Scientific InteUiyenct — Miscellaneous. 307 



for the purpose of driving away the flies by the smoke than for pro- 

 moting exsiccation ; and then they pound it between two stones on 

 a bison hide. In this process tlie pounded meat is contaminated by 

 a gi-eater or smaller admixture of hair and other impurities. The 

 fat, wliich is generally the suet of the bison, is added by the traders, 

 and they complete the process by sewing up the pemmican in a bag 

 of undressed hide with the hairy side outwards. Each of these bags 

 weighs 90 lb., and obtains from the Canadian voyagers the desig- 

 nation of " an taureau." A superior pemmican is produced by mix- 

 ing finely powdered meat, sifted from impurities, with marrow fat^ 

 and the dried fruit of the Amelanchier. — (Sir J. Richardson.) 



17. Important Uses of lodiferous Compounds. — From the im- 

 portant researches of M. Bousingault, it appears that the inhabitants 

 of the Cordilleras of New Granada, where cretinism and goitre are 

 endemic, now avert these evils by the use of an iodiferous salt ex- 

 tracted from the numerous saline springs of that country ; and M. 

 A. Fourcault recommends to the inhabitants of mountain districts, 

 where goitre and cretinism are endemic, the use of iodurite of potassa 

 along with common salt : he is also of opinion, that iodurets will 

 prove very useful in districts where scrofula and pulmonar^^.^fu^, 

 sumption prevail. r .,;.. 



18. On the Application of Rectified Oil of Coal-Tar to the Pra- 

 servation of Meat and Vegetables. By M. Robin. — When the 

 flesh of animals, entire birds with the feathers, vegetables, fruits, &c., 

 are placed in air-tight vessels filled with water, at the bottom of 

 which there is a little oil of coal-tar, so that the substances to bo 

 preserved are covered by the water, which becomes charged with the 

 vapour of the oil evaporating at the ordinary temperature, they are 

 perfectly preserved from decomposition.— (Compie* Rendus, vol. 

 xxxii., p. 660.) 



19. Lapland. — •' At the beginning of June, I left Helsingfors for 

 Uleaborg, about eighty Swedish miles, or six hundred and forty 

 English. In the latter town, I had to provide myself with a suit- 

 able outfit for Lapland — tents, provisions to cook, &c. There 

 remained yet two hundred English miles to Kunsama Kimbe. The 

 distance took us six or seven days, though hitherto we had travelled 

 at the rate of eio;ht miles an hour. The stations where we could 

 procure horses became fewer and fewer, and frequently I was obliged 

 to wait one or two days for horses. At Kunsama Church, all roads 

 were at an end, and thence I was obliged to travel either on the 

 lakes and rivers, or on foot. When I say I am now in Lapland, I 

 am wrong ; for in this parish no Laplanders have hved within the 

 last hundred years. Finnish colonists have pressed them on farther 

 north, somewhat as has been done with some Indians. They have 

 here some little agriculture (rye), and a few settlements. From 

 ten to twenty miles farther nortli, we have the true Laplanders, who 

 roam about with their lein-deer. The scenery here piirtake*;, howT 



