78 THE MICROSCOPE. May 



is a layer of larg-e compressed cells (primary bark) con- 

 taining- here and there a cluster crystal of calcium oxalate. 

 Between this and the secondary bark is a layer of four or 

 live rows of cork cells, the outer of which have un- 

 derg-one an unusual elong-ation in consequence of 

 which the primary bark has become compressed, and is 

 eventually thrown off. The cortex contains numerous 

 cluster crystals of calcium oxalate and starch in compound 

 or simple g-rains reaching- 015 mm. in leng-th 

 The wood is remarkable for the fact that the medullary 

 rays are lignified, while in the xylem rays only the middle 

 lamella yields the lig-nin reaction. 



The Triosteum root contains an alkaloid which Andree 

 considered identical with emetine. Hartwich, however, 

 was unable to obtain the chai'acteristic reaction with hydro- 

 chloric acid and chlorinated lime and concludes, thei'efore, 

 that the alkaloid is not emetine.— American Drug-gist. 



Treatment of Diphtheria in Berlin. — During 1894 and 

 1895, 245 diphtheria patients at Am Urban Hospital in Ber- 

 lin w^ere treated with antitoxin with a mortality of 28 per 

 cent while among the 146 who were treated otherwise the 

 mortality was 42 per cent. ; 53.2 of the serum cases were 

 serious, 23.7 severe, and the rest slig-ht. The effective- 

 ness of the scrum was proportionate to the earliness of its 

 application and the strength of the first doses. Tlic hos- 

 pital reports conclude that antitoxin is not an infallible but 

 a valuable remedy. 



Leprosy is said to be spreading- in the Russian Baltic 

 provinces with alarming- virulence. Several hundred per- 

 sons are said to be afflicted with the disease, and the Livo- 

 nian Diet has just taken measures for isolating them at 

 the cost of the State. 



Typhoid Fever caused thirty-six per cent of the deaths 

 among the British troops in India during- the year 1894. 



