M. Nuesch records, in a recent number of theJournal de Pharmacie, some curious observations regarding luminous bacteria in fresh meat. Some pork cutlets, he found, illuminated his kitchen so that he could read the time on his watch. The butcher who sent the meat told him the phosphorescence was first observed in a cellar, where he kept scraps for making sausages. By degrees all his meat became phosphorescent, and fresh meat from distant towns got into the same state. On scratching the surface or wiping it vigorously, the phosphorescence disappears for a time; and the butcher wiped carefully the meat he sent out. All parts of the animal, except the blood, acquired the phenomenon over their whole surface. The meat must be fresh; when it ceases to be so, the phosphorescence ceases, andBacterium termoappear. None of the customers had been incommoded. It was remarked that if a small trace of the phosphorescent matter were put at any point on the flesh of cats, rabbits, etc., the phosphorescence gradually spread out from the center, and in three or four days covered the piece; it disappeared generally on the sixth or seventh day. Cooked meat did not present the phenomenon but it could be had in a weak manner, from cooked albumen or potatoes. No other butcher's shop in the place was affected. The author is uncertain whether to attribute the complete disappearance of the phenomenon to the higher temperature of the season, or to phenic acid, or to fumigation with chlorine.