ON  ARSENIC  IN  PAPER-HANGINGS.  343 
turer  never  using  Indian  cotton  when  they  can  get  American 
cotton  cheap  ;  fourthly,  by  arranging  for  the  purchase  of  the 
produce  directly  from  the  cultivators,  or  by  establishing  agencies 
at  the  places  of  export  to  control  the  native  middlemen,  the  Indian 
cotton  might  be  obtained  in  a  condition  that  would  secure  for  it 
a  better  reputation  and  price  than  it  now  commands, — local 
agencies  would  be,  of  course,  preferable,  as  likely  to  obtain  for 
the  cultivators  a  share  of  the  benefit  now  intercepted  by  the 
extortionate  middlemen  ;  fifthly  with  increased  security  to  prop-' 
erty  under  a  firm  Government,  and  with  improved  cultivation, 
superintendence,  machinery,  and  modes  of  conveyance,  the 
quantity  and  quality  of  Indian  cotton  may  be  made  such  as  to 
render  its  regular  and  remunerative  commerce  quite  independent 
of  the  crops  of  other  countries.  Thus,  by  the  ordinary  course 
of  commercial  enterprise,  there  will  never  be  occasion  for  having 
recourse  to  «  protection"  by  imposing  a  duty  on  cotton  from 
other  than  British  possessions — an  expedient  which  Dr.  Royle 
justly  describes  as  admissible  only  as  a  last  resort  for  encouraging 
Indian  culture  and  commerce. — London  Fharm,  Jour.,  April. 
1858,  from  Times,  March  11th. 
ON  ARSENIC  IN  PAPER-HANGINGS. 
By  F.  A.  Abel, 
Director  of  the  Chemical  Establishment  of  the  War  Department. 
The  experiments  performed  by  Mr.  Dugald  Campbell  with 
paper-hangings  containing  arsenic,  which  were  described  in  the 
last  number  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  are  similar  to  a 
series  which  I  have  just  completed,  having  been  induced  to  un- 
dertake them  at  the  time  Dr.  Halley's  letter  on  the  subject 
appeared  in  the  Times,  in  consequence  of  repeated  appeals  for 
my  opinion  on  the  necessity  of  removing  arsenical  paper-hang- 
ings from  apartments.  As  these  experiments  have  been  varied 
so  as  to  fulfil  every  condition  presumed  to  be  favorable  to  the 
volatilization  of  arsenic  from  paper-hangings,  and  have  been 
carried  on  for  much  longer  periods  than  those  of  Mr.  Campbell, 
I  venture  to  hope  that  a  brief  description  of  them  will  not  be 
uninteresting. 
Two  experiments  were  made,  in  the  first  instance,  in  a  room 
