ADULTERATION OF BUTTER. 
421 
gases yielded by his process of smelting zinc ores with carbon, 
and not having a suitable instrument for collecting the gases, 
he attempted to draw them out of the furnace by means of a 
pipette. Some of the gas was thus inhaled, and he fell imme¬ 
diately, as if he had been stunned; the eyes were turned back 
in the orbits, the skin was discoloured, the veins were swollen, 
and presented a black tint under the skin; there were violent 
pains in the chest, and the brain felt powerfully oppressed. 
After removal to the open air, and the application of restora¬ 
tives, sensibility gradually returned, but the internal pains 
were still severe, and there was a feeling of suffocation. For 
several days he felt depressed and languid;'the digestion was 
bad ; sleep was obstinate and heavy, and it was frequently dis¬ 
turbed by cramps in the knees and toes. Even for months after 
wards there was a morbidly excited state of the nervous system. 
In a more diluted condition the gas is still able to exert an 
injurious action, and it is very probable that the singular 
catastrophe which happened at Clayton Moor, near White¬ 
haven, in the summer of 1857, was caused by the diffusion 
into the air of carbonic oxide from the neighbouring iron fur¬ 
naces. There is a row of cottages near to these furnaces 
where, in the month of June, 1857, a number of persons were 
suddenly seized with insensibility, which soon passed, in 
some cases, into coma and death. About thirty persons were 
tlius attacked, and six of them died. The effects were attri¬ 
buted at the time to the escape of sulphuretted hydrogen 
from the slag on which the cottages were built; but it is 
more probable they were caused by the oxide of carbon from 
the furnaces. 
Lastly, it is worthy of remark that very recently Boussin- 
gault has noticed that the leaves of aquatic plants give off 
carbonic oxide and marsh gas when under the influence of 
solar light; and he asks whether this gas so produced may 
not be concerned in the unhealthiness of marsh districts. 
A more complete acquaintance with the effects of this 
poison is a great desideratum, although enough is known to 
indicate its general mode of action, and to furnish evidence 
for its discovery.— Lancet. 
J 
ADULTERATION OE BUTTER. 
Mr. John Horsley, analyst to the county of Gloucester, 
in an article in the Chemical News , recommends as a method 
to distinguish between pure butter, and that adulterated with 
lard and other substances, the following process : 
