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SUGAR IN THE URINE OE A EOX. 
It is generally said that the amylaceous and allied matters 
give rise to the production of sugar in diabetes, and in the 
treatment of this disease they are ordered to he abstained 
from, yet Dr. Vinheschgan has detected small quantities of 
sugar in the urine of a fox; a purely carnivorous animal. 
MOVEMENTS OE THE HEART. 
MM. Chaveau and Marcy have applied a self-registering 
instrument to record the movements of the human heart, 
and they inform us that the systole of the auricle begins and 
ends before that of the ventricle, and that the systole of the 
ventricle and the beating of the heart begin and terminate 
simultaneously. They therefore conclude that the beating 
of the heart is not the result of the auricular systole, but of 
the systole of the ventricle. 
DETERIORATION OE GINGER. 
At a late meeting of the Entomological Society Mr. White 
called attention to the injury sustained by ginger-root, 
brought to this country from the East Indies, by the larva 
of a small beetle, apparently the Lasioderma testaceum of 
Stephens. The depreciation in value of the ginger imported 
from Cochin and Calicut is estimated at upwards of £3000 
annually. Mr. White observed, that this insect was first 
noticed in this country in 1835, and since that time it has 
become a common species in houses, not only in this country, 
but on the Continent. We think it was about this time that 
we perceived some samples of the rhizome in our possession to 
be affected by this parasite, which was then altogether new 
to us. 
COPPER-SMOKE DISEASES. 
To obviate the injurious consequences known to result 
from the disengagement of arsenical and sulphurous fumes 
during the smelting of copper, a patent has lately been taken 
