126 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 



remedy that has been attended with real success. Efforts were made to 

 apply this remedy on a large scale ; and at a session of the Societe des Agri- 

 culteurs de France, M. Aristide Dumon, a well-known engineer, proposed 

 to draw off a quantity of water from the Ehone, in the neighborhood of 

 Condrieu, near where the famous Cote Eotie is grown, and by means of a 

 canal to inundate some 20,000 acres of vineyards along the Cotes du Ehone. 

 The subject was brought before the National Assembly, but the Budget 

 Committee rejected the proposal on the plea of there being no funds avail- 

 able for digging the canal in question. Three years ago M. Planchon, a 

 distinguished French naturalist, visited the United States, where he learned 

 that certain species of American vines are left untouched by the phylloxera 

 — thanks to the activity of a parasitic insect termed the " cannibal," which 

 feeds upon the phylloxera with insatiable voracity. M. Planchon, delighted 

 with his discovery, brought back with him a large number of these so-called 

 cannibals, but, unluckily, did not succeed in multiplying them as he had 

 hoped, so that the phylloxera is enabled to continue its ravages unchecked. 

 Some time ago the French Grovernment, alarmed at the extent of the devas- 

 tation, offered a prize of 300,000 f. for an efficacious and economical mean& 

 of arresting the further progress of this scourge ©f the vine ; but although 

 many have competed it still remains, and is likely to remain unawarded. 



Hot Water for Injuries and Bruises. — The New York Medical Journal 

 reports this case: The patient was engaged in a machine shop, and while 

 his hand was upon the anvil of a trip-hammer, the hammer — weighing 700 

 pounds— fell. It so happened that a file was on the anvil, and in this way 

 the force of the hammer was arrested about half an inch before it reached 

 the bed. When the hand was examined it was found that the whole palm 

 was a mass of pulp. The metacarpal bones were comminuted extensively^ 

 and there was, apparently, but small chance of saving the hand. It was,, 

 however, placed in hot water, and kept there for two or three weeks, andi 

 then taken out and dressed. In three months the patient was sufficiently 

 well to leave the hospital, and now — nine months after the accident — he i& 

 able to move the fingers and has quite a useful hand. Bruises and injuries 

 do much better when treated with hot than with cold water. The temper- 

 ature should be about 103° Fahrenheit. Another case is reported of com- 

 pound fracture and discoloration of the ankle joint, in which the proximate 

 end of the first metatarsal bone protruded from the foot. The dislocation 

 was reduced and the foot placed in hot water. At the end of a week it was 

 taken out and dressed in the ordinary manner. The foot is now doing well 

 and promises a good return. 



Cold Baths in Typhoid Fever. — Dr. Mayet has lately furnished in the 

 Gazette Hebdomadaire some interesting statistics from Lyons hospitals with 

 regard to the treatment of typhoid fever with cold baths. It is shown that 



