The humors of telegraphic mistakes have often been described; we will conclude by giving only one example. A St. Louis merchant had gone to New York on business, and while there received a telegram from the family doctor, which ran: "Your wife has had a child, if we can keep her from having another to-night, all will be well." As the little stranger had not been expected, further inquiry was made and elicited the fact that his wife had simply had a "chill"! This important difference having been caused simply by the omission of a single dot. -.-. .... .. .-.. .-.. c h i l l = chill -.-. .... .. .-.. -.. c h i l d = child --_Hardwicke's Science-Gossip_. * * * * * ELECTRICITY IN TRANSITU--FROM PLENUM TO VACUUM.[1] [Footnote 1: Presidential address before the Institute of Electrical Engineers, London; continued from SUPPLEMENT, No. 792, page 12656.] By Prof. WILLIAM CROOKES, F.R.S. If an idle pole, C, C, Fig. 12 (P=0.0001 millimeter or 0.13 M), protected all but the point by a thick coating of glass, is brought into the center of the molecular stream in front of the negative pole, A, and the whole of the inside and outside of the tube walls are coated with metal, D, D, and "earthed" so as to carry away the positive electricity as rapidly as possible, then it is seen that the molecules leaving the negative pole and striking upon the idle pole, C, on their journey along the tube carry a negative charge and communicate negative electricity to the idle pole. [Illustration: FIG. 12.--PRESSURE = 0.0001 MM. = 0.13 M.]