SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY, 387 
living creature on the face of the globe, if its proportion were administered 
in one dose. 
The repeal of the paper duty has caused a vast number of likely and 
unlikely materials to be employed in the manufacture of this necessary 
of civilized life. The curious mineral, asbestos, the long and flexible flax- 
like fibres of which used formerly to be woven into incombustible cloth, is 
the most recent ingredient used in paper making. Mr. Audesluys, the 
proprietor of considerable deposits of asbestos near Baltimore, has intro- 
duced asbestos paper in America with some success. From a specimen 
before us, it would seem well adapted for coarse purposes, owing to its 
very low price, but it is somewhat friable, although not more so than the 
commoner kinds of straw paper. The mineral is present to the extent of 
about thirty per cent., and communicates to the paper a not unpleasant satin- 
like aspect. It burns with a flame, leaving a white incombustible residue, 
which with careful management retains the form of the original sheet. 
Characters written on the paper with ordinary black ink are still legible 
after burning. Owing to the friability which the presence of this mineral 
communicates to paper, it would not probably be a useful ingredient 
in any except low-priced common paper, although it is not impossible 
that its peculiar property of resisting heat might be of use under some 
circumstances. 
The powerful antiseptic properties of carbolic acid have long been 
known, but its extended use has been delayed owing to the difficulty 
experienced in obtaining it in considerable quantities. It is now, however, 
owing to the labours of Dr. F. Grace Calvert and others, to be obtained on 
a large scale, and this chemist has been the means of its application to 
many valuable purposes. As a medical agent it seems to have all the 
useful properties of creosote in an exalted degree, with some peculiar 
actions of its own, and is being applied with marked success in the Man- 
chester Royal Infirmary and similar institutions, in cases of chronic 
diarrhoea, obstinate vomiting (even after creosote has failed), and as a 
disinfecting wash for ill-conditioned ulcers and gangrenous sores. It has 
also been applied in cases of foot-rot, which annually carries off large 
numbers of sheep. As the remedies hitherto adopted in this disease have 
been only partially successful, these experiments of Dr. Calvert, if they 
are confirmed in other quarters, will prove a great boon to farmers. The 
acid has also been applied in the preservation of gelatine solutions and 
preparations, of size made with starch, flour, and similar materials, and 
of skins, hides, and other animal substances. It also appears to act 
strongly as an anti-ferment, and Dr. Calvert states that it is one of the 
most powerful preventives of putrefaction with which he is acquainted. 
It is probable also that it may be found to protect timber from dry rot. 
The same chemist has been investigating the subject of the preservation 
of wood in another direction, and has explained why so many of the 
recently-built gun-boats became rotten whilst others remained sound. 
The goodness of teak is ascertained to consist in the fact, that it is highly 
charged with a substance similar to caoutchouc ; and it is found that if 
the tannin be soaked out of a block of oak, and it then be saturated with 
a solution of caoutchouc, it may thereby be rendered as lasting as teak. 
NO. III. 2 D 
