The length of time needed for reaction in sensation has been made a subject of investigation by two German physiologists, Vintschgau and Hongschmied, with the following results: In the case of a person whose sense of taste was highly developed, the reaction-time was, for common salt, 0.169 second; for sugar, 0.1639 second; for acid, 0.1676 second; and for quinine, 0.2351 second. With a person whose taste was less acute the reaction-times were 0.595 second for salt, 0.752 second for sugar, and 0.993 second for quinine. It will be seen that in both instances for the bitter taste of quinine the reaction-time was considerably longer than for the others.
The most noteworthy circumstance connected with Captain Boyton's feat of crossing the English Channel is, not so much his having been kept afloat for so many hours, but that his body temperature was not lowered appreciably. His water-proof dress prevents the loss of animal heat, and hence, after being in the water for fifteen hours. Captain Boyton was almost as fresh and vigorous on reaching Boulogne as when he started from Dover.
An apothecary and self-styled surgeon in Liverpool, named Heap, was recently hanged for the crime of attempting to procure abortion on a young woman, and so causing her death. The jury recommended the culprit to mercy, but the authorities very commendably refused to interfere with the process of the law.
In view of the prohibitory duties imposed by the United States upon imported agricultural machinery, the British Association of Agricultural Engineers recommends manufacturers to hold aloof from the Philadelphia Exhibition. The imposition of prohibitory duties is declared to be out of harmony with the objects of international exhibitions. This advice will be adopted almost unanimously in England.
A Scientific Association has been organized in Peoria, 111., with Dr. W. H. Chapman as president. Arrangements have been completed by the Association for a "Summer School" for the study of botany and zoology, the term to extend over four weeks, commencing on July 5th. The instructors will be Profs. Burt G. Wilder and J. H. Comstock, of Cornell University, and Prof. Alphonso Wood. The tuition for the term will be fifteen dollars.
The meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science takes place this year at Bristol, commencing Wednesday, August 25th. The President of the Association for the present year is Sir John Hawkshaw, C.E., Fellow of the Royal Society.
A donation of $25,000 for library purposes has been made to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. The library of the Academy already contains 20,0()0 scientific works, but is in many respects incomplete. It is believed that with the means now at the disposal of the Academy the library can be made equal to any scientific library in the world.
Died, March 20th, Daniel Hanbury, F.R.S., F.L.S., member of the British Pharmaceutical Society. Deceased had attained distinction by his original investigations into the nature and history of drugs, and of the plants from which they are obtained. Just before his death appeared "Pharmacographia: a History of the Principal Drugs of Vegetable Origin met with in Great Britain and British India." Of this work Hanbury was joint author with Prof. Fluckiger, of Strasburg.
The committee of the Bremen Polar Expedition propose that their vessels shall coast along the eastern shore of Greenland, while the English expedition proceeds up Smith's Sound. If this arrangement is carried out, possibly these two expeditions may meet at the pole, or at all events at the northernmost portion of Greenland.
The Anderson School of Natural History, at Penikese Island, will not be opened this summer. A card from Prof. A. Agassiz states that "the applications for this summer's session have been so much reduced by the attempt to make the school partially self-supporting, that the trustees are forced, in order to save the institution from debt, to close it for the coming season. Since no assistance is to be expected from State Boards of Education, it becomes evident that the school must be carried on either by the help of the teachers for whose advantage it is intended, or by endowment. This interruption, which it is hoped may be only temporary, arises neither from lack of enthusiasm in the pupils of Penikese, nor from any want of generous interest in the naturalists who have thus far given their services to aid the enterprise."
TheFrench Geographical Society has awarded a gold medal to the family of the late Captain Hall, in recognition of the distinguished services rendered to geographical science by that intrepid explorer.
The Gardener's Chronicle states, on the authority of the market-gardeners around London, that the spring just passed was the most backward known in that locality for many years.
Dr. J. Bell Pettigrew has been awarded the Goddard prize of the French Academy of Sciences for his original anatomical and physiological memoirs.
