly Microscopical Journal. 
The Growth of Organisms in contact with 
Phenic Acid. — The preceding authors detail several in- 
stances of vibrions and bacteria appearing in animal solutions 
containing phenic acid ; but they state that the acid kills 
them when their organization is complete. — Ibid. 
The Mechanism of Suppuration. — Experiments of 
M. Hayen, brought before the French Academy of Medicine 
by. M. Yulpian, overturn the theories of Virchow and Robin, 
by showing that the globules of pus are not formed at the 
expense of the connective tissue or of the blastema, but 
they come from the blood, and constitute its leucocytes. M. 
Hayen's experiments were made with frogs, but M. Yulpian 
and after him MM. Volkmann and Stradener have shown 
that in erysipelas a considerable extravasation of the white 
globules occurs, which is easily proved by cutting the skin. 
A Dutch physiologist, M. Costa, has demonstrated this 
extravasation of white globules in inflamed spots. — Cosmos. 
Testing of Alcohol and Spirits for Amylic Alco- 
hol. — The internal use of amylic alcohol, even in small 
quantities, being very deleterious, it is important that its 
presence in spirits and alcohol should be rapidly tested. This 
is done by pouring the suspected alcohol into a burette, 
mixed with its own bulk of rectified and pure ether and also 
its own bulk of water, when, after the mixture is gently 
shaken, the ether will become separated from the rest of the 
fluid and float to the top, containing in solution the whole of 
the amylic alcohol present in the burette. The ether is re- 
moved by a pipette, and, on being left to evaporate spon- 
taneously, will leave behind the amylic alcohol, readily de- 
tected by its offensive smell . — Journal of the Society of Arts , 
April 15. 
Phosphate of Lime. — The New York journals announce 
that, in the neighbourhood of Charleston (United States), a 
short time ago, a considerable deposit of phosphate of lime 
was discovered, stretching over an area of about seven hundred 
acres. The beds of this phosphate are from forty to sixty 
centimetres in thickness, and it is calculated that the entire 
deposit has a value of above 6,000,000 dollars. This phos- 
