Notes. 
1884.] 
245 
MM. Moncorvo and Silva Araujo have succeeded in curing 
elephantiasis by the application of electricity. 
Dr. J. Foster, in a paper read before the Sheffield Medico- 
Chirurgical Society, advances the questionable opinion that 
“ some of the greatest literary productions have been the work 
of men between 50 and 70. Living public men in every depart- 
ment of literature, science, and art may be cited as proof.” 
Mr. G. Dimmock (“ Science ”) has found a redeeming feature 
in the character of the common earwig. It is an eager devourer 
of fleas, and may therefore claim toleration in bed-rooms, though 
not in gardens. 
At the coming Montreal Meeting of the British Association 
the following subjects are selected for special discussion in 
SeCtion A (Mathematical and Physical Science) : — 
1. On Friday, August 29. — The seat of the electromotive forces 
in the voltaic cells. 
2. On Monday, September 1. — The connexion of sun-spots 
with terrestrial phenomena. 
The names of those who propose to read papers, or are willing 
to take part in the oral discussions, should be sent not later than 
June 1, 1884, to The Secretaries of Section A, British Association, 
22, Albemarle Street, London, W. No paper should in reading 
occupy more than fifteen minutes, and no speech more than ten 
minutes. 
During a recent technical trial a learned judge observed that 
he had a great respeCt for professional witnesses, but none for 
witnesses by profession. 
An international ornithological conference is to take place, on 
the 16th of this month, at Vienna. 
A biological institute is about to be organised at Philadelphia. 
At a recent meeting of the Entomological Society a paper was 
read on the decrease of butterflies in the district of Huddersfield 
during the last twenty years. Several gentlemen referred to a 
similar decrease in other parts of England, common species 
having become scarce, and scarce ones disappearing entirely. 
According to M. E. Juny violet light is favourable to the deve- 
lopment of the eggs of various animals, whilst green and red 
lights seem to have an injurious, or at least a retarding, in- 
fluence. 
It is a characteristic tendency of the anti-scientific mind to 
refer physical phenomena to moral causes. See Mr. Ruskin’s 
remarks in “ Fors Clavigera ” on recent cloudy seasons. 
