CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 217 



this method are Dutch liquid, chloride of ethyle, and some other 

 bodies similar to chloroform in their composition and effects, and 

 which are not in common use, or kept on sale. There are chlorides 

 in the human body, but these cannot be decomposed below a red heat, 

 and certainly not till the part becomes dry. In the process employed, 

 the heat to which the parts under examination were exposed was 

 only that of boiling water, or a very little more, so that in the most 

 protracted examination they could not become dry, as the greater 

 part of the moisture given off is condensed in the tubs and flows back- 

 ward into the flask. The method, therefore, says Dr. Snow, is liable 

 to no fallacy or objection. Portions of the human body, taken from 

 subjects dying from natural causes, have been found to give no traces 

 of chloroform when treated according to the above process. In in- 

 stances in which chloroform is present, the precipitate of chloride of 

 silver begins to make its appearance when the heat applied reaches 

 about the boiling point. 



CHLOROFORM AS A DISINFECTANT. 



AT the meeting of the French Academy, on Nov. 11, a paper was 

 read from M. Augend, in which he pointed out a new property of 

 chloroform, its efficacy as a disinfectant. He describes an experiment 

 in which he took three wide-mouthed flasks, the first containing a few 

 drops of ether, the second, chloroform, and the third being left empty. 

 In each of these a piece of beef was placed, and, the flasks being closed 

 and left undisturbed, the following circumstances were observed : 

 The meat, which was of a reddish-brown color in its natural state, 

 changed instantly to a vermilion-red in the mixture of chloroform and 

 air, while in the ether vapor no change occurred. At the end of a 

 week the difference was greater still ; the meat in the flask containing 

 atmospheric air was but little changed in its aspect ; that in chloro- 

 form had acquired the appearance of boiled meat. On opening the 

 flasks, it was found that the meat in the mixture of chloroform and air 

 had the sweetish taste and odor of chloroform, while both the others 

 were putrefied, and emitted a most offensive odor. M. Augend has 

 ascertained that one 1200th of chloroform completely prevents the pu- 

 trefaction of fresh meat. The most apparent action of the chloroform 

 is the rapidity with which it traverses the thickest tissues, and causes 

 an immediate contraction of their parenchyma, with consequent exuda- 

 tion of the fluids of the structure experimented upon. 



NEW DISINFECTING COMPOUND. 



M. HERPIN recommends dried and pulverized plaster of Paris, mixed 

 with rather more than one fifth of its weight of powdered charcoal, as 

 a cheap and most effective disinfecting mixture. It entirely removes 

 the noxious emanations from decomposing organic matters, fixing the 

 ammonia, and forming finally a valuable manure. Journal de Phar- 

 macie. 



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