THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
306 
sed fault, by which the seams are thrown into this 
remarkable relative position. At the bottom of 
I 
the mine the temperature is 84° Fahr., which is 
unexpectedly low, and the barometer stands three • 
inches higher than at the surface. 
Electric Eain. — Sparks from rain-drops are rare 
but were witnessed a short time ago by an elec- 
trician at Cordova, Spain. In the evening of a 
warm day, dark clouds arose, and at about eight 
o’clock there came a hash of lightning, which was 
immediately followed by great drops of highly- 
electrified rain, each of which gave a crackling 
sound and emitted a flash on striking the ground 
or other object. This sparking rain lasted several 
seconds. 
Poison from Eggs — A poisonous substance has 
been obtained by Prof, Max Gruber, of- Vienna, 
from the albumen of fresh hen’s eggs. The egg al- 
bumen is shaken with pure water, then treated 
with water absolute alcohol, and the precipitate 
treated with water for some time. This yields a yel- 
lowish alkaline solution, which lias a curare — like 
effect when injected into animals. The poison seems 
to be an albuminous body resembling some of the 
snake poisons, and it loses its power after a few 
days exposure to air and light. The solution is coa- 
gulated by cooking only when it has became seve- 
ral days old. 
Intermittent Lakes — A remarkable hollow in 
the midst of the hills near Koberbrun in Silesia, 
contains about 2600 acres, and is filled with water 
and emptied in quite regular periods of somewhat 
less than thirty years. It is almost perfectly dry for 
a brief season. Water then oozes in through the 
ground, and gradually rises in the basin, which is 
now half full and still filling, The lakes slowly 
recede and, in about twelve years, entirely disap- 
pear for a short time. No other lake of regular 
increase and decrease in a period of many years 
seems to be known, although there are others that 
occasionally become dry. 
Archaeological Streets.— Tk : >Li • a 
mine of wealth for the museum collector. Count- 
ing only objects of some value the following ast-> 
• nishing yield was obtained in the excavations 
for the 82 miles of new streets made last year: 905 
amphorae, 2360 terra cotta lamps, 1824 in- -notion 
on marble, 77 columns of rare marble, 313 pieces 
of columns. 157 marble capitals, 11 S bases. 5:* > in- 
taglos and cameos, 18 marble sarcophagi, 152 has 
reliefs, 192 marble statues. 21 marble anim-.i’.-. 2-: 4 
busts and heads, 54 pictures in polychrome mosaic, 
47 objects of gold and 39 of silver, and 36,679 
coins. 
The Problem of Origins.— "Whether it i> os>i- 
ble,” remarked Prof Max Muller at the Interna- 
tional Oriental Congress, “to account for the origin 
of languages or rather of human s: eech in general 
is a question which scholars eschew, because it is 
one to be handled by philosophers rather than by 
students of language. I must confess, the deeper 
we delve the further the solution of the problem 
seems to recede from our grasp: and we mat here 
too. learn the old lesson that our mind was not 
made to grasp beginnings. We know the beginnings 
of nothing in this world, and the problem of 
the origin of language, which is but another name 
for the origin of thought, evades our comp: ehension 
quite as much as that of the origin of eur planet 
and of the life upon it, or the origin of space and 
time, whether without or within us. History can 
dig very deep, but, like the shafts of on • mines, it 
is always arrested before it has reached the very 
lowest stratum.” 
Cancer in Fish.— In recent years cancer has 
been quite frequently observed in the lower ani- 
mals, proving to be by no means so rare among 
them as was formerly supposed. But what is pro- 
bably the first known occurrence of the disease in 
fish has just been recorded by a New Zealand 
naturalist, Prof. Scott. The victims were all Ame- 
rican brook trout kept in confinement in one of ihe 
ponds of the Dunedin Acclimatization Society. 
Both males and females were affected, and the 
diseased fish never recovered. 
