The latest Parisian novtity in medicine— very appropriate to the
fSstid season of summer in towns, and particularly interesting to Lon-
donera— coDoaras the disinfecting properties of common coal tar. The
subject, brought forward by MM. (^rne and Demeaux, appears to be
creating quite a sensation in the French capital. It has been laid
before, and been discussed at the Academy of Sciences, and the Aca-
demy of Medicine, and has been experimented on at La Charity and
at Alfort ; and all the French journals are full of it The history of
the matter is sufliciently simple. M. Edmond Come, physician at
Libos (department of the Lot and Garonne), recently found out that
a mixture of coal tar and plaster in various proportions, when put in
contact with fetid and putrifying substances, possessed the vaJuable
property of deodorising them completely ; and, at the same time, if
the matters contained fluid, it absorbed the liquid, and converted the
whole into a dry, sdid mass, free of smell. Perceiving the importance
of these facts in a sanitary point of view, M. Come proposed to em-
ploy his disinfecting powder for tbe purpose of deodorising and solidi-
fying the fecal matters, which, in Paris, instead of being drained off
to pollute the Seine, are allowed to collect in covered pits, and are
carted away in closed waggons early in the morning. The accumula-
tion of tbe night soil, and the process of its removal, are attended
with the horrible stenches which are so common in many of the
bouses and streets of Paris. Sanitary science, however, does not seem
attractive to Frenchmen ; and the discoveries of M. Corne might have
remained long enough unnoticed, if the happy thought had not oc-
curred to Dr. Demeaux and himself of applying his disinfecting pow-
der to surgical uses, for the purpose of deodorising the ofiensive dis-
charges from suppurating wounds and gangrenous ulcers. The first
trial was made in the private practice of Dr. Demeaux, and succeeded
beyond expectation. The authors then laid the subject, in this new
point of view, before the scientific and medical institutions of Paris,
and commenced a series of experiments at the Hospital of La Charit6,
under PrefeiBor Yelpeau, who has afibrded every encouragement, and



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