i88i.] 
Notes. 
565 
of Herbert Spencer as to the origin of things self-existing, or 
self-created, or created by external agency, and raised a laugh by 
saying that the possibility of creation of an agency within had 
never occurred to Mr. Spencer. 
Dr. Dolan, writing in the “ Medical Press and Circular,” pro- 
poses some much-needed restrictions on dogs and dog-fanciers. 
Dr. W. B. Carpenter, in his pamphlet on Vaccination, delivers 
himself into the hands of his opponents. He asks, “ Do we 
abstain from drinking water because it is sometimes poisoned by 
lead ?” forgetting that the presence of lead in water can be 
readily detected. 
It is said that Prof. Huxley is a candidate for the Linacre 
Chair of Physiology at Oxford, vacant by the death of Prof. 
Rolleston. 
According to a paper read before the Geographical Society of 
France, the Hoang-Ham — a strychnaceous plant, found in Ton- 
quin — has been used with success as a remedy for the bite of the 
cobra. 
The ink of the Cephalopoda when purified contains, according 
to M. P. Girod (“ Comptes Rendus ”) : — 
M. A. Brongniart has laid before the Academy of Sciences an 
account of the egg-cases of the Mantis, of the hatching, and the 
first moulting of the larvae. His observations have been made 
in Algeria. 
It is rumoured that Prof. Riley is likely to be reinstated as 
Entomologist to the American Department of Agriculture. 
The “ North American Review” has a paper by Prof. E. S. 
Morse, on “ Prehistoric Man in America.” It is an admirable 
summary of the present state of knowledge as regards the early 
history of our race. 
Prof. Marsh, in an “ Address on the History and Methods of 
Palaeontological Discovery,” remarks, very justly, that if Cuvier 
had “ had before him the disconnected fragments of an Eocene 
tillodont, he would have referred the molars to one of his pachy- 
derms, the incisors to a rodent, and the claw-bone to a carnivore. 
“ Harper’s Monthly,” in reviewing “ Mivart on the Cat,” de- 
clares that a belief in Evolution, far from leading to a denial of 
“ Creation,” distinctly affirms it, and that a candid study of 
Carbon ... 
Hydrogen 
Nitrogen ... 
Oxygen ... 
53-60 
4-04 
8-8o 
33-56 
IOO'OO 
