On the Use of Fumigations of Oxymuriatic Acid. 81 
white vapours. What is singular is, that the nitric acid is 
no longer decomposed in it, notwithstanding the quantity 
employed ; and the fat acquires neither colour nor solidity. 
I shall now proceed to speak of the effects of the metals on 
fat. 
[To be continued. ] 
XIV. Report made to the Class of Physical and Mathema- 
tical Sciences of the’ French Institute on the 6th of Janu- 
ary 1806, ly M. Pine, upon the advantageous Results 
ohtuined by M. DesGenettezs, from the Use hice Fumigas 
tions of Oxymuriatic Acid. 
M. GuyrTon and myself were directed to report to the so- 
ciety on the use of fumigations of oxymuniatic acid gas em- 
ployed by M. Desgenettes according to the ordinary pro- 
cesses, and upon the results be obtained from it. These 
fumigations seem not only to have had an influence upon 
the salubrity of the air, but also in the cure of diseases. 
The author of these observations remarked, at first, that 
the military prisons of the capital regularly furnished a num- 
ber of cases of adynamic fevers to the hospitals, which fre- 
quently spread to the patients in the nearest beds, and also 
to the nurses; he adds, that for nearly a year past no such 
infections have taken place. M. Desgenettes also observed 
that gangrenes, being common among the wounded, were 
also greatly checked : the specific smell of the gangrene was 
not annihilated, but, according to him, it was modified by 
the fumigations. . 
Another general observation made by M. Deagenetizs was, 
that for several years the scurvy had been very frequent ; 
that three persons, in particular, had been affected with it in 
a very violent manner; and, in short, one of them had been 
shut up from the rest on account of the insupportable infec- 
tion spread by torrents of sanious saliva, Nevertheless, by 
means of fumigations, this specific smell was neutralized. 
Ti seemed to be concentrated, as it were, round the patient. 
The nurses were then permitted to sleep near these scorbutic 
Vol. 26. No, 101, Oct, 1806. F patients 
