The Health Exhibition. 
[October, 
580 
“ Iciple ” Manufacturing Co., of Cannon Street. On the 
table was a common grass-snake ( Tropidonotus natrix), pre- 
served in a liquid named “ Balma,” and recommended as 
being superior to alcohol for such purposes. Every natu- 
ralist will agree with us that alcohol is a most troublesome 
article to carry about in semi-civilised — not to speak of 
savage — countries. It is sure to leak away or evaporate, 
and is, moreover, in great danger of being swallowed by the 
natives, unless they are Islamites, — sometimes along with 
the specimens preserved in it. A substitute not open to 
these objections would therefore be invaluable. 
It would have been well if the Iciple Company had exhi- 
bited comparative specimens, say of snakes, preserved 
respectively in “ Balma ” and in alcohol. But “ Balma 
has, it appears, many other virtues ; it prevents, we are 
told, “ mortification in amputations, allays inflammation, 
cures cancers, diphtheria, croup, whooping-cough, thrush, 
ophthalmia, smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, ringworm, 
snake-bites, and all kinds of eruptions.” If but a small 
portion of this is true the inventor may rank as a distin- 
guished benefaCtor to humanity. But would he allow him- 
self to be bitten, e.g., by a cobra, in reliance on the curative 
power of “ Balma ” ? A cure for smallpox would be even a 
greater boon, as it would at the same time be a permanent 
remedy for anti-vaccinationism. 
“ Weiher’s Mosquito Fluid ” is said to prevent the ap- 
proach of mosquitoes. This preparation may not impossibly 
be the tinCture of marsh-rosemary (Ledum palustre), a pre- 
paration which we know, from personal observation, banishes 
these pests. 
The same Company manufacture “Crystalline,” of which 
they say that “ its chemical aCtion, harmless and innocuous 
to human life, infallibly destroys every germ of impurity in 
water, leaving it pure, sparkling, and cold. It is an essen- 
tial requisite in every household, and should invariably he 
used in drinking water, filtered or otherwise.” 
What will Dr. Jabez Hogg say? Surely if these claims 
can be substantiated, — if disease-germs and microbia gene- 
rally in drinking water can he infallibly destroyed by a pre- 
paration harmless to human life, — the recent difficulty 
concerning the possible admission of sewage into our water 
supplies is overcome. 
But this important article by no means exhausts the lists 
of the Iciple Company. “ Purita ” is described as “ an 
aromatic and highly-perfumed powder, perfectly harmless, 
but which aCts as a most effective antagonist to the very 
