78 Notices of Books. [January, 
perfectly preserved in hot weather. Albumen precipitated by 
carbolic acid does not putrefy. A perfectly fresh egg placed in 
a sealed bottle, whose interior is coated with a thin lining of 
carbolic acid, may be preserved perfectly fresh for two months, 
although the bottle contain plenty of air; nearly the whole of 
the albuminous material is unchanged by the carbolic acid. Meat 
treated in like manner may be preserved untainted. A sparrow 
preserved by Lemaire presented at the end of a month no signs 
of decomposition, its features being as firmly implanted as just 
after death. Putrefactive decomposition has also been prevented 
in the cases of foecal matters and of blood. As well as preventing 
decomposition in cases in which the process has not yet com- 
menced, it has also been proved that carbolic acid can arrest 
putrefaction when once it has set in. Thus meat was hung in 
the air till the odour of putrefaction was strong. It was divided 
in two pieces; one was soaked in a 1 per cent solution of carbolic 
acid; the other in a solution of chloride of lime. In a few weeks 
that soaked in chloride of lime solution was very offensive, 
whilst the other presented no bad odour. When vessels were 
lined with carbolic acid, if by chance air were introduced so that 
volatilisation of the agent could take place, putrefaction com- 
menced; when, however, the substance experimented upon was 
soaked in carbolic solution no putrefaction took place.” Thus it 
will be seen that the work is essentially practical, what the agent 
might effect having been left out of the question. The medical 
applications and the toxic action of carbolic acid, not within 
our province, are similarly treated. Carbolic acid as a dis- 
infectant receives full attention, the deduction from experimental 
evidence being that carbolic acid is inferior to metallic salts as an 
antiseptic when water is freely present; but that when it is a 
question of the immediate disinfection of the semi-solid excreta, 
then a strong solution of carbolic acid, or emulsion of oil of tar, 
is highly valuable, or a carbolic powder may be employed. We 
cannot do more than recommend our readers to peruse Dr. 
Sansom’s work, not merely for its special interest, but as con- 
veying clear knowledge of the nature, the action, and of what 
is required of antiseptics. 
Address delivered at the Spring Meeting of the Royal Institution of 
Cornwall, on the 23rd of May, 1871. By Wi iam Jory 
HeEnwoop, F.R.S., F.G.S., &c., President of the Institution, 
Truro: Netherton. 1871. 
Turs address is one which might serve as an example to future 
presidents of many institutions and associations; each page 
shows an extensive reading and deep research into the matter 
in hand—chiefly the mineralogy of Cornwall. Mr. Henwood 
very clearly explains the technical and local terms in use among 
