ECOLE  PRATIQUE  DES  HAUTES  ETUDES,  PARIS.  413 
and  very  thin  piece  of  platinum  foil,  slit  up  along  one  of  its  radii, 
and  folded  exactly  like  a  smooth  filter  ;  this  platinum  foil  filter 
serves  to  enable  the  paper  filter  to  sustain  the  pressure,  but  does 
not  hinder  the  filtration.  The  circular  plate  of  platinum  is  from 
2  to  8  centimetres  (1  to  1 J  inches)  in  diameter. 
The  operation  of  this  apparatus  will  now  readily  be  understood. 
As  soon  as  the  water  falls  down  the  tube  ABC,  air  is  borne  along 
between  the  drops  (as  in  the  old  catalonian  bellows).  If  the  ap- 
paratus is  tight,  the  air  can  only  come  from  the  receiver,  which 
therefore  rapidly  will  be  evacuated,  so  that  the  pressure  of  the  at- 
mosphere being  no  longer  balanced  from  inside  of  the  receiver, 
will  force  the  liquid  rapidly  through  the  filter. —  The  Pharmacist^ 
Chicago,  July,  1869. 
ECOLE  PRATIQUE  DES  HAUTES  ETUDES,  PARIS. 
The  new  school  and  the  laboratories  at  the  Sorbonne,  which 
have  been  fully  described  in  the  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Arts, 
were  expected  to  be  opened  in  the  course  of  January.  M. 
Milne-Edwards,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Sciences,  has  recently 
made  a  report  to  the  Academic  Council  of  Paris  upon  the  pro- 
gress, with  one  important  change,  made  in  the  arrangements  for 
the  new  high  school  and  laboratories.  The  faculty  already  is  in 
possession  of  two  physical  laboratories,  one  for  instruction  under 
Professor  Desains,  in  which  candidates  for  the  degrees  of  Licen- 
tiate or  Doctor  may  learn  the  management  of  instruments  of 
precision,  and  exercise  their  faculties  in  the  repetition  of  classi- 
cal experiments  relative  to  heat,  light,  electricity,  magnetism, 
and  acoustics.  The  rooms  set  apart  for  this  purpose  have  been 
found  in  three  old  houses,  close  to  the  Sorbonne,  and  placed 
temporarily  at  the  disposition  of  the  faculty,  and  they  will  very 
shortly  be  opened  four  times  a  week  to  the  pupils.  The  second 
physical  laboratory  is  for  scientific  investigation,  and  is  installed 
in  a  new  building  erected  by  the  municipal  authorities  expressly 
for  the  purpose ;  this  is  under  the  direction  of  Professor 
Jamin,  and  was  opened  in  the  middle  of  last  summer.  The  large 
chemical  laboratory,  under  the  direction  of  M.  Sainte-Claire 
Devllle,  assisted  by  M.  Schulzenberger,  was  to  be  opened  early  in 
