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lating the application of penalties for offences punishable in a summary manner, and in Ireland in the manner directed by the Fines Act, Ireland, 1851, and the Acts amending the same.

27. Any person who shall forge, or shall utter, knowing it to be forged for the purposes of this Act, any certificate or any writing purporting to contain a warranty, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and be punishable on conviction by imprisonment for a term of not exceeding two years with hard labour:

Every person who shall wilfully apply to an article of food, or a drug, in any proceedings under this Act, a certificate or warranty given in relation to any other article or drug, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act, and be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds;

Every person who shall give a false warranty in writing to any purchaser in respect of an article of food or a drug sold by him as principal or agent, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act, and be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds;

And every person who shall wilfully give a label with any article sold by him which shall falsely describe the article sold, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act, and be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds.

28. Nothing in this Act contained shall affect the power of proceeding by indictment, or take away any other remedy against any offender under this Act, or in any way interfere with contracts and bargains between individuals, and the rights and remedies belonging thereto.

Provided that in any action brought by any person for a breach of contract on the sale of any article of food or of any drug, such person may recover alone or in addition to any other damages recoverable by him the amount of any penalty in which he may have been convicted under this Act, together with the costs paid by him upon such conviction and those incurred by him in and about his defence thereto, if he prove that the article or drug the subject of such conviction was sold to him as and for an article or drug of the same nature, substance, and quality as that which was demanded of him, and that he purchased it not knowing it to be otherwise, and afterwards sold it in the same state in which he purchased it; the defendant in such action being nevertheless at liberty to prove that the conviction was wrongful, or that the amount of costs awarded or claimed was unreasonable.

Expenses of Executing the Act.

29. The expenses of executing this Act shall be borne, in the city of London and the liberties thereof, by the consolidated rates raised by the Commissioners of Sewers of the city of London and the liberties thereof, and in the rest of the metropolis by any rates or funds applicable to the purposes of the Act for the better local management of the metropolis, and otherwise as regards England, in counties by the county rate, and in boroughs by the borough fund or rate;

And as regards Ireland, in counties by the grand jury cess, and in boroughs by the borough fund or rate; all such expenses payable in any county out of grand jury cess shall be paid by the treasurer of such county; and

The grand jury of any such county shall, at any assizes at which it is proved that any such expenses have been incurred or paid without previous appli

cation to presentment sessions, present to be raised off and paid by such county the moneys required to defray the same.

Special Provision as to Tea.

30. From and after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six all tea imported as merchandise into and landed at any port in Great Britain or Ireland shall be subject to examination by persons to be appointed by the Commissioners of Customs, subject to the approval of the Treasury, for the inspection and analysis thereof, for which purpose samples may, when deemed necessary by such inspectors, be taken and with all convenient speed be examined by the analysts to be so appointed; and if upon such analysis the same shall be found to be mixed with other substances or exhausted tea, the same shall not be delivered unless with the sanction of the said commissioners, and on such terms and conditions as they shall see fit to direct, either for home consumption or for use as ship's stores or for exportation; but if on such inspection and analysis it shall appear that such tea is in the opinion of the analyst unfit for human food, the same shall be forfeited and destroyed or otherwise disposed of in such manner as the said commissioners may direct.

31. Tea to which the term "exhausted" is applied in this Act shall mean and include any tea which has been deprived of its proper quality, strength, or virtue by steeping, infusion, decoction, or other

means.

32. For the purposes of this Act every liberty of a cinque port not comprised within the jurisdiction of a borough shall be part of the county in which it is situated, and subject to the jurisdiction of the justices of such county.

33. In the application of this Act to Scotland the following provisions shall have effect

(1.) The term "misdemeanour" shall mean "a crime or offence:"

(2.) The term "defendant" shall mean "defender" and include "respondent:"

(3.) The term "information" shall include "complaint:"

(4.) This Act shall be read and construed as if for the term "justices," wherever it occurs therein, the term "sheriff" were substituted:

(5.) The term "sheriff" shall include "sheriffsubstitute:"

(6.) The term "borough" shall mean any royal burgh and any burgh returning or contributing to return a member to Parliament:

(7.) The expenses of executing this Act shall be borne in Scotland, in counties, by the county general assessment, and in burghs, by the police assess

ment:

(8.) This Act shall be read and construed as if for the expression "the Local Government Board," wherever it occurs therein, the expression "one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State" were substituted:

(9.) All penalties provided by this Act to be recovered in a summary manner shall be recovered before the sheriff of the county in the sheriff court, or at the option of the person seeking to recover the same in the police court, in any place where a sheriff officiates as a police magistrate under the provisions of "The Summary Procedure Act, 1864,"

or of the Police Act in force for the time in any place in which a sheriff officiates as aforesaid, and all the jurisdiction, powers, and authorities necessary for this purpose are hereby conferred on sheriffs:

Every such penalty may be recovered at the instance of the procurator fiscal of the jurisdiction, or of the person who caused the analysis to be made from which it appeared that an offence had been committed against some one of the provisions of this Act:

Every penalty imposed and recovered under this Act shall be paid to the clerk of court, and by him shall be accounted for and paid to the treasurer of the county general assessment, or the police assessment of the burgh, as the sheriff shall direct:

(10.) Every penalty imposed by this Act may be reduced or mitigated according to the judgment of the sheriff:

(11.) It shall be competent to any person aggrieved by any conviction by a sheriff in any summary proceeding under this Act to appeal against the same to the next circuit court, or where there are no circuit courts to the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh, in the manner prescribed by such of the provisions of the Act of the twentieth year of the reign of King George the Second, chapter fortythree, and any Acts amending the same, as relate to appeals in matters criminal, and by and under the rules, limitations, conditions, and restrictions contained in the said provisions.

34. In the application of this Act to IrelandThe term "borough" shall mean any borough subject to the Act of the session of the third and fourth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter one hundred and eight, intituled "An Act for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in Ireland: "

The term "county" shall include a county of a city and a county of a town not being a borough: The term "assizes" shall, with respect to the county of Dublin, mean "presenting term:"

The term "treasurer of the county" shall include any person or persons or bank in any county performing duties analogous to those of the treasurer of the county in counties, and, with respect to the county of Dublin, it shall mean the finance committee:

The term "police constable" shall mean, with respect to the police district of Dublin metropolis, Constable of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, and with respect to any other part of Ireland, constable of the Royal Irish Constabulary.

35. This Act shall commence on the first day of October one thousand eight hundred and seventyfive.

36. This Act may be cited as "The Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875."

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Ague may be thus defined: Febrile phenomena, occurring in paroxysms, and observ. ing a certain regular succession, characterised by unnatural coolness, unnatural heat, and unnatural cutaneous discharge, which prove a temporary crisis, and usher in a remission. These phenomena are developed in an uninterrupted series or succession more or less regular, which pass into each other by insensible steps. It is a paludal fever, which has always been observed to be the disease of marshy, moist districts, and to be most prevalent in low, swampy, and humid countries, where seasons of considerable heat occur. The neighbourhood of marshes, or of a district which has been at some recent time under water; the banks of great lakes, and the shores of rivers and seas where the water flows sluggishly, and in some places stagnates; shallow rivers; extensive flat tracts of wood, where moisture is constantly present, and the surface constantly exhaling humidity, -these are the terrestrial physical conditions in which paludal and littoral fevers are found to abound. It must be admitted though, that these diseases do not prevail in all marshy districts. The poison generated in these districts is absorbed, and affects the blood as cholera, typhus, and other miasmatic poisons do. No exact knowledge of the nature and source of this poison-which, in the absence of any better name, is known as malaria-has

* When the article cannot be conveniently weighed, this passage may be erased, or the blank may be left unfilled.

Here the analyst may insert at his discretion his opinion as to whether the mixture (if any) was for the purpose of rendering the article portable or palatable, or of preserving it, or of improving the appearance, or was unavoidable, and may state whether in excess of what is ordinary, or otherwise, and whether the ingredients or materials mixed are or are not injurious to health.

In the case of a certificate regarding milk, butter, or any article liable to decomposition, the analyst shall specially report whether any change had taken place in the constitution of the article that would interfere with the analysis.

ence.

yet been obtained; indeed, it has yet to be | regiment of cavalry was traced to the use of proved that malaria has a substantial exist- surface-water taken from a marshy district. In the "Indian Annals," 1867, Dr. Moore gives his opinion that malarious disease may be thus produced; and M. Commaille has quite recently stated (Rec. de Mém. de Méd. Mil., Nov. 1868, p. 427) that in Marseilles paroxysmal fevers, formerly unknown, have made their appearance since the supply to the city has been taken from the canal of Marseilles. Dr. Townsend, the Sanitary Commissioner for the Central Provinces of India, tells us, in his able report for 1870, that the natives have a current opinion that the use of river and tank water during rainy seasons (when the water always contains much vegetable matter) will almost certainly produce fever (i.e., ague). Boudin (Traité de Géographie et de Statistiques Médicales, 1857, t. i. p. 142) records an extremely strong and extraordinary case. 800 soldiers in good health embarked in three vessels to pass from Bona, in Algiers, to Marseilles, in the year 1834. They all arrived at Marseilles the same day. In two vessels there were 680 men, without a single sick man. In the third vessel, the Argo, there had been 120 men (soldiers); 13 died during the short passage, and of the 107 survivors no less than 98 were disembarked with all forms of paludal fevers. Boudin himself saw the men, so the diagnosis was doubtless correct. The crew of the Argo had not a single sick man. crew and soldiers of all the boats were exposed to the same atmospheric conditions-the influence of air must therefore be excluded. There is no mention of food; but it has never been suggested that food has ever been concerned in the production of malarious fever. The water was, however, very different: in two of the ships it was good, while the Argo had been supplied with marsh-water, which was both offensive to the smell and disagreeable to the taste. This was supplied to the soldiers, while the crew drank pure water. The evidence here appears particularly strong. Notwithstanding this, Professor Colin, well known for his researches on intermittent fever (De l'Ingestion des Eaux Marécageuses comme Cause de la Dysenterie et des Fièvres Intermittentes, par L. Colin, Paris, 1872) questions the production of paroxysmal fevers by marsh-water. He particularly calls attention to numerous cases in Algiers and Italy, where impure marsh-water gives rise to indigestion, diarrhoea, and dysentery, but in no case to intermittent fever, and in all his observations he has never met with an instance of such an origin of ague. He denies this power, and without contesting the celebrated case of the Argo, he views it with considerable suspicion, and questions whether Boudin has given

No poisonous principle has yet been chemically demonstrated in the air of malarious regions; but the general impression is that malaria exists in the form of a gaseous fluid in the atmosphere of certain regions. The fever may exist without any alteration of structure being set up; but in the milder forms of this disease a greater number of organs and tissues are morbidly altered than perhaps in any other disease, as the liver, spleen, lungs, heart, brain, and the serous and mucous membranes of the body generally. The specific action of the malarial poison, within certain limits, may be said to be in the inverse ratio of the intensity of the fever which attends its action. The affections of the liver and spleen also vary greatly according to the country, for in some parts of India the spleen is the organ chiefly attacked, while in other districts it is the liver. Patients in this country generally recover under medical treatment without any manifest derangement either of structure or of function of any organ or tissue. When, however, long neglected, the liver may suffer. Notwithstanding the opinion of Finke and Professor Colin, there appears to be considerable ground for the supposition that ague may be caused by the drinking of marsh and surface water. Mr. Bettington of the Madras Civil Service, in an interesting essay (“Indian Annals," 1856, p. 526), says, "It is notorious that the water produces fever and affections of the spleen." Indeed, in that publication we find some remarkably strong evidence on this point. He refers to villages placed under the same conditions as to marsh-air, but in some of which fevers are prevalent, in others not, the only difference being that the latter are supplied with pure water, the former with marsh or mullah water, full of vegetable débris. In one village there are two sources of supply-a spring and a tank, fed by surface and marsh water. Those only who drink the tank-water are attacked by fever. And again, in Tulliwaree no one used to escape the fever. Mr. Bettington dug a well; the fever disappeared, and during the last fourteen years has not reappeared. Similar facts have been noticed in this country. Mr. Blower of Bedford, twenty years ago, called attention to a case in which the ague of a village had been much lessened by digging wells; and he refers to one instance in which, in the parish of Houghton, almost the only family which escaped ague at one time was that of a farmer who used well-water, while all the other persons drank ditch-water.

At Versailles, a sudden attack of ague in a

The

the exact details. Finke (Oesterlen's Handb. | pagorum incolas, hoc veneno infectos et deder Hygiene, 2d edit., 1857) also states that in Hungary and Holland marsh-water is daily taken without injury.-(PARKES.)

The inhalation of the fumes of oxide of zinc appears to produce a variety of ague, termed by Thackrah “brass ague," and by Dr. Greenhow "brassfounders' ague," to which workers in this metal are subject. The symptoms are tightness and oppression of the chest, with indefinite nervous sensations, followed by shivering, an indistinct hot stage, and profuse sweating. These attacks are not periodical.

It may be doubted whether the malarious poison is in the form of a gas, for the observations of microscopical observers show the extreme minuteness of the germs of disease: they are probably not more than of an inch in size, and it is highly probable that the real cause of ague is the entry into the blood of some low forms of spores of fungi, or of some minute animalcules. Ague is always to be found where fungi grow, and is always associated with great impurity of what Pettenkofer calls "the ground-air"—that is, the air contained in the interstices of the soil, no inconsiderable volume of which is drawn into every house which has a fire on the floor which rests on the earth. That animalcules, &c., may exist in the blood is proved by the wonderful discovery by Dr. Lewis (see FILARIA) of hairlike worms in the circulation; and in considering this point, we should bear in mind that the remedial agents employed to check aguequinine, arsenic, &c.-are drugs capable of destroying animal life, and it is possible that they exercise a beneficial effect by destroying these spores or animalcules.

Thorough and efficient drainage-and it must be remembered that drainage purifies both the ground-air and the ground-water-and good water, free from vegetable contamination, are the most satisfactory means employed to drive malarial fevers from a district; and that these means may be employed with certainty of success is proved by the fact that during the last two hundred years cases of ague have in this country been greatly on the decrease, as good drainage has become more general and perfect, and as-speaking generally-the supply of water to the houses has greatly improved, both in quality and quantity, so the number of patients suffering from paludal poisoning has steadily diminished.

We are reminded of the prevalence of intermittent fevers two centuries ago by the wellknown words of Oliver Cromwell-himself a victim to ague-"Matrem pietissimam, fratres, sorores, servos, ancillas, nutrices, conductitias, quotquot erant intra eosdem nobiscum parietes, ac fere omnes ejusdem ac vicinorum

cumbentes vidi.” And when we remember that the country surrounding London in Cromwell's time was as marshy as the fens of Lincolnshire, we cannot feel surprise at the extraordinary mortality from ague. See MARSHES, | FEVERS, MALARIAS, &c.

Air-It was long thought that air was an element, a kind of ether, but we now know that it is just as material as a bit of iron or lead; and the time may yet come when, by the aid of immense pressure and intense cold, the air may be condensed into a liquid. As yet it has, however, never been made visible, like carbonic acid gas, nitrous oxide, and some other gases. It is transparent, inodorous, and without colour. A cubic foot, at 60° F. and 30° Bar., weighs 536'96 grains; a litre, at the same temperature and pressure, weighs 1-299100 gramines. Its average composition in England is as follows:

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Before entering upon a description of each of these constituents, it will be well to consider a few of the properties of air, one of the most important of which is its power of penetration, and its universality. Air is indeed present everywhere; there is scarcely a solid, however compact it may appear to be, which does not contain pores, and these pores The soil contains no small filled with air. quantity; indeed, if it were not so, the numberless insects, worms, &c., which burrow in its interstices would cease to exist. The most compact mortar and walls are penetrated with it, and water of natural origin contains a large quantity of air in solution. The atmosphere is supposed to extend to a very great height, from 200 to 300 miles; it used to be considered only five miles high, but observations on shooting-stars, &c., show that this opinion is erroneous. Owing to the force of gravity, the air is much denser near the earth, and gets more attenuated, layer by layer, as you ascend. If, then, the atmosphere were possessed of colour, it would be very dark just round the globe, and the tint would gradually fade into space. The air is by no means wholly gaseous; it contains, indeed, an immense amount of life, and small particles derived from the whole creation. In the air may be found ani

Mean of 18 analyses, by Saussure, on
the Lake of Geneva

Mean of 18 analyses, by Saussure, at
Chambeisoy

.

Per cent.

-0439

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⚫0460

It appears from De Saussure's analyses that there is more carbonic acid on the mountains than in the plains.

malcules, spores, seeds, pollen, cells of all, of carbonic acid gas in pure air are compiled kinds, vibriones, elements of contagia, eggs of from Dr. Angus Smith's classical work on " Air insects, &c., and a few fungi, besides formless and Rain: "dust, sandy and other particles of local origin; for example, no one can ride in a railway carriage without being accompanied with dust, a great portion of which is attracted by a magnet, and is, indeed, minute particles of iron derived from the rails. The purest air has some dust in it. There probably never fell a beam of light from the sun since the world was made which did not show, were there eyes to see it, myriads of motes; these, however, generally speaking, are quite innocuous to man (see DUST)—some, indeed, may possibly be beneficial. Another most important property of air is its mobility; on the calmest day, and in the quietest room, there are constant currents of air which rapidly dilute any noxious odours or gases.

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Oxygen. -The uniformity of the actual amount of oxygen in the air of different places is remarkable. Normal air contains 20.96 of oxygen in 100 parts, and any differences that may exist in various ocalities are almost always, when analysed by accurate chemists, to be found in the second decimal place. For example, Regnault analysed the following specimens:

100 from Paris

NAME OF MOUNTAIN,

Height of

Mountain in
Metres.

Carbonic Acid

in Air of the
Mountain.

Carbonic Acid

Plain.

La Dole

1267

⚫0461 -0474

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In towns the carbonic acid varies, but is from 20-913 to 20-999 generally higher than in open places.

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Nitrogen. This gas is one of the most in. different of the elements; while oxygen, to which it is united, is one of the most energetic. It is generally considered to be a mere dilutant of the oxygen, and to serve the purpose of moderating its action both on combustion and life. The average amount of nitrogen is 79.00 per 100 in normal air.

Carbonic Acid (see ACID, CARBONIC).—This gas, theoretically speaking, is not a constituent of normal air, but the actual fact is that it nearly always exists in minute proportions even in the best air; and if we think of the sources of this gas, the reason of its presence is obvious. The processes of respiration, combustion, and decay of vegetable and other organic matter, besides other less obvious and less constant sources, are continually, though silently, evolving it. The following examples

Mean of carbonic acid in London streets
(Angus Smith)

In close places in London, the mean of 18
experiments by Dr. Angus Smith give 1288
per cent.
His highest number is 320; his
lowest, 040.

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