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NEWS AND SUNDRIES. 
Ills. The course of veterinary science will cover at least three, 
and possible four years, and be the most complete that there is 
in any institution on this continent (?), except one in Montreal. 
—Ohio Journal. 
A Substitute for Carbolic Acid. —The extraordinary power 
of naphthol as an antiseptic and disinfectant has been known for 
a long time; but its disagreeable smell, and the difficulty of pre¬ 
paring it in a pure state, with the occasional toxic action of the 
crude naphthol, have hitherto prevented its general adoption as a 
remedial and antiseptic agent. Justus Wolff, a chemist interested 
in coal-tar products, has recently succeeded in producing it in a 
pure and odorless state in well-defined crystals, and he claims its 
antiseptic action is much greater than that of carbolic acid. Re¬ 
cent research has demonstrated that the toxic effects of crude 
naphthol were due to the impurities it contained. Dr. Shoe¬ 
maker, of Philadelphia, in a paper read before the Philadelphia 
County Medical Society, on the “ Medical Use and Value of 
Naphthol,” conclusively proved the non-poisonous character of 
the purified or odorless naphthol by taking large doses internally. 
It has no corrosive action on the skin, and will not injure textile 
fabrics. As a remedial agent it is said to act with greater effi¬ 
ciency than carbolic acid, and if so, the fact of its being abso¬ 
lutely odorless will make it a desirable substitute for the latter. 
It is expected that it will shortly be manufactured in large quan¬ 
tities and introduced as a substitute for carbolic acid .—Medical 
Record. 
The Way to Prepare Surgical Sponges. —The following is 
Mr. Lawson Tait’s method of preparing the sponges, and but one 
person is trusted to do this : New sponges are first put into a large 
quantity of water, with sufficient muriatic acid to make the water 
taste disagreeably acid. They remain in this mixture until all 
effervescence has ceased and all the chalk is removed. For this 
purpose it may be necessary to renew the acid several times. The 
sponges are afterward carefully and thoroughly washed, to make 
them as clean as possible and free from every rough particle. 
After being used at an operation, they are first washed free from 
