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The International Aerostatic Commission has bee) holding its meetings at Paris, and these were closei during October. An important part of the work o the commission has been in forming a union among al the countries which are represented on the presen occasion. This union will bear the name of Interna tional Federation of Aero Clubs and will have iti headquarters along with the commission. At the re cent meetings a series of international rules wen adopted which had been drawn up by the Aero Club o: France. But the regulations concerning the airshipi have been reserved for a future time. The next meet ing of the International Commission will take place a Berlin in 1906. The Governor-General of Egypt has promulgated ar ordinance by which the government exercises its righi of possession of any archaeological remains and antiqui ties discovered in the Soudan, comprising buildings monuments, remains, or objects of whatever age oi people, which are illustrative of arts and sciences, in dustries, religion, history, letters, and customs, and that were built, made, or produced in the Soudan, oi brought thereto prior to the year 1873 of the Gregorian calendar. Although the law is limited to the yeai 1873, the Governor-General is further empowered tc declare right of possession to any object whatsoever in, or attached to, the soil after that year. This decree will deal the deathblow to the Egyptian "faker" and his nefarious traffic in coins, papyri, and other spurious antiquities, in the sale of which he plies a thriving trade during the winter season among the credulous tourists. A very convenient process of obtaining a dilute solution of hydroxyl has been described by Dr. J. F. Jau-bert, an eminent chemist of Paris, who is already known for his preparation of "oxylith," by which oxygen gas is formed from water. The present process originated by observing the action of boric acid upon peroxide of sodium. If we pour a powder formed of a proper mixture of boric acid and peroxide of sodium into water; the powder begins to dissolve, but after a certain time a crystalline deposit is formed which seems to correspond to the formula B.OgNaj + lOHjO. This body gives hydroxyl by simply dissolving it in water, according to the reaction BOsNaj -f HjO = BiOjNa, + H2O2. The solution keeps well without decomposing rapidly. After a month it still keeps 56 per cent of the original active oxygen. M. Jaubert calls the crystalline substance which is thus isolated by the name of perVorax. When recrystallized for a number of times it forms crystals which contain an increasing quantity of active oxygen, and we find thus another compound, BO,,Na + 4H.,0, . known as perborate. It keeps indefinitely when dry, and gives hydroxyl by simply dissolving it in water, but this solution is alkaline, and it must be prepared just when it is needed. The perborate has antiseptic properties, and can be used in surgery. Some interesting researches in the treatment of rabies by the rays of radium have been made by two Italian savants, Tizzoni and Bongiovanni. In some cases they act upon the virus itself, and in others upon the animals. By exposing the virus to the radium rays it is rapidly transformed into a very active vaccine. The exposure varies from four to thirty-six hours. When a drop of the vaccine is injected into the animal's eye, he is found to be protected against the inoculation with a dog's virus such as readily killed the other animals. As to animals which were already under the influence of the virus, the seances of radiotherapy (one hour each) must be commenced at least ten hours after inoculation. But by a powerful sample of radium, and a series of exposures of several hours for six days, they find that they can save animals even forty-eight or one hundred hours after inoculation, while the animals used for a check on the method all died. "Especially striking are the experiments with the rabbit, where it succumbs rapidly to the virus. Under the radium treatment we see the nervous phenomena retrocede and the fever diminish, with a gain in weight. The effects thus disappear in one case, while with a second animal, untreated, they go on increasing at the same time and soon end in death. This new application of radium will no doubt prove valuable.
