216 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Why does Albumen (white of egg) * Coagulate ? — MM. Mathieu and Urbain 
give the following explanation of this. Thev say that when the gases dis- 
solved in serum of blood are completely extracted, there is obtained an 
albuminous liquid, which does not coagulate, even at a temperature of 100°. 
This experiment, performed with egg albumen, formed the starting-point of 
the present research. The mercury pneumatic machine extracts not only 
the gases from albumen, but the volatile salts. The two cases are considered 
separately. The authors show — 1. That carbonic acid is the agent of 
coagulation of albumen by heat ; and 2. That albumen, deprived of its 
volatile salts, is transformed into globulin. 
Connection of Bright’s Disease of the Kidney with Changes in the Blood- 
vessels. — Dr. A. L. Galabin, M.A., has been good enough to forward us a 
copy of his excellent treatise on this question. It is elaborate as an essay, 
profusely illustrated, and deals cleverly with a very important question. 
We fancy that the time will come when all the modern ideas of the con- 
nection between Bright’s Disease and any condition of the capillaries will be 
completely overthrown. Till then we must accept doctrines like those of 
the author, which are certainly [as will be seen by his essay, published by 
Smith & Elder,] most ingenious. 
Pathological Sjiecimens by Post. — It is extremely important that some 
means may be devised of sending pathological specimens by post, so that 
they may preserve all their characters. We have heard of various plans 
that have been proposed, but none of them seems so practical as that Dr. 
Richardson, an American microscopist, describes in a recent number of the 
u Philadelphia Medical Times.” He says: — Place a small fragment of any 
tnmour or pathological structure, say a quarter to half an inch square and 
one-tenth of an inch thick, in a couple of drachms of saturated solution of 
acetate of potash, and allow it to fully imbibe the fluid by soaking therein 
for forty-eight hours. The solution is best made by simply pouring half an 
ounce of rain water upon an ounce of dry granular acetate of potash in a 
clean bottle. When the tissue is fully saturated with this saline liquid, re- 
move it with a pair of forceps without much pressure, and insert it in a 
short piece of india-rubber tubing, or wrap it up carefully in a number of 
sheets of thin sheet rubber or oiled silk, tying the whole firmly at the ends 
with stout thread. When thus prepared, specimens can be inclosed with a 
letter in an ordinary envelope and sent long distances, doubtless thousands 
of miles, by mail, without danger. 
Is Carbolic Acid really Useless as a Disinfectant ? — This is certainly a ques- 
tion that should be answered, and that early, l'or American physiologists 
appear to think it is useless. In the last number of the “ Lens,” a Pensyl- 
vanian journal, it is stated that most questions have two sides, and it is 
wise to look at both. While we have been disinfecting with carbolic acid, 
chlorine and coal gas, and fumigating with burned tar and sulphur, Jerome 
Cochran, M.D., professor of hygiene and medical jurisprudence in the 
Medical College of Alabama, and censor of the State Medical Association, 
seriously questions if there be any disinfectant virtue in those crude mate- 
rials of our sanitary regulation. Professor Cochran writes nearly four 
columns in the u Mobile Register,” of a late date, on this subject, and forti- 
fies himself behind some stubborn facts. He is evidently well read in the 
