468 
THE  USES  OF  SULPHUROUS  ACID  GAS. 
make  any  escape  immediately  perceptible.  Its  illuminating 
power  appears  to  be  very  superior  to  coal  gas,  and  its  light  very 
white. 
Captain  Wray  is  of  opinion  that  when  the  production  of  the 
gas  from  the  resin  of  the  Xanthorrhoea  is  conducted  with  suitable 
apparatus,  the  cost  per  annum  will  be  materially  reduced,  so  far, 
indeed,  that  the  resin  may  become  a  large  and  profitable  export 
from  the  colony,  to  places  which  are  not  lighted  at  all,  or  lighted 
with  oil.  The  supply  is  almost  unlimited ;  and  even  were  it  not 
so,  it  would  be  advantageous  te  get  rid  of  the  plant  from  all  the 
land  for  cultivation.  Should  it  be  found,  however,  that  the  plant 
was  likely  to  get  scarce,  the  resin  might  be  obtained  by  tapping. 
— Lond.  Pliarm.  Jour?i.y  August,  1866,  from  The  Technologist. 
THE  USES  OF  SULPHUROUS  ACID  GAS. 
For  many  months  Dr.  Dewar,  of  Kirkcaldy,  has  been  engaged 
in  impressing  upon  the  Government,  the  public,  and  the  profes- 
sion, the  importance  of  employing  the  fumes  of  sulphur  in  the 
prevention  and  cure  of  disease,  and  quite  recently  he  has 
extended  their  use  in  a  different  and  scarcely  less  important  di- 
rection— the  preservation  of  animal  food.  Without  accepting 
his  views  of  the  nature  of  disease — pointing,  as  he  seems  to  indi- 
cate, to  the  origin  of  all  disease  from  cryptogamic  spores — as  at 
all  correct,  we  may  nevertheless  state  that  he  has  arrived  at 
several  interesting  and  remarkable  practical  results.  Dr. 
Dewar's  experiments  were  at  first  initiated  in  connection  with 
cattle  plague,  and  his  method  of  fumigating  byres  is  to  take  a 
chafer  two-thirds  full  of  red  cinders,  place  a  crucible  in  them, 
and  in  it  a  piece  of  sulphur  stick  the  length  of  one's  thumb, 
which  is  sufficient  for  a  byre  containing  six  cattle.  If  ordinary 
attention  be  paid  to  ventillation,  the  attendant  may  shut  himself 
in  along  with  the  cattle  during  the  process,  not  only  without 
detriment,  but,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  with  occasionally 
unlooked-for  benefit.  This  process  may  be  repeated  four  times 
a  day,  and  the  result  has  been  that,  when  this  system  has  been 
thoroughly  and  determinedly  practised,  there  has  been  no  case  of 
death  among  the  cattle  from  any  epidemic  cause  whatever.  Nor 
