i88 5 .] 
( 693 ) 
NOTES. 
We learn that the Institute of Chemistry has obtained a Royal 
Charter. Consequently the constituents are now entitled to 
append the letters F.I.C. to their names, which many of them 
have hitherto been doing illegitimately. 
In some parts of Essex a snail is called a “ hod-my-dod,” 
even by persons of education, and the wild rose is known as a 
“ Canker.” 
The “Journal of the New York Microscopical Society ” gives 
a curious list of reputed prodigies, showers of blood, milk, oil, 
flesh, &c., and bloody springs. 
On September 26th the thermometer fell at Paris to 2 0 C., and 
in the night even to 07 °. At the same time the temperature at 
Moscow was 8°, at St. Petersburg 5 0 , at Stockholm 6°, and at 
Copenhagen 7 0 . 
With reference to the destruction of young trout by mosqui- 
toes, it appears that these pests in cold climates are much 
stronger and better armed than in hot countries ; in Newfound- 
land and the North of Asia they can perforate a leather glove. 
According to M. Richet the physiological action of rubidium 
is similar to that of potassium, but it is less poisonous by one 
half. 
A notion — whether well- or ill-founded we know not — pre- 
vails in Turkey that leprosy may be occasioned by a stroke of 
lightning. 
According to Mr. B. Blount certain specimens of copper pyrites, 
from the County Cork, are so explosive that they have to be 
rejected by manufacturers of sulphuric acid. 
Floating ice has recently been found near the Norwegian 
coast, in the latitude of Bergen, — a phenomenon of which there 
is no previous record. 
Recent palaeontological researches go to show the impossibility 
of drawing any definite line of demarcation between the Carni- 
vora and the Insectivora. 
On August 10th snow fell in the province of Rio Grande do 
Sul, in Brazil, to the depth of 6 inches. The district is near the 
coast, and not mountainous. 
