In appeals against rates, the court has the same power of amending or quashing a rate of assessment, and of awarding costs, as a court of Quarter Sessions has in appeals against poor-rates, and the costs may be recovered in the same manner: provided that, notwithstanding the quashing of any rate appealed against, all moneys charged by such rate shall, if the court of appeal think fit so to order, be levied as if no appeal had been made, and such moneys, when paid, shall be taken as payment on account of the next effective rate for the purposes in respect of which the quashed rate was made.

In the case of other appeals the court of appeal may adjourn the appeal, and on the hearing thereof may confirm, reverse, or modify the decision of the court of summary jurisdiction, or remit the matter to the court of summary jurisdiction with the opinion of the court of appeal thereon, or make such other order in the matter as the court thinks just. The court of appeal may also make such order as to costs to be paid by either party as the court thinks just.

The decision of the court of appeal shall be binding on all parties: provided that the court of appeal may, if such court thinks fit, in the case of an appeal against the decision of a court of summary jurisdiction under the provisions of P. H. relating to nuisances, state the facts specially for the determination of the Court of Queen's Bench, in which case it shall be lawful to remove the proceedings by writ of certiorari or otherwise into the Court of Queen's Bench (P. H., s. 269).

If any person feel himself aggrieved by the decision of a local authority in respect to the summary recovery of expenses or in the declaring of expenses as private improvement expenses, he may, on giving notice, memorialise the Local Government Board, and the order the Board makes is binding (P. H., s. 268).

An owner or ratepayer disputing the validity of a vote of owners and ratepayers, declaring that it is expedient a district should be made a local government district, may appeal within six weeks from the declaration of the decision of the meeting to the Local Government Board, who may make, after local inquiry, such order as is necessary (P. H., s. 274).

Apples-Natural order Pomaceae.

Apples are of small nutritive value, containing not more than 13 per cent. of solid matter, and this is of no more value than so much rice; but they have an agreeable flavour, and are useful for their antiscorbutic properties.

Arbitration-The matters directed by the Public Health Act, 1875, to be settled by arbitration are

1. Disputes between persons and the local authority in regard to amount of compensation in case of damage done by the local authority by reason of the exercise of any of the powers of the Act.

2. Terms upon which water companies ought to furnish a proper and sufficient supply of water for all reasonable purposes for which it is required.

3. Whether the water which any company is able and willing to supply is proper and sufficient for the purposes for which it is required.

4. Whether the purposes for which it is required are reasonable.

5. Disputes between local authorities as to the supply of water, in the case of an authority supplying water to a neighbouring district.

6. Disputes as to the amount of compensation to be paid by an urban authority, to the owner or other person interested, in the case

of houses or buildings which have been put backward or forward in order to regulate the line of buildings in the street.

7. Disputes as to whether matters or things proposed to be done, injure or interfere with canals, rivers, &c. See CANALS.

8. Differences of opinion with respect to the efficiency of substituted sewers, and with regard to the consequences resulting from interferences with water rights.

made under the common seal on behalf of the local authority, and on behalf of any other party under his hand, or if such party be a corporation, under their common seal.

There are certain provisions in case of the death of an arbitrator.

The time for making an award must not exceed three months.

10. Disputes between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the urban authority of those places respectively, as to the proportion and manner in which they shall contribute towards any expenses under the Act.

11. By the 34 & 35 Vict. c. 41, s. 27, differences relating to the supply of gas may be settled by arbitration. Amounts under £20 may be settled in a court of summary jurisdiction. The court may invoke the advice of a competent surveyor (not being the surveyor of the sanitary authority), and make what order it thinks fit as to costs.

All questions referred to arbitration under the Public Health Act, when the amount in dispute is less than £20, may at the option of either party be determined before a court of summary jurisdiction, which court may, if it thinks fit, require the aid and report of a competent surveyor on works, &c., in dispute, and the court may determine the amount of costs incurred in that behalf, and by whom they are to be paid (P. H., s. 181).

the arbitration, another must be appointed in his stead. If the arbitrators neglect or refuse to appoint an umpire within seven days when requested to do so, the Quarter Sessions may on application appoint one.

Before any arbitrator or umpire can enter upon any reference, he must make and subscribe the following declaration before a justice of the peace :

I, A. B., do solemnly and sincerely declare that I will faithfully and honestly, and to the best of my skill and ability, hear and determine the matters referred to me under the Public Health Act, 1875.

This declaration is to be annexed to the award when made, and any arbitrator or umpire wilfully acting contrary to it is guilty of a misdemeanour. The arbitrators must be unbiassed, and have no direct personal interest in the matter, however remote. The decision of the arbitrator is binding (P. H., s. 179-181). Areas, Sanitary-See SANITARY DIS

TRICTS.

Arrack-The ordinary arrack is a spirit distilled from fermented rice, but the finer qualities are distilled from the fermented juice (toddy-palm wine) of the cocoanut-tree, palmyra-tree, and other palms. Batavian, Madras, and China arrack are the three varieties most esteemed. The pariah arrack is generally narcotic, very intoxicating, and unwholesome. It is often prepared from coarse jaggery, spoilt toddy, refuse rice, &c., and rendered more intoxicating by the addition of hemp leaves, poppy heads, juice of stramonium, and other substances. The Hindoos, Malays, &c., take arrack largely. Arrack, like other spirits, is colourless, or nearly so, but when kept long in wood it gradually acquires a

slight tinge similar to that of old hollands. The inferior qualities are more heating and apt to disagree with the stomach than the other commercial spirits. It is used in this country chiefly to make punch. See ALCOHOL and ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES.

Arrowroot-See STARCH.

Arsenic, or Arsenicum, was known in various stages of combination to mankind before the Christian era. This element presents many analogies with phosphorus and with nitrogen, and several French writers consider it as belonging to the non-metallic elements, notwithstanding that it conducts electricity with facility, and possesses a high metallic lustre. It generally presents itself as an alloy with some other metal, especially with iron, or with cobalt, nickel, copper, or tin. Occasionally it is found in its native

state, and it sometimes occurs united with oxygen and certain metals, constituting arseniates such as those of iron, copper, and lead. More rarely it is found united with sulphur, either as the red sulphide (As, S2) realgar, or as the yellow sesquisulphide (As,S) known as orpiment. The arsenic of commerce is usually prepared from mispickel (FeAsS), an arsenical sulphide of iron furnished abundantly by Silesian mines; and from the arsenides of nickel and cobalt, which yield arsenious sesquioxide as a secondary product in the ordinary process of working these ores.

Arsenic, Effects of.-Arsenical vapour or dust diffused, in certain arts, through the atmosphere, seldom fails to exercise an injurious influence on the health. Recent accidents observed to follow the employment of arsenical greens in the manufacture of leaves and artificial flowers, and of certain fabrics, may now be added to facts formerly ascertained amongst workmen in painted paper.

Dr. Blandet, in a memoir on "Poisoning" by Schweinfurt green, showed that the workmen employed in printing, brushing, and glazing the paper are subject to a kind of arsenical poisoning, which causes an oedema of the scrotum, preceded by swelling of the face and a papulose or pustulous eruption on the skin. Similar symptoms have been noticed from the use of an arsenical paste in the manufacture of jewellery.

These observations have been questioned by MM. Guérard and Chevallier. They conclude that the manufacturers are not agreed upon the influence of Schweinfurt green on the workmen, that some have observed the symptoms, and others have only heard of them; that according to some, the injurious consequences are to be attributed to faulty manufacture of the green; according to others, to differences in the constitution of the workmen, and that the effects of the green have been exaggerated. These objections have, however, now been disproved by a number of independent observers who corroborate Dr. Blandet, e.g., MM. Beaugraud, Vernois, and Pietra-Santa, more especially in the case of artificial flowerworkers.

In France, all manufacturers who, even involuntarily, are the cause of such accidents, are severely corrected by the law. Why it is considered of so much importance in France may be readily understood, if the number of workpeople employed at Paris in the manufacture of artificial flowers be considered: they amount to more than 15,000, a quarter at least of whom are employed in fabrics in which Schweinfurt green is used, and a great number of them work in small, ill-furnished and ill-ventilated rooms.

The details of the operations are thus given by Dr. Vernois :

These greens are formed either from arsenite of copper alone, or mixed in variable proportions with acetate of copper (English green). Arsenical greens are employed to colour different herbs, to tint the fabric destined to prepare the leaves of artificial flowers, or they are painted directly on the leaves or For these various uses they buy the Schweinfurt or petals of flowers worked on cloths of various texture. the English green (vert Anglais), either in powder or in aqueous solution, and add to it, according to the effect desired, a certain quantity of Flanders glue, starch, gum, honey, or turpentine. Sometimes it is applied in the dry state, in order to sprinkle it over the things already coloured by the arsenical green. They frequently also, in order to modify the colour, mix with it a certain quantity of chromate of lead or picric acid.

The preparation of herbs is carried on as follows: The workman plunges into a shallow vessel, containing a sufficiently liquid solution of Schweinfurt green, one or several stalks of natural plants, perfectly dried, and agitates them quickly, seizing them by their roots by a pair of forceps. This is the steeping. This operation stains the fingers, the arms, the person, and the clothes of the workman, and the sur

rounding objects are covered with traces of this kind of paint. The plants thus prepared are hung on a line, and there allowed to dry for thirty-four or fortyeight hours. At the end of that, all the stalks are gathered and formed into bundles, which are used

finally for bouquets. Often enough, to satisfy some freak of fashion, they are sprinkled with powdered arsenite of copper. This is the powdering. The bouquet-work constitutes one of the principal dan gers; for the colouring-matter not having been fixed by any mordant, detaches itself in the form of a fine dust, which penetrates the skin of the hands, and which the workman breathes constantly. This danger is still more increased when he handles the bouquets covered with arsenical powder. At other times, however, in the manufacture of the plants, the Schweinfurt green is diluted with a sufficient quantity of turpentine. In this way the colour takes a smooth appearance, not altered by contact with water, and does not escape immediately in the form of powder by gentle handling; but when it is thoroughly dry it falls to the ground in little flakes, and may again rise in the air with ordinary dust. Thus the danger is modified, a little retarded, but always exists. There are then in this specialty of the florist the operations of steeping, drying, pow. dering, and arranging the flowers for bouquets, which, in their detail, place the workman or the purchaser under the more or less direct, and more or

less active, influence of arsenical salt. This particular industry is exercised under conditions which render it still more injurious; for it is freely prac tised by a number of poor work people, by households living in one or two rooms, ill-ventilated, illlighted, and which they never sweep, and of which the floor, like the furniture, and like the clothing of the work people, is continually impregnated by pigment, and covered with arsenical dust. The preparers of the cloth destined for the manufacture of the artifi

cial leaves by the aid of arsenical greens, comprehend the portion of the work most exposed to deleterious action. They use arsenite of copper alone, mixed prin