ECUADOR. 



301 



lowing its use. It may be used in doses of 

 four to eight grains, in wafers, or dissolved in 

 water or wine. It costs at present about $1.50 

 an ounce. The urine of persons taking it has 

 a greenish tint in thin, and a brownish-yellow 

 color in dense, layers. 



Trypsin continues to attract attention as a 

 solvent for diphtheritic membrane. It is one 

 of the natural ferments of the gastric fluid, and 

 should be capable of dissolving its own weight 

 of fibrin in five to ten minutes at the tempera- 

 ture of the body. It is applied in the form of 

 a spray of the following solution, as often as 

 the condition of the patient will permit: If 

 ounce of a l-to-1,000 solution of salicylic acid 

 is to be added to 77 grains of extract of pan- 

 creas, and the mixture digested in a water-bath 

 at 98-5 Fahr. for four hours ; then filtered and 

 rendered slightly alkaline with bicarbonate of 

 sodium. 



Tulipine, derived from all parts of the fully 

 developed garden tulip, acts, according to 

 Ringer and Gerard, as a powerful stimulant to 

 the secretion of saliva. It seems probably re- 



lated to colchicin or scillitin, but no practical 

 use has as yet been discovered for it. Unlike 

 most other alkaloids, it appears to have no ac- 

 tion whatever on the pupil of the eye. 



Ill-ethane (C 3 H 7 NO a = NH a CO.C 9 IU = car- 

 bamate of ethyl) is obtained by passing cyanic 

 acid into alcohol, or by heating nitrate of urea 

 with absolute alcohol, or by acting with am- 

 monia upon ethyl carbonate. It occurs in 

 colorless, prismatic crystals or scales, of a faint 

 aromatic odor, and cooling, faintly aromatic 

 taste. It is easily soluble in alcohol, water, 

 ether, or chloroform. Its aqueous solution is 

 neutral. It melts at 50 C., and boils at 180 

 C. Heated with ammonia in a sealed tube, it 

 is converted into urea and alcohol. It is also 

 eliminated from the body as urea. Dr. v. Jaksch, 

 of Vienna, has found in twenty cases that it 

 acts promptly as a producer of sleep, and is 

 followed by no bad effects. It is easily taken, 

 and causes no disturbance, so far as observed. 

 Its present cost (over three dollars an ounce) 

 will probably be greatly diminished if it is in 

 demand. 



E 



ECUADOR, an independent state in South 

 America, having an area of 206,200 square 

 miles. The population is estimated at 1,500,- 

 000, including 600,000 aborigines. The new 

 territorial division of the republic is as follows: 



MILITARY DISTRICT OF QUITO. 

 Provinces, Subdivided Into cantons. 



Carchi Tulcan. 



Imbabura Ibarra, Otavalo, Cotacachi. 



Piehincha Quito, Cayembe, Mejia. 



Leon Latacunga, Pujili. 



Tungurahua Ambato, Pelileo, Pillaro. 



Chimborazo Kiobamba, Guano, Colta, Alausi, Sangay. 



Oriente Napo, Caiielos. 



MILITARY DISTRICT OP CUENCA. 



Canar Cafiar, Azoguez. 



Azuay Cuenca, Guaraceo, Pante, Giron, Gualaquiza. 



Loja Loja, Saraguro, Paltas, Celica, Cal vas. 



MILITARY DISTRICT OF GUAYAQUIL. 



Oro Machala, Santa Kosa, Zaruma. 



Guayas Guayaquil, Yaguachi, Dante, Santa Elena. 



Los Eios Babahoyo, Baba, Vinces, Pueblo viejo. 



Bolivar Guaranda, Chimbo, San Miguel. 



Manabi Porto viejo, Monte Cristi, Zipijapa, Santa 



Ana, Kocafuerte, Sucre. 



Esmeraldas Esmeraldas. 



Galapagos A group of eleven islands. 



RECAPITULATION. 

 DISTRICTS. Provinces. Cantons. Parochial districts. 



Quito 7 19 195 



Cuenca 3 12 



Guayaquil 7 21 105 



Total. . . 17 52 



Government. The President is Don Jose Ma- 

 ria Placido Oaamafio, who entered upon the 

 duties of his office on May 16. The Vice-Presi- 

 dent is Gen. A. Guerrero. The Cabinet was 

 composed as follows : Interior, Foreign Affairs, 

 Public Instruction, and Charity, Sefior J. Mo- 



desto Espinosa; Finance and Public Works, 

 Sefior V. L. Salazar; War and Navy, Gen. J. 

 M. Sarasti. 



The Minister of Ecuador at Washington is 

 Don Antonio Flores. The Consul-General of 

 Ecuador at New York is Sefior Francisco 

 Spier. The American Consul-General at Quito, 

 Owen McGarr. 



Army and Navy. The strength of the regular 

 army is 5,000 men, and the navy consists of 

 two steamers. 



Finances. In ordinary times the income of 

 the state is about $4,000,000, and the outlay 

 $3,360,000. The revolutionary General Elvy 

 Alfaro having continued harassing the Govern- 

 ment during a considerable portion of the year, 

 the country has not been properly pacified, 

 and its economic condition is unsettled and 

 critical in the extreme ; hence the Government 

 has been straitened in its finances. In order 

 to raise $48,000 in May, it had to pay 9 per 

 cent, interest, and the customs receipts at 

 Guayaquil had to be pledged as security. 



Prior to the late political troubles the inter- 

 nal debt of the country amounted to $3,200,- 

 000, and the foreign indebtedness to $1,824,- 

 000 a loan contracted in England in 1855. 



Revision of the Tariff. Congress continued its 

 sessions from June 10 to August 16, and, prior 

 to adjournment, passed the bill raising the im- 

 port and export duties. In accordance with 

 this measure, going into operation from No- 

 vember 1, the former 8 per cent, set aside out 

 of the import duties toward the building of 

 roads, and 6 per cent, toward the redemption 

 of old silver coin in circulation, were replaced 

 by an extra duty of 20 per cent, on imports. 

 There were placed on the free list : coal, green 



