ison of Lord Braye, at Stanford Hall, who has kindly given permission for its publication. Its historical importance is very great, as it gives us for the first time the full text of this scheme, and thus enables us to form a judg. ment on the conduct of Cromwell in forcing on a dissolution, and converting what might have been a constitutional into an absolute government.

THE Athenanum, in its notice of Dr. Joule, F.R.S., who died recently at Sale, near Manchester, England, says:

"It is, perhaps, hardly too much to say that the tendency of Joule's genius to deal with problems of molecular physics, and his remarkable manipulative skill as an experimentalist, may be traced to the early influence of John Dalton, the founder of the atomic theory. Joule was the son of a wealthy brewer at Salford, where he was born on Christmas Eve in 1818. Too delicate in constitution to battle with life at school, he received his rudimentary education at home, but had afterward the inestimable advantage of learning the elements of chemical and physical science from Dalton, who was then resident in Manchester. The spirit of the illustrious master was soon caught by the pupil, and young Joule became an ardent and original experimentalist. He constructed much of his own apparatus, and, like most men of genius, performed his best work with the simplest means. His capital investigation that of determining the mechanical equivalent of heat-was conducted with appliances which, considering the subtle nature of the problem, were of extreme simplicity. Yet his researches were always marked by an anxious desire for precision. Indeed, his signal merit is that of having imported quantitative methods into subjects which were previously dealt with in a vague and ill-defined manner. Thus the development of heat by friction was known even to the savage who produced fire by rubbing two sticks together; but it was reserved to Joule to treat the subject quantitatively, and to determine with accuracy how much heat is obtained by the expenditure of a given amount of mechanical energy. Rumford had heated water by the work of boring a cannon; Joule, in a manner equally simple, but more delicate, heated water by stirring it with paddles, and even by the friction of the liquid in its passage through narrow tubes. True, the rise of temperature here was but small; yet it furnished him with data from which he demonstrated

the precise ratio that exists between heat and work, and obtained one of the most useful constants in the whole range of physical sci

ence.

"It is needless to give a catalogue of Joule's numerous writings. Sufficient to say that there is scarcely a department of physics which does not stand a debtor to his genius. Magnetism was enriched by some of his early researches, and he constructed electro-magnets of greater carrying power than any previously known. He devised electro-magnetic engines and new forms of galvanometer; he measured the heat evolved by the passage of electricity through metallic conductors, and determined the ratio between chemical and thermal energy. Many other physicists, it is true, have done admirable work on similar lines; but there are few indeed whose researches have had such far-reaching importance in the development of modern science-especially in thermodynamics, in thermal chemistry, and in the kinetic theory of gases."

MISCELLANY.

THE VENOM OF SNAKES.-The venom of the rattlesnake has been frequently made the subject of study, and, while its action as a poison has been generally conceded, some writers have endeavored to prove its efficacy as a drug. Surgeon L. A. Waddell, M.B., has recently been availing himself of his opportunities as a deputy sanitary commissioner in Bengal to determine a point around which it would seem that much uncertainty existed-the curious question of the effect of serpent venom on the serpents themselves. In a paper he has pub lished he quotes the contradictory conclusions arrived at by previous experimenters, and endeavors to show that, from the accounts of the experiments, it by no means followed that death, when it occurred, was the result of auto-toxic action. Accordingly, he felt that the question was still open, and proceeded to some very interesting investigations, conducted under different conditions of temperature and season, verifying his results by experimenting upon other animals and by post-mortem examination of the snakes he employed. In every case the fresh venom was injected into the cobra with an ordinary hypodermic syringe the serpents operated upon were all healthy, and had recently been caught; the snakes were kept under observation from nine

to fifteen days subsequently, and were then killed. The experiments generally confirm and extend the principle formulated by Fontana in 1765, that the venom is neither a poison to the snake itself nor to those of its own species. This immunity is not to be explained upon the mere fact of the animal being cold-blooded, or upon the anatomical conformation of ophidians, since most, if not all, of the non-venomous snakes are susceptible to venom. Surgeon Waddell suggests that it may result from a toleration established through frequent imbibition of the venom in the modified or attenuated form which it assumes when mixed with salivary and gastric juices and absorbed through the alimentary canal, and in support of this hypothesis he mentions the popular belief that certain snake charmers, by a process of inoculation with venom, gain protection against the bite of a particular species of venomous snake. If this hypothesis can be verified by further experiments, it will go far toward affording indications for combating the action of the venom on man. The subject is of such importance, and the experiments detailed appear so conclusive, that we look forward with interest to the further prosecution of this inquiry.—Lancet.

FUNGI. In admitting that the odor of the majority of fungi is far from pleasing, and that some are so offensive as to be unbearable even to the most powerful olfactory nerves, still a disgusting smell must not be set down as a universal mark of fungi. On the contrary, some emit the agreeable fragrance of mellilot, anise, violets, and cinnamon. The author of "British Fungi'' informs us of a lady who had found a beautiful, though rare, specimen of the latticed stinkhorn, which she wished to sketch. But the lady's determination, combined with the beauty of the specimen, were no match for its offensive odor, and the rarity was ordered away before the sketch was completed. The same writer tells us of a gentleman who cleared a railway carriage of its occupants by having in his sandwich-box a specimen of the common stinkhorn, and nothing but a resolute determination to make a drawing of the fungus could have prevented this enthusiast in the cause of science from throwing plant and sandwich-box out of the window.

Considering what has been said, it will no doubt seem very illogical to say that mankind is benefited more by fungi than by any other species of the cryptogamic family. The devastation of dry-rot, of ubiquitous mildew, are

very generally known; yet the benefits conferred by the fungi far outweigh their destructive propensities. This is a fact that we too easily pass over because we will look at the dark side of things, and altogether forget, or at least fail to appreciate, the good which is on the other side. To them may be rightly given the expressive name, which has been applied to insects, that of the " scavengers of nature," for their work is similar to that of insects--viz, the removal-and that, too, with a marvellous rapidity-of what is not merely a useless tenant of the earth, but an injurious neighbor, such as refuse and decaying organic matter. We have no idea of the numberless diseases that arise from the noxious exhalations of decomposing matter, from which we are freed by the help of these little plants. It is true their germs fill the air, but they are then the "unemployed," and are only waiting for the desired material. As soon as such a substance is exposed, the "scavengers" fall upon and cover the unsightly object with a variety of fungoid growths which multiply and develop themselves with an astonishing fertility.

The fungi have therefore a right to share in the praises accorded by naturalists to insects, and what has been said of the work these tiny animals perform for man's benefit, is equally applicable to their representatives in the vegetable world. The peculiarity of their agency consists in their power of suddenly multiplying their numbers to a degree which could only be accomplished in a considerable lapse of time by any larger beings; and then as instantaneously relapsing, without the intervention of any violent disturbing cause, to their former insignificance. If, for the sake of employing on different but rare occasions a power of many hundreds or thousands of horses, we were under the necessity of feeding all these animals at a great cost in the intervals when their services were not required, we should greatly admire the invention of a machine, such as the steam-engine, which should be capable at any moment of exerting the same degree of strength without any consumption of food during the periods of inaction; and the same kind of admiration is strongly excited when we contemplate the powers of insect and fungous life, in the creation of which Nature has been so prodigal. A scanty number of minute individuals, only to be detected by careful research, are ready in a few days or weeks to give birth to myriads which may check or remove the nuisances referred to.

But no sooner has the commission been executed than the gigantic power becomes dormant; each of the mighty host soon reaches the term of its transient existence; and when the fitting food lessens in quantity, when the offal to be removed diminishes, then fewer of the spores find soil on which to germinate; and when the whole has been consumed, the legions, before so active, all return to their latent state-ready, however, at a moment's warning, again to be developed, and when labor is to be done again, again to commence their work. In almost every season there are some species, but especially in autumn there are many which in this manner put forth their strength, and then, like the spirits of the poet which thronged the spacious hall, "reduce to smallest forms their shapes immense.'' Month.

PARLIAMENTARY REPORTING.-An interesting part of Parliamentary reporting is that known as lobbying." The privilege of entering the lobby is enjoyed by a representative of each of the London newspapers and by provincial journals that have direct representatives in the Gallery. Having carefully studied the morning and evening papers, and jotted down a few items upon which the public may show some curiosity, the lobby-man enters the square chamber at the entrance to the House and mingles with the members. At first he is disposed to welcome the advances of every Parliamentary representative, but experience teaches him that those who are most anxious to cultivate this source of publicity are not always the men who have information to give in exchange. He quickly learns who are in the confidence of prominent politicians, and who are their acknowledged intermediaries. The moment a man is in office he becomes as close as an oyster, and avoids the lobby to communicate his information to favored jour. nals in a more private way. Mr. Gladstone is never seen in the lobby, though his son, Mr. Herbert Gladstone, serves the purpose, and put forward the memorable feeler on Home Rule. Mr. Chamberlain has for his henchmen Mr. Jesse Collings and Mr. Powell Williams, and Lord R. Churchill communicates through Mr. Hanbury and Mr. Jennings. Mr. W. H. Smith is never visible in this haunt of gossips, except when he enters the room of the Conservative Whip, who, with the Liberal Whip, is regarded as the official source of news. The hour of interviewing is immediately after

Questions, or after dinner, when some members are not quite so reticent as they afterward suppose. An accidental hint may lead to the disclosure of a confidential document, although such disclosures are not always the result of accident so much as of design. It is to be feared, however, that much of the gossip of the lobby is fiction, or at any rate supposition and exaggeration. The London newspapers attach little importance to the paragraphs as news, and make a sparing use of them as hints to the leader writers. The provincial journals incorporate the gossip in their London letters, and when their representative happens to belong to a "ring" which exchanges news, the letters have a pleasing variety and perhaps more than usual accuracy. Mr. Lucy, who "lobbies" for a syndicate of six newspapers, and Mr. Pitt, who has charge of the interests of the Press Association, are two of the prominent men who belong to no "ring." Mr. Harry Furniss also “lobbies" for Punch. Talking with a journalist, he transfers in a few strokes upon a piece of cardboard in the palm of his hand those striking caricatures that adorn the Essence of Parlia ment." In this respect he resembles Mr. Leslie Ward, "Spy," and differs from the late Mr. Pellegrini, the "Ape," of Vanity Fair, who would study a member in the lobby for an hour or two, and then go home to draw those marvellous likenesses.

The recent developments of London letter and Parliamentary sketch have in many instances diminished the popularity of reports. There is no longer, as Mr. Gladstone has pointed out, any competition to supply the public with even full accounts of the proceedings of Parliament. Reporting is not a fine art to be cultivated to perfection for art's sake. Penny newspapers cannot increase their size except at a loss; the space at their command is very limited, and they have to cater for a public that loves sensation and prefers an account of a murder or a battle to the highest flight of Parliamentary oratory. The increased circulation given to a newspaper by the report of a great debate rarely exceeds five per cent, so that, although the intelligent reader will continue to insist upon having his Parliament served at breakfast in moderate and "uncooked portions, the eager politician must seek other means than those of newspaper reports for shedding the light of his wisdom through the length and breadth of the land, -Time.