Notes. 
1882.] 
759 
sions death, with symptoms indicating the decomposition of the 
blood. 
It appears that the cuckoo-cry cui bono ? in reference to scien- 
tific research, after being abandoned by the economists and the 
utilitarians, has been taken up by the ethicists. Dr. J. Burdcn- 
Sanderson, F.R.S., justly says concerning this question — “ From 
their point of view it does not admit of an answer ; from mine it 
does not require one.” 
Our attention has been called to the subjoined passage in a 
somewhat heterodox journal. The writer, a lady, declares that 
Science, “ in arriving at its conclusions and in the forth-putting 
of its power, is, in many instances, wantonly cruel, unscrupu- 
lously reckless, and highly immoral. In too earnest zeal, how- 
ever, to overthrow ecclesiastical dogma and priestly domination, 
we forget that, in the vivisection of living animals, in compulsory 
vaccination, in imperfeCt drainage, in bad house construction, in 
the devising of monstrous instruments of war, in the snapping 
of cheaply-construCted bridges, in the manufacture of slipshod 
goods, in the use of benumbing poisons for sensual and criminal 
purposes, in contriving and using infernal machines, Science is 
working subtly and dangerously, and that the evils of unconse- 
crated knowledge are far more dangerous and degrading than the 
evils of ignorance and superstition.” An author who can con- 
sider Science to blame for “ imperfeCt drainage, bad house 
construction, &c.,” may almost be excused for being an anti- 
viviseCtionist. Science does not devise, construct, manufacture, 
or use ; her sole task is to perceive, to understand, and to 
declare. 
According to MM. Weber and Guldensteeden-Egeling 
(“ Pfliiger’s Archiv.,” xxviii., p. 576) a myriapod belonging to 
the genus Fontaria , found in conservatories in Holland, has the 
remarkable property of secreting hydrocyanic acid. 
According to M. Viguier (“ Revue Internat. Sciences Biolog.,”) 
a number of carrier pigeons belonging to the Societe Colombo- 
phile de la Loire were successively thrown up at Grand Croix, at 
Montelimart, Avignon, and Marseilles. Those which found their 
way back were then taken to Algiers, and thrown up there. Not 
one found its way back to Saint Etienne. 
The Fourteenth Meeting of the Royal Commission on Tech- 
nical Instruction was held on the 25th and by adjournment on 
the 26th of October, at the South Kensington Museum. Present 
—Mr. B. Samuelson, M.P., F.R.S., in the chair; Dr. Roscoe, 
F.R.S., and Messrs. Magnus, Slagg, M.P., Swire Smith, 
Woodall, M.P., and G. R. Redgrave (Secretary). The Commis- 
sioners discussed their future visits to educational institutes in 
this country, and made arrangements for the examination of the 
officials of the South Kensington Science and Art Department. 
