232 Bismuth. — Timber, — Natural History. 



commonly accompanies the inflammations of the brain, holding 

 out tolerably well, I immediately came to the resolution of bleed- 

 ing her until she fainted. I was obliged to take from her thirty-six 

 ounces of blood — The fainting fit lasted a long time; but the 

 contraction of the jaws and the general spasm yielded visibly to 

 that powerful depletion — I then took advantage of the slackness 

 of the jaws to make her swallow four ounces of castor oil, and I 

 prescribed the same quantity in a clyster; — after two hours she 

 had two copious stools. She notwithstanding relapsed, and as 

 violently as before ; I repeated the bleeding, which was followed 

 by a fainting after a fresh loss of eighteen ounces of blood. 



During tlie three following days she took each day an ounce 

 and a half of good laudanum; — the fourth day her mouth again 

 closed, and the same convulsions began : another bleeding, ad 

 deliquium, thirty ounces ; and the patient found herself relieved 

 as it were by enchantment. Her great repugnance to the tinc- 

 ture of opium made me substitute in its place the extract of pure 

 opium combined with calomel. The doses will appear more than 

 extraordinary, and the success alone can justify them : I gave 

 her three days successively, sixty grains of opium alone ; the ca- 

 lomel did not cause any salivation ; it acted powerfully on the 

 bowels, from which it expelled several worms of an astonishing 

 length. The woman is at present perfectly cured of the tetanus, 

 though extremely weak, vvhich weakness her excessive poverty 

 will in all probability keep up but too long. 



Quebec, Februaiy 1, '18 19. Jos. PaINCHAUD* 



BISMUTH. 



It appears by experiments made by M. Chaudet, that bismuth, 

 even when covered with charcoal, is entirely volatilized in a tem- 

 perature of 30° Wedgwood, if exposed to this heat for a sufficient 

 length of time. — Ann. de Cliim. et de Phys. ix. 397. 



TIMBER. 



From recent researches made in Sweden, it appears that the 

 birch reaches the furthest north, growing beyond the 70th de- 

 gree ; the pine reaches to the 69th ; the fk- to the 6Sth ; the 

 •osier, willow, aspen, and quince, to the 66th ; the cherry- and 

 apple-tree to the 63d ; the oak to the 60th ; and the beech to 

 the 57th : while the lime, ash, elm, poplar, and walnut, are to be 

 found only in Scania. ■ 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



The splendid collection of zoology, lately purchased from 

 Dufresne of Paris, for the College Museum, Edinburgh, has 

 reached its destination in safety. It consists of 1600 birds; 

 ] 2,000 insects ; 2000 shells ; 800 eggs of different species of 

 birds ; besides corals, quadrupeds, and amphibious animals. 



VACCINATION. 



