208 
Facts and Observations. 
DIRECTOR OF THE VETERINARY SCHOOL AT ALEORT. 
YVe learn from the ‘Clinique Veterinaire * for March, 
that Professor Magne has been nominated Director of the 
Veterinary School at Alfort, in the place of the late M. 
Delafond. 
PLEURO-PNEUMON1A IN AUSTRALIA. 
In Australia, says a Sydney paper, pleuro-pneumonia has 
extended to a terrible extent, and it is estimated that at least 
forty thousand cattle will have to be destroyed ere the disease 
is extinguished. 
CONSTITUTION OE ALOES. 
M. Kosman, having investigated the nature of Aloes, 
finds it to be made up of two substances, the one soluble, 
the other insoluble in water, but both soluble in alcohol. 
The first partakes of an extractive nature, the second of a re¬ 
sinous. Both are bitter, and when dissolved in a weak 
alkaline solution, they absorb oxygen. According to him, 
they consist of peculiar acids in combination with a hydrate 
of carbon, and are capable of forming a body answering to 
the reactions of grape sugar. 
THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE AS EOOD EOR THE HORSE 
AND CATTLE. 
It is stated that French cattle-breeders are paying con¬ 
siderable attention just now to the use of a root, which has 
not been introduced as food for animals in England—namely, 
the Jerusalem artichoke—or, as it is called there, poire-de- 
terre, or topinambour. It is said to present many advantages. 
It does not exhaust the soil; it reproduces itself for twenty- 
five or thirty years, and requires little or no manure. The 
