401 
FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
undertaking; and at last, as lie had appreliended, took the 
disease himself and died. His exertions had been much 
approved of by the government, who, at his death, granted 
to his widow, with three children, one shilling and eightpencc 
a day.— Lancet. 
The Sleep of Plants. —The slumbering of plants is ana¬ 
logous to the sleep of animals. Their life-processes are still 
going on, but with less activity. Their whole system is 
relaxed. As soon, however, as the first rays of the sun strike 
the foliage, the chemistry of nature is again resumed in the 
laboratory of the leaf; each foliage resumes its allotted 
task in the labour of plant-construction, and the growth of 
vegetation within the enlightened portion of our planet 
steadily progresses. The sap ascends to the leaves with its 
wonted vigour; and the tissues of the plant being again filled 
with fluid and gases, the plants themselves naturally strive to 
take their greatest amount of rigidity and elasticity, their 
flowers open, their drooping leaves elevate themselves, and 
they recover all their lost energies. 
Artificial Formation of Fibrin. —In a paper read by ]Mr. 
A. Smee, jun., before the Royal Society, he showed that if a 
stream of oxygen gas be passed through albumen, derived from 
the serum of the blood, or eggs, or gluten of wheat, portions of 
it become converted into fibrin. If, however, a small quantity 
of potash be introduced, fibrin is not formed. It has been 
thought that this discovery may throw some light on the 
phenomena of fibrinous diseases, as phthisis, peritonitis, and 
the use of potash therein. 
Origin of Petroleum. —Dr. J. B. Edwards, in the 
Pharmaceutical Journal, states that the flow of oil from mine¬ 
ral springs is by no means new either to science or commerce. 
Herodotus has recorded that the island of Zante furnished 
large quantities, while Pliny and Dioscorides describe the oil 
obtained from Agrigentum, a small town in Sicily. The 
Persian springs at Bakoum have yielded to the value of 
600,000 dols. annually; and the earth oil from Rangoon, in 
Burmah, has been exported to the extent of 400,000 hogs¬ 
heads yearly. The streets of Genoa and Amiens were formerly 
lit by a petroleum obtained from Parma. In 1847 a spring 
was discovered in Yorkshire, which w'as successfully worked 
by ^Ir. James Young, of Glasgow, until exhausted,*when he 
turned his attention to the distillation of coal, and discovered 
parafldn oil. The marvellous oil-springs of the New World, 
