186 



BGIENGE. 



[Vol. VIII, No. 186 



several mounds in Louisa county in that state. 

 In the one most thoroughly examined, from 

 near the surface to the bottom, were found de- 

 cayed logs of from six to ten inches diameter, 

 lying in irregular positions, not charred, but lying 

 in and covered by a thin layer of ashes. In this 

 mound was also discovered a skull, and near it 

 several relics. Under the skull was found a cop- 

 per axe, entirely covered with cloth, and wrapped 

 in bark, well preserved. Four other copper axes 

 were also found, all showing they had been 

 wrapped in cloth. Near these were thi'ee cop- 

 per awls, one found lying and two sticking 

 upright in the floor of the mound. Also a quan- 

 tity of shell beads and sheets of mica. Two 

 curved-base pipes were also found near the head, 

 one of ordinary gray pipe-stone, bearing a well- 

 carved figure of a hawk, with pearl eyes ; the 

 other was a plain round bowl, but is unique in 

 material, being made of calcite, beautiful in form, 

 and quite translucent. Several other mounds 

 were partly explored, but nothing of special in- 

 terest was found in them. 



— II popolo Pisano, an Italian journal, claims 

 that Pasteur's method of preventing rabies by 

 inoculation with virus, w^as practised in Italy by 

 Dr. Eusebio Valli as long ago as 1799. He em- 

 ployed for this purpose the saliva of a rabid dog, 

 mixed M^ith gastric juice. Having ascertained by 

 experiments upon the lower animals that this 

 method of treatment was a safe one, he inoculated 

 two residents of Pisa with the same material. Al- 

 though these persons — one a child, the other an 

 adult — had been bitten by a mad dog, rabies did 

 not develop in them. 



— Bichloride of mercury, commonly known as 

 corrosive sublimate, has of late years been largely 

 used by the medical profession in a state of solu- 

 tion, whenever, in the treatment of wounds, 

 antiseptic or germicidal agents were desirable. 

 This same substance is now extensively employed 

 as a germicide in the purification of articles and 

 places which are infected with disease of a zymotic 

 nature. Statistics have recently been collected 

 which tend to prove, that in the strength usually 

 employed, 1 part of the bichloride to 1,000 parts 

 of water, the use of this solution is not without 

 danger when brought in contact with any portion 

 of the surface of the body from which the skin or 

 the mucous membrane has been removed, as, for 

 instance, in open wounds. There have been re- 

 ported and verified thirty deaths which are at- 

 tributable to the use of this solution in the streng-th 

 mentioned. It is, however, when properly em- 

 ployed, not only a very valuable, but also a per- 

 fectly safe agent ; and it will doubtless be found. 



that, as an irrigant to exposed surfaces of the 

 human body, more dilute solutions will accom- 

 plish all that is desired. Where it is used as a 

 disinfectant for articles of clothing or furniture, 

 no danger can possibly accrue from its use, even 

 in the proportion of 1 to 1.000. 



— The great advantage, from a hygienic point, 

 of the electric light over gas in halls where large 

 numbers assemble, is well shown by the elaborate 

 researches of Dr. Breslauer, and recorded in the 

 Deutsche medicinische zeitung. The experiments 

 were made in the Munich theatre, and included 

 an inquiry into the air of the different portions 

 of the house as to temperature and the products 

 of combustion. The temperature was increased 

 in the parquet ten times more with gas than 

 with the electric light, and three times more in 

 the gallery. The amount of carbonic acid per 

 1,000 was, — 



In parquet 



In gallery 



In centre of gallery 



This increase in the amount of carbonic acid is 

 one of the principal disadvantages of gas as com- 

 pared with the electric light. The conclusions 

 which are drawn from these observations are that 

 the air remains much purer and at a lower tem- 

 perature in all parts of the house, especially in the 

 galleries, when electric light is employed as a 

 means of illumination. 



— Turkey has a medical school at Constanti- 

 nople, at which there are annually more than 

 three hundred students, of which number some 

 sixty graduate. Each course continues during 

 nine months of the year, and six years must be 

 spent in medical study before a diploma can be 

 received. Instruction is given in the Turkish 

 language, as most of the students are Turks. 



— Constantinople has at the present time a 

 water-supply from Lake Dercos, twenty miles 

 from the city. This was introduced by a French 

 company, and was intended to supplant or supple- 

 ment the supply, which the city has had for years, 

 from an open reservoir six miles distant, in which 

 the rain collected, and from which it was brought 

 in iron pipes. 



— From the Medical and surgical reporter we 

 learn that the willow is now being largely culti- 

 vated in America for medicinal purposes. On one 

 farm in Georgia there are 400,000 wiUows grow- 



