312 
THE AU STEAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
A correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald states that pain killer is 
in constant nse in Queensland as an intoxicant. “ They go on the spree with 
it when the grog has run out, and I have lately been told it is also used for the 
same purpose in several parts of New South Wales. Some years ago,” he adds, 
“in Melbourne, I called for a glass of square sarsaparilla, and was amazed to 
find I got quite stupid. I found out afterwards that about 28 per cent, of 
spirit and some opium were among its compositants, and it was no longer a 
fancy liquor of mine.” The writer comments very strongly on the fact that 
patent medicines, some of them stupefying compounds, “ which have a worse 
effect on the system than ordinary public-house grog,” can be obtained by anyone 
either from his greengrocer or at the toy-shop. 
The Australasian Medical Gazette for June contains an interesting article 
by the Rev. W. G. Lawes on the “Customs among the Natives of New Guinea 
in sickness and childbirth.” Speaking of the Port Moresby district the writer 
says : — “ The natives of this part of New Guinea look upon all diseases as a bewitch- 
ment, and have no idea of medicine, except as something to exorcise the evil spirit. 
Medicine to drink is quite a new idea to them. Even in simple constipation it 
is thought to be the result of trespassing on forbidden ground, or stealing 
bananas over which rites have been performed to make them sacred. Diarrhoea 
is looked upon as the result of over or promiscuous feeding, but they have no 
remedy for it. . . There are medicine men who collect various leaves and herbs y 
but these are used as charms, and never taken. That in most request is one 
that will draw the women to its possessor, and make him irresistible to the fair 
sex.” 
A correspondent to a contemporary writes : — “I have never found powdered 
charcoal to fail in the worst cases of dog poisoning by strychnine. It should 
be given in water or tea, whichever is handy. I have travelled a great deal 
about Queensland with stock, and have had many of my dogs poisoned; but if 
they were only alive I did not care how bad they were, for after administering 
charcoal they were fit to follow in about an hour.” 
Adulteration of Olive Oil. — Dr. Hiepe. Rep. der anal. Chem. 5, 326. 
The author states that olive oil, which is largely exported from Portugal, is 
frequently adulterated there with a Brazilian oil, which is extracted from the seeds 
of Jatrepha Curcas (belonging to Euphorbiaceae). A good test for it is to add some 
nitric acid and copper to the suspected oil, when its colour, after some time, 
becomes an intense reddish-brown. No oiher oil ads in a similar way, and 10 
per cent, of this adulterant in an oil can be easily de Lee led by this test . — The 
Analyst. 
The Metric System. — Dr. Elliott gives the following rules for the guidance 
of those who are studying the metric system: — 1. To convert troy grains or 
minims into grammes or cubic centimetres, divide the number by 10, and from the 
quotient subtract one-third. 2. To convert apothecaries’ or fluid drachms into 
grammes or cubic centimetres, multiply the number by four. 3. To convert troy 
or fluid ounces into grammes or cubic centimetres, multiply the number by 
thirty-two. 4. To convert grammes or cubic centimetres into troy grains or 
minims add fifty per cent., or one-half the number, and then multiply by ten. 
5. To convert grammes or cubic centimetres into apothecaries’ or fluid drachms, 
divide by four. 6. To convert grammes or cubic centimetres into troy or fluid 
ounces, divide by thirty-two. 7. To convert inches into metres, divide by forty. 
8. To convert metres into inches, add one-tenth the number, and then multiply 
by thirty- six. 
