Reviews. IOI 
decomposition and thereby checking 7” imzne the thousand 
and one other decompositional changes of other organic 
matter with which albumen may be associated. 
Permanganate of potash does the almost reverse of this, 
it hurries on decomposition, it oxidises—oxidation over- 
takes as it were the more orderly sub-arrangements of the 
component elements which would give birth to a noisome 
progeny. Permanganate of potash is, without question, the 
great purifier for water, even if added in excess of the re- 
quirements of the occasion nothing is simpler, than to get 
the excess. It communicates no disagreeable flavour, rid of 
and is not poisonous, on the contrary in the diluted form is 
wholesome. One word with regard to the water we breathe. 
Ffeat destroys its power—Respirators prevent its entrance 
into the lungs. Elevation above the ground takes us out 
of it: the lower strata of dews and fogs are the most poi- 
sonous. One maxim to conclude with—In unhealthy 
times xever slecp with the windows open. 
Flardwicke's Science Gossip for August. No. XX. 
London: Hardwicke. 
THIS interesting and instructive scientific monthly still 
keeps that position for which it was designed—namely, to 
supply a void long felt by a numerous class of naturalists 
who have not time to dive into the vast arcana which is 
spread before them in the world of nature, and who find in 
this journal a perfect olla podrida of natural history. A 
most remarkable feature in this publication is the heading 
“Notes and Queries,” under which a host of inquiries are 
to be found, the majority of which contain a mine of in- 
formation. 
NEW SERIES.—VOL. I. I 
