I884.J 
( 759 ) 
NOTES. 
At a recent meeting of the Metropolitan Board Teachers’ Asso- 
ciation, which consists of 2078 head and assistant masters and 
mistresses employed in 320 London Board Schools, it was re- 
solved unanimously — “ That the Metropolitan Board Teachers’ 
Association endorses generally the report of Dr. Crichton Browne 
on over-pressure and worry in schools, and further thanks him 
for his Report.” 
Says “ Science ” : — “ Now, Spiritualism is an evil in the world. 
In America it is a subtle and stupendous evil ; a secret and un- 
acknowledged poison in many minds, a confessed disease in 
others, — a disease which is sometimes more repulsive to the un- 
tainted than leprosy.” 
The American Ornithologists’ U nion has done two very sensible 
things. It has decided that the European house-sparrow is not 
an eligible bird in North America, and it has appointed a Com- 
mittee for the protection of American birds and their eggs from 
wanton destruction. 
The Rev. J. G. Wood comes to the conclusion that the musk 
beetle ( Aromia moschata ) has the power of emitting or sup- 
pressing its odour at pleasure, but that when dying the scent is 
continuous and very powerful. He gives a case in which a scent 
of roses is diffused from the human body in fatigue and weak- 
ness. “ M.A. (Oxon),” commenting on this statement in “ Light,” 
gives some similar cases. (Considering that the mere displace- 
ment of a molecule may convert a stench into a perfume, and 
vice versa, we need scarcely feel surprised if the emanations 
from the dying or the dead are sometimes pleasantly scented.) 
“ Cosmos ies Mondes ” gives, from an American source, a 
case of a tinned copper reservoir having been perforated by 
microbia. 
The statement that ants formally bury their dead fellow- 
citizens has been confirmed by certain writers in the “ Neue 
Ziiricher Zeitung.” A Miss Hatton seems to have even wit- 
nessed the funeral ceremony. 
M. Marey (“.Comptes Rendus”) finds a simple explanation for 
the more rapid spread of the cholera after storms and heavy 
rains. The excreta'of the patients are often carelessly thrown 
into fields, gardens, yards, and even streets. Heavy rain may 
