Notes. 
181 
1885.] 
nutritive matter,— i.e., such as has been artificially and com- 
pletely deprived of microbia. y 
M A. Villi ers (“ Comptes Rendus ”) is studying the formation 
0 ptomaines in the animal organism, during certain diseases. 
Y-' ?' Green has disc °vered the Alpine Edelweiss growing 
on the high mountains of New Zealand. 
P°^tical ^ spies in Asia and Africa now pose as 
henpltwl ca and zo ° lo 8 ical explorers, and mask their real aims 
eneath the wings of 17,000 specimens of Lepidoptera. 
Proportion of phosphorus in the brain of a horse is, 
accordmg to Dr. Baumstark, 0-347 per cent, or, if calculated on 
tne dry matter, 1-297 P er cent. 
Says a writer in << Science,”— «< The time may come when it 
will be not unusual to study ‘ veridical phantasms ’ by polarised 
light, and to observe their behaviour in a magnetic field.” 
I vii F ^- ye ^ Comptes Rendus ”) notes that sun-spots proceed 
rapidly Irom the minimum to the maximum, and they decline 
slowly towards the next minimum. The same is the case with 
almost all the fixed stars. 
E. Donhoff (“Archiv. fur Anatomie und Physiologie ” has 
iscovered in the intestine of the larva of the “ wax moth ” 
(C lallerui cereana ?) a special ferment capable of decomposing 
P. Baumstark ( (“ Zeitschrift f. Physiologische Chemie ” has 
succeeded in establishing the presence of protagon in the brain 
as a definite compound. 
It is noticed in the “ Zeitschrift ftir Analytische Chemie ” 
(XXIV., p. 135) that bees perish if fed upon glucose. 
According to the researches instituted by J. Forster (“ Archiv. 
fur Hygiene ) borax is an objectionable ingredient in human 
tood, as interfering with the utilisation of some of its consti- 
tuents and increasing the secretion of mucus in the intestinal 
canal. 
From observations made in France the phenomena of vege- 
table life are retarded by a mean of four days for each additional 
100 metres of altitude. The arrival of the chimney swallow is 
delayed by two days for each 100 metres. 
. ^ r - Brudenell Carter, in a leCture on the influence of 
civilisation upon eyesight, remarked that he had offered the 
London School Board to examine the eyes of the school-children, 
but his offer “ was declined in an uncivil letter, written in verv 
bad English.” J 
