French omelet is prepared in this way: Take a half cup of boiling milk with a half teaspoonful of butter melted in it; pour this over one-half cup of bread crumbs (light bread); add salt, pepper, and the yolks of three eggs beaten very light; mix thoroughly; and lastly, add the whites whipped to a stiff froth. Stir lightly, and fry in butter. When nearly done, fold together in a half moon, and serve immediately. And thus we might continue _ad infinitum_, but, as was stated before, it is not my object to instruct you in special cooking, but to illustrate in this manner how much easier it is, to both the cook and your stomachs, to prepare healthful dishes than to do the reverse. * * * * * TIME REQUIRED TO DIGEST DIFFERENT FOODS. _The Monitor de la Salud_ contains in a recent number the results of some experiments lately made by E. Jessen on the time required for the digestion of certain kinds of food. The stomach of the person on whom the experiments were made was emptied by means of a pump; 100 grammes, equal to 1,544 grains, or about 2-2/3 ounces, of meat, finely chopped and mixed with three times the quantity of water, were introduced. The experiment was considered ended when the matter, on removal by the pump, was found to contain no muscular fibre. It will be remembered that the gramme weighs nearly 15-1/2 grains, and the cubic centigramme is equal to 1 gramme. The 2-2/3 ounces of meat were therefore mixed with nearly eight ounces of water, before being introduced into the stomach. The results were as follows: Beef, raw, and finely chopped. 2 hours. " half cooked. 2½ " " well cooked. 3 " " slightly roasted. 3 " " well roasted. 4 " Mutton, raw. 2 " Veal. 2½ " Pork. 3 " The digestibility of milk was examined in the same way. The quantity used was regulated so that the nitrogen should be the same as in the 100 grammes of beef. 602 cubic centimeters, nearly sixteen ounces, of cow's milk, not boiled, required. 3½ hours 602 cubic centimeters, boiled. 4 " 602 " " sour. 3½ " 675 " " skimmed. 3½ " 656 " " goat's milk, not boiled. 3½ " * * * * * THE ORGANIZATION AND PLAN OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.[7] [Footnote 7: Communicated to the National Academy of Sciences at the October meeting in 1884.] By J.W. POWELL.