Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris. 153 



chloride of lime as a preservative against the small-pox, long before 

 the experiments of M. Remy. He also stated that the chloride of 

 lime might likewise be used as a protection against the measles, by 

 keeping in the chamber of the child whom it was desired to preserve 

 from infection a saucer of dry chloride of lime, renewed from time 

 to time, and dipping its shirts in a solution of one ounce of concen- 

 trated liquid chloride in twelve quarts of water. 



Cholera Morbus. On the 20th of June a letter was read from 

 Dr. Foy, an eminent physician at Warsaw, the contents of which 

 tend to prove that whatever may be the contagious properties of this 

 disorder, their effect mainly depends upon the predisposition pro- 

 duced by the constitution and habits of those exposed to their 

 influence. Habitual intemperance, disorderly living, and want of 

 cleanliness, will generally expose those addicted to them to the im- 

 mediate attacks of the disease, while the contrary habits will almost 

 invariably be found preservatives. Dr. Foy imagines that the 

 cholera has its seat in the spinal nervous system, and that all the 

 functions of the skin being impeded, their restoration to their 

 natural activity is indispensable to a cure ; hence in the Russian sol- 

 diers, whose habits are disgustingly dirty, and whose skin Dr. Foy 

 tells us was, in many instances, covered with filth of more than a 

 twelfth of an inch in thickness, the disease generally terminated 

 fatally. Dr. Foy exposed himself in every mariner to the infection ; 

 he infused into his own veins the blood of an individual at the point 

 of death from cholera ; inhaled the breath of patients suffering under 

 the disease; and even tasted the matter ejected from their stomachs, 

 without sustaining any injury from the experiment beyond a slight 

 nausea and head-ache. Dr. Foy's letter was accompanied by 

 official certificates, affording guarantees of his experience and credi- 

 bility. He also stated that the use of the tincture of nux vomica 

 had been unsuccessful, but that some practioners had lately used, 

 with good effect, chloride diluted with water. 



Lacteal Infection. The same day M. Guyon communicated to 

 the Academy the death of an infant and a dog, who had partaken of 

 the milk of a woman suffering from fever. The former died in thirty 

 hours, and the latter in less than four, exhibiting all the usual symp- 

 toms of death from poison. 



ZOOLOGY. 



History of Zoology. On the 26th of March, M. Geoffroy St. 

 Hilaire read a memoir entitled * Du degre* d'influence du monde 

 ambiant pour modifier les formes animates composant le caractere 

 philosophique des faits differentiels.' It is impossible to follow the 

 learned professor through his discursive, argumentative theories ; 

 it will be sufficient to state his general views, which always possess 

 novelty and ingenuity, and often valuable truth. He commences 



