Proceedings of the British Association. 121 



ous cotton of India. — Mr. Danson had seen cotton from Peru equal to 

 Sea island, in point of silkiness, length of staple, &c. The specimens of 

 cotton from Burmah, now exhibited, he thought were of a very superior 

 quality. Other products, he thought, might be imported from the 

 East, such as wool. — Gen. Briggs did not know where the wool of the 

 East Indies was brought from. Shawls were embroidered at Delhi, but 

 not manufactured. Many of the products of the East Indies could be 

 imported ; but it was a curious fact, that at the present moment, although 

 we had possessed India so long, we absolutely knew nothing about its 

 productions and capabilities. We had sent annually from England 

 thousands of gallons of linseed oil to India, whilst millions of pounds of 

 the seeds of linum were rotting throughout the whole country. There 

 were not less than fifty species of plants, from which we might obtain 

 caoutchouc ; and yet we had imported but little from thence. 



Section E. — Medical Science. — Wednesday. 



Mr. Evans presented to the Section an extraordinary case of Spina 

 bifida. The patient was a boy of twelve years of age, enjoying excellent 

 general health in other respects ; he was strong and active, but his head 

 seemed enlarged from chronic hydrocephalus. The tumour occupied the 

 lumbar regions, was semi-transparent, and the size of a child's head. 



' Observations on Poisoning by the Vapours of burning Charcoal,' by 

 Dr. Golding Bird. — Dr. Bird stated, that he was induced to examine into 

 the subject experimentally, from the discordant opinions hitherto pub- 

 lished on the various questions connected with it in a toxicological 

 point of view. An opinion has been held, that vapours of carbonic acid 

 were more injurious when produced by the combustion of coal and 

 charcoal, than from any other source, on account of the admixture of 

 light carburetted hydrogen gas. This opinion he dissented from, as it 

 was well known that in coal-mines the fire-damp, as this gas was called, 

 was inhaled, with perfect impunity. To ascertain the modus agendi, of 

 the gas when inhaled, he made numerous experiments, by immersing 

 animals in different mixtures of it and atmospheric air, as well as in the 

 pure gas. In the latter case, the animals died asphyxiated, as when 

 immersed in water or mercury, the spasm of the glottis preventing any 

 portion of it from being inhaled. If not more than 25 per cent, be pre- 

 sent, then respiration will go on, and its true poisonous effects take 

 place. As to the amount of this gas necessary to produce fatal effects, 

 Dr. Bird found that as a general rule, any quantity above 3| per cent, 

 was capable of producing death. Two opinions prevailed on the nature 

 of these properties : the first was, that the gas acted negatively, as pure 

 nitrogen or hydrogen is known to do, by preventing the due supply of 

 oxygen. To test this opinion, he formed a mixture containing twenty- 



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