566 
Notes . 
[September, 
A medical contemporary refers to the opinion that on the 
approach of cholera to a distrift sparrows and swallows forsake 
it in a body. 
According to H. Vidtor Meyer the colour-readtions of benzol 
are due to the presence of a small quantity of a body hitherto 
unknown, which closely resembles benzol, and to which Prof. 
Meyer has given the name of thiopten. 
We regret to announce that the museums and laboratories of 
the Indiana University have been destroyed by fire, caused by 
lightning. The loss is estimated at 166,000 dollars, but many of 
the specimens cannot be replaced at any cost. 
“ Science ” considers it probable that the Biscayan fishermen 
visited Newfoundland before the days of Columbus. It appears 
that when Cabot landed he found the natives using the Biscayan 
word “ baccalaos ” for salt cod. 
M. Gabriel Rogeron (“ Les Mondes ”) recommends Bewick’s 
swan for domestication, as being more beautiful than the common 
swan, and as taking up much less room. 
M. C. Raveret-Watel, in the same journal, considers irrigation 
as the cause of a sweeping destruction of fish. The young fry 
penetrate into the channels, and perish when the current is sud- 
denly shut off. 
“ Science ” gives the following curious quotation from a book 
entitled “ Eureka, or the Golden Door Ajar ” : — “ If sound travels 
by vibration, as Science teaches, and Science teaches that vibra- 
tion creates heat, that if a cricket should stand on one end of a 
solid slab-stone and rub his wings together, why is it that the 
vibration with the particles of stone does not completely melt 
the stone in ten minutes ? I deny the hypothesis.” 
An “ Entomological Congress,” sparingly attended, was held 
at Paris on July 13th, in the Palais de l’lndustrie. 
After a turbulent discussion the French Chamber of Deputies 
has voted the proposed increase of M. Pasteur’s pension to 
25,000 francs annually, as a national reward. 
According to M. Wroblewski (“ Comptes Rendus ”) the cri- 
tical pressure of oxygen is 50 atmospheres, and its critical tem- 
perature — 1 1 3 0 C. 
M. de Chardonnet has shown that persons deprived of the 
crystalline lens, by the operation for cataradf, perceive the ultra- 
violet rays more readily. 
A specimen (“ Science ”) of the American turret-spider ( Taren - 
tula avenicola) had been removed, together with its tower, the 
