It was reported recently, in the Royal Society of Tasmania, that a Mr.Vimpany had captured a black snake four feet three inches long, in which one hundred and nine young ones were found. The greatest number said to have been before taken from a single snake was seventy.
M.Lewin has reported to the Berlin Medical Society his observation of an affection that seems to be peculiar to workers in silver. It appears in the form of round or oval bluish spots on the skin, which in extreme cases may be as large as a nickel five-cent piece, generally on the back of the left hand. Workmen in metals who do not use silver are free from it. The manner in which the spots are produced is not clear, for experiments with the direct application of silver in various forms have failed to generate them. The silver probably falls upon some scratch—for the spots are usually developed where there has been a lesion—in a solution, and afterward undergoes some chemical change by the action of the bodily fluids which induces the peculiar color.
Mr.W.H.Preece described, in the British Association, how he had extracted a piece of needle from his daughter's hand by the aid of a suspended magnetized needle. The needle was strongly deflected, and invariably, when the hand was moved about, pointed to one position, which was marked with a spot of ink. The needle was afterward extracted by cutting at this spot.
Pertinently to the question whether man in the palæolithic age was acquainted with the potter's art, M.Martel reports that he found last year in the cave of Nabrigas, in immediate contact with the remains of specimens of the cave-bear, nine fragments of human skulls, and a piece of rough pottery, not turned in a lathe. In connection with this discovery he adduces the fact that, fifty years ago, M.Joly found in this same cave a fragment of a large vessel in contact with the skull of a fossil bear. There is no trace of any disturbance, no other neolithic objects are found, and the skull is in its natural position; therefore he is persuaded that the question should be answered in the affirmative.
Tommasi-Crudelli and Klebs published the account of the discovery of the schizomycete (bacillus malariœ) as the causal agent of malarious fevers, in 1879. Marchiafava and Celli have announced, as the result of their researches on an individual affected with malaria, that within the red-blood globules are constantly found plasmatic bodies endowed with lively amœboid movements, in which the hæmoglobine is transformed into melanine; and in a further memoir they suggest that these plasmatic bodies may be the living organisms that produce malaria. Thus they confirm in substance Tommasi-Crudelli's opinion that a living organism is the cause of malaria, but they regard its form as differing from a schizomycete.
Professor Windle has announced to the British Association, as conclusions from his researches on the subject, that man's original dentition included six incisors in either jaw; that two from each jaw have gradually disappeared; that this loss is due to the contraction of the anterior part of the palate; that this process of contraction will probably go on and result in the loss of two further incisors; and that the conical shape of many of the supernumerary teeth indicates a reversion to the primitive type of tooth.
The operation of compulsory vaccination was suspended in Zürich, Switzerland, in obedience to popular clamor, in 1883. The deaths from small-pox per 1,000 total deaths for the two previous years and that year had been, in 1881, 7; in 1882, 0; in 1883, 8. They rose, after compulsion had ceased to be used, in 1884, to 11.15; in 1885, to 52, and in the first eight months of 1886, to 85, per 1,000.
Mr.James W.Wells relates that while exploring the stream connections between the head-waters of the Brazilian Rios Tocantins and San Francisco, in 1875, the natives, unaccustomed to the sight of white men, attached a mystery to the presence and personality of one who was neither a trader, planter, priest, nor soldier. They finally decided that he was anti-Christ entering the country with the object of making slaves of the people and heathenizing them; and they were afterward discovered most fervently offering up prayers for deliverance from the machinations of the evil-one,
A very severe earthquake occurred in Greece, the Ionian Islands, and other lands of the Mediterranean Sea, on the 29th of August. In the southwestern Peloponnesus, four considerable towns and a large number of prosperous villages, with about sixty thousand houses, were destroyed, and hundreds of persons were killed. An eruption of Vesuvius was reported at about the same time. The close approach to coincidence in time—making allowance for the distance—of this earthquake with that at Charleston is noticeable; but it is not supposed that a coincidence exists in any other respect.
Artesian wells are of great antiquity in China. Abbé Hue describes the method in which they were bored. It is by tubulation, and drilling with a rammer regulated by a rattan cord—a rude suggestion of the more perfect apparatus which is now used among us.
