i88a.] 
Notes. 
439 
According to the “ Popular Science Monthly ” candidates for 
professorships in American colleges are almost invariably asked, 
“ What church do you go to ?” “ What are your views upon such 
and such doctrines ?” 
The “ Psychological Review ” gives a series of ghost-stories, 
which “ M. A., Oxon ” guarantees to be the authentic records of 
actual fact. We regret to find that “ Gifford ” — one of the inter- 
locutors — is made to drag in a very irrelevant outburst against 
physiological experimentation. 
The “American Journal of Medical Science” maintains that 
“ mesmerism ” ought not to serve as an object of amusement, or 
an aliment for public curiosity, but should be employed solely for 
scientific objedts. 
The “ Textile Record of America,” a weaver’s and spinner’s 
organ, has taken up its parable against Evolution ! 
Mr. F. M. Balfour, F.R.S., has been appointed to the new 
Professorship of Morphology at Cambridge. It would have been 
difficult to find a more competent man. 
According to (Echsner de Coninck (“Journal de la Soc. 
Biologique ”), ^-collidine, a pyridic base derived from cinchonine, 
is strongly poisonous. If injedted subcutaneously, in doses of 
from 0*05 to 0*15 grm., it occasions general and progressive 
debility and paralyses the adtion of the psycho-motor centres. 
The reflex movements remain intact, save those of the cornea, 
which are completely abolished. The heart is finally arrested in 
diastole. 
Prof. E. J. Maumene (“ Les Mondes ”) considers that classical 
chemistry is, in theory at least, nothing but a long tissue of 
errors. 
M. F. Raoult, in a communication to the Academy of Sciences, 
shows that the lowering of the freezing-point of water, produced 
by dissolving in it equal proportions of organic substances, fol- 
lows a well-marked law. If the molecular weight of the sub- 
stance is multiplied by the reduction of temperature corresponding 
to 1 grm., the product obtained is approximately constant. 
M. C. V. Zenger (“ Comptes Rendus ”) proposes a new com- 
bination of objectives for the microscope, by which he obtains a 
magnifying power of 2000 diameters, with a focal distance of 
0*004 to 0*006 metre. 
According to H. L. Hermann (“ Pfliiger’s Archiv fur Physio- 
logic ”) seeds germinating in water, or in moist materials, show 
a perfectly regular and powerful electric current, the roots being 
negative to the cotyledons. The power often exceeds i-ioth 
Daniell. 
