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.

In this vessel of wood or iron plate, P, the corrugated zinc plates, b,
b', b", are placed one above the other, each alternating with a flat
one, a, a', a". These plates have previously been scoured, first with a
weak solution of caustic soda in order to remove every trace of fatty
matter derived from rolling, and then with very dilute hydrochloric
acid, and finally are washed with common wa