FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
539 
surplus potash daily corresponds to the amount contained in 
866 tons of stable-duns:. The conclusion of Baron Liebis:^s 
letter is sufficiently startling, as it prophesies a complete 
revolution in the employment of a large portion of the popu¬ 
lation and capital of the country as the consequence of a 
return to obedience to common sense science.— Lancet. 
Baron Liebig. —The King of Saxony has conferred on 
Baron Liebig the cross and insignia of a Commander of the 
Order of Albert, in recognition of the services he has ren¬ 
dered to agriculture. 
Surgical Instruments constructed of Aluminum 
Bronze. —M. Morel-Lavallee has recently made a very 
favorable report to the Paris Society of Surgery upon a 
pocket-case of instruments fabricated by MM. Robert and 
Collin, of aluminum bronze, consisting of 95 parts of copper 
and 5 of aluminum. All the instruments, except the blades, 
are made of this material; and they may advantageously 
replace the much dearer silver in many cases, and in others 
iron, or even steel. The alloy is not oxidizable, and pre¬ 
serves all its brightness amidst the various agents it is 
brought in contact with in daily practice. 
Variability of the amount of Carbonic Acid in 
THE Atmosphere. —M. Mene announces to the Academy 
of Sciences, as the results of his researches on the quantity of 
gaseous carbonic acid existing in the atmosphere, that the 
proportion varies during the course of the same year. It 
increases in February, March, April, and May, and dimi¬ 
nishes from June to August, after which there is an increase 
from September to November. The maximum is attained in 
October. During the night there is more than in the day, 
and more after rain than at any other portion of the day. 
Food and Milk of Animals. —It has long been known 
that various substances (medicines or poisons) influence 
materially the qualities of the milk of the lactating animal. 
Some vegetable substances, as carrots and turnips, give a 
yellowness of colour and an assumed richness. Mitchell, 
however, from tables by M. O. Henrie and Chevalier, shows 
that the feeding of cows on beetroot or on carrots makes 
some real difference in the constitution of their milk. When 
fed on carrots the proportion of casein was as 4'20, of butter 
3*08, of sugar of milk 5*30, of salts *75, and of water 86*67 
