570 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



comes firm and palatable. In some instances fresh fish, such 

 as salmon, when caught, were clipped in the solution, and, aft- 

 er a passage of several days, without ice, to London, in the 

 summer season, were found to be entirely eatable. This sub- 

 stance is suggested as an aid in drying cod on the .coast of 

 Newfoundland and elsewhere, as thereby an immense mass 

 offish that are now rejected could be readily preserved. The 

 offal of cod and mackerel fisheries, which is now thrown over- 

 board, could be preserved by this substance as long as might 

 be required, and then carried on shore to be converted into 

 one or other of the various forms of fish guano. 



For disinfecting purposes, a solution varying from 1.006 to 

 1.010 is sufficiently strong to answer the desired object, stron- 

 ger solutions being usually unnecessary and imparting a dis- 

 agreeable smell. The solid matter of sewage is said to be 

 precipitated more rapidly by this substance than by the use 

 of the persalt of iron, and the odor disappears entirely. The 

 use of chloralum in any epidemic, the cattle plague, or other 

 contagious disease, including the epizootics, is indicated by 

 the author of the communication. Finally, it is recommend- 

 ed for the treatment of wounds, erysipelas, gangrene, and va- 

 rious contagious and inflammatory diseases. It may also be 

 used for the purpose of immersing the linen of patients before 

 removing it from the sick-chamber. For the purification of 

 water-closets it is said to have no equal in any of the prepa- 

 rations hitherto recommended, and has also. the advantage 

 over nearly all the rest of being free from any offensive odor. 

 3 A, November 25, 1870, 385. 



VALUE OF VAKIOUS ANTISEPTICS. 



Dr. Crace Calvert, in a recent paper, gives the result of in- 

 vestigations into the antiseptic power of various substances. 

 One series of experiments consisted in placing in uncorked 

 bottles solutions of albumen and of flour-paste, and then add- 

 ing various portions (from two to five per cent.) of the differ- 

 ent antiseptics in question. The result of the experiments 

 proved that the only real antiseptics known at the present 

 time are carbolic and cresylic acids, all other mixtures ac- 

 quiring an unpleasant odor in from five to sixteen days. 



The second series of observations consisted in placing a 

 known quantity of the antiseptic in the bottom of a wide- 



