,
are important, seeing that they have a bearing on the phenomena of
health and disease.

There are some curious facts, too, concerning oysters. M. Dureau de la
Malle states, that 100,000,000 of these bivalves are collected
annually from a bank off the port of Granville; and that, by a proper
course of feeding, white oysters have been converted into a much
esteemed green sort, which sell at a high price. And further, a
physician at Morlaix has succeeded in crossing a big, tough species
with one that is small and delicate, and has obtained 'hybrids of
large size and of an excellent quality.'

M. Verdeil informs the Academie, that he has proved the chlorophyll,
or resinous green colouring-matter of plants, to be 'a mixture of a
perfectly colourless fat, capable of crystallising, and of a colouring
principle which presents the greatest analogies with the red colouring
principle of the blood, but which has never yet been obtained in a
perfectly pure state.' He has isolated a quantity for experiment and
examination by a chemical process, and has added another fact to the
list of those which shew a relation between animal and vegetable
functions. It has been known for some time, that certain functions of
the liver are similar to those of certain plants.

M. Marcel de Serres shews, that marine petrifactions are not
necessarily of ancient date, for they are formed at the present day in
existing seas; that shells are now being petrified in the
Mediterranean. All that is required for the result, is the presence of
certain calcareous salts in the water; repose even is not essential,
for the process goes on below, though the surface may be stormy. These
petrifactions are not, as some suppose, to be regarded as fossils, the
latter designation belonging only to 'those organic remains which are
found in geological deposits.'

Apropos of the burning of the _Amazon_: M. Dujardin relates, that a
fire broke out a short time since in a spinning-mill at Douai. It
penetrated to the carding-room; destruction seemed inevitable, and the
engines were sent for, when it was proposed to fill the blazing room
with steam. A steam tube traversed the apartment; it was broken by a
stroke with an axe, the steam rushed out, 'and in a few minutes the
conflagration was extinguished as if by enchantment.'

Attempts are still being made towards aerial navigation. M. Prosper
Meller, of Bordeaux, proposes to construct an aerial locomotive 200
metres in l