Year: 1871

1t should be remembered that car


bolic acid, now so extensively employ


ed as disinfecting agent, as an insect
exterminator, in tanning, in medicine,


ETC., 'tis a violent poison to plants and


animals, and hence must be handled
with care. The cases of death from
its incautious use are quite numerous, .


we are told by Prof Joy, IN the Jour
nal of Applied Chemistry.


The dyspeptic world have been long
ing for some substance which will re-
enforce their digestive powers. Fore
most among such agents are the artifi-
clal preparations called pepsin, pan
creation, and maltin. DR.. Farr thinks
that a mixture of lime Juice wi h the
former of these substances is excellent
for dyspepsia, as he has already used
1t with excellent results. 'sLime
juice with either pepsis or pancreatin
forms very elegant preparation.


The Pail Mall Gazette takes alarm
at the facility with which at present a
spy, traitor, or shell might des-
troy the only means of communication
which English ports and stations can
hold with London and with one another,
instead of being able, as they should,
to hold free intercourse with sources of
succor and centres Of command, even
though invested on all sides by an
enemy. To meet this danger, the Ga
zette proposes. that two or more tele-
graph cables be sunk in a machine
made slit IN the land and sea bottom at
such a depth that no ordinary amount
of graphing OF digging would disturb
them and they could then be secretly
led, under highways and by-ways, by
round about course to London They
would thus prove of immense value in
time of war either at home or abroad


AN interesting experiment was lately
conducted at Granton, Scotland, with
the view of showing the practicability
of illuminated beacons and buoys at
sea with the electric light, produced by
means Of battery ON shore. In the
carrying out Of this method, SO novel
and yet SO desirable If scientifically
attainable, a submarine cable, fully
half a mile in length, was laid between
the east breakwater of Granton harbor
and the chain pier at Trinity. The
operator occupied station near the
centre Of the breakwater, and the light
was shown at the point of the pier in
front of an ordinary lighthouse reflect
or, producing a most brilliant fash
The flashes were emitted with great
facility, and it was found that as many
as five hundred could be transmitted
in few minutes through the machine
can be regulated so as to send one
every second, or at any other desired
interval.


Mr. RICHARD HERRING, a well known
English mechanician and author of
many valuable scientific papers, has in
vented new telegraphic instrument,
the peculiarity of which appears to
consist III it's being furnished with two
keys, one to work lever carrying q
pin TO make dot, and the other to
work a lever carrying small linear
stiIe to make q dash According to
the London TIMES; greater accuracy
seems likely to be secured by this de
vice-an important realization, in view
of the long time it takes to acquire the
art of releasing or holding down the
key with accuracy, and it will be much
easier to use two keys, one for the dot
and the other for the dash, and to Use
them with the same rapidity. Mr.
Herring suggests that it would be
practicable to emboss two slips at the
same operation, and to give one to the
sender, who would thus know with GER
tainty what message had been despatch
ed The Times thinks that to save
nearly half the time now consumed in
telegraphing, to give compressed and
easily legible despatch in place of one
that is always lengthy end often OBJ
scure, to make one ton of paper do the
work of four tons, and to remove fer
tile sources of inaccuracy, are features
of this invention of special merit. It
is difficult to conceive, however, where
paper is discarded, what advantage
such an instrument can have over
Morses single key


The list part of the Journal of
Biology contains the result of an Ella
borate series of experiments by GUS
tive Meyer on the effects of feeding
dogs and man on bread alone, and
mingled with meat and other articles of
diet. He shows-what, indeed, has
long been known-that to feed either
animals or man on bread alone is
great waste of material, and that i'm
mense quantities must be given in order
bll5b bIIo DOCy SuOuId lOS0 uO ISSu
whilst, on the other hand, the addition
of some, even though small quantity,
of meat is economical He demon
strates that the tissues of the body be-
come more watery with insufficient
food, which renders the whole organ
ism less capable of resisting injurious
influences. In his experiments on man
he endeavored to ascertain which of
the several kinds of bread in ordinary
use (white bread, rye bread, black
bread) was absorbed in greatest amount
during it's passage through alimentary
canal, and found that white wheaton
bread occupies the first place, the leav-
ened rye bread, then the bread (rye)
prepared br the Horsford-Liebig pro
cess, and lastly the pumpernickel
North German black bread). Never
the less, the first is not so satisfying
to the feeling of hunger as the three
latter, and is more expensive III every
point of view. He denies the great
nutritious value often attributed to
bran, since the heterogeneous compounds
it contains are mingled with much non
assimilable matter; but admits that
if these could be extracted, and were,
then returned to the -four, the best
results would be obtained, as the meat
already contains abundance of salts.