April 1, 1901.] THE TEOPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
671 
THE PLUMB A^GO MINING COMPANY. 
It is refreshing to note the manly enter- 
prising tone which distinguishes the pro- 
ceedings at this Coixipaay's meeting re- 
ported on page 762. In the face of multiplied 
discouragements through unexpected obstacles 
to work, and repeated disappointments as to 
" paying veins," there is not a word of idle 
grumbling in the Directors' Keport nor the 
Chairman's Speech, nor in any of the 
speakers' remarks. All are determined as 
plucky Englishmen to persevere and do the 
fullest justice to the " Kingsbury " mine; 
and we sincerely trust that this _ Company 
may prove a very notable exception to the 
general rule in Ceylon, that European capital- 
ists do not succeeedin the diggingfor plumba- 
go; and that worthy, experienced Capt.Tregay 
may have his faith in the mine amply 
justified ; while Directors and Shareholders 
may secure a full reward for their courage and 
persistency. 
^ . ~ 
ARKIVAL OF TKOUT OVA FOR THE C.F.C. 
FROM WALES. 
Tiie N.L, ss. " Prinz Regent Luitpold," which 
arrived today from LoTidon, bronj^ht out the 
first of three consion merits of trout ova for the 
Ceylon Fishing Club for this year. As has 
previonaly beenstate'], owing to the failure of the 
ova hitherto imported from the Surrey Hatchery 
of Andrews and Andrews, the Club has 
indented for the ova from other hatcheries this 
year ; and the consignment which arrived today 
was shipped on the 30th Janufiry last and consists 
of 15,000 rainbDW trout ova and 5,000 brown trout 
ova from Earl Denbigh's hatcheries in North 
Wales. Great liopes are entertained of this batch 
which was received from the ship's hold today by 
Mr. H U Elhart, who is in charge of the hatcheries 
and stew pond.s of the Ceylon Fishing Chib at 
Nuwara Eliya. He will take the consignment 
up by tonight's mail train and the boxes will be 
opened tomorrow morning when the ova will at 
once be .sorted and put out bo hatch. It is of 
course impossible to linow at present how the ova 
has fared during the voyage, but it would appear 
that great care was bestowed on it while on 
board and from what Mr. Elhart could judge 
there would seem to be no smell indicative of 
decomposition or any su-^h damage and the live- 
liest anxiety is felt as to the success of the 
importation. It may be of interest to note that 
hitherto the P. & O. Company's steamers always 
brought out the ova and great care was said to 
have been bestowed on it on the voyage and the 
C.F.C. has even given gratuities to the 'itewards 
of the vessels for devoting such attention to the 
matter. 
■I 1.111. ..■■ii.i ■ 
THE DELFT BREEDING EXPERIMENT. 
RETURN OP DR. STTJRGESS. 
Dr. G. "W. Sturgess, Government Veterin- 
ary Surgeon, returned from Jaffna this morn- 
ing by the ss. " Lady Gordon," after a fort- 
night's absence in the north, on his six- 
monthly visit to the islands of Delft and 
Iranativu, where the Government horse- 
85 
breeding experiment, dating ifi'om three or 
four years back, continues to be carried on 
with success. Dr. Sturgess, who was seen by 
our representative this morning, states that 
there is no disease— either on Delft where the 
brooi mares and foals are kept, or on Irana- 
tivu whither the latter are transferred to 
be reared after reaching a certain age. On 
Delft there are now about 60 mares and 25 
foals, while on Iranativu the young animals 
nttmber no less than 46. During the present 
trip 7 three-year-olds (by Raeburn) have 
been removed from Iranativu to Jaffna, 
where they are available for sale, and where 
particulars may be had on application to the 
Government Agent. 
The Value of Ammonia, &c.— Mr. Mitchell 
Henry (aged 75), trained as a Surgeon and at 
one time M.P. for Galway, succeeding Governor 
Gregory when he came to Ceylon, in the course 
of a lerter of reminiscences to the bxiecttttor has 
the following :— "I would ask, what keeps the 
blood-fluid in the veins aad arteries ? It is the 
presence or absence of free ammonia. This remedy 
was taken up by Mr. Baker Browne, the father of 
Mr. Lennox Browne, and he discovered and showed 
that by the administration of ammonia (common 
smelling-salts) scarlet fever, pneumonia, and other 
diseases caused by a stasis, or stoppage of the 
blood in the blood-vessels, could be completely 
overcome. He wrote a treatise on the treatment 
of scarlatina, and proved that by the early ad- 
ministration of small doses of ammonia in water, 
not mixed with anything else, no one need fear 
scarlatina. I have seen mucJi of this disease, 
and can confidently corroborate this statement. 
Any one, however, who goes out of the ordinary 
line in medicine is called a qnack, and that was 
the fate of Mr. Baker Browne. I learned much 
from him, and he was the first to perfornj ovari- 
otomy, which was subsequently taken up by Sir 
Spencer Wells, who owned Goldet's Hill at Hanip- 
stead, now bought by the London County Council. 
Bub the virtues of ammonia penetrated to Lan- 
cashire, and in the large soap factory of the 
Messrs. Thom, who alvvays kept at their works a 
large barrel of ammonia and water, every woman 
used to obtain and keep by her a bottle of this 
fluid sweetened with a little sugar, to administer 
to any child who got feverish, a sure sign of 
incipient stasis of the blood. In my hunting days 
I have saved several horses, which got pumped out 
by running and stood breathless with cold ears not 
able to breathe, by getting some smelling-salts 
and mixing it with water, and so administering 
it. Lastly, I will mention another thing that I 
v.iis I;, aght by Mr. Raetger, a Hungarian. He 
collected the blood, say of a bullock in a barrel, 
and when the yellow serum floated on the top, 
he cut it off and left the black blood corpuscales 
behind. To those he added a little powdered 
quicklime, mixed it with bran, and preserved it 
in brown paper bags hung up in the kitchen like 
hams, and gave some to his young stock of 
horses, turkeys and fowls. They throve in a re- 
markable way, and if others will give some to 
their domestic fowls with the grain they feed 
them on, they will see the avidity with which 
it is consumed and the remarkable effect it has on 
the birds or on fowls." 
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