The apparatus, which is simple, compact, and cheap, is surrounded on all sides with an ornamented sheet iron casing. Being entirely of cast iron, it will last for a long time. The joints, being of asbestos, are absolutely tight, so as to prevent the escape of bad odors. The water due to the condensation of the gases is led through a small pipe out of doors or into a vessel from whence it may evaporate anew, so as not to change the hygrometric state of the air. The consumption of gas is very small, it taking but 250 liters per hour to heat a room of 80 cubic meters to a temperature of 18° C.--_Revue Industrielle_. * * * * * The number of persons killed by wild animals and snakes in India last year was 22,125, against 21,427 in the previous year, and of cattle, 46,707, against 44,669. Of the human beings destroyed, 2,606 were killed by wild animals, and 19,519 by snakes. Of the deaths occasioned by the attacks of wild animals, 895 were caused by tigers, 278 by wolves, 207 by leopards, 356 by jackals, and 202 by alligators; 18,591 wild animals and 322,421 snakes were destroyed, for which the Government paid rewards amounting to 141,653 rupees. * * * * * RECTIFICATION OF ALCOHOL BY ELECTRICITY. Some time ago, Mr. Laurent Naudin, it will be remembered,[1] devised a method of converting the aldehydes that give a bad taste and odor to impure spirits, into alcohol, through electrolytic hydrogen, the apparatus first employed being a zinc-copper couple, and afterward electrolyzers with platinum plates. [Footnote 1: See SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT of July 29, 1882, p. 5472.] His apparatus had been in operation for several months, in the distillery of Mr. Boulet, at Bapeaume-les-Rouen, when a fire in December, 1881, completely destroyed that establishment. In reconstructing his apparatus, Mr. Naudin has availed himself of the experience already acquired, and has necessarily had to introduce important modifications and simplifications into the process. In the zinc-copper couple, he had in the very first place proposed to employ zinc in the form of clippings; but the metal in this state presents grave inconveniences, since the subsidence of the lower part, under the influence of the zinc's weight, soon proves an obstacle to the free circulation of the liquids, and, besides this, the cleaning presents insurmountable difficulties. This is why he substituted for the clippings zinc in straight and corrugated plates such as may be easily found in commerce. The management and cleaning of the pile thus became very simple. [Illustration: FIG. 1.--APPARATUS FOR HYDROGENIZING IMPURE SPIRITS.] The apparatus that contains the zinc-copper couple now has the form shown in Fig. 1. It may be cylindrical, as here represented, or, what is better, rectangular, because of the square form under which the sheets of zinc are found in commerce.