THE ALUMNI JOURNAL, 



235 



One more, and then the entire Smith family 

 will have been heard from. 



Uhe claims Weehawken is a slow place, but 

 at the same time he seems loth to leave it. 

 There must be a nigger (or a lady) in the fence. 



Rezba has accepted a position with Weisled- 

 er, nth avenue and 42d street. 



The success of this column depending en- 

 tirely upon the co-operation of the members of 

 the class, the contributor asks that they drop 

 him a line as to where they are, and concerning 

 anything they think "newsy" enough for the 

 column. 



JEANNOT HOSTMA^fN. 



A physician recently appeared at a meeting of 

 his medical association with a pocket full of 

 spoons. He stated that he had accumulated them 

 at the houses of his patients and measured their 

 capacity, which he found diflFerentin every case, 

 ranging from two-thirds to three times the 

 standard capacity. One teaspoon held exactly 

 five times as much as another. He had brought 

 them to serve as a warning to his colleagues in 

 ordering their medicines* —/(Swy. Anier. Med. 

 Assoc. 



BED-SORES. 



Bed-sores may be abated if, as soon as the 

 skin reddens, a solution of nitrate of silver of 

 the strength of twenty grains to the ounce is 

 applied with a brush to the part. This measure 

 fails in paralytics. — Hare. 



How TO Transfer Newspaper Pictures. 

 The liquid to be used is made by dissolving 

 one and one-half drachms common yellow soap 

 in one pint hot water, adding when nearly cold 

 three and one-fourth fluid ounces spirit of tur- 

 pentine, and shaking thoroughly together. This 

 fluid is applied liberally to the surface of the 

 printed matter with a soft brush or sponge (be- 

 ing careful not to smear the ink which soon be- 

 comes softened), and allowed to soak for a few 

 minutes; then well damp the plain paper on 

 which the transfer is to be made, place it upon 

 the engraving, and subject the whole to moder- 

 ate pressure for about one minute. On sepa- 

 rating them, a reverse transfer will be found on 

 the paper. — Sci. Am. 



The recent graduates of the New York Col- 

 lege of Pharmacy find little difiSculty in obtain- 

 ing positions. In fact the high standing of this 

 institution makes its diploma a sure open se- 

 same to the confidence of the druggist. — 

 Merk's Market Report, June 15, 1896. 



ALUMINUM— A WARNING. 



Percy A. E. Richards, F. I. C, writes to The 

 Lancet as follows: 



" I was using an aluminum spatula the other 

 day for transferring small portions of different 

 powders to test-tubes, and having wiped it clean 

 had laid it down. In a few minutes' time I 

 noticed it had become covered with what close- 

 ly resembled a white growth, and although I 

 removed this it formed once more. When care- 

 fully examined, this white deposit was seen to 

 consist of a brush-like mass of filaments radiat- 

 ing in all directions, not unlike hyphae of a 

 vegetable growth, standing erect on the flat 

 surface of the blade. This continued to grow 

 quite visibly, but at length over-balanced and 

 crumbled to a bulky white powder, which qual- 

 itative analysis proved to consist of alumina. A 

 few experiments soon indicated that mercuric 

 iodide had been the initial cause of this, as this 

 substance at once produced a similar result 

 with another piece of aluminum. I next tried 

 various salts of mercury, including the two 

 chlorides, the nitrate, sulphate and oxide, and 

 found that they all had more or less the same 

 effect. Indeed, a minute globule of the metal 

 was sufficient to start the "growth." The 

 reason of this curious action would seem to be 

 that mercury is deposited in the metallic condi- 

 tion on the aluminum forming an amalgam) 

 which at once acts on the moisture present in 

 the air or on the surface of the metal to form 

 alumina and liberate hydrogen. The mercury 

 being again set free by this reaction once more 

 attacks the aluminum, thereby prolonging and 

 increasing the action indefinitely. A small strip 

 of this metal, weighing half a gramme, was left 

 n contacfwith powdered mercuric chloride for 

 iabout a couple of minutes, then well washed 

 and dried with a cloth. Action at once pro- 

 ceeded, and after an hour the aluminum was 

 again thoroughly washed, dried and then 

 weighed. The loss in this interval of time 

 amounted to a little over 8 per cent, of the total 

 weight; in fact, the strip had been perforated in 

 several places. The action is so curious as to 

 be well worth repeating by any of those inter- 

 ested." 



Etievant states that candied sugar is used to 

 adulterate codeine or as a substitute tor it, the 

 crystals appearing similar at first sight, Fehl- 

 ing's solution and the polarimeter will reveal the 

 fraud, as the codeine deviates to the left, the 

 sugar to the right. — Repertoire de Pharmcaie . 



