Notes. 
1884.] 
631 
A Mr. Thomas Bayley proposes, in place of cremation, to 
place the bodies, loosely wrapped in cotton-wool, on shelves in 
catacombs exposed to currents of cold air, dried by passing over 
calcium chloride. The fumes are to be passed through furnaces 
into the sewers. This scheme is far inferior to cremation, as 
being evidently much more costly, and as taking up room almost 
as much as burial. 
Dr. Pringle (“ Medical Press ”) declares that were it not for 
vaccination no European force could hold India. 
The “American Naturalist” has an interesting notice of the 
abnormal diet occasionally indulged in by the domestic cat, — 
such as raisins, sugar-candy, figs, and preparations of Indian 
corn. 
[We have known instances of cats stealing raisins; and 
Mr. Bates mentions the domestic cat as feeding on the fruit of a 
species of palm-tree, in Brazil.] 
With reference to the letter of “ Alastor,” in our last issue, 
we quote from the “ American Naturalist ” some observations 
by Mr. Clarence M. Weed, of the Michigan Agricultural College. 
He writes : — “ In five instances I saw a large species of 
Bombus fly from the flowers of the common lousewort ( Pedicu - 
laris Canadense ) to those of the vetch (Vicia Americana), and 
vice versa. In another instance a Bombus went from a blue 
hyacinth to a columbine. Another went from the flowers of a 
small Solomon’s seal ( Polygonatum bifiorum ) to a dandelion. 
Another was working on vetch, from which it flew to the 
flowers of a trumpet honeysuckle ( Lonicera ), thus visiting in 
succession flowers belonging to different families.” 
Said Prof. Esmarch (as reported in the “ Medical Press ”) 
“ Our students have been compelled to spend the best of their 
time in acquiring knowledge very desirable for a philologist, but 
for a future physician of very little use, and they frequently come 
to the University with deadened senses .” 
According to the “ Medical Press and Circular ” some very 
curious remedies have been proposed for cholera. One man 
recommends urine to be drank, and another water in which a 
healthy man has bathed ! 
The condition of the Paris Museum of Natural History is 
deplorable. Its entire income falls short of £40,000. Out of 
this sum have to be paid nineteen professors, fifty-six assistant- 
professors ( aides-naturalistes ), besides a large number of draughts- 
men gardeners, librarians, secretaries, clerks, curators, laboratory 
servants, &c., in addition to the entire cost of keeping up the 
Jardin des Plantes, with its conservatories and menageries. 
