76 THE JOURNAI/ OF PHARMACOLOGY. 



kittens experimented on may be compared to children of from nine to ten 

 months old. A child of this age has a weight of, it may be, eight kilo- 

 grammes and 300 grammes, and corresponding to the weight of the kittens 

 such a child would require to receive 1. 13 grammes or 17.44 grains of boric 

 acid. To obtain this it would be necessary for a child to use one liter and 

 983 cubic centimeters of the milk consumed by the kittens (0.57 gramme 

 of boric acid in one liter). But such a child at the very utmost could only 

 partake of one and a half liters per day, which would contain 0.86 gramme, 

 or 13.25 grains, of boric acid. To make a general comparison with the 

 experiments with the kittens, since the child has a weight of eight kilo- 

 grammes and 300 grammes and the kittens of 408.4 grammes, the kitten 

 ought to have received no more than 0.042 gramme of boric acid, and this 

 quantity must be contained^in 100 cubic centimeters. This would corre- 

 spond with milk containing only 0.42 gramme per liter or 29.45 grains 

 per gallon, while as much as 40 grains per gallon was used in these kit- 

 tens. This difference of more than 25 per cent, of the stated quantity of 

 boric acid is very important, particularly when the treatment is continued 

 over a long period. According to this calculation, made in a very favor- 

 able light from the experimenter's standpoint, it is evident that Dr. Annett 

 is very far removed from having proved by his experiments that small 

 quantities, if used for a long time, are poisonous for men and children. 



abstracts. 



American Folk Medicine. — In a recent communication, R. H. True 

 {Pharm. Review, Feb., 1900) cites a few interesting notes on folk-lore 

 medicine of the United States. Some of these empiricisms are as follows '■ 

 " Swallowing a live head louse without the knowledge of the patient will 

 cure the jaundice." " Biting into a live black snake will insure sound 

 teeth for the one who bites it," is a generally spread superstition. "A 

 sty may be cured by rubbing it with a black cat's tail," comes from Ala- 

 bama. A unique prescription is current in Rhode Island, thus : "If you 

 have asthma, save all of the nail-parings of your hands and feet for a year. 

 At the end of that time find an ash-tree of the same age as yourself, bore 

 a hole in it, put in the parings and plug up the hole." The following 

 cures for toothache are given : "To bite into a living black snake will 

 cure the toothache," and "Picking the teeth with a splinter from a tree 

 struck by lightning will prevent toothache." The old German folk-lore 

 belief that " thoroughwort " will act as an emetic or as a cathartic, accord- 

 ing to whether the plant is brewed with the "blows up or the blows 

 down," is closely matched by the Ohio tradition that tea made from elder 

 bark removed by scraping upward will act as an emetic, whereas, if the 

 bark be scraped downward the tea will have cathartic properties. — Medical 

 News. 



