found necessary to send twenty-four seamen on board the _Goshawk_, and two transports. On the arrival of the _Triumph_ in Cawsand Bay, on the 5th of July, there did not remain one case of ptyalism on their list. During this extraordinary visitation two men died from excessive ptyalism, one of them at Cadiz, having previously lost his teeth, and both cheeks at the time of his decease being in a state of sphacelation; the other, who died at Gibraltar, had lost the whole of his teeth, two-thirds of his tongue, and, at the time of his death, the lower lip was in a state of gangrene. To the interesting facts above related, _Mr. Plowman_ adds, that the interior of the ship was covered with a black powder, and that the copper bolts displayed the mercurial influence. The mercurial vapours proved fatal to the living stock on board, for nearly all the poultry, sheep, pigs, mice,[503] goats, cats, a dog, and even a canary bird, died from its influence.” SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN GAS. This gas is transparent and colourless; it has the property of inflammability, and when set on fire in the open air, burns with a bluish flame, and deposits a certain portion of sulphur. It is distinguished by an excessively fœtid smell, which has been aptly compared to that of rotten eggs. Its habitudes with other gases are interesting and important; by admixture with _chlorine_, it immediately undergoes decomposition, yielding its hydrogen, so as to form _hydro-chloric acid_ (_muriatic acid_), and consequently depositing its sulphur; with _ammoniacal gas_ it combines, and forms an _hydro-sulphuret of ammonia_; when mingled with _sulphurous acid gas_, the hydrogen of the former combines with the oxygen of the latter, and the sulphur of both is precipitated; when passed over ignited charcoal it is converted into carburetted hydrogen gas, and sulphur is deposited. It is soluble in water, and the solution precipitates the different metals from their saline solutions, in the form of sulphurets; a property which at once distinguishes this gas from every other.