MISCELLANEA. 
729 
in the face with a stick, and escaped out of the shop. Application was made for a war¬ 
rant, which was granted, upon which the defendant was fined £3 and costs. 
Penalty for Substitution. —A Paris pharmacien was lately called upon to supply 
a bottle of “ Seguin’s cinchona wine,” which had been ordered for a patient by his phy¬ 
sician. He, instead, gave a bottle of the cinchona wine of the French Codex , labelled 
as Seguin’s. For this substitution he has been condemned by the Correctional Tribunal 
of the Seine to a fine of 100 francs with costs, or imprisonment for forty days, and to 
have the judgment placarded on bis own door and those of the nine other pharmaciens 
resident in his arrondissement.—British Medical Journal . 
Caustic Arrows. —These little arrows, used by M. Maisonneuve, of Paris, are 
composed of one part of chloride of zinc with one or two parts of flour, triangular in 
shape, two inches and a quarter long, and one-eighth in thickness. When bard, these 
arrows are passed into tumours through little incisions, made with the scalpel, deeply 
enough to make them disappear from sight. The tumours thus treated are dressed with 
dry lint, changed daily. It is said that no pain is experienced after the first four or six 
hours.— Medical Press and Gazette , April 20 th. 
Method of Staining White Woods. (M. Mene.)—When naturally white- 
coloured woods are painted over with a concentrated aqueous solution of permanganate of 
potash, which is best kept somewhat warm (tepid), it is possible thereby to give such 
woods the appearance of palissander or walnut-wood. Different kinds of wood beha,ve 
with this solution in different manners ; the wood of pear and cherry trees is rapidly 
stained ; white woods, as, for instance, the acacia (Robinia pseudo-acacia), resists a longer 
time; and resinous woods, like fir, are more difficultly acted on. The rationale is that 
the permanganate of potash is decomposed by the woody fibre ; brown peroxide of 
manganese is precipitated and fixed by the potash, which is afterwards removed by 
washing with water. The wood, after having become dry, is varnished, and is, accord¬ 
ing to the author, not readily distinguished from naturally dark-coloured woods.— • 
Chemical News. 
The Bleaching of Almond Oil.— The following process is suggested by Mr. E. 
B. Shuttleworth, in the ‘ Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal—“Dissolve one grain of 
permanganate of potash in 20 ounces of cold water; agitate with an equal bulk of the 
oil; separate by means of a funnel and wash with water. If the colour is not entirely 
removed, repeat the process with fresh solution ; filter through paper if necessary. 
Chloral. —The Paris correspondent of the ‘Medical Times and Gazette’ states as the 
result of M. Bouchut’s communication to the Academie des Sciences, that the contra¬ 
dictory results obtaiued by different experiments may be imputed to impurity of the 
agent. M. Bouchut says that it should be employed in the state of solid hydrate ; and 
he considers it to be a powerful sedative to the motor and sensitive nervous system. The 
dose should not exceed 5 grammes for adults and 1^ for children; it may be adminis¬ 
tered by the mouth, but its effects are more prompt when given by the rectum. Injected 
hypodermically, it gives rise to formidable eschars. Ihe urine during the sleep induced 
by chloral is neutral, and when boiled with Fehling’s liquor, it does not reduce the salts 
of copper ; but twenty-four hours after awakening, when it contains chloral, it is more 
dense, and reduces the salts of copper. # 
M. Personne, who is also engaged in investigating the properties of chloral, contradicts 
this latter statement, and maintains that chloral is never met with in the urine; and with 
reference to the reduction of the cupro-potassic liquid, observes “It should be known that, 
in consequence of the urates which it contains, urine will always reduce the copper, pio- 
viding the ebullition is continued long enough.” 
Mr. Squire, in a letter to the editor of the ‘Medical Press and Circular, on the ad¬ 
ministration of chloral hydrate, observes that peppermint water is the best vehicle for 
chloral, which, with a little simple syrup, covers its peculiar taste most effectually. 
A Cement for Iron and Stone.— The following is recommended as a valuable 
cement in ‘ The Medical and Surgical Reporter.’ Glycerine is made into a paste with 
litharge: as the material hardens very quickly, it must be used at once. The litharge 
should not be very dry; that which has absorbed a considerable amount of moisture 
forming a better cement. 
yol. XI. ° B 
