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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
found that the coloured matter had penetrated into the marrow of the 
vertebral bones, thus showing that a connection had taken place between the 
unwilling host and the tissues of his strange guest. 
Death of Herr Bemak. — We regret to announce the death of Remak, of 
Berlin, so famous for his researches in the histology of nerve-tissues. He 
was one of the greatest anatomists in Europe, and previous to his death had 
given much attention to the curative powers of electricity. He died at 
Kissingen, of carbuncle. 
Extract of Cod-liver Oil. — In a paper in the Pharmaceutical J ournal for 
December, Dr. Attfield remarks the fact that some of the preparations sold 
in this country are the grossest impostures. In this article the writer details 
the results of his analysis of a production sold as “saccharide of cod-liver oil,” 
and makes some startling announcements. He has found that this prepara- 
tion contains not the faintest trace of the elements of cod-liver oil. This is 
what Dr. Attfield writes of it : — “ It is nothing but powdered milk-sugar. 
A considerable quantity of this sugar is now extracted from milk, chiefly for 
use in the manufacture of homoeopathic globules and certain varieties of 
infants’ food. It can therefore be had readily and cheaply. A quantity 
costing a few pence is placed in a box labelled, so as to induce the public to 
believe that it is cod-liver oil in a concentrated, convenient, and palatable 
form, and forthwith sold for five shillings.” It is only fair to add that the 
dragees of Messrs. Barr & Co. are genuine preparations, in which the 
true watery extract of the cod’s liver is presented in the form of a sugar- 
coated pill. 
The Anatomy of the Eye. — M. Dousmain differs as to the results of his obser- 
vations from most anatomists. He considers that the capsule of the crystalline 
lens presents the same thickness throughout. The suspensory ligament of the 
len has, saccording to him, no existence, that which has been mistaken for a 
ligament being simply the union of the common envelope with the sac of the 
hyaloid membrane. The zonule of Zinn he describes 'as being composed of 
four distinct layers, and he denies the existence of the posterior chamber, and 
the canal of Petit. 
Perchloride of Iron a Specific for Cancer. — M. Bitot recommends the 
perchloride as a sovereign remedy for cancerous growths, and he compares its 
action to that of iodine in scrofula. 
How to detect the Adulteration of Essential Oils. — Mr. Sugden Evans 
describes a most ingenious method for effecting this purpose. It is simply an 
application of the polariscope, and depends upon the fact that, in examining 
an essential oil, the “ analyser ” of the polariscope must be turned round in 
order to procure the brightest play of colours. This instrument is simply a 
modified polariscope, the eye-piece of which is set in a circular disc of brass, 
whose circumference is divided into 360 degrees. The prisms are so arranged 
that an index-needle in the eyepiece points to zero when a ray of light 
transmitted through the apparatus, is at its maximum intensity. When the 
light is sent through a pure oil, the ray of greatest intensity is indicated by 
the number to which the needle points. When it passes through an impure 
specimen, the production of the brightest ray will be effected by turning the 
index to a different number, and thus the impurity, and possibly its degree, 
may be estimated. — Vide Pharmaceutical Journal , October. 
