It appears to be a pretty well established fact that we have in sorghum a source of crystallizable sugar which is worthy of the attention of Northern farmers. The late United States Commissioner of Agriculture has been ridiculed considerably for his persistent experiments with sorghum, and his efforts to introduce the plant to the attention of farmers in the colder sections of the country; but, notwithstanding this ridicule, he accomplished a good work, and if the present commissioner is more "ornamental" than Le Duc, we hope he will prove none the less useful than his predecessor. The credit of the researches upon sorghum is, however, more directly due to the chemist of the department, who toiled for several years in the laboratory and among farmers, with the view of establishing on a practical basis the sorghumsugar industry. The disasters attending the beetsugar experiments in this State and in Maine will serve as a beacon light to warn farmers against any further ventures in the line of the sugar industries, unless the practicability and pecuniary results are fully established. Sorghum has many decided advantages over ances, twice as much from the same weight of To confirm the results of my experiment, I had Water Cane sugar him in this view. 78.18 18.00 2.09 0.89 0.84 100.00 tion of free nitrogen. This whole matter is at present inexplicable, but further researches may let in more light. It is certain that soils receive, from chemical changes and the air, great quantities of nitrogen, and it may be that we shall some day learn how to utilize it, so that the enormous cost of supplying it to crops may be saved. MANURE FROM BLOOD. The large proportion of ash was due to the use AT a recent meeting of the French Academy of lime and phosphoric acid by me, in the process of Science, M. Debray, on behalf of M. Margueof defecation. . . . Our beet-sugar operations had rite, Delacharlonny, made a communication, imto be abandoned after making $200,000.00 worth of portant from a sanitary as well as from an ecosugar and syrup, for want of a supply of beets. The nomical point of view, as to the formation of a great point is to secure a sufficient supply of raw solid and inodorous manure from the blood of material to justify the erection of a factory. animals by means of sulphate of iron. The Mr. Blackwell is of the opinion that the State dried blood of animals is very rich in nitrogen, should encourage the sorghum-sugar industry, by containing as much as from 15 to 17 per cent.; offering a bounty of one dollar a ton to sorghum but the processes hitherto employed for turning raisers; and we are inclined to coincide with it into manure have constituted such a nuisance that they have been, of necessity, abandoned. We never had confidence in the success of the In the sulphate of iron process, which has been beet-sugar experiments in this country, as our employed for some time past, the blood is coagreaders well know. We had studied too care-ulated by a small quantity of this salt in solufully the industry in France and Germany to tion, which arrests decomposition, and the pasty fail to see the immense disadvantages under mass thus formed is dried in suitable vessels. which it must labor, with our system of hus- This process, however, has only yielded incombandry, and with the extreme cold of our late plete results at considerable cost, but it has been fall months. improved by the above-named inventor, by employing a more active coagulating agent. The chief point to be attended to is the rapid elimination of water, which constitutes a large portion of the blood when in a liquid state. By The raising of sorghum is a matter worth considering, and should receive attention at the hands of our legislators and farmers. beets as a source of sugar, and these advantages SOURCE AND VALUE OF NITROGEN IN employing as a coagulant the acid sulphate corare easily pointed out: (1.) It is a plant which grows luxuriantly upon our Northern soils, and does not require the care or labor which must be bestowed upon a beet crop. It is, like corn, a crop which withstands droughts well; is not materially injured by early frosts; does not require excessive manuring. It does not exhaust soils any more than does a crop of corn for ensilage; the residuum, after the sap is removed, can be returned to the soil as manure, or can be fed to animals under certain conditions. (2.) It can be preserved for manipulation much better than beets; it is not so perishable; it can be stored easier, and handled more conveniently. (3.) The percentage of cane sugar in sorghum is nearly, or quite, double that of beets, which is its crowning advantage. Mr. H. B. Blackwell, who was connected with the Maine Beet Sugar Factory, has become much interested in sorghum, and has written us a letter upon the subject, extracts from which we present below:— AGRICULTURE. It is singular that at this late period a lively Even responding to a formula Fe2O34SO,, the natural elimination of the water amounts to nearly half the whole quantity, thus reducing the cost of evaporation, which renders the ordinary process so expensive. Desiccation is completed, either cold, by compression under the hydraulic press, or hot, in a drying chamber. 66 PULVERIZING FERTILIZERS. To any one familiar with chemical processes it goes without saying" that solid substances used as fertilizers should be as finely divided as possible; but the average farmer may profit by the extracts from an article by Dr. Caldwell in the advice and illustrations given in the following N. Y. Tribune:· The nitrogen question is certainly one of the most important which now engages the attention of agricultural chemists, and it may be that some modification of views is necessary. Two things are certain: one, that all important plants contain nitrogen; the other, that the soil receives Costly commercial fertilizers should be finely pulfrom some source immense quantities of this ele-verized. This principle is generally recognized in Beside what is taken up by plants, ex- and fish guano, that are slowly dissolved in the soil; the case of such manures as bone meal, animal meal, periments show that large quantities are washed at the experiment stations in this country one sixth away by rain-water and lost. ment. more is allowed per pound for nitrogen and one fifth The splendid researches of Messrs. Schloesing more for phosphoric acid in fine-ground bone meal and Muntz, in Germany, and Mr. Warrington, in than in medium fine bone. But the principle is England, have established the fact that the phe-applicable not only to such as these, but also to some nomenon of nitrification in the soil and in organic fertilizers containing soluble plant food, as superliquids is due to microscopic organisms. Pasteur phosphate. I have made some interesting and important experiments this fall in the manufacture of sugar from sorghum, of the Early Amber and White Siberian varieties, raised in my garden at Dorchester, Mass., asserts that these organisms belong to the class Wagner recently compared the effect of a very from seed obtained from the United States Depart called anerobes, and when cultivated at the sur- finely powdered superphosphate with a granulated ment of Agriculture. I found no difficulty in mak-face of a liquid in contact with air become inac-one, in which the grains were no larger than from ing thirteen per cent. of crystallized sugar on the tive, or nearly so. A still more curious result one tenth to one twentieth of an inch in size: in pot weight of the canes, and six per cent. of excellent culture with peas he obtained in every instance a syrup in addition by the diffusion process. For larger yield with the former; in six experiments three years my company (the Maine Beet Sugar Gayon an. Dupetit. These results seem to show with each the quantities of phosphoric acids supplied Company), with the best machinery, averaged only that there is an inverse reaction in soils and were 25, 50, 75, 100, and 150 pounds, respectively; seven per cent. of sugar and three per cent. of syrup liquids caused by the organisms; that, when calling the yield with no manure 100 pounds, the from beets raised in New England. So that I have nitrogenous compounds are brought in contact yields with the powdered phosphate were 120, made, over the open fire and with no proper appli- with them, they are decomposed with the evolu- 131, 144, 149, 161, and 169 pounds, but with the has been reached in the researches of Messrs. granular manure 103, 111, 133, 135, 145, and 142 also one of the most efficient vegetable bitters known pounds. to pharmacists. The same may be said of cheSome time ago a French chemist found that water retta and chamomiles. So that even if the hop charged with carbonic acid, and therefore somewhat crop were deficient, it is certain that the public resembling in its solvent effect the water of the soil, health would not suffer, and drinkers of bitter beer dissolved nearly eight times as much from a sample would not detect any difference of flavor in their bevof rock phosphate in impalpable powder as from the erage. same phosphate in grains about a tenth of an inch in size, and nearly twice as much as from the phosphate in grains about a twentieth of an inch in size. For quick returns from fertilizers farmers should see to it that what they buy is in the finest possible powder, as well as rich in plant food, no matter whether it be a bone meal or a superphosphate. THE FOOD VALUE OF COTTON-SEED. An interesting paper has been read on this subject by Professor Gulley before the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science at Montreal. It seems that our crop of cotton-seed amounts to 3,000,000 tons, or 180,000,000 bushels; and that during the past year the oil mills consumed 180,000 tons of seed in the manufacture of cotton-seed oil, while less than one half of the remainder was used for fertilizers, seed, and feeding stock, the balance being a total loss. The greatest value of the oil (which has hitherto been used for a variety of other Boston Journal of Chemistry. JAS. R. NICHOLS, M. D., Editor. BURDENSOME INVENTIONS. In any estimate of the public value of several recent inventions which have been received with great apparent favor, the important fact must not be lost sight of that these inventions are a burdensome tax upon the people, for which, in a majority of cases, no corresponding benefits are received. DUTCH BUTTER. Holland has been for a long time the largest foreign customer of the American manufacturers of oleomargarine oil, which she has used to so good purpose in adulterating the butter which she sends to England that at present the words "Dutch butter signify to Englishmen only the artificial product, and the reputation of the Holland dairy has been irreparably ruined. Chicago manufacturers of "butterine" and similar compounds are doing their level best to reduce the standing of the American dairy in the same way and to the same to a very large extent, is, in a true sense, comThe introduction of the telephone, or its use extent. VIRGIL AS A VETERINARY POET. — The Jour-pulsory. It is not introduced into countingnal of Comparative Medicine endeavors to show that rooms, stores, and dwellings because it is needed Virgil, as a poet, properly belongs to the veterina- or wanted, but because pride or competition inrians. He describes in the Georgies a number of fluences the patron. In many instances where diseases that affect cattle. In one place an ox is it has been introduced into dwellings, pride and supposed to have died from anthrax : curiosity combined have led to the act, not any pressing want or necessity. It is learned by Mr. A. that his neighbor Mr. B., a wealthy man, perhaps, has had the "wires" brought to his house, and all the family are shouting to butchers and grocers through the little round hole in the polished box on the wall. Mr. A. and his good wife decide that they must have all the "facilities" for instantaneous communication that Mr. B. has, although their pecuniary resources are barely sufficient for the absolute needs of the family, and so the telephone man is sent for, and forthwith the A. family are shouting through the hole in the box as loudly and This "great confrequently as the B. family. venience" adds fifty dollars a year to the household expenses, a sum which cannot well be afforded. "Ecce autem duro fumans sub vomere taurus "The bull, which to the yoke was bred to bow purposes) is now found to be in culinary purposes. Which Dryden translates as follows: Perfectly refined and skilfully used, it is equal to the best lard in all cooking operations. Cottonseed cake or meal is also especially rich in nutritive matter for farm stock. Estimating the cotton-seed at 10 cts. per bushel, and oat straw and coarse hay In the same connection Virgil describes most vivat 10 dollars per ton, the average cost of food conThe sumed per head per day of cows experimented upon idly the effects of an epidemic among horses. during the past winter was 7.3 cts., cows averaging clinical symptoms resemble those of glanders. GARDENING IN LONDON. Prizes are given an1 galls. of milk per day. One steer fed for beef, weighing 700 lbs., when shut up gained 260 lbs. live nually in the poorer districts of London for the most weight, or an average of 41 lbs. per day, consuming successful window gardening. A gentleman living an average of 14.4 lbs. of seed per day, and 11 lbs. in Baker Street, in that city, has carried the idea of straw and hay; average cost of food per day even further, and established a garden upon the roof not quite 10 cts. Other experiments pursued at the of his house, in which he cultivates with entire sucState Agricultural College of Mississippi showed cess French beans, cucumbers, strawberries, etc., as that boiled cotton-seed with any kind of straw or Apparently the London smoke does The butchers, grocers, and market-men do not hay would cause cattle to fatten rapidly, no mat- not disagree with them. want the box; competition is so great they canINDIGENOUS POTATOES. Mr. John E. Lemmon, not well afford the expense, but the butcher or ter how poor in condition. It also makes very rich milk, the oil of the seed seemingly appearing in the a member of the California Academy of Sciences, has grocer over the way has thought to turn a penny The quality of the made a very important discovery. He has recently by introducing it, and so others must follow, to milk in the form of cream. butter, however, when the cows are fed largely on returned from a botanical excursion of several months cotton-seed, is poor. Other experiments with regard in the range of rugged mountains in Arizona, along keep up with neighbors and competitors. the Mexican frontier. The discovery is that of two course, increased expense of doing business imor three varieties of native indigenous potatoes, some plies increased charges for foods and commodiof which were growing in mountain meadows, whose ties, and so in the end the people, families, consurrounding peaks were 10,000 feet above the level sumers, contribute directly and indirectly to the A SUBSTITUTE FOR HOPS. Considerable com- of the sea. The specimens were about as large as swollen stream of money which is flowing into motion, says the British Medical Journal, has been walnuts, and they were to be distributed among the coffers of the happy owners of the great raised in the beer-brewing and beer-drinking world careful cultivators, who will experiment with them telephone monopoly. If only those who are by a letter published in a contemporary, written by for a number of years, to see what can be made of really benefited by the telephone were its paa firm of drug-brokers in Mincing Lane, with ref- them. The original home of the potato has long trons, the value of the "patent" would not be to food and manure are to be made. GLEANINGS. well as flowers. Of The peo erence to the substitution of drugs possessing bitter been a matter of dispute, but we now know where flavor and tonic qualities for hops. They state that, one home is to a certainty. It is among the proba-greater than of those connected with most new apple-parers," or washing-machines. in consequence of the failure of this season's crop of bilities that from these Arizona tubers will come a English hops, calumba root, chamomiles, quassia, and new and vigorous race of potatoes, to take the place It is true we cheretta have greatly advanced in price, thereby im- of the short-lived varieties now grown. plying that these substances are likely to be largely get occasional new and fine varieties from seed balls, employed in producing the flavor dear to the palate but after all they are from the same old stock, the of the consumer of "bitter." The great firms of inheritance of disease and constitutional weakness, as brewers have, in consequence, unanimously protested is proved by the fact that all of them "run out" that they never use anything but hops to produce after a few years. They do not cease to appear in the bitter constituent of their beers, and therefore our markets because they are superseded by better practically deny the inferences to be drawn from varieties, but because they cease to be productive. Messrs. Josephs' statistics. This, doubtless, is the DESTRUCTION OF ANTS. A correspondent of fact; but if the case were otherwise, and the drugs the Tropical Agriculturist says: Take a white china named were used in the brewing of bitter beer, no plate and spread a thin covering of common lard possible injury, but rather benefit, would result to over it; place it on the floor or shelf infested by the the beer-drinking public. Few old Indians, or any troublesome insects, and you will be pleased with persons suffering from the possession of a "liver," the result. Stirring them up every morning is all but know the good effects of calumba; quassia is that is required to set the trap again. The electric light corresponds in its history, as related to its introduction and use. ple in towns and cities have light enough, cheap light, sufficient for all the wants of the highest civilization. Kerosene and gas at present prices are the cheapest and most convenient sources of artificial illumination known to science. If electrical energy is proved capable of supplying a cheaper and more desirable light, then it will become a positive benefit and blessing instead of being a burden upon the people, as it is at present. As regards household illumination no increase of light is needed; the same may be said of most streets and shops in towns and cities; but there are many other places where the elec manent fixture. trical light will prove of great service, and its termine the question of cost. In another part of the centre; but by scraping around the outside of increased cost can well be afforded. In large the report, it is stated that the prime cost of the the fire, and leaving the centre undisturbed, the air manufacturing establishments, in public gardens conductor from Messrs. Winfield's works to the going up around the fire slightly cools off the lining, and parks, railroad stations and grounds, the Town Hall, about 500 yards in length, amounted and the coal in the centre retains its heat sufficient light meets a real want, and must become a per- to more than £800, or equal to £3000 a mile, to burn up again quickly without kindlings, if the without services. This sum appears tremendous, replenishing has not been too long delayed. The grate must be let down often enough to prevent the In all cases where the electric light is intro- and until something is done to reduce the cost accumulation of clinkers in the bottom. Once or duced into shops, hotels, houses, etc., to meet of this essential of electric lighting, progress will twice a week I let down my grate, replace it, and competition, its use is compulsory, and the cost be retarded very greatly. The committee has put in some wood, then some of the live coals on the becomes a burden directly and indirectly upon made estimates for the supply of gas and of top, when it burns up immediately. I then put on the people. electricity for the Market Hall Ward, covering a hodful of coal and close the stove, and have a an-area of 1000 yards square, and using at a fire at once without the heat having gone down, and moderate computation 120,000 lights. The cost so keep a good fire all winter. This can be deof gas works, mains, and services for this con- pended on: that scraping the ashes from the lining sumption is stated as £170,000 as a maximum before replenishing a fire and £100,000 as a minimum. The cost of elec-ually prevent clinkers from adhering. tric light plant for about 100,000 lights is given as £423,500. The cost of meters is left out in both statements, as it is not known that a practical electric meter has been devised. The report concludes with a number of practical suggestions, the main drift of which is that it is not advisable for the local authority to apply for powers of supply, but that the committee be authorized to enter on negotiations with the companies applying for such powers. • every time· will effect METEOROLOGY FOR DECEMBER, WITH A Average Thermometer. Lowest. Highest. Range PROGRESS OF ELECTRICAL LIGHTING. THERE is at the present time great activity among the rival electric lighting companies to bring to notice their various devices. To ordinary observation it would appear that the new method of lighting had passed the stage of experiment, and become firmly established as the successful rival of gas. This is not true, however, and it is a matter of doubt if it ever becomes true. A vast number of formidable difficulties have been overcome which stood in the way of practical success, but there remain others which are of no mean importance. The time is near when decisive action will be taken to preThese careful estimates and conclusions arvent the placing of conducting wires above ground, and it appears at present as if the diffirived at by competent men should lead the culties in the way of the success of buried wires authorities of our cities to hesitate before incurwere insurmountable. The enormous expense ring great expense in the introduction of electric of the undertaking and the difficulties of insula- lighting. The average barometer for the month was tion are among the obstacles of the greatest The best form of incandescent lighting is that moment. Mr. Edison, in New York, has met of Swan, of England. It has unquestionable 29.958 inches; the lowest, 29.50, on the 13th, and the with only partial success, and at the present time advantages over that of Edison, or any other in-highest, 30.30, on the 20th, a range of .80 of an inch. appears to be inactive. The cost of putting downventor in this country. The Brush arc light is the best of that form yet introduced. his street conductors was excessive, and the true cost will probably not be known outside of interested parties. a The least of all objections to electric lighting is that of danger from the conductors. It is The cost of electric lighting in all instances in difficulty which can be easily met, and will be this country greatly exceeds that of gas, and in when the companies are compelled by law to England no better results have been reached. A place their conductors in the ground. This is a most valuable and exhaustive report upon elec- measure which should be speedily adopted by tric lighting has just been made by the gas every legislature in the country. committee of the Birmingham city council. Kin At 7 A. M.. 21.61° 20 52° 500 31.94° 202 The average for the last 10 Decembers has been 29.942; the lowest, 29.804, in 1876, and the highest, 30.073, in 1879, a range of .269 of an inch. The sum of the daily variations was 6.50 inches, giving an average daily movement of .210 of an inch. The average for the last 10 Decembers has been .255, with extremes of .190 and .327, in 1880 and The amount of rain in those years was 2.87 1879. and 5.57 inches, an approximate correspondence with the barometrical changes. The largest daily movements were on the 6th and 13th, being .67 and .72 of an inch, attended with snow and rainfall, one and one fifth inches of the latter. The face of the sky in 93 observations gave 47 fair, 21 cloudy, 16 overcast, 3 rainy, and 6 snowy. The amount of rainfall, including eight inches of melted snow, was 2.74 inches, while the average amount for the past 14 Decembers has been 3.49 inches; the lowest, .73, in 1875, and the highest, 5.98, in 1881. The direction of the wind in 93 observations gave an excess of 16 northerly and 76 westerly over the southerly and easterly, indicating the prevailing direction for the month to be west 11° 55′ north, or W. by N. The average for the past 14 Decembers has been west 18° 35' north. The westerly winds have uniformly prevailed over the easterly by an average of 54.29 observations, while the northerly have prevailed over the southerly, with two exceptions, 1874 and 1881, by an average of 18.21 observations. In England all conductors in cities are required REMOVING CLINKERS FROM STOVE LININGS. to be placed in the ground, and the committee A CORRESPONDENT in this city sends us the state that the advantages gained by the experi- following note:ment of distributing electricity will not compen- Once in a while we see in the papers directions sate for the disadvantages which must follow the for removing clinkers from the linings of stoves. breaking up of the streets in the busiest parts of Prevention being better than cure, I propose to the city. The profit of electric lighting is a shew how they can be prevented. Three years point fully discussed, and the committee quote ago I put a new lining in a No. 3 Magee Heater, Mr. Crompton's statement, in his evidence before and no one would imagine, from examining it to-day, that it had been used more than a week. the Parliamentary Committee on the Electric With a Lighting Bill, that no remunerative return was piece of iron about half an inch wide, bent to reach to be expected during the first seven years, at shake down lightly, and then put on coal. the whole lining, I scrape the surface of the lining, least, of the experiment, as well as a statement dlings will be required if the fire has been left to get made by Mr. Gainsford, in a recent debate in too low, but it is better to do this earlier, as it keeps the Sheffield Council, based upon experience a steadier fire, and takes no more coal. I think I gained in collieries with which he is connected, can explain it on correct principles. When the that electricity cannot be produced at the cost of fire is the hottest there are no ashes; but as the heat gas, even when the motive power is provided has decreased the ashes have formed and settled free. Estimates of Dr. Siemens for a quarter of a down against the lining, and shaking does not wholly The sleighing on the last day of November consquare mile area, and of Mr. Crompton, Dr. Hop- remove them. If more coal is added the heat is tinued December 1st, but was spoiled by a warm kinson, and Mr. Johnson for one square mile area, sufficient to fuse the ashes on to the lining, and day. On the 11th, 6 or 7 inches of snow restored there it stays. are given. Dr. Siemens allows 24,000 to 30,000 Each time this is repeated more it for a full third of the month. The temperature incandescent lamps in his area and 70 arc lamps, ashes adhere, and it does not take long to spoil a was a near average for December, while the baromand estimates the cost at £100,000; the other thing, and none adhere, and it seems that the lining more nearly west, by a full half point. The exI scrape these ashes off thoroughly the first eter and rainfall were below, and the average wind authorities allow 50,000 incandescent lamps, and will never wear out. tremes of temperature occurred on the mornings of give the cost as £200,000. Nearly all the wit- There is another thing to be noticed. If one the 4th and 6th, a thing quite unusual, not only in nesses agreed that nothing but a large experi- stirs a coal fire at the top, in the centre, the fire gen-being so near to each other, but especially, that the ment from a common centre would properly de- erally goes out, because the cold air goes up through warmest observation of the month should occur in lining. est. The following table exhibits the variations of temperature for the year 1882, in comparison with those of the past 19 years, both daily and monthly. ATOMS. the morning, an hour in December usually the cold-estry for December, 1882, states that a French writer tells of two exactly similar pieces of land, one cleared and the other wooded, where the wooded professor at Prague, is a man thirty years old, who CHIARI, the Pathologist, who has just been made piece yielded ten times as much water as the open. has already made over 8000 post-mortem examThe open piece had a very irregular flow, while the inations. At a recent supper given in his honor, woodland yielded an even, regular supply. Another one of the speakers said he could not wish for fact is given relating to America. A stream which Monthly and daily the past 19 years. for years and years, without failing, had supplied greater happiness than that of being post-mortemed several mills with power finally gave out. - if one may use the expression - by his friend It not Chiari. only failed to fill the ponds, but it actually dried up. An investigation showed that the woods through Month. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Daily and monthly in 1882. 9. Range. 50 53 28.45 24.63 84 95 12.48 32.98 20.58 88 67 62 53 7.83 44 8.97 54 11.79 55 15.56 70 11.41 77 83 A CURIOUS CASE OF 66 MIXING LIQUOrs.”. plants which thrive in forests. Not being a blue late to the past year; the remaining five to the past that Mr. John Bright was going to visit this counAN old lady who lives in Massachusetts heard try. "Well," said she, "I hope he won't bring his disease with him." To deodorize rubber articles, cover them with charcoal dust; place them in an enclosed vessel, and raise the temperature to 94° F.; let it remain thus for several hours; remove and clean the articles from the charcoal dust, and they will be found free from all odor. FLEXIBLE paint for canvas may be made as follows: yellow soap 2 pounds, boiling water 14 gallons; dissolve; grind the solution while hot with 125 pounds good oil paint. THE Commercial Bulletin says: "Bell telephone is down to 174 and thereabouts. While the busi ness is extending at one end, there are many at the other who are dropping the instrument, not only because the charges are believed by many to be too heavy, but also because of the bungling way in which much of the work is done." CRURAL neuralgia is said to be somewhat frequent among dentists, owing to the position they have to assume during their work. Two New York neurologists were recently seen to shake hands with each other in a cordial manner. It is thought now that it will not be necessary to organize a third neurological society. - This society is holding a series of interest- on the subject were unwilling to commit themselves varnished with a mixture of one part copal varnish 66 WOMEN DOCTORS IN SPAIN. COCKROACHES, says a correspondent of Land and Water, who has lived with them in all the “five quarters" of the globe, will not touch bookbinding and two parts oil of turpentine. With a large brush paint this over the cloth binding and let the book stand to dry. Unfortunately it cannot be as to its indications and effects, except in the case ing meetings at Boston. Its programme for the seaof hypochondriacs, with one exception, and he said son calls for weekly meetings running to the end of March. Five of these have been held, and the follow-where a poultice for the whole body was necessary ing are yet to come: February 3, an Address from he knew of no more convenient method of apply applied to the edges. Dr. James R. Nichols; February 10, a discussioning it." A MEDICAL student at Bowdoin College once La Tribuna, of asked the late Professor Parker Cleaveland if there "Herbaceous Perennials; " February 17, " New and Useful Shrubs and the Best Method of Propa- Madrid, has a long account of the granting by the were not some more recent works on anatomy than gating;" February 24, "Cultivation of Hardy medical faculty of that city of a degree of medicine those in the college library. Young man," said "Strawberries and their Cul-on Señorita Martina Casells y Bellaspi. She is the the Professor, "there have been very few new Grapes; first Spanish woman who has ever studied medicine bones added to the human body during the last ten ture; " March 10, Hybrid Perpetual Roses; and taken her degree. The paper speaks in warm March 17, "Culture of Currants, Raspberries, years." Gooseberries, and Blackberries;" March 24, "Pre- terms of her as a lady who, in spite of much oppoAnother Spanish lady is following in Señorita CaPlants; "March 31, "Sports Physiologically Considered." Marshall P. Wilder, the veteran horti-sells' footsteps. Finding the Valencian School of 66 MR. MARWOOD, the London hangman, being paring and Fertilizing the Soil for the Growth of sition and national prejudice, has won high honors. asked by a neighbor what was a good remedy for a troublesome cough, is reported to have replied that his "Marwood's Drops" had never yet been known Medicine and Pharmacy. CARBOLIC ACID AND THE CARBOLATES. THE following résumé of the properties and effects (physiological and otherwise) of carbolic acid and its compounds, according to the most recent works on the subject, appeared in the Progrès Medical: Crystallized carbolic acid is soluble in fifty parts of water, when chemically pure in twenty parts (Binz, Hager), and in every proportion in alcohol, ether, chloroform, sulphide of carbon, glycerine. Absorption is rapid, even through the skin when intact. Elimination is rapid, by the skin, lungs, and kidneys. In the urine, when the acid has been introduced in small quantities, a phenol sulphate, non-toxic, is found; when the doses have been large, another phenol compound is found (Baumann). The urine is very often of an olive-green or greenish gray color, particularly when the acid has been absorbed through the skin, or through a wound. In some cases, but rarely, albumen has been found. In Principal physiological effects: In the dose of from five to seven grains it has no toxic effect. larger doses, up to thirty grains, it induces excitation, stupefaction, vertigo, ringing in the ears, feebleness, diminution in frequency of the pulse, fall of temperature, colic, and diarrhoea. In toxic doses it causes vertigo, delirium, stupor, anæsthesia, analgesia, intermittence and final arrest of heart in diastole; very rarely convulsions, collapse, coma, and death. Counter-poisons: Sucrate of lime (Huseman), sulphate of soda and the other sulphates (Baumann), inhalations of oxygen, bleeding, transfusion (Ferrano). thus: "Inhaled, the acid acts as an anæsthetic and The sputa, if possible containing some of the cheesy portions already mentioned, are placed on a There is one other trouble for which pure carbolic glass plate and mixed with a small ivory spatula. A acid does better than anything I know of, namely, very minute portion is taken up with a clean camel'singrowing nails. The melted acid runs in between hair brush, and evenly painted over a cover-glass. the nail and the irritated flesh, and allays the irrita- care being taken not to go over the same place twice. tion. In every case where I have used it the pain The cover-glass is placed aside to dry in air. It `ceased at once, and the recovery was immediate. will be found more convenient to prepare several While on the subject, we may add the follow-cover-glasses in this way before proceeding with the ing impromptu "Ode to Carbolic Acid," by a following manipulations. correspondent of the Lancet, on reading a telegram hat the wounded in Egypt were treated antiseptically : Now war is o'er, and times are placid, Our fathers knew thee not, but tried I proved thee first in '67. The wounded bless'd thee as from Heaven; Should dreaded fever now appear, Against pyæmia, putrescent fever, The local effect produced by weak solutions is a sensation of burning, which disappears in the course of half an hour. This is the effect produced by hypodermic injection of Hueter's solution, which contains two per cent. of the pure acid; it gives rise also to ecchymosis of limited extent, but with- PRACTICAL HINTS FOR THE STUDY OF THE out the formation of an abscess. Hueter employs it in hypodermic injection, to prevent the spread of erysipelatous inflammations to the adjoining skin; MR. A. C. MALLEY, in the English Mechanic, five or six injections, of 20 drops each, are made in in response to the request of a correspondent for the skin, just around the part affected, and are re-minute and specific directions as to the obtaining peated a second time the same day; very often the spread of the inflammation is arrested. Hypodermic injections of carbolic acid have been employed in intermittent fever, by Jessier, Declat, Hueter, Hirschberg; in prurigo, by Rezek and Fleischmann; in diphtheria, by Frotz; in phthisis, by Schnitzler; in crural neuralgia and pleuro-pneumonia, by Hayem and Kunze; in typhoid fever, by Declat; in malignant pustule, charbon, by Raimbert and Meplain (solution, 1 in 50); in nævus, by Badley; in acute articular rheumatism, by Senator, Kunze, and Golbaum. Apropos of this subject, our friend who has several times sent us communications on his experience with carbolic acid, says in a recent note : ures. BACILLUS OF TUBERCLE. and examining of the bacillus of tubercle, now The cover-glasses, when dry, are passed three or four times rapidly through the flame of a spiritlamp; this fixes the sputa, and they may be placed aside for an indefinite period before staining. The cover-glass, sputum downwards, is floated on solution No. 1 for 20 minutes (the solution during the time being kept at a temperature of about 104° Fahr.), and then placed on solution No. 2 for 10 or 12 minutes; this latter operation removes the stain from everything except the tubercle bacillus. The cover-glass is next washed in distilled water, with frequent changes, for half an hour; floated on solution No. 3 for one hour, at the ordinary temperature; again washed in distilled water, and (the ex cess of water being previously removed with blottingpaper) placed aside to dry. When dry, the coverglass is again passed through the spirit-lamp, and on cooling mounted on a thin glass slip, without the addition of any medium. The best way to fasten the cover-glass to the slip is to pass a brush charged with some thick cement round its edge before placing it on the slip. By this method, the tubercle bacillus may be de tected with a good 1 inch, while any ordinary dry quarter will show it distinctly as a small red worm on a blue ground. Sections of lung may be treated in the same manner, and mounted in The solution of gum should be of the same consistency as the glycerine, and a lump of camphor should be placed in the bottle in which it is kept. I do not recommend chrysoidine for a second stain, as it renders photography impossible. These organisms measure from .008 to .011 of an inch in length. The observer should be extremely careful not to mistake the colored bands produced by minute markings and an inferior object-glass for B. tuberculosis. The Bacillus tuberculosis is found in greatest abundance in the cheesy portions of phthisical sputa; in fact, in portions of expectorated tubercle, espeKoch and Ehrlich cially the non-reticulated form. If the sputum is not fresh, almost the entire blue have successfully demonstrated its existence by stain-ground will be found to consist of B. termo, spirilla, ing the organism and surrounding substance different torulæ, etc., while B. tuberculosis is alone stained with colors; but as the results obtained by their methods magenta. are not always successful, and even when so are decidedly inferior to that recommended by Dr. Heneage of New Orleans, that he had ascertained beyond It was recently asserted by Dr. H. D. Schmidt, Gibbes, I will confine myself to the solutions recommended by him, and his method of using them, while a doubt that the supposed tubercle bacilli were the plan I have myself adopted for mounting after nothing but fat crystals; but this is disputed by Dr. J. O. Hirschfelder, of the Cooper Medical staining will alone be given. College, San Francisco, who writes to the New York Medical Record as follows: No. 1. Magenta crystals. grams. 20 66 20 66 I have had continued success with carbolic acid, particularly in lung troubles, and have had no failOf course you have seen how much it has been used in England and elsewhere, and I think there has been nothing to show that I have been in error in my views. My position is strengthened by the fact, now pretty surely established, that consumption is contagious on account of a micro-organ- Mix the aniline and spirit, reduce the magenta to ism, and that phthisis is supposed to be infectious a fine powder, add the spirit slowly while stirring till on account of bacilli. In April, 1881, you published all the magenta is dissolved; add the distilled water an article in the JOURNAL on "Carbolic Acid for in the same way, and place in a stoppered bottle Colds and Coughs," the last sentence of which ran without filtering. Alcohol, sp. gr. 830 In the Record I find a statement of investigations of Dr. H. D. Schmidt, of New Orleans, proving the bacillus tuberculosis of Koch to be simply a fat crystal. If this assertion were true, it would cast a shadow of doubt upon all the bacteriological work done within the past few years. I have confirmed the investigations of Koch upon the sputa of a large |