Notes . 
1883.: 
3 “ 
According to M. Poincare (“ Comptes Rendus ”), prolonged 
exposure to the vapours of creosote has a hardening effecft upon 
the brain, the liver, and the kidneys. The lungs assume a faint 
grey colour, and the pulmonary cavities are effaced. 
M. A. Lebedeff (“ Neueste Erfindungen ”) has proved experi- 
mentally that foreign fats, taken as food, pass directly into the 
cellular tissues. 
Law-makers have fixed a minimum age for marriage, going in 
some countries absurdly low. But why have they never laid 
down a maximum limit, and why do medical authorities condone 
the omission ? 
The U.S. surveying-steamer Blake has effected a sounding to 
the depth of 4561 fathoms, or above 5^ miles, between Bermuda 
and the Bahamas, in lat. 19*41 N. and long. 66-24 W. The 
locality is not far from the deepest Atlantic soundings (3862 
fathoms, or \\ miles) of the Challenger expedition. 
Prof. Lemstrom, of the Finland Meteorological Observatory, 
has obtained a direcft proof of the eledtric nature of the aurora. 
It is said that a Dr. Guidrah, of Victoria, has invented an 
instrument for conveying luminous acftion by electricity, so that 
a perfect picture of objects or events at distant places may be 
projected on a plate of metal. This invention, if it be as 
described, will be far more useful that the telephone. 
M. J. Gazagnaire (“ Comptes Rendus ”) investigates the im- 
portance of the zoological characters furnished by the labrum in 
the Syrphidse. He concludes that its form has an absolute value 
for the family, whilst its modifications have a generic value for 
Ceria , Humerus , and Volucella. 
According to M. Janson the optical characters of watery vapour 
in the atmosphere of Venus are very slight. 
It appears that the great magnetic perturbation of November 
17th was experienced at Cape Horn. 
The “Medical Press and Circular ” suggests that “whilst 
open drunkenness has diminished, secret indulgence in narcotics 
and sedatives has enormously increased.” 
MM. Prevost and Frutiger (“ Comptes Rendus ”) have proved 
experimentally that in subacute poisoning with mercuric chloride 
there occurs calcification of the kidneys, parallel with the decal- 
cification of the bones. 
M. L. Jourdain (“ Comptes Rendus”) has studied the lymph- 
atic system of tadpoles of frogs. He finds that their chyliferous 
system in the larval state is comparable to that of the adult 
Urodelae. 
