i879-] 
Notes. 
587 
poisoning, it was found that the deceased had been in the habit 
when drawing of passing the pencil filled with colour between 
his lips in order to point it. The water-colours he had used 
were analysed, and whilst indian-ink, gamboge, carmine, red 
eosin ink, neutral tint, &c., were found perfectly free from 
arsenic, a sample of sepia contained 3*08 per cent of arsenious 
acid, terra di sienna 3' 14, and a reddish brown colour, the name 
of which was indistindf, 3* 15. Burnt sienna, Vandyck brown, 
bistre, bladder green, brown ochre, indian red, umber (raw and 
burnt) were also found arseniferous. The exclusion of arsenic 
from such colours, in which it seems to play no essential part, 
should be insisted on by the authorities. Most of these colours 
are essentially iron lakes. Hence it appears that the mere 
presence of ferric oxide, except in a hydrated state and accom- 
panied by free magnesia in quantity sufficient to neutralise the 
acids of the stomach, does not adt as an antidote to arsenious 
acid. This case seems likewise to prove that arsenic taken in 
minute doses can accumulate in the system until it can be readily 
recognised in all organs, and can exert a dangerous adtion. The 
impunity with which the peasants of Styria consume small doses 
of arsenic would seem to depend upon circumstances not yet 
fully determined. 
The “ Apotheker Zeitung” gives the following iormula for an 
ineradicable ink: — 175 grms. aniline-black are ground up with 
60 drops hydrochloric acid and 42 grms. alcohol, and the liquid 
is diluted with a hot solution of 2*5 grms. gum-arabic in 170 grms. 
water. If the aniline-black solution is diluted with a solution of 
2-5 grms. shellac in 170 grms. spirit instead of gum-water, the 
result is an ink suitable for writing on wood, brass, or leather, 
A letter from M. P. Truchot to M. Dumas concerning the 
apparatus of M. Lavoisier was read at a recent session of the 
Academy of Sciences. It appears that Lavoisier’s chemical 
laboratory and physical cabinet have been reverently preserved 
by his family, and are now in the possession of M. E. de 
Chazelles, at Canidre, near Aigueperse, Puy de Dome. The 
smallest of the three balances is sensitive to 1-612 grain. The 
weights belonging to these balances are wanting, but the kilo- 
gramme and its subdivisions as established by Fortin are present, 
recalling the fadt that Lavoisier made all the determinations 
needful for fixing the weight of the kilogramme. There is a 
small model of an apparatus for the distillation of sea-water. 
There are a considerable number of precious stones, some of 
which have undergone the adtion of fire. Lavoisier is known to 
have made an experimental comparison of the heat produced 
by converging lenses with that of the blowpipe fed with oxygen. 
With reference to the eledtric light superseding that obtained 
from coal-gas, Dr. Greiff contends, in “ Die Chemische Indus- 
