THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
189 
Infant mortality in Auckland is very largely on the increase — whether due 
to an exceptionally trying season, had sewerage, careless conduct of mothers, or 
a combination of all three, no one knows ; but serious attention is being paid to 
the matter. 
A man named Cotterill, a master tailor, committed suicide by taking carbolic 
acid at Napier on 26th ultimo. Business troubles are stated to have induced 
the act. 
The Auckland Naturalists' Field Club lately made an enjoyable excursion 
to Waitakerei Falls. The collections of the various members of the party 
were considerably augmented by the acquisition of various zoological and 
botanical specimens encountered during the trip. 
With respect to the alleged antidote for snake bite, the particulars of 
which were given in last month’s issue, the following letter, from a Mr. 
Joseph Harr, has been published in the Brisbane Courier : — “In to-day’s 
paper I notice a cure for snake bite. Persons in the bush reading this will 
be able to make little or no use of it. For instance, how many selectors 
know how much 90'2 grammes is ? I do not know myself whether it is one 
quart or one drop. Nobody in the bush knows what an injector is, nor how to 
use it, unless you mean the big syringe for a horse with gripes. Can you 
give us full particulars and oblige P” To this letter was appended the following 
foot-note by the editor : — “ A gramme is the continental unit of weight ; its 
English equivalent is about 15| grains— therefore, 0’02 grammes is about the 
fiftieth part of 15| grains, or 3-10th of a grain. However, we do not advise 
our correspondent to be too sanguine about the remedy.” The Spectator , in a 
review of the latest book on snake poison by Mr. Vincent .Richards, says : — 
The nearest approach to a remedy is permanganate of potash, with which 
Dr. de Lacerda, of Rio de J aneiro, claims to have neutralised the poison of 
the bothrops , whose bite, however, is not nearly so venomous as that of the 
cobra, nor, as we presume, of the deadly South American nauhyaca. After 
nearly 100 experiments with permanganate of potash, Mr. Richards arrives at 
the conclusion that up to the present time it has never been experimentally 
shown that any agent has either the power to neutralise cobra-poison when 
lying in the tissues, or to prevent death when four minutes has elapsed from 
the time of injection of the poison to that of treatment. Actually mixed with the 
prison, permanganate of potash appears to act as a neutralising agent ; but as 
hypodermic injection within four minutes of the infliction of a bite is, save 
experimentally, materially impossible, the remedy is practically useless.” 
The commission of medical men, appointed some months ago to inquire into 
the outbreak on board the B.I.S.S. Company’s steamer Dorunda, have published 
their report, declaring the disease to be cholera contracted at Batavia ; and the Chief 
Secretary has by cable requested the Agent-General not to allow Dr. Hickling to 
be again employed in the immigration service until he has furnished a satis- 
factory explanation of certain matters connected therewith. Dr. Xorteum, the 
health officer at Cooktown, has been requested to report fully upon the circum- 
stances attending the arrival of the Dorunda at that port, and to forward a copy 
of the report which he received from Dr. Hickling upon the nature of the sick- 
ness on board at that time. In their report the commissioners recommend the 
establishment of a quarantine station, to be in close proximity to Thursday 
Island, and also that suitable sites be selected near Cooktown and Townsville. 
