202 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
ascends, and the relation of numbers of inmates and size of rooms in the 
application of the law. 2. In not duly considering that air-shafts, acting 
under that law, cannot act in all seasons, and with or without fire alike. 
3. In not duly estimating the amount of air which can be admitted by 
windows and doors alone. 4. In not duly estimating the practical limits 
to which an entering current may be carried, whether from one or both 
sides of a room. 5. In not duly considering the effects of currents upon 
inmates, and the limitation thus demanded upon the amount, force, and 
elevation of currents. 6. In not duly estimating the inverse relation of 
ventilation to temperature in its effect upon inmates, and particularly upon 
the old and the young. 7. In not duly estimating the influence of the 
winds, and the impediments of suiTOunding buildings, &c., upon each aspect 
of a building. 8. In having incorrect views as to the direction of the current 
through ventilators at different elevations. 
Medical Photograj)1is. — A contemporary states that among other papers 
which have been forwarded to the French Academy of Sciences to compete 
for the Montyon prize of I860, given for the encouragement of medicine and 
surgery, are a collection of photographic studies of the nervous system of 
man and several of the superior animals, taken from sections of congealed 
nervous tissue. 
Medical Nomenclature. — The volume containing the future nomenclature 
of medicine has been issued by the Eoyal College of Physicians. We think 
it will have to undergo revision at some future time, for we cannot assent 
to the philosophical principles, or the ideas of precision involved in such 
a classification of stomach affections as the following : Pyrosis, hsematemesis, 
gastric ulcer, vomiting and dyspepsia. Why has the convenient and now 
much employed term gastric catarrh ” been omitted ? What is dyspepsia 
as distinguished from pyrosis ? And what is vomiting as an individual 
disease of the stomach ? 
Snake Poison and its Cure. — Several cases have lately been recorded from 
Australia. It is said that Professor Halford treats snake bites successfully 
by injecting solution of ammonia into the veins ! We suppose on the 
general principle that desperate cases demand desperate remedies. 
Professor Huxley continues his course of lectures on the Comparative 
Anatomy of Vertebrates,” at the Royal College of Surgeons. 
METALLURGY, MINERALOGY, AND MINING. 
Assaying Silver- Compounds in the Wet Way. — M. Stas makes the follow- 
ing remarks on tliis point : — Tlie mode of testing in the wet way in order to 
fix the standard of silver substances, as established by Gay-Lussac, is open, 
under certain conditions, to a source of eiTor, arising from the solubility of 
chloride of silver in the very liquid to which its origin is due. This solution, 
whatever its mode of production may be, is precipitated equally by a decimal 
solution of silver and by chlorhydric acid. The extent to which this preci- 
pitation ensues is uncertain. At the ordinary temperature, there may be a 
variation of from one to six thousandths in 100 c.c. of the liquid. Prac- 
