157 
Facts and Observations, 
NEW LOCAL ANAESTHETICS. 
M. Fournie has found, after a number of experiment 
performed both on himself and animals, that the mixed 
vapours of acetic acid and chloroform act as a local anaes¬ 
thetic. A thin glass flask is to be about half filled with a 
mixture of equal parts glacial acetic acid and chloroform. 
This being held in the hand, the temperature of the place 
being 62° F., on the application of the orifice of the flask to 
the skin, complete insensibility of the part will be attained 
in five minutes, and with only very slight pain. 
M. Martenot prefers the application of a mixture of 20 
parts of camphor and 30 of chloroform. This is to be ap¬ 
plied for fifteen or twenty minutes, and then covered with a piece 
of thick linen and some oiled silk, to prevent its evaporation. 
PREVENTION OE THE DISEASE IN POTATOES. 
As a preventive of disease in the potato, M. Lemaire 
has found a mixture of 2 parts of coal tar with 100 of earth, 
strewed over the soil, and dug in eight inches deep before 
planting the tuber, to be most effective. In all probability 
the creasote contained in the tar prevents the development 
of the fungus. 
THE POWER POSSESSED BY PLANTS TO REJECT POISONS. 
Dr. Daubeny lately read a paper on this subject before 
the Chemical Society, in which he states that he introduced 
into the soil before the seeds were sown, the nitrates of 
baryta and strontia, and arsenious acid. Barley and turnips 
were the seeds employed, and the introduction of the poison¬ 
ous substances seemed rather favorable than otherwise as to 
the quantity of crop obtained. But neither of the agents tried 
was absorbed under these circumstances, and the question 
was whether the quantities employed were sufficient. A 
larger dose of arsenic he found killed the plants, and he 
proposed trying the effect of larger doses of the salts of barium 
and strontia. 
