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covering. A man would consider himself dishonored were he to expose his face, and he takes precaution against any involuntary breach of decorum, by wearing his veil at all times, whether sleeping, walking, fighting, riding, and even speaking to his father. As a general rule, the Imôhagh despise fire-arms, as fit only for cowards, "but they fear them extremely" remarks M. Duveyrier. They treat their women with great respect. No Imôhagh woman would consent to her husband indulging in plurality of wives; and, what is perhaps more singular still, the women alone know any thing of the art of writing. In political affairs the weaker sex exercise a powerful influence; and, when a chief dies, the supreme authority descends to the eldest son of his eldest sister.

REPRODUCTION OF EYES IN CRAWFISH.-That the crawfish has the power of reproducing an eye which it may happen to lose is a fact quite familiar to naturalists, but we are indebted to M. S. Chantran, of the French Academy of Sciences, for the discovery that this power of reproduction varies according to the animal's age. In a recent number of the Comptes Rendus, M. Chantran gives the results of his observations on this subject, from which it appears that a crawfish one year old quickly and effectually repairs such injuries, while in animals two or more years old reproduction is uncertain in its operation, and never perfect. His first experiment was with a number of one year old animals. In October, 1871, after the close of their moulting season, he clipped off their eyes. Moulting commenced in May of the year following, and in September, after four months, the eyes were perfectly reproduced. The next experiment was with animals two years old. These he deprived of their eyes, either immediately before moulting set in, or in the interval between two moults. The results in these cases were various. In some of the animals, after three or four months, the eyes were reproduced, but then the pupils were so disfigured as to leave it doubtful whether they could serve for the purpose of vision; in others, one pupil was considerably smaller than the other.

Finally, in the case of full grown animals, which moult less frequently the females but once a year, and the males twicethe author's results did not show any reproduction of the eye, but only the growth of buds marked with a black point, and, in one case, of opaque bifid buds in place of eyes. The author promises at an early day to communicate to the Academy his observations on certain concretions formed in the stomach of the crawfish, and called crab's eyes in old pharmacopoeias.

DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MINES.-Some of the ironmines anciently worked by the Egyptians have recently been discovered anew by English explorers, and search is to be instituted for other ancient mines of silver, gold, and iron. As the

processes followed in ancient times for the reduction of ores were very defective, it is expected that, in the débris accumulated in the neighbourhood of the mines, an amount of the useful and precious metals will be found sufficient to make the working it ove again profitable. At a recent meeting of the British Society of Antiquaries, mention was made of the discovery, in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai, of the turquoise-mines of the ancient Egyptians. The discoverer, an Englishman, whose name is not given, observed in the water-courses of that region, which in summer are dry, peculiar blue stones which he soon ascertained to be turquoises. This circumstance led to further research. We are now informed that, "aided by the friendly tribes he has taken into his pay, he has discovered the old turquoise-mines of the ancient Egyptians, the rocks that they worked for the stones, the very tools they used, and their polishing and grinding places." The fortunate discoverer has already sent to England some of the finest turquoises ever seen.

While searching for the turquoise-mines, this same explorer discovered the ancient lines of fortification surrounding the works, and came upon the remains of vast iron-works, which must have employed many thousands of hands. Slag taken from the refuseheaps around these works contains as much as 53 per cent. of iron. The whole surrounding district is well worthy of being thoroughly explored by the antiquary, as it contains many hieroglyphie inscriptions which would doubtless throw much light upon the early history of metallurgy.

LIGHT-WAVES AND SOUND-WAVES.-A curious instance of the analogies of light and sound is given in the Medical Times, from a German medical journal. Two brothers, named Nussbaumer, are said to receive visual impressions from sounds. When a certain note is struck from the piano, the brothers at once have a sensation of a certain corresponding color, which is not, however, identical for both. Thus the note which produces in the one the impression of dark Prussian blue, produces in the other that of dark yellow. They do not, however, perceive all colors on occasion of hearing sounds. One of the brothers has sensations of yellow, brown, and violet, most frequently; while blue, yellow and brown, are more frequent with the other. One of them never has the sensations of red, green, black, or white, awakened by musical notes, though on one occasion he says that, suddenly hearing a noise from the filing of a saw, he had the sensation of green. No doubt it is very difficult to be secure against deception in such a matter as this; but we may add that Prof. Brühl, of Vienna, after thorough investigation, is satisfied that there is no fraud.

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