Two obstacles at present lie in the way of this consummation--the cost of the oxygen and the want of a convenient and completely refractory material to take the place of the lime. Messrs. Brin believe they have overcome the first obstacle, and are addressing themselves, we believe, to the removal of the second. Again, the intense heat which the combustion of carbon in cheap oxygen will place at the disposal of the metallurgist cannot fail to play an important part in his operations. There are many processes, too, of metal refining which ought to be facilitated by the use of the gas. Then the production of pure metallic oxides for the manufacture of paints, the bleaching of oils and fats, the reduction of refractory ores of the precious metals on a large scale, the conversion of iron into steel, and numberless other processes familiar to the specialists whose walk is in the byways of applied chemistry, should all profit by the employment of this energetic agent. Doubtless, too, the investigation into methods of producing the compounds of nitrogen so indispensable as plant foods, and for which we are now dependent on the supplies of the mineral world, may be stimulated by the fact that there is available by Brin's process a cheap and inexhaustible supply of pure nitrogen.--_Industries._ * * * * * FRENCH DISINFECTING APPARATUS. [Illustration: IMPROVED DISINFECTING APPARATUS.] We represent herewith a sanitary train that was very successfully used during the prevalence of an epidemic of _sudor Anglicus_ in Poitou this year. It consisted of a movable stove and a boiler. In reality, to save time, such agricultural locomotives as could be found were utilized; but hereafter, apparatus like those shown in the engraving, and which are specially constructed to accompany the stoves, will be employed. We shall quote from a communication made by Prof. Brouardel to the Academy of Medicine on this subject, at its session of September 13: In the country we can never think of disinfecting houses with sulphurous acid, as the peasants often have but a single room, in which the beds of the entire family are congregated. Every one knows that the agglomerations that compose the same department are often distant from each other and the chief town by from two to three miles or more. This is usually the case in the departments of Vienne, Haute Vienne, Indre, etc. To find a disinfecting place in the chief town of the department is still difficult, and to find one in each of the hamlets is absolutely impossible. Families in which there are invalids are obliged to carry clothing and bedding to the chief town to be disinfected, and to go after them after the expiration of twenty-four hours. This is not an easy thing to do.