232 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



PERMANGANATE OF POTASH AS A DEODORIZER. 



Dr. Ginvood, in a communication to the London Lancet, highly recom- 

 mends permanganate of potash as a powerful deodorant, and also as an 

 escharotic and stimulant when applied to sores, ulcers, etc. Dr. G. says : 



A teaspoonful of the substance powdered, added to a tablespoon fill or two 

 of water, just enough to moisten it well, and sufficient to cover the sm-face 

 of a flat dish a dinner-plate for example, being used for the purpose 

 giving a broad surface for the absorption, and this plate placed under the 

 bed, or anywhere most convenient in the sick-chamber j all odor disappears: 

 and it has an advantage above those in general use in the sick-chamber, 

 that it has no odor of its own. Vinegar and chlorine and nitrous acid gas 

 are often of themselves a nuisance; whilst destroying one odor they create 

 another : but the permanganic acid has none. It only destroys ; it does not 

 create. I have employed the solution successfully in my stables, and in 

 other places engendering odors. It docs not require frequent change. Has 

 it lost its original beautiful purple color ? Has it become black and slimy ? 

 If so, renew it; but not till then. 



USE OF WOOD CHARCOAL IN SEWERS. 



The last report of the Commissioners of the London sewers contains the 

 following testimony respecting the value of wood charcoal as a deodorizer: 



" We have," says the Report, " in common wood charcoal a powerful 

 means of destroying the foul gases of sewers. How it is to be applied, is a 

 question of but little embarrassment. Ventilate the sewers as you will, 

 either by the open gratings in the streets, or by the rain-water pipes of the 

 houses, or by the pillars of the gas-lamps, or by tubes earned up at the 

 landlord's expense from the drains of every house, or by special shafts in 

 the public streets in fact, let the gases go out of the sewers how they will 

 and Avhere they will, you have but to place a small box containing a few 

 pcnniesworth of charcoal in the course of the draught, and the purification 

 of the air will be complete. As far as we know, the strength and the endu- 

 rance of this power are almost unlimited; so that, when once the air-filter 

 has been set up, it will last continuously for years. Its action, also, upon the 

 draught, is not particularly injurious. The temperature of the sewers, and 

 the agencies which are now at work in circulating the air and ventilating 

 them, will be sufficient to keep up a current of foul air through the filters; 

 and if these were multiplied to a large extent, the friction of the gases upon 

 the charcoal would be reduced to an insignificant amount '* 



EXTEMPORANEOUS PREPARATION OF CHLORINE AS A 



DISINFECTANT. 



The chloride of lime, usually employed as a means of disengaging chlo- 

 rine, has, besides its price, the inconvenience of being rather rapidly ex- 

 hausted. M. Lambossy substitutes for it a cheap and simple preparation, 

 consisting of common salt, red lead, sulphuric acid, and cold water. The red 

 lead is mixed with the salt, and introduced into a bottle full of water. The 

 sulphuric acid is added gradually, and shaken at intervals. By this process 

 sulphate of lead is formed and precipitated, and sulphate of soda and chlo- 



