120 
POPULAE SCIENCE EEVIEW. 
another set of observers. The results of the recent inquiries of ISIM. Leplat 
and Jaillard go to prove that the injection of the plants referred to does not 
develop fatal diseases. They made ten different experiments upon animals, 
and drew from them the two following conclusions : — 
1st. When bacteria or vibrions are introduced through any medium into 
the blood of an animal, they produce no injurious results, unless, indeed, the 
medium itself contams certain virulent agents, for the action of which the 
other bodies are not responsible. 
2nd. If the vehicle employed in injection contaui putrid matter in large 
CLuantity, there is poisoning of the blood ; but this is not productive of con- 
tagious disease, since the blood thus contaminated does not produce similar 
effects when produced into the system of another animal. These savans have 
also found that the statements that Pencillum glaucum produces psoriasis, 
and Oidium Tuckeri phlegmonous inflammation, are erroneous. The spores 
of both these fungi were injected into the veins of dog-s, without producing 
any ill effects on the animals. 
Relative Actions of Absinthe and Eau-de-vie. — These have been carefully 
investigated by M. Decaisne, who reports as follows : — 
1st. When employed in the same doses and with equal degree of alcoholic 
concentration, absinthe produces far more marked and serious effects than 
eau-de-vie. 
2nd. Absinthe produces intoxication, and the conditions knomi as acute 
and chrorine alcoholisation, much more rapidly than eau-de-vie. 
3rd. Absinthe affects the nervous system more than the other, and produces 
results similar to those developed by a narcotico-acrid poison. 
4th. The great danger of absinthe is its liability to adulteration. 
5th. Absinthe of good quality, when taken even in moderate doses (a glass 
or two per day), produces, sooner or later, according to the state of the con- 
stitution, diseases of a serious character which especially affect the digestive 
organs. 
6th. Absinthe should not be consumed even in the most moderate doses. 
Vide Comjptes Rendus, August 1. 
Operation of Alcohol on the Kidney. — M. Perrm, who is so well known in 
connection with the alcohol question, has just produced a new memoir, in which 
he shows that under the influence of alcohol, the proportion of excreted urea 
is not mcreased. He, however, agrees with those physicians who say, that 
alcohol though not absolutely nutritious, is so relatively, owing to its property 
of preventing the waste of tissue. 
Galvanism as a Surgical Agent. — ^Voltaic electricity has lately been employed 
to break down the structure of polypi and similar tumours. M. Nelaton has 
tried it successfully in cases of polypoid tumour of the nostril. The platinum 
electrodes of a small battery are inserted into the substance of the abnormal 
growths, and the current is allowed to traverse them, when, after a longer or 
shorter interval, the tumour is found to be destroyed. Coagulation takes 
place at the positive pole, while solution is observed at the negative extremity^ 
and, strange to say, the operation is unaccompanied by pain. 
Ranunculus versus Cantharides. — It would appear from some inquiries 
lately made that the tincture of the leaves and stem of the buttercup possesses 
vesicating properties of a very high order, and bids fair to rival even that 
