Notes . 
i88o.j 
309 
Society ”) infers that the tails of the three types of comets are 
composed respectively of iron, hydrogen, and carbon. 
The milk of cows takes a reddish colour if they have eaten 
the leaves of madder or of Galium verum. 
M. W. Koster (“Archives Neerlandaises des Sciences Exactes 
et Naturelles) shows that there is no specific difference between 
the muscles of the hand in man and in the anthropoids. (See, 
also, “ Verslagen en Mededeelingen d. K. Akad. v. Wet.,” 2 Ser., 
t. XIV.) 
Certain human bones, found imbedded in an undisturbed clay 
at Nice, apparently belonging to the quaternary epoch, are 
ascribed by M. de Quatrefages to the Cro-Magnon race. 
According to “ Les Mondes ” the photophone is applicable to 
the study of the Aurora Borealis. 
During the past year 422 students have received instruction in 
Applied Physics and Applied Chemistry at the Cowper Street 
Schools, in connection with the City and Guilds of London 
Institute. The income of the Institute for the year 1881 will be 
not less than £18, 515. 
According to Von Nageli and O. Loew the lower Fungi can 
derive nourishment from alcohol, phenol, salicylic and benzoic 
acids. 
Among the recently observed noxious insects must be reckoned 
Gelechia cenabella, a moth belonging to the Noctuidas, which in 
its larva stage injures barley; and a Hemipterous insect, Lygczus 
leucopterus, which has committed enormous ravages in the wheat 
district to the south of Lake Erie. 
A paper on the “ Increasing Number of Deaths from Explo- 
sions, with an Examination of the Causes,” was read before the 
Society of Arts, March 23rd, by Mr. C. Walford, F.I.A., F.S.S., 
Barrister-at-Law. The learned author directed attention merely 
to boiler and coal-mine explosions, but the general feeling was 
that the public is not sufficiently protected. 
M. Toussaint, of the Veterinary School of Toulouse, has de- 
vised a -method of protecting sheep against splenic fever by 
means of preventive inoculation. 
According to M. S. P. Langley (“ Comptes Rendus ”) the 
maximum of solar energy, prior to the absorptive effect of the 
atmosphere, is, found nearer the violet than the ultra-red. The 
totality of the solar radiations would give a sensation of blue- 
ness rather than of whiteness. 
M. E. Mercadier, in the same journal, shows that the radio- 
phonic sounds produced with the selenium-receiver are due to 
luminous radiations. 
