50 
THE NATURALIST AND COLLECTOR 
they build also in the hanging trusses 
of Spanish moss, so abundant every¬ 
where, is true, the young before re¬ 
ferred to 'being found in a nest in one. 
The egg ‘is very similar to P. Ameri¬ 
cana; its spots of lilac and brown form¬ 
ing a broad incpmpact band near the 
larger end, and over the whole surface 
now and then a fleck of same colors on 
the dull white ground. The egg meas¬ 
ures .67 of an inch in length and .46 of 
an inch in breadth. 
Bacteria in Clothes. 
G ARLYLE gave us the philosophy 
of clothes, says the British Med¬ 
ical Journal, now Dr. Seitz, of 
Munich, gives us their bacteriology. 
On a worsted stocking he found 956 
thriving colonies, ' while on a cotton 
sock there were 712. Roth articles had 
been worn, but nothing is stated of the 
personal habits of the wearer. Thirty- 
three, colonies were found on a glove, 
20 on a piece of woolen stuff, and 9 on 
a piece of cloth. None of these arti¬ 
cles had been worn. On a piece of 
cloth from a garment which had been 
worn a week there were 23 colonies. 
Of the micro-organisms on clothing 
relatively few were capable of causing 
disease. The pathogenic species were 
almost all staphylococci. In one case, 
however, the typhoid bacillus was 
found in clothing from 21 to 27 days, 
and the staphylococcus pyogenes albus 
(microbe of boils) 19 days after the ar¬ 
ticles had been worn. The anthrax 
bacillus found in clothes was still vir¬ 
ulent after a year. The microbe of 
erysipelas, on the other hand, could 
not be found after 18 hours, nor the 
cholera vibrio after 3 days. Dr. Seitz 
concluded that in tuberculous patients 
the bacillus is not conveyed to linen 
worn next to the skin of the chest. 
Alabaster exists in 17 different states. 
A Cheap Disinfectant. 
V ARIOUS metallic chlorides are 
very active as disinfectants, on 
account of the readiness 1 with 
which they give up their chlorine, but 
the so called “chloride of lime” so gen¬ 
erally used is often objectionable on 
account of its odor. A solution of 
chloride of lead has been recommended 
by Dr. Goulden, a London physician, 
as inodorous and more effective, while 
procurable at trifling expense. When 
bought as chloride of lead the cost is 
considerably more, however, than when 
the solution is prepared from the 
cheaper nitrate of lead by dissolving 
half a drachm of the nitrate in a pint 
or more of boiling water, and adding 
to a solution of two drachms of com¬ 
mon salt in a pail or bucket of water. 
The clear fluid left after the sediment 
has subsided is a saturated solution of 
chloride of lead. A cloth dipped in 
this and hung up in a room will sweeten 
the atmosphere almost instantly, and 
the solution is equally effective for 
purifying sinks, drains, etc. 
M EASUREMENTS of the force ex¬ 
erted by the human jaws have 
been made by Dr. G. V. Black, of 
Jacksonville, Fla. Several persons ex¬ 
ceeded a force of 100 pounds with the 
incisors and 200 with the molars, a lit¬ 
tle girl of 7 years recording 30 pounds 
with incisors and 65 with molars, and 
a physician of 85 easily exceeding with 
the molars a force of 270 pounds, the 
limit of the recording apparatus. For 
chewing such food as beef, pork and 
mutton, a crushing force of 20 to 60 
pounds is ordinarily necessary, but that 
actually exerted at each thrust of the 
teeth is much greater. 
Diamonds have been found in 15 or 
20 different localities in California. 
