P OP ULA R MIS CELL ANY 



427 



polysulphide of calcium, a one-in-fivc solu- 

 tiou of chloride of manganese, a one-in-five 

 solution of sulphate of iron, a one-in-five 

 solution of borate of soda, a one-in-five solu- 

 tion of tannic acid, a one-in-ten solution of 

 sulphate of quinine, a one-half solution of 

 hyposulphite of soda, essence of turpentine, 

 and monobromide of camphor ; of gases, 

 ammonia, sulphurous acid, and chloroform. 

 A saturated solution of oxalic acid, a one-in- 

 twenty solution of permanganate of potash, 

 a one-in-five solution of soda, vapor of chlo- 

 rine, and sulphide of carbon, destroyed the 

 fresh virus, but had no effect on that which 

 had been dried, while the activity of the lat- 

 ter was destroyed only by solutions of car- 

 bolic acid (two per cent), salicylic acid (1 in 

 1,000), nitrate of silver (1 in 1,000), sul- 

 phate of copper (1 in 5), boric acid (1 in 5), 

 saturated salicylic alcohol, corrosive subli- 

 mate (1 in 5,000), and bromine vapor. Thus 

 many substances, unanimously regarded as 

 antiseptic, were without effect upon the 

 virus, even in the fresh state. This is the 

 case with pure and camphorated alcohol, 

 with which surgeons are accustomed to 

 wash their instruments, quicklime, with 

 which dead bodies are consumed, etc. 



The Poisons in Tobacco-Smoke. Ilerr 

 Kissling, of Bremen, has published a useful 

 paper on the poisonous constituents of to- 

 bacco-smoke, among which he specifies as 

 strong in quality, carbonic oxide, sulphuret- 

 ed hydrogen, prussic acid, picoline bases, 

 and nicotine. The first three substances, 

 however, occur in such small proportions, 

 and their volatility is so great, that their 

 share in the action of tobacco-smoke on the 

 system may be neglected. The picoline 

 bases, too, are present in comparatively 

 small quantity ; so that the poisonous char- 

 acter of the smoke may be almost exclu- 

 sively attributed to the large proportion of 

 nicotine present. Only a small part of the 

 nicotine in a cigar is destroyed by the proc- 

 ess of smoking, and a relatively large pro- 

 portion passes off with the smoke. The 

 proportion of nicotine in the smoke de- 

 pends, of course, essentially on the kind of 

 tobacco ; but the relative amount of nico- 

 tine which passes from a cigar into smoke 

 depends chiefly on how far the cigar has 

 been smoked, as the nicotine-content of the 



unsmoked part of a cigar is in inverse ratio 

 to the size of this part that is, more nico- 

 tine the shorter the part. Evidently, in a 

 burning cigar, the slowly advancing zone 

 of glow drives before it the distillable mat- 

 ters, so that in the yet unburned portion a 

 constant accumulation of them takes place. 

 More, relatively, of this substance passes 

 into smoke in the case of cigars that are 

 poor in nicotine than in the case of cigars 

 with much of that substance. Nicotine, 

 notwithstanding its high boiling-point, has 

 remarkable volatility. 



Fisheries of New York. According to 

 the reports of the Census Bureau, New York 

 is fourth in the list of fish-producing: States 

 the value of its products being $4,380,565, 

 but it holds a still more prominent position 

 in several special branches. Its menhaden- 

 fisheries are more extensive than those of 

 any other State, its yield of the products 

 of that branch being more than half that 

 of the whole country. The value of its 

 oyster-products, $1,5*7*7,050, is greater than 

 that of any of the other States, except 

 Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. It 

 returns the largest quantities of clams, both 

 hard and soft ; and it ranks third in respect 

 to the shad-fisheries. Seven thousand two 

 hundred and sixty-six of its inhabitants, 

 and $2,629,585 of capital are engaged in 

 the fishing industries. 



Liquid Air and Solid Alcohol. M. Cail- 

 letet, a French chemist, some time ago suc- 

 ceeded, by liquefying ethyline and causing it 

 to boil, in producing a temperature of 105 

 C. ( 15*7 Fahr.), at which he liquefied a 

 few gases under strong pressure, and even 

 caused oxygen to approach the liquid state. 

 M. Wroblewski, of Cracow, one of his pu- 

 pils, continuing the experiments, has, by boil- 

 ing liquid ethyline in a vacuum, produced 

 a temperature of 136C.(212 Fahr.), at 

 which sulphuret of carbon and alcohol were 

 congealed, and oxygen and nitrogen became 

 liquid. The change in the form of oxygen 

 was obtained on the 9th of April in three 

 experiments in which the conditions of 

 pressure (22i to 26i atmospheres) and tem- 

 perature were slightly but not essentially 

 varied. Liquid oxygon is transparent and 

 colorless, differing in this from ozone, which 



