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tages of inhating, with equal purity, thelighter fluid, of which we stand so muchmore in need, and which we so much morefrequently require?

THE MIASMA OF AFRICA.—NIGEREXPEDITION.

AT the Royal Institution, on Friday even-ing last, Professor D miell read a paper" On the Spontaneous Evolution of Sulphu-retted Hydrogen in the Waters on theWestern Coast of Africa and elsewhere."He commenced by observing, that this sub-ject was now interesting on two accounts :1, because it would recall to the members ofthat institution the experiments of SirHumphrey Davy on the subject, and whichled him to advise the adoption of ship pro-tectors ; and, 2, in consequence of the Nigerexpedition, fitted out to visit and endeavourto introduce civilisation on the western coastof Africa. The effect produced on coppersheathing by the presence of sulphurettedhydrogen in the waters on that coast, was,he premised, well known to every one in-formed respecting vessels visiting it; and itwas a fact that a eruise of nine months onthe western coast of Africa injured the cop-per sheathing of a vessel as much as fouryears’ wear in any other part of the world.The lecturer showed a piece of sheathingtaken from the bottom of a Governmentfrigate that had not been many months onthe African station, and also a piece fromthe Royal George, sunk at Spithead, andwhich had been under water sixty year!;;the former was eaten through in very manyplaces, and so thin all over that he mightpush his thumb through it, while the latterwas tough, and in excellent condition. Hisattention had been directed to the subject bythe Lords of the Admiralty sending him tenbottles of water, from as many different Iplaces on that coast, extending from 8 deg.north of the Equator to 8 deg. south, to Ianalyse, and to report on the component z,

parts thereof, and the accompanying tablewas the result :- I

All the bottles were hermetically sealed,and he had no doubt the water was in everyway as good as when taken from the rivers.On drawing the cork, he was immediatelystruck with the smell of sulphuretted hydro.gen, and adopted the general idea that it arosefrom animal and vegetable decomposition,but it had since appeared to him that suchwas not entirely the case. The gas extend-ed a distance of 15 or 16 deg., and in someplaces as far as 40 miles to sea, covering,therefore, a space of 40,000 square miles.Now, what could the origin be ? He thoughtthat it arose from the action and reaction ofvegetable and animal matter brought fromthe interior by the rivers upon the sulphatesin the sea-water. With this idea he ga-thered last autumn some leaves from ashrubbery and put them into three jars;into one of which he poured some plainNew River water; into the second, some ofthe same water in which three ounces ofcommon salt had been dissolved; and intothe third, the like water, in which somecrystallised sulphate of soda was dissolved.To the covers of the jars he fixed insidesome litmus paper, and placed them in a

cupboard, the temperature of which variedfrom 70 to 100 or 110 degrees. The effectwas, that in the first the litmus paper wasperfectly white, and the smell by no meansunpleasant; in the second the paper wasquite white, and the smell similar to that ofa preserve ; but in the third jar, in which asulphate was present, the paper was nearlyblack, and the stench was horrible and nau-seous in the extreme, as everyone knew thesmell of sulphuretted hydrogen gas to be.Now sea-water contained sufficient sul-phates to produce this effect under peculiarcircumstances. But a more interestingpart of the subject was the miasma, so in-

jurious to life, on the marshy shore ofWestern Africa. Some persons said that ifscience cannot point out a remedy, it is use-less to investigate the causes, but he didnot so think; if science could not point outa remedy, still it could point to somethingas a palliation of the evil. The presence ofthe injurious gas was easily tested by theroughest hand, so that places in which itabounded could be avoided; and if impera-tive duty rendered it absolutely necessaryto go to those places, then plentiful fumiga-tions of chlorine gas would effectually de-stroy thesulphuretted hydrogen. The effectof this gas was not only visible on thewestern coast of Africa, but in many placeselsewhere, although not to so great an ex-tent. Might not the jungle-fever of India,the periodical fevers of New York andCharleston, in America, and the minor dis-eases on the coast of Essex, be traced to beeffects of this deleterious gas? It was awell-known fact, that the ships in the mouthof the Medway consumed more copper thanother ships. Chlorine gas, then, destroyed

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the injurious gas, and it was easily made,and the materials very cheap ; the Govern-ment had plentifully supplied the Africanexpedition with the materials necessary forthe most perfect chlorine fumigations ; andhe had the pleasure of believing that his re-port, founded on the analysis of the waterssubmitted to him, and the precautions taken,had imparted confidence not only to the gal-lant men who composed that expedition,but also to those who had interested them-selves in its welfare, and who had been ac-tuated by the most Christian spirit. He

hoped its success would be commensurate toits deserts.

REMARKS ON THE " CASES"

RECENTLY

PUBLISHED BY DR.EPPS.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SiR:ńEvery individual who sends forththe speculations of his brain to the public,unless he have taken the precaution not

only to divest them of every thing really orapparently crude, but also to express themsumcientjy in detail, that conviction of theiraccuracy will, as it were, be at once carriedhome to the mind of the reader, must expecthis remarks, before they pass on to be for-gotten, to be subjected to a little wholesomecriticism by those who are somewhat scepti-cal of the reality of modern-made miracles.That Dr. Epps, whose article on the " heal-all" properties of the arnica montana occu-pied so much space in the last Number ofTHE LANCET, did not employ, perhaps, thatdegree of judgment which he is wont to usebefore arriving at his apparently hasty con-clusions of the powers of the remedy in thecases he has recorded, seems to me to beprobable; I therefore purpose, with yourpermission, to notice his cases seriatim,somewhat after the manner of THE LANCETin the "olden time." It is unnecessary, of

course, to apologise to Dr. Epps for doingso; he has published his cases, an act whichof itself invites to criticism.

Case 1.-" Mrs. H. fried a pancake," andthe result proved what a mess she made ofit. " The fat spirted into her eye," and shehad all the characteristics of intense inflarii-mation. She applied to a surgeon, who or-

dered several remedial means, but it is notstated that the patient used them ; at anyrate, it is certain she did not use them formore than twenty-four hours, for Dr. Eppssaw her about one, P.M., the following day.He gave her three " globules" of aconite" to subdue the fever;" four globules ofarnica in divided doses ; and a 11 liquid,"with which the eye was to be kept constantlymoist. On the following day (the second ofhis treatment, the Doctor’s dates are a little

wrong), the eye was " much better." Theday after " almost well ;" and the day afterthat" quite well ;" a result which, I doubtnot, would just as quickly occur in anothercase, caeferis paribus, without the arnica, ifthe remedial means which a judicious sur-geon would order were steadily perseveredin. I must dissent altogether from the opi.nion that the arnica cured the patient in thecase related, and ascribe the good that re-sulted jointly to the topical application ofthe water, and the beneficent aid of the vismedicatdx.

Cases 2 and 3 are very similar, beingcases of injury to the head from a blow.The patients presented no unusual symp-toms, the only thing uncommon being thetreatment adopted. The chief point of io-terest which the cases appear to me to illus.trate is the one well known to all physiolo.gists, that our bodies naturally revert froma diseased to their normal state, and thatthey do so sometimes despite the follies ofphysicians-" the fallacies of the faculty"-and the most absurd or injurious treat.ment.

Case 4, in which the cornea was laceratedby the toe-nail of a child, is one in whichclearly no credit is due to the treatment em-ployed. The Doctor, I imagine, drawsmuch too largely on the credulity of hisbrethren, in supposing they will believe thatthe laceration was cured by the administra.tion of his 11 globules." Evidently, so faras my humble judgment goes, the credit ofthe cure should here again be ascribed notto the employment of the Doctor’s globules,but to the topical application of the water,and the very kind assistance of the vis na-turae.

Case 5 is interesting, inasmuch as itshows there is danger in dancing even withthose who are called " good society," for" llliss E. H. ran a splinter into her foot."The splinter went in at the bottom and cameout at the side (pierced the foot), " and,"says the Doctor, very gravely, " it was ne.cessary to remove the subjacent soft parts toextract it." Dr. Epps immediately gotastride his bobby, and, on reaching home,says, he gave the young lady his glo.bules;" bathed the foot in hot water, inwhich forty drops of the "tincture" hadbeen previously introduced; and, after

bathing for five to ten minutes, a poultice,on the surface of which about ieit drops ofthe arnica tincture were dropped, was ap’plied. On the Tuesday following the footwas well, and the cure most innocentlyas-cribed to the arnica ! Yes, no sooner hadthe Doctor’s " globules" entered the younglady’s system, than with as much activity asthe " Wizard of the North," they immedi.ately began to close or renew the "softparts," which the Doctor had previously seaparated or 41 removed."