i88o.] 
Notes. 
477 
M. Ekunina (“Journal furPraktischeChemie”) has investigated 
the acid reaction which appears in the animal tissues after death, 
and finds it due to a decomposition of the juices produced by 
Schizomycetes. Volatile fatty acids first appear, generated by 
the incipient decomposition of the albumen, soon followed by the 
two forms of laCtic acid derived from glycogen. The more 
carbo-hydrates are present in any tissue the longer its acid re- 
action remains after death. In from twenty to forty hours the 
ladtic acids disappear, and are succeeded by succinic acid. 
Finally the reaction becomes alkaline, in consequence of the 
ammonia formed by the decomposing albumen. 
Prof. Huxley, in his leCture on the “ Coming of Age of the 
Origin of Species,” delivered at the Royal Institution, says — 
“ It was gravely maintained and taught that the end of every 
geological epoch was signalised by a cataclysm, by which every 
living thing on the globe was swept away, to be replaced by a 
brand-new creation when the world was restored to quietness. 
... I may be wrong, but I doubt if at the present time there is 
a single responsible representative of these opinions left.” In a 
work entitled “ Outlines of Geology and Geological Notes of 
Ireland, by Mr. W. Hughes, and which has reached its third 
edition, the ultra-catastrophist view is stated in its most unmiti- 
gated form. The author declares that “ this earth was subjected 
to repeated changes, that thousands of years intervened between 
them, and that each completely destroyed all animal and vege- 
table life.” The progress of sound Science has not been so 
rapid as Prof. Huxley supposes. 
Dr. G. Thin has laid before the Royal Society a memoir on 
Bacterium fcetidum, an organism associated with profuse sweating 
from the soles of the feet. The exudation in question has no 
offensive smell as it escapes from the skin, but acquires its cha- 
racteristic odour when absorbed by the stocking. It is not pure 
sweat, but contains an admixture of blood-serum, and has an 
alkaline reaction. The author describes and figures the stages 
of development of the Bacterium. 
Mr. J. B. Hannay communicates to the Royal Society a me- 
moir on the state of fluids at their critical temperatures. He 
contends that the difference between the fluid and the gaseous 
states is not entirely dependent upon the length of the mean free 
path, but also upon the mean velocity of the molecule. 
According to a memoir submitted to the Academy of Sciences 
by M. Marangoni, the swim-bladder is.the organ which regulates 
the migrations of fishes. Those species which frequent shallow 
and warm waters, and are always found at the bottom, are with- 
out swim-bladder, and do not migrate. Those which have a 
swim-bladder generally inhabit deep waters, but rise to the sur- 
face to spawn. Fishes do not rise spontaneously, and have to 
