151 



tion by tv/o iu order to obtain tbc deviation, whether positive or iiega- 

 tivc. 



Use ov SEVvT^ii-W/iTER as a. ^ianuri:, — Aceordiug: to the Revue llor- 

 tlcole., experiments with the scwer-wuter ot Paris, in the cultivation of 

 certain hinds below the level of the city, commenced three years ago, 

 have been of the most satisfactory character, and the eagerness that 

 the farmers now exhibit to obtain permission to use these waters on 

 their lands, Avherever it is practicable, is justified by the great in- 

 crease in their value, many of them having previously been of little 

 worth. Thus certain lauds now rent for six and seven times as much 

 I)er annum as formerly. 



Prevention and cure op typhus in cattle. — Dr. Declat has 

 published a report of certain ex'pcriraents instituted by him for the pre- 

 vention and cure of typhus in horned cattle, taking the occasion of a 

 severe outbreak of the disease in France, in the early part of February, 

 1871. In the first stable he visited he found eiglit animals, of which 

 number, one was dying with the fever; a pecoud was badly attacked; 

 and a third had fallen and could not get up ; all the others being more 

 or less under the inlluence of the disease. They had all been officially 

 condemned to destruction as incurable. He first proceeded to admin- 

 ister a draught, consisting of eighty grains of carbolic acid in five to six 

 quarts of water, to which was added a hypodermic injection of one hun- 

 dred and twenty-five grains of carbolic acid, with the addition of a new 

 substance, the'' precise nature of which he does not disclose at present. 

 Two other animals were treated by a veterinary surgeon who was in 

 attendance upon the herd. Out of these seven animals three died and 

 four were cured, while of another series similarly affected six were cured 

 out of ten ; and, in the oi^nion of Dr. Declat, none of them could have 

 survived without this treatment. 



A similar treatment of animals not actually under the influence of 

 the disease was followed with the happiest results. Of twenty-five, to 

 which the above-mentioned application was made, not one contracted 

 the disease ; the doctor, therefore, thinks himself entitled to urge tho 

 prophylactic treatment as of the utmost importance in similar cases. 

 As the result of his researches in this directiou, he contends that, by 

 means of his method generally applied, typhus may always bo prevented; 

 can almost always be cured while in a state of incubation ; is very often 

 cured in its first period, and is sometimes cured at a more advanced 

 stage. 



Keeping- grain in vacuo. — Some time ago Dr. Louvel suggested the 

 idea of keephig grain in a partial vacmirn, by introducing it into air- 

 tight vessels and exhausting the air, this being intended to prevent in- 

 jury from dampness, and to secure it Irom tho attacks of insects as well 

 as vermin. We now learn that this idea has been brought to a practi- 

 cal test, and that it bids fair to enter largely into the operations of 

 gTain-dealers. For the purpose iu question, vessels are made of boiler- 

 iron, to contain abont twenty-seven bushels; and after the grain is intro- 

 duced and the cover applied, a vacuum is effected, which, for this pur- 

 pose, need not involve a reduction of pressure of over one-sixth to one- 

 seventh of the ordinary atmosphere. Any number of these receptacles 

 can, of course, be made, and can be used over and over again indefinitely. 



