Notes. 
7 6 5 
1879 •] 
from the ordinary kind, but much sweeter and containing fewer 
seeds. Jerusalem artichokes grafted upon the sunflower attained 
a gigantic height, whilst the roots of the stock in two places had 
developed tubers something like those of the dahlia. 
At one of the last sittings of the Academy of Medicine 
Dr. Jollivet reported that sixteen persons, in the Department of 
Seine et Oise, have been seriously attacked with trichinosis. 
This is the first outbreak of the disease in France. 
M. Fredericq has continued his researches on the blood of the 
odtopus and the lobster. That of the former contains merely a 
single albuminoid species, the two great functions of the blood, 
respiration and nutrition, devolving upon one and the same 
chemical compound, haemocyanin. In the blood of the lobster, 
in addition to the blue colouring-matter, haemocyanin, there is 
found a rose coloured principle, soluble in alcohol. The blood of 
certain Gasteropods contains haemocyanin, but it is not found in 
that of the Lamellibranchiae. 
Among the Primates the olfadtory apparatus, the great limbic 
lobe, loses its importance. Among the apes there exists always 
a slight furrow, which extends as far as the fissure of Sylvius. 
M. Broca formerly considered this limbic furrow as characteristic 
of the apes, but he has subsequently detected it in all the brains 
belonging to the lower human races which he has been able to 
examine. 
Abrassin oil is, according to the “ CEst. Landwith. Wochen- 
blatt,” obtained in China from the seeds of Elceococca cordata , 
and is said to be an excellent protective against noxious inseCts. 
The tree, which belongs to the family of the Euphorbiaceae, 
prospers in the South of France, where its culture is recom- 
mended, in the hope of the oil proving a specific for the 
Phylloxera and the Oidium. 
The influence of quinine upon silkworms has been satisfac- 
torily proved by C. Le Doux. Broods of caterpillars suffering 
from jlacquerie were speedily restored by sprinkling their food 
with quinine sulphate. The same treatment proved successful 
in cases of “ pebrine ” with open wounds. 
Cases of poisoning by caterpillars have been observed both in 
cows and ducks. The former experienced gastric symptoms, 
diarrhoea, loss of appetite, &c., but were all restored by means 
of mucilaginous drinks and a diet of boiled potatoes and bran. 
Ninety ducks were turned into a cabbage-field infested with the 
caterpillars of the common white (Pieris brassicce). In one 
afternoon the field was almost clear, but two ducks died after an 
hour. The next morning twenty were found dead, and altogether 
fifty-three perished. The flesh of the dead, on examination, was 
found to resemble that of cattle which die of gangrene, indi- 
cating true poisoning. 
3 c 2 
