N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE; 581 



places should be carefully pasted up with paper. Acid fumes 

 are to be generated by placing two quarts of water in earth- 

 en vessels of about ten quarts capacity for a small room, and 

 adding to the water about three pounds of ordinary nitric 

 acid and ten ounces of copper filings. Should the room be 

 large, proportionally larger vessels should be employed. Aft- 

 er starting the operation the door of entrance should be care- 

 fully sealed, and the room left undisturbed for forty-eight 

 hours. Great care must be taken on entering the room after 

 the operation, so as to avoid breathing the acid. Carbolic acid 

 may also be used to great advantage by mixing it with sand 

 or sawdust in the proportion of one part to three. This may 

 be placed in earthen pots as above. 1 A, June 28, 1872, 306. 



CUTANEOUS ABSORPTION OF DRUGS, ETC. 



The question has been discussed for some time past as to 

 whether the skin, when brought in contact with solutions of 

 various substances, can absorb them to such an extent as to 

 produce a marked effect upon the system. The general tend- 

 ency of experiments has been against such a supposition. 

 Bernard, however, has latelv made a series of investigations 

 on this subject, in which he shows conclusively that certain 

 substances are readily absorbed when brought in contact 

 with the skin by means of vapor-baths. This, however, only 

 takes place when the temperature of the bath is at least one 

 degree above that of the body, the sebaceous matter in the 

 cells of the epidermis at a less temperature completely ex- 

 cluding its passage. A successful result can even be obtained 

 with the water-bath, if this be brought up to a degree suffi- 

 cient to dissolve the sebaceous matter of the skin. 1 A, July 

 12,1872,14. 



TOISOXOUS RED AND OTHER COLORS. 



Mr. Wallace Young, in commenting upon an important ar- 

 ticle by Dr. Draper, published in the journal of the Massa- 

 chusetts Board of Health, in regard to the evil effects of the 

 use of arsenic in certain green colors, brings forward the re- 

 sults of a critical examination of pigments, other than green, 

 also containing arsenic. These were all of French manufact- 

 ure, and intended for use in calico printing, but were rejected, 

 first, on account of the large quantity ofarscnious oxide pres- 



