190 



POPULAR SCIENCE IJ^EWS. 



[December, 1889. 



contains the hypodermic needles immersed in abso- 

 lute alcohol. This agent sterilizes any septic matter 

 that may be on the needles, and does away with the 

 necessity of using a wire for maintaining the 

 patency of the same ; there is no rusting, and the 

 needle is always aseptic. He frequently cleanses 

 the syringe with a five per cent, carbolic acid solu- 

 tion. Having to use the needle, he frees it of 

 alcohol by passing through it water that has been 

 boiled. The second test tube is used to boil water, 

 a match answering the purpose very well. The 

 tablet is now dissolved in a few minims of the 

 boiled water, when sufficiently cooled, -and drawn 

 into the syringe, and is ready for use. The doctor 

 suggests that instrument-makers materialize this 

 Idea in a more compact form of pocket-case. 



Posture may be of importance in the future 

 treatment of tympanitis, according to Mr. Oxley, 

 who has witten to the London Lancet concerning a 

 case of obstinate tympanitis which had resisted all 

 drug treatment. He says that instant relief was 

 obtained by placing the patient in the knee-elbow 

 position, and advises a trial of this before resorting 

 to puncture of the abdomen. 



For constipation in the new-born, Monti and 

 Widerhofer {Lyon Medical) prefer mannite to 

 manna. Dissolve five to ten parts of crystallized 

 mannite in fifty to one hundred parts of water, one 

 teaspoonful of this solution being given every two 

 hours. 



Dr. Luton {Union Med. da Nord. Est.) treats 

 acute ptyalism with sulphur. He regards sublimed 

 sulphur as a very much more efficacious remedy 

 than chlorate of potass, in mercurial salivation. 

 The best preparation is an electuary with honey — 5 

 to 100. A teaspoonful of sulphur may be taken 

 (fasting) twice daily, with water. 



In obstinate hajmaturia, Dr. Didama, of Syracuse, 

 N. Y., administers sixty grains of alum in the course 

 of twenty-four hours. He gives twenty grains in a 

 goblet of water, three times a day. In these large 

 doses, and being well diluted, it did not constipate 

 the bowels. This treatment succeeded after other 

 means failed. 



For anaemic women, subject to fainting fits and 

 attacks of pain in the region of the solar plexus, 

 {Medical Brief), valerianic ether has proven (when 

 given in pearls containing five minims) a very use- 

 ful stimulant. 



'■ <♦* 



MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



The cathartic jalap is the powdered root of a con- 

 volvulus or bindweed, C. jalapa: root large, full of 

 a milky juice ; flowers red or purple, a native of 

 Mexico; name derived from Xalapa, a province of 

 Mexico. Squill is obtained from a plant called 

 scilla by botanists. This word is derived from the 

 Greek, meaning to disquiet, it being a strong 

 emetic. It is a native of the South of Europe. Its 

 flowers, like many of the class, spring up before the 

 leaves. The flowers are on spikes, white and green ; 

 the bulbs are long, tunicated roots, as large as the 

 human head. The common senna is obtained from 

 a plant called cassia senna, a native of Egypt and 

 Barbary.. Another, 0. Fistula, is a native of the 

 West Indies, where it is much cultivated for the sake 

 of its pulp, which is a mild and pleasant laxative. 

 The East Indian variety, however, is of very old 

 repute, and, in the time of Avicena, the Arabian 

 physician, was known by the name, of cassia salu- 

 tiva. These plants are totally different from lau/rus 

 cassia, or bastard cinnamon, the bark of which was, 

 as a spice or perfume, so much in favor with the 

 ancients. Oxalic acid used to be obtained from. 



and is the basis of our common wood-sorrel. The 

 family have the leaves of a trefoil or clover, the 

 flower of a geranium, and the taste of sorrel, but the 

 flavor, is more grateful, nearer to a lemon, and is 

 sometimes used to cut up in salad. It is called in 

 Italy lujula, which has been corrupted into altenia. 

 Old English authors make it a cuckoo-meat, it 

 flowering there at the time of the arrival of that 

 bird. Oxalic acid, under the name of the essential 

 oil of lemon, used to be obtained from sorrel, as well 

 as from other plants. It is now, however, obtained 

 mostly from the action of nitric acid upon sugar. — 

 Horticultural Times. 



A VARIEGATED SHOW-BOTTLE. 



The Druggists' Bulletin gives the following direc- 

 tions for making a bottle which is exceedingly 

 attractive for window or counter exhibition, and 

 which serves to illustrate to the ordinary observer 

 how perfectly the pharmacist controls the elements 

 with which he has to deal. Ascertain the capacity 

 of the bottle and divide by seven, to find the volume 

 of each liquid to be employed. The fluids should, 

 in the order named, be carefully poured down the 

 side of a tall bottle, held in a slightly inclined posi- 

 tion, or through a thistle funnel. 



(i) One volume of sulphuric acid, tinted blue 

 with indigo sulphate; (2) one volume of chloroform ; 

 (3) one volume of glycerine, slightly tinted with 

 caramel ; (4) one volume of castor oil, colored with 

 alkanetroot; (5) one volume proof spirit, slightly 

 tinted with green aniline ; (6) one volume of cod- 

 liver oil, containing one per cent, of oil of turpen- 

 tine ; (7) one volume of rectified spirit, slightly 

 tinted with violet aniline. By thus selecting liquids 

 which are held in place by the force of gravity, and 

 alternating with fluids which are not miscible, the 

 strata will remain clearly defined and will not min- 

 gle by dift'usion, as is the case when miscible liquids 

 (such as glycerine and water) are brought in direct 

 contact with each other. 



<♦> 



HUMORS. 



A Medical Episode at Yale. — At the recent 

 Yale commencement two of the favored guests took 

 snap shots at the profession of medicine. Mr. De- 

 pew manufactured the following: "I once knew a 

 doctor who secured board with an undertaker, 

 because he thought that it would improve his busi- 

 ness. He said he always knew when the undertak- 

 er's business was good, for then there was ice on the 

 butter and flowers on the table." Mr. Clemens 

 (Mark Twain) aimed his alleged wit "against the 

 doctors," who, he says, have reduced their labors 

 and increased their charges. "The doctor of today 

 does not cart his medicines 'round in a wagon, but 

 carries them in a portmonnaie; he puts three drops 

 of nothing in a glass of water, and asks you to fur- 

 nish the water; later 3'ou will find the water charged 

 in the bill, and you will have to pay for it, too." 



An Ancient Prescription. — A grim jest book 

 might be compiled from the prescriptions filed away 

 in the shops of druggists, many of them reposing in 

 austere loneliness under a disguise of execrable 

 handwriting. The following is a relic of the pioneer 

 doctors of fifty years ago: "A receipt for Armilda 

 Purdy's Lung Complaint — Take of the bark of wild 

 Cherry, Sassafras, Sycamore, yellow poplar. Dog- 

 wood and black oak, a double handful of each; take 

 of Sarsaparilla Root and Spignard one handful of 

 each; to which add three Gallons of water. Boil it 

 Down to one, strain it and add one quart of Good 

 french Brandy and one quart of Honey, of which 

 take about one Gill three times a day. This was 

 tryed by Jonathan Douglas when he Could not Set up 

 and has Cured Several others. N. B. — If She Cannot 

 be agreeable to Directions Take what She Can." 



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Publisljers' Colunjij. 



E 



STERBROOICS 



STEEL 

 PENS 



Leading Numbers: 14, 048, 130, 333, 161. 



For Sale by all Stationers. 



THE E8TERBROOK STEEL PEN CO., 



Worke, Camden, N. J, 26 John St., New York. 



The Clubbing-List for 1SS9-90 will be found on the tinted 

 index pages. Several changes from the rates of the last season 

 should be noticed by our patrons. 



IIorsford's Acid Phosphate acts as atonic forthe stomach 

 and nervous system. Its specific use is to relieve irritation of 

 the bladder, prostate, testes, and urethra, and to improve the 

 nutrition of the nervous system. Physicians have used it with 

 unqualified satisfaction. 



The demand for ice in southern climates does not cease with 

 the approach of the winter, but the Artificial Ice Machines 

 are in constant operation during the entire year. Those manu- 

 factured by David Boyle, of Chicago, are the most economi- 

 cal, and therefore the most profitable. 



Dh. W. a. M. Culbert, Newburgh, N. Y., says; "Col- 

 den's Liquid Beef Tonic" is an excellent article for the purposes 

 for which it is offered. I recall patients by whom it was taken 

 with eagerness and great benefit after domestic beef teas and 

 other beef preparations had become repulsive. 



Thayer's Nutritive is a valualile medicinal agent, com- 

 bining both nutritive and stimulating qualities. For weakened 

 conditions of the system, and in all cases where ordinary food 

 cannot be assimilated, it will be foimd particularly valuable. 

 The proprietors invite correspondence with physicians desiring 

 to test it in their practice. 



The great convenience of prepared paints is a reason for the 

 growth of the business, notwithstanding the fact that a large 

 proportion of all that are sold are really of inferior quality. 

 The manutacturers of the U. S. Gutta Percha Paint, in 

 Providence, U. I., claim to be an exception to the rule among 

 manufacturers, in that they make a paint which conforms to the 

 best known and generally accepted ideas among practical 

 painters and scientific men as to what constitutes a periectly 

 reliable paint. This company's method of manufacture is 

 unlike all others in several important particulars, j)rominent 

 among which is the introductioTi ot gutta percha and other 

 valuable gums into linseed oil by a process known only to 

 themselves. The result obtained is worthy the attcjition of all 

 persons interested in the art of decorative and preservative 

 painting. 



