n6 Notts. [February, 
We learn with delight that an anti-vivisedlionist who subscribes 
£ 20 yearly towards carrying on the anti-scientific agitation has 
been fined for maltreating an “ unoffending” animal in his pos- 
session. How much a revised and enlarged edition of the 
“ Devil’s Walk on Earth ” is needed ! 
M. Schiitzenberger, in experimenting upon the petroleums of 
the Caucasus, has observed fadls which seem to show that the 
atomic weight of the elements are not absolutely fixed, but may 
vary within certain narrow limits. Petroleum, aniline, and ben- 
zol, if distilled in contadl with sodium and kept in the dark, give 
on analysis ioi to 101*5 per cent of carbon and hydrogen; but 
if exposed to the light for two hours the yield is only 100 per 
cent. 
The “ Magdeborgische Zeitung ” has established a meteorolo- 
logical observatory, well equipped and placed in competent hands. 
The objedt is the benefit of agriculture. 
According to “ Ciel et Terre ” two new small planets have 
been discovered during the past year, raising the total number of 
the group of worlds between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter 
to 220. 
M. Dufour, in a paper read before the Helvetic Society of 
Natural Sciences, points out that in calm weather the images of 
distant objedls, refledled in the Lake of Geneva, appear distorted 
exadlly as calculation shows they ought to be in consequence of 
the figure of the earth. This is a new and excellent proof that 
the earth is round. 
The “ Pall Mall Gazette,” criticising Shairp’s “ Ledlures on 
Poetry, writes : — “ Chamseleon’s food is light and air; the molar 
teeth of a man indicate more substantial diet ; we need even 
silicious particles to form the bones.” Chamasleons are in these 
days found to feed upon insedls, and the mineral part of our 
bones, on analysis, proves to be formed not of “ silicious parti- 
cles,” but of salts of lime and magnesia. 
The new Science College at Birmingham has already stultified 
itself. The governing body have refused to allow Dr. Haycraft, 
their Professor of Physiology, to apply for a license under the 
Experiments on Animals Adi. 
It is rumoured that the Natural History Professorship at the 
University of Edinburgh has been offered to Dr. F. M. Balfour. 
Dr. Conrad Keller, Professor of Zoology at Zurich, is engaged 
in a scientific exploration of the coasts of the Red Sea. 
According to the “ Gazzetta Chimica ” potassium ferricyanide 
(the red prussiate of potash) cannot be used for distinguishing 
the ptomaines from vegetable bases, since, contrary to the asser- 
tion of MM. Brouerdel and Boutmy, it is reduced by both. 
