1884-J Notes. jg^ 
concerned, they may be vastly different in regard to some or all 
, t “ e . mo _ re widely diffradted pencils which are not admitted bv 
the objective.” J 
Of the ordinary members of the French Academy of Sciences 
two only nave not received the “ Legion of Honour.” 
Sir Joseph Fayrer considers the idea of finding a physiological 
antidote for snake-poison a Utopia. He maintains that venomous 
propeities are communicated to the blood of the animal bitten, 
and that these properties are reproduced through a series of 
three successive animals. He doubts the alleged innocuity of 
the poison when introduced into the stomach. 
According to M. Levallois solutions of cellulose in Schweitzer’s 
reagent deflea the plane of polarisation to the left. 
M. Wosnessenski (“ Comptes Rendus ”) finds that the bacillus 
ot anthrax developes well at 35 0 C., under the pressure of 3, 5, 
6, 10, and 13 atmospheres. At higher pressures their develop- 
ment is arrested. 
An attempt was made by the Bestiarians of Oxford to reverse 
the vote of £10,000 for ereaing and furnishing a physiological 
laboratory. The most disgraceful means, “ not stopping short 
at direa falsehood,” — as the “ Medical Press and Circular ” in- 
forms us,— were resorted to. But in the end Science triumphed 
by a decided majority. 
According to M. Grimaux (“ Comptes Rendus”) mineral col- 
loids approximate closely to the nitrogenous colloids of the 
organism ; the retardation of the coagulation of ferric hydrate by 
a reduction of temperature is observed equally in the spontaneous 
coagulation of blood. 
Snow which fell near Stockholm in December last was ac- 
cording to M. Nordenskiold (“Comptes Rendus ”), mixed with 
a black dust, consisting of carbon, iron, silica, phosphorus 
cobalt, and nickel. 
M. Haas (“ Comptes Rendus ”) records that in Venezuela, 
September 2nd last, the sun at rising in a cloudless sky was of 
a beautiful blue. At noon its light was still bluish. At setting 
there were around its disc numerous horizontal rays of a deep 
blue on a pale blue ground. After the sun had entirely disap- 
peared there was a fiery red glow in the sky which lasted until 
nearly 8 p.m. 
Prof. F. Hoppe-Seyler (“ Zeitschr. Physiolog. Chemie ”) pro- 
nounces the assumption of Schizomycetes, which can live only in 
the absence of oxygen, highly improbable, and certainly not 
demonstrated. 
