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EXPERIMENTS WITH AMYLENE IN PRANCE. 
M. Debout, editor of the Bulletin de Therapeutique , well 
known by his experiments on the perchloride of iron and 
other new agents, has taken up Dr. Snow’s discovery with 
much enthusiasm ; and it may be said that the anaesthetic 
powers of amylene have been largely tried in the hospitals of 
Paris. M. Debout has experimented upon animals, and has 
administered the narcotic agent in numerous operations per- 
formed in the above institutions. The results have always 
been satisfactory. 
Professor Tourdes has published several articles in the 
Gazette Medicate de Strasbourg, and also presented a paper to 
the Academy of Sciences, on the administration of amylene. 
M. Tourdes’s experiments in public practice are numerous ; 
and, after detailing the phenomena produced by amylene, he 
offers the following propositions : “ I do not hesitate in 
asserting that amylene will prove very valuable with infants 
and young subjects ; for we can depend upon — 1, facility of 
application ; 2, certainty of effects ; and, 3, innocuous action. 
To these advantages may be added — 1, the rare occurrence of 
nausea and vomiting ; 2, possibility of producing at will slight 
or deep anaesthesia, transitory or lasting, with or without 
muscular relaxation ; and 3, undelayed waking up, without 
subsequent unpleasant symptoms. I would advise amylene 
for cases where anaesthesia of short duration is sufficient, for 
operations performed with rapidity, or for investigations 
bearing upon diagnosis; chloroform should be used when 
deep anaesthesia is required, as in the capital operations, 
when the surgeon should not be disturbed by the idea of the 
rapid waking of his patient.” — Lancet . 
MEMOIR ON THE ORIGIN OF NITRE. 
By M. Desmarestv 
FIRST PART. 
It results, says the author, from the facts contained in this 
memoir. 
1. That the nitrogen and oxygen of the air are not sus- 
ceptible of combining, under the influence of electricity, to 
form nitric acid. 
2. That this acid is not formed under the influence of 
ozone, or when aerated water is decomposed by electricity. 
