C. U. C. p. ALUMNI JOURNAL 



247 



FRO]V[ THE LilBt^Af^Y 



ADELAIDE RUDOLPH 

 Assistant Librarian 



A CORNER OF THE LIBRARY. 



The gift of two beautiful fern boxes 

 by one of our generous trustees, Mr. 

 Max J. Breitenbach, has made a wonder- 

 ful transformation in the library. In 

 fact, it appears to us now an ideal spot. 

 The alumnus who does not believe this 

 should drop in some morning when the 

 sun shines, and sit down for a quiet hour 

 of reading opposite these fern boxes, and 

 the glass showcase, and the old blue and 

 white jars, used in the "long-ago" for 

 the former favorites of the apothecary's 

 art and care. One need not puzzle over 

 what the contents of the jar might have 

 been, for the name stands out clearly as 

 part of the decoration. This jar was for 



"Mithridatium Damocratis," that old 

 compound, which a learned physician 

 from Philadelphia hailed as "that good 

 old mixture of three hundred and sixty- 

 five remedies — one for each day of the 

 year." (The dispensatories in our rare 

 old book collection do not mention so 

 many, but it is a good story to tell and to 

 repeat nevertheless.) The second jar 

 contained nuces cupres [si] (cypress 

 nuts), and the other, roh or rohuh 

 ribesiorum, the "rob de ribes" of most 

 old dispensatories (an inspissated juice 

 of currants, held deservedly in high 

 favor when made into a cooling drink 

 for fevers, etc.). 



