PACTS AND OBSERVATIONS, 
731 
Veterinary Science in Natal. —The Special Corre¬ 
spondent of the Daily Telegraph with Sir Garnet Wolseley, 
writing from Natal, says that “Veterinary science here is 
at a very low ebb, and Colonists seem content that it should 
be so, sitting down under the pressure of equine diseases as 
if they were a necessity, when often a little careful study 
and management would remove the ills they complain of. 
It is somewhat curious to note that, in spite of the superiority 
claimed by Colonists for their own horses, there is a keen 
competition for the imported mares which have been sold 
within the last few days, and that very high prices have been 
paid for them by colonial breeders. I have it on very high 
authority that were veterinary science studied a little more 
in Natal, the present lamentable mortality among horses 
would speedily diminish, and that the horse would largely 
take the place of the ox as a transport animal. But why 
deprive the Colonist of a grievance against nature ? 
Trichinosis in the Hippopotamus. —M. S. Heckel 
recently submitted a note to the French Academy of Sciences 
on the discovery of Trichina spiralis in a hippopotamus. The 
animal, about two years of age, had been presented to the 
Zoological Gardens of the city of Marseilles by the Khedive. 
At the time of its reception in the gardens it was suffering 
from boils, which presently ulcerated, and in the end killed 
the animal. During the four months that this hippopotamus 
had been confined in Marseilles it had been fed on milk 
in which flour was mingled and fresh vegetables; but 
nothing is known of the treatment of the animal before it 
left Egypt. In the course of stripping the flesh off the 
carcase in order to preserve the skeleton for the Museum of 
Natural History at Marseilles, M. Heckel accidentally dis¬ 
covered that the muscles of the animal were infested with 
the cysts of Trichina spiralis . This discovery took place at 
too late a period of the process of stripping to enable M. 
Heckel to make an exhaustive examination of the extent of 
dissemination of the parasite in the body.— Lancet. 
The Use of Iodoform.— Finely powdered iodoform, or 
mixed one part of three with unguentum petrolei, makes an 
admirable application to the most sensitive surface, such as 
irritable ulcers, &c. It is a good rule never to apply soap 
to such surfaces; even the best obtainable is often irritat¬ 
ing ; and water should be thoroughly boiled and used when 
cooling. To dispel the odour of the iodoform, so nauseous 
to many, it may be mixed with equal parts of tannin, or 
employed in ethereal solution.— Med. and Surg. Hep . 
