1882] . 
563 
Correspondence. 
appeared of a reddish bronze colour, and certain yellow doors 
(the conventional “ oak-graining ”) became of a dull red. I do 
not know with what material the glass was coloured. — I am, &c., 
H. P. F. 
“ FAITH.” 
To the Editor of the Journal of Science. 
Sir, — In the notice of this work in your August number (p. 489), 
your reviewer seems to have overlooked a mistake into which the 
author has fallen. Mr. Griffith writes (p. 163) — “ Theorists had 
long contended that, to account for certain excentric phenomena 
with which they were familiar, there must be somewhere in 
Nature an unknown residual element which ever and again 
baffled their nicest calculations. They even ventured to describe 
minutely, d priori , more than one of its distinguishing proper- 
ties, notwithstanding that the most careful observation had 
never been able to detedl a trace of its positive existence. Hap- 
pily by this time, thanks to the genius and perseverance of 
L. de Boisbaudran, the disturber has been caught flagrante 
delicto , in the precise shape and dress fore depidted, and is now 
recognised all over Science-dom as the new metal Gallium .” 
Surely this is not a corredl account of the discovery of the 
metal in question. Its existence was predidted by Professor 
Mendelejeh, not on account of any “ excentric phenomena,” but 
because, having tabulated the known elements, he found a cer- 
tain gap, which, if filled at all, must be occupied by a body 
having properties intermediate between those of its nearest 
neighbours. — I am, &c., 
Gordius, 
A REPLY. 
In reply to a querist we beg to say that the “Journal of Science” 
is not in any way an organ of medical opinion. It frequently 
happens, however, that the interests of Science, and especially 
of Biological Science, coincide with those of the medical pro- 
fession, and in all such cases it is our duty not to keep silence. 
