470 
FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
Diseased Meat. —It seems that in the two years ending 
Michaelmas^ 1862, 254,9 IQlhs. of dead diseased or putrid 
meat-were seized in the City of London, besides 7741 head 
of poultry, 691 head of game, and 97 quarters of venison, 
unfit for food. 
Heat and Light-giving Rays. —It is well known that 
the rays of heat and light are naturally associated. Hence, 
some philosophers have considered heat and light to be modi¬ 
fications of one principle. From several sources of artificial 
light the accompaniments of the heat-giving rays is often so 
great as to cause pain and discomfort to the visual organ, 
through their becoming absorbed by the humours of the eye 
in their passage onwards. Solar light,^^ says Dr. Franklin, 
has one great advantage over that from all other sources, 
inasmuch as it is attended with less lieat, and consequently 
ordinary daylight produces less discomfort in the eye than 
any artificial light.^^ Yet we do not know that even this, 
under certain conditional states of the e}^, as for instance, 
inflammation, often proves too stimulating, therefore we 
cover the eye, or sliade it b}" some means, so as to prevent the 
entrance of the red-rays, which are the strongest and with 
which the heat-giving rays are most largely and commonly 
mixed. The following table, by Dr.Franklin, gives the amount 
of these rays that are reflected and absorbed by the various 
media of the visual organ of certain animals : 
Elf € of Ox, Of Sheep. Of Tig. 
Rays reflected at surface of cornea . . 4*0 4‘0 4*0 
Rays absorbed by the cornea . . . 59'S 56 9 57’5 
„ aqueous humour . . 19'2 — 20 6 
„ crystalline lens . . 6*8 307 7'2 
j, vitreous humour . . 2’5 — Tfl 
Rays which penetrate to the retina . . 77 8‘4 9'1 
100-0 100-0 100-0 
How IS IT THAT THE StOMACH RESISTS THE AcTION OF 
THE Gastric Juice? —Various reasons have been assigned 
for this. It is well known that in health during life no 
effects are produced by the succus gastricus on the stomach, 
but after death such is often found to have taken place. On 
this account John Hunter referred this immunity to the pro¬ 
tecting agency of the vital principle. The majority of phy¬ 
siologists, however, consider the cause to be the intervention 
of the mucous secretion. Both of these views are thought to 
be untenable by Dr. Pavy, who has found that the mucous 
