Notes. 
309 
1884.] 
M. P. Reynard has communicated to the French Academy of 
Sciences some important experiments on the influence of great 
pressures upon various forms of animal and vegetable life. 
Beer-yeast, after exposure for one hour to a pressure of 1000 at- 
mospheres, was not killed, and was afterwards able to set up 
fermentation in a solution of sugar. Algae, after exposure for an 
hour to a pressure of 600 atmospheres, were still able to decom- 
pose carbonic acid in the sunlight. Infusoria were submitted to 
600 atmospheres for half an hour : they appeared at first torpid, 
but rapidly recovered. Mollusks similarly treated recovered more 
slowly. Leeches at the same pressure appeared to be dead, but 
recovered in a few hours. With crustaceans, such as Gammarus 
puba, the phenomena were identical, but the recovery more rapid. 
Fishes without swim-bladder survived a pressure of 200 atmo- 
spheres, but perished at 300. These experiments illustrate the 
conditions of life at great depths in the sea. 
The after-glow of the evening skies is described as having been 
splendid during the months of October and November, at Ade- 
laide. Since then it has been gradually decreasing, but even on 
February 24th it was still visible as a fiery band on the horizon. 
“ Science ” mentions a peculiar north wind felt in California, 
and which, whether hot or cold, “ produces a feeling of great de- 
pression and nervous irritability, lassitude and restlessness.” Its 
effeCts upon vegetation in summer are scorching. 
Dr. Delaunay, in the journal of the Ethnographic Society, says 
that the civilisation of Europe has been retarded by influences 
fi'om Asia. “ Not to speak of cholera, plague, and other mala- 
dies, two-thirds of our intellectual lives are spent in perpetuating 
the errors and exploded fancies of Asiatic, Greek, and Roman 
mythmongers.” 
A deposit of gold has been discovered at Penaflor, in Anda- 
lusia. 
M. J. Deniker (“ Comptes Rendus ”) describes a foetus of the 
gorilla in the fifth month of its life. In almost every respeCt it 
approaches closely to the form of the human foetus at the same 
age. The hand differs from that of the adult gorilla by the 
greater proportionate length of the fingers. The leg is cylin- 
drical, without the projection of the calf evident in the human 
foetus. The cephalix index is 86-2. 
According to M. G. Carlet (“ Comptes Rendus ”) all the 
muscles of the abdomen of the bee, with the exception of those 
connected with the circulation, subserve respiration, and conse- 
quently the development of heat. By means of these muscles 
the abdomen can be expanded or contracted in all its three dimen- 
sions for the admission or expulsion of air by the stigmata. 
M. Thollon, writing from the Nice Observatory to the Academy 
