MISCELLANEA. 
539 
Mr. Wakley, M.P. — In referring to Mr Rogers’ statements, I 
think, if my memory does not deceive me, that he attributed “dis- 
infecting” qualities to the peat charcoal. So that, according to 
him, it is a disinfector as well as a deodorizer. Perhaps the terms 
are with him synonymous. In either case he is wrong. As a 
medical man, I can state that there is no analogy between infection 
and smell. You may deodorize a room, but you cannot by the 
same agency destroy the infectious disease. You may deodorize 
an hospital, but you cannot by the means of peat charcoal destroy 
the infectious qualities of small-pox, scarlatina, or fever. I there- 
fore think that the term should be strictly limited to the qualities 
of the peat. And as other proprietors of bogs may think that they 
have similar means of producing an article in every requisite equal 
to that which is produced in Ireland for manure, deodorizing, and 
general domestic purposes, we should at once prove the superio- 
rity of the Irish bogs — if they are superior — to prevent other per- 
sons embarking into the speculation in which the society is now 
engaged, and thus secure it from the evils that naturally attend 
competition and rivalship in any undertaking or speculation. 
We, probably, have extracted sufficient from the report in ques- 
tion to draw veterinary inquiry to the matter. Whether peat 
charcoal — the cost of which in Ireland is about 3 5s. per ton — be 
found anywise suitable for such a purpose as is here set forth, 
remains to be shewn; and whether it be or not, one thing is certain, 
and that is, that we cannot rest content with ventilation as the sole 
or, indeed, of itself, an efficient means of purifying our horse and 
cattle habitations. 
MISCELLANEA. 
Chloroform in Veterinary Practice. 
A few weeks since we gave an account of the firing of a horse 
under the influence of chloroform, at the stables of Mr. Stanley, 
veterinary surgeon, of this place. The statement was read with 
much interest by those who knew the severity of the operation, and 
the fact was, by them, hailed as the introduction of a more humane 
practice than had hitherto been obtained. Since that time, other 
horses have been similarly treated at the same place ; one on Fri- 
day last. This was a powerful half-bred mare, belonging to Mr. 
Reynolds, of Farthinghoe. The animal was thrown, in the usual 
manner, upon straw. Dr. R. S. Wise then applied chloroform 
upon a sponge to the nostrils, and in exactly three minutes and a 
