658 
MISCELLANEA. 
the ligament in place of the tendon, and of the remedy, when- 
ever that is the case, being division of the ligament instead of the 
tendon, will, in the language used by Mr. Cooper in his article for 
this month, “ ere long be adopted by the profession.” The cir- 
cumstance of section of the ligament involving opening of a bursal 
sac certainly has the appearance of carrying danger with it. In 
practice , however, Mr. Cooper has found this not to be the case ; 
and one fact, we all know, is worth a thousand theories. No 
surgeon would, if he could anywise avoid it, think of cutting into 
a bursal cavity ; but when so desperate a case presents itself as a 
contracted limb, which is, through such contraction, rendered use- 
less to the animal, he feels himself, and is, perfectly warranted in 
liberating the contracted sinews even at the expense of the bursa ; 
and most certainly has a still stronger guarantee for thus acting, 
when he finds the parts diseased so situated that he must inevita- 
bly cut through them, were he to resolve to steer his knife clear of 
the synovial cavity. And the results of Mr. Cooper’s operations 
fully bear out these views. 
MISCELLANEA. 
Properties of the Water obtained from Wenham Lake 
and Norwegian Ice. 
In confirmation of the observations of Mr. Faraday on the purity 
of water obtained from Wenham Lake and Norwegian Ice, a spe- 
cimen was lately submitted to examination, with the following re- 
sults : — The water was colourless, tasteless, and vapid ; it was free 
from acid and alkaline reaction ; was not affected or rendered turbid 
by nitrate of baryta, oxalate of ammonia, nitrate of silver, ammo- 
nia with phosphate of ammonia, or lime water. It gave only a 
slight opacity after some minutes with acetate of lead, but this was 
no greater than the effect produced by the same re-agent on dis- 
tilled water. 
Tried with the soap test, it marked 0° of hardness ; and, when a 
sheet of polished lead was plunged into it, a white deposit of hy- 
drated oxide and carbonate of lead was formed in an hour. These 
facts shew that the water derived from pure ice is absolutely pure, 
and may be used in remote places as a substitute for distilled 
water when this cannot be readily procured. This suggestion may 
