226 Miscellaneous Intelligence, 



it, the whole substance down to the bone was found converted into 

 adipociro. That portion of the head and face, on the contrary, 

 immersed in the water was putrid and macerated. 



*' Those bodies," says the Doctor, '* in which this change has 

 occurred in the cemeteries of this city, such at least as have come 

 under my observation, have been interred in a soil of clay with a 

 layer of gravel or sand superimposed ; the water percolating down 

 to the clay, which confines it in the vicinity of the body, which rests 

 on the water." — N. American Med. Journal. 



§ III. Natural History. 



1. Mean Height of the Inhabitants of Paris, <^c. — During eight 

 years, from 1816 to 1823 inclusive, the mean height of the young 

 men found fit for military service has been 5 feet 2 inches 1 J lines 

 for Paris, and 5 feet 1 inch 9| lines for the suburbs de Sceaux and 

 Saint-Denis ; so that the mean height is higher in Paris than in 

 the rest of the department de la Seine. The same fact has been 

 remarked in the department du Rhone, between the town of Lyons 

 and the suburb of Villefranche, in the years from 1806 to 1810 in- 

 clusive. From other facts of a similar nature also, it may be con- 

 cluded that all other things being equal, the height of men is in 

 proportion to their condition in life, or rather, perhaps, inversely, as 

 the troubles, fatigue, and deprivations which occur in infancy and 

 youth. — Corr. Mathtm, iii. 161. 



2. Effects of the Tincture of Colchicum Autumnale on the System. 

 — Struck by the powerful and beneficial effects produced by this 

 medicine in cases of gout and rheumatism, M. Chelius was led to 

 search particularly for circumstances which might either give a 

 reason for its good action or accompany it, and soon noticed a re- 

 markable change in the urine, which he thinks sufficient to explain 

 the whole. This change consists in a striking increase in the 

 quantity of uric acid contained in that secretion. A person afflicted 

 with gouty concretions at many of the joints, and especially at the 

 knees, so as to be unable to move^ took the colchicum wine ; before 

 its use, the uric acid, either free or combined in the urine, was 0.069 ; 

 on the fourth day after the first employment of the medicine it had 

 increased to 0.076 ; on the eighth day to 0.091 ; and on the twelfth 

 day to 0.112 : so that the quantity was nearly doubled in the short 

 space of twelve days. Similar results were obtained in many other 

 cases of the same nature, in which the analyses of the urine had 

 been made. 



M. Chelius thinks the English physicians give too large a dose of 

 this medicine ; he thinks it preferable to begin with 20 or 30 drops 

 in half a glass of water, and to increase the quantity gradually, until 

 gastric irritation is indicated. So used, he has never observed it 

 to produce bad effects. — Bull, Univ.y C, xiv. 100. 



