SS Short Papers and Notes. 
promised, from the severity of the attack, to have been a serious 
one. 
A writer in one of our medical journals recently recommended 
the giving of raw onions to children three or four times a week, 
and when they get too large and strong to be eaten raw, then boil 
and roast them, but not abandon their tree use. 
Another writer, advocating their use, says :—‘ During un- 
healthy seasons, when diphtheria and like contagious diseases 
prevail, onions ought to be eaten in the spring of the year at 
least once a week. Onions are invigorating and_ prophylactic 
beyond description. Further, I challenge the medical fraternity 
or any mother to point out a place where children have died from 
diphtheria or scarlatina anginosa, etc., where onions were freely 
used.” —Sccentific American, 
The thola Wut. 
Kola is regarded as of vast importance amongst the African 
tribes—in fact, as a sacred emblem. It is employed by the chiefs 
at State Councils, and an exchange of white Kola signifies friend- 
ship, while red Kola implies quite the opposite sentiment. An 
offer of marriage requires from the love-sick swain a present of 
white Kola for the young lady’s mother, and the return of white 
Kola is a satisfactory answer ; red Kola, on the other hand, shows 
that the lady declines. 
Experiments made with Kola prove, it is stated, that it renders 
foul water innocuous, tainted meat edible, and that it clarifies and 
improves beer. It has given the most excellent results as a cure 
for the drink craving, and as a “pick-me-up ” its action is most 
satisfactory. A contemporary says :—‘‘ Some who have used the 
nut-paste as a ‘ pick-me-up’ assert that, while removing the well- 
known nausea, it gives them a strong dislike to the smell of spirits 
for some days. But it is in the paste and chocolate form that it 
will be found of greatest advantage. If the paste is mixed with 
cocoa it gives a chocolate of superior and finer quality. Chocolate 
made with Kola paste is five times more nutritious than chocolate 
made with cocoa. <A working man can, on a single cup of Kola 
chocolate taken at breakfast time, goon with his work through the 
day without feeling fatigued. Though it may not directly feed the 
muscular system, it has the property of preventing the rapid waste 
of the tissues. So much have the manufacturers of chocolate, 
both in this country and on the Continent, become alive to the 
excellent properties of the new paste, that they are making 
arrangements to procure it for mixing purposes, as soon as its price 
becomes reasonable. The British Government, too, have gone 
the length of undertaking to test and experiment with it, so as to 
