DEATH OF SHEEP FROM MERCURY. 
509 
kingdom—from the polyzoa up to the vertebrata—specimens 
of each being found in very low strata. He did not, therefore, 
believe that there was a much greater difference between the 
earth’s appearance in early geological times and in our own, 
than there is now between the different regions of the globe. 
He remarked, in conclusion, that the little change in the 
persistent types of animal and vegetable life appeared to him 
to “ indicate that each is but the result of an enormous series 
of antecedent changes of form, the whole of w r hich are perhaps 
for ever hidden from us in the abyss of pre-geologic time”— 
Medical Times. 
NEW DISINFECTING AGENT. 
M. Velpeau has laid before the Academie des Sciences 
some account of the results of the employment of a new dis¬ 
infecting agent discovered by MM. Demeaux and Corne. Its 
effect in the removal of the most disgusting odours emanating 
from wounds, etc. (as gangrene, cancer, etc.) has proved 
almost instantaneous, while its application is painless and 
innocuous. It is a cheap grayish powder, exhaling a slight 
bituminous odour, and is formed of 100 parts of the plaster 
of commerce in powder, and from 1 to 3 parts of coal-tar. 
Not only does it possess the power of removing all kinds of 
stench, but also of absorbing the morbid fluids. For surgical 
purposes it may be combined with oil, which binds it together 
without dissolving it. It has been abundantly tried in the 
wards of La Charite, the dissecting-rooms, and elsewhere, 
and the most sanguine anticipations are entertained as to the 
results of the publicity now given, whether regarding it as an 
application for surgical or hygienic purposes.— Medical Times. 
DEATH OF SHEEP FROM THE SUCKING OF THEIR WOOL 
AFTER BEING DRESSED. 
A singular circumstance has just occurred in the parish 
of Cudham, Kent, on Lusted Farm, in the occupation of Mr. 
Jas. Francis. Mr. Francis has been in the habit for several 
years of using a wash to his sheep, containing mercury and 
soft soap, as a preventive against flies. He has generally 
had it applied by dipping them, but this year he had them 
laid on their side and poured the wash—one pint to a sheep— 
over them. The flock (about 128) having been thus 
xxxii. 67 
