FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
313 
A New Point of View for “ Hygiene.” — M. Bouley, 
on presenting to the Academie des Sciences a new book by 
M. Andre Sanson on the ‘ Hygiene des Animaux,’ described 
it as written from quite a new point of view. The author 
does not occupy himself so much with the means of pre- 
serving the health of animals as with the means capable of 
rendering them healthy or diseased, to the extent most con- 
ducive to the profit of their proprietor. It is, therefore, a 
treatise on hygiene devised from the point of view of the 
breeder, not of the animal. — Med . Times and Gazette . 
Wholesale Poisoning of Foxhounds. — On Wednes- 
day morning, March 9, as Mr. Gerard Leigh's (Hertfordshire) 
foxhounds were being taken from the kennels along the 
highway between Luton and Silsoe, seven of the number ate 
something on the road, near the village of Barton, and all 
died within three minutes. A similar circumstance happened 
near the same spot about a year ago, and it is supposed that 
poisoned food had been maliciously laid in their way by some 
local enemy of the chase. Great indignation is felt among 
the members of the hunt, and efforts are being made to 
discover the perpetrator of the supposed cowardly and cruel 
outrage. 
[It is not improbable that the poison was strychnia. Pro- 
fessor Tuson informs us that he has recently detected this 
agent in the viscera of two hounds which had been sent him 
for analysis from Sussex. — Edts.] 
Royal Commission on the State of Science. — 
Nature has been informed that it is probable that Dr. Sharpey, 
Prof. Huxley, and Sir John Lubbock, will be among the 
members of the Royal Commission to inquire into the present 
state of science in this country. 
Butter from Thames Mud. — The difficulty of arriving 
at the real truth in this matter lay, primarily, in this — that 
the Frenchman's process is a secret, and we could not expect 
him to disclose it for the benefit of the public. He has, 
however, we are happy to say, complied to an extent with our 
expressed wishes by supplying specimens of the fat which 
he states were derived from the Thames mud for analysis. 
These specimens we have placed in the hands of the well- 
known analyst, Dr. Muter. We have also obtained from an 
independent source four specimens of mud taken from the 
south bank of the Thames at four different points, which 
have likewise been submitted to Dr. Muter, and he has 
favoured us with the following report : 
