respiration of
plants, find that the action goes on both in light and darkness, and
that changes of temperature within normal limits have little effect.
There is no direct relation between growth in length and respiration, a
conclusion that is in conflict with that of previous experiments.

The famous "Blue Grotto" in the island of Capri, Italy, has been
investigated spectroscopically. Most of the light enters through the
water, which absorbs the red rays entirely and so much of the yellow as
to make the D line scarcely visible. The green, blue, and indigo rays
are very bright, and the F and _b_ lines unite in a well marked
absorption line.

The springs of Weissenburg in the Bernese Oberland yield a water which
is popularly supposed to have the power of cicatrizing cavities in the
lungs, but its analysis shows no reason for such a power. Sulphates of
lime and magnesia are its principal solid ingredients, with chloride and
a little iodide of lithium and an organic compound having the odor of
blackberries.

The mountains about Innsbruck in the Tyrol, as well as other parts of
the Alps, present the singular phenomenon of a climate more moderate at
a considerable elevation than in the valleys. Prof. Kerner finds that
there is a warm region midway up the mountain, lying between two colder
zones above and below it. We have heretofore referred to a similar
phenomenon in Indiana.

It is remarked by anthropologists that differences of color are one of
the most marked signs of race. The Aryan word for caste is _Varanum_,
meaning color, and the Aryans are supposed to have used it to
distinguish themselves from the Dasyuf, with whom they came in contact
on crossing the Indus, when migrating from Central Asia. The first
migrating wave from that centre of human creation can no longer be
traced, and only its remnants are found among the most degraded of the
hill tribe and slave population in India. Prof. Rollesten thinks that
the earliest races of man were preeminently of the Australioid type,
which is now brown-skinned and wavy haired, with long narrow heads.

Messrs. Gladstone & Tribe have been investigating the results of the
decomposition of alcohol by aluminium. When absolute alcohol, in which
iodine has been dissolved, is poured upon finely divided aluminium in a
flask, energetic action takes place and large quantities of hydrogen are
evolved. A pasty mass remains, and this heated to 100 deg. C., gives off
alcoh