572 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



acid, after which five parts of melted paraffine are to be 

 added. The whole is to be well stirred together until it 

 cools, after which it is again melted and applied with a brush 

 to the paper, in quires, in the same way as in preparing the 

 waxed paper so much used in Europe for wrapping various 

 articles. 5 C, iv., 1871, 32. 



CARBOLIC ACID FOR WOUNDS. 



M. De Clot gives it as his experience, during the present 

 war in Europe, that wounded soldiers may, without injury, 

 remain unattended to forty-eight hours, if necessary, provided 

 that the wounds are covered with lint or linen, and kept 

 moistened with a solution containing three per cent, of car- 

 bolic acid. He also say,s soldiers may be protected against 

 typhus, dysentery, and other similar diseases by giving them, 

 morning and evening, a wine-glass of carbolic water, contain- 

 ing not more than half per cent, of the acid. 5 (7, xl., 1870, 

 314. 



CARBOLIC ACID AS A PRESERVATIVE. 



Reference has been made in some of the scientific journals 

 to experiments upon carbolic acid as a means of preserving 

 objects of natural history, and the anticipation has been in- 

 dulged by many that, by means of this powerful agent, we 

 shall be able to replace all the ordinary methods of taxider- 

 my. This, however, is a very great mistake, since it can be 

 used to a small extent only in the preparation of entire 

 bodies of animals that are to be preserved dry, because the 

 process of desiccation will inevitably proceed until the orig- 

 inal form of the animal is entirely lost. For many purposes, 

 however, carbolic acid has proved of much value as a pre- 

 servative, and its uses are increasing. Thus, diluted with 

 about fifty times its bulk of water, it forms a capital substi- 

 tute for alcohol in preserving fish and other objects, and, in 

 fact, the larger fish, such as rays, sharks, etc., can be kept 

 much better by its aid than even by means of alcohol. Added 

 in small quantity to very weak spirit, it very materially in- 

 creases its strength. 



Although it can not be used as a substitute for the usual 

 methods in setting up birds and mammals, it can be employed 

 to very great advantage in keeping them fresh until they can 



