428 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



method consists in inclosing the insect in a paper or thin wooden 

 box, and exposing it for one or two seconds to heat near the fire. 

 The heat immediately kills insects the most tenacious of life. The 

 process does not alter the most delicate colours ; but if the heat be 

 continued too long, the wings and other parts of the body begin to 

 wrinkle. — Bull. Univ. B. xviii. 312. 



11. New Applications of Chloride of Lime. — This substance 

 is daily finding new applications. In France, a very important one 

 appears to be, its application to silk-worm houses. A mode- 

 rate use of it in some very strong cases appears to have pre- 

 served the worms in health even when they were purposely put in 

 contact with diseased worms. As an ordinary application, it seems 

 to be sufficient to put about an ounce of the bleaching powder into 

 two pints of water for each quantity of worms obtained from an 

 ounce of eggs. This is to be put into a pipkin in the middle of the 

 place where the worms are, the mixture agitated, the clear liquor 

 withdrawn, and sprinkled about the place two or three times in 

 each twenty-four hours, according to the state of the air. Fresh 

 water is to be added in a similar way to the undissolved portion, 

 which is not to be rejected until it has lost its peculiar smell. 



12. Preservation of Meat and Fish by Means of lee. — Some ex- 

 periments have been made by order of the Council of Health of the 

 Prefecture in Paris, relative to the preservation of meat and fish by 

 means of ice. The experiments have been varied, both as to the 

 time during which the application of cold was continued, and the 

 nature and state of the substances operated with. The results were 

 as follows : — i. Fresh meat of every sort, and also fish, may be pre- 

 served in ice for a long time without suffering any alteration, 

 ii. The placing these substances in ice, when in a putrefactive state, 

 will stop the decomposition, iii. Substances which have been put in 

 afresh state into the ice, and kept there for a longer or shorter 

 period, when withdrawn and exposed to the action of the air pu- 

 trefy with great rapidity ; if the temperature is rather considerable, 

 even a few hours will suffice to bring on putrefaction, and render 

 the substances unfit for food. iv. When these substances are 

 cooked immediately after being taken from the ice, they not only 

 do not lose any of their good qualities, but are more tender and 

 delicate than if they had not been so preserved. 



13. Torsion of the Arteries. — M. Amusat has lately described to 

 the Academy of Medicine at Paris, a process which he proposes to 

 be used in place of ligatures to the arteries and veins, when 

 these vessels are divided. The method consists in subjecting the 

 artery to torsion, and has succeeded beyond his expectation. It is 

 as follows : — When the artery has been exposed and cut, its free 

 extremity is to be laid hold of by a small pincers, which close on 



