850 
improvements in dentistry. 
Radix napiformis v. subglobosa v. elongata, carnosa, 2-3 poll, longa, basi fibrillosa. 
Caules herbacei, graciles. Folia glaberrima, 2-4-pollicaria, 1-2 poll, lata, lobis 
baseos acutis v. rotundatis v. subtruncatis, petiolo tenui, li-2£-pollican. Peduncu/i 
axillares, petiolum subsequantes, penduli, uniflori v. in planta vegetiore novelli 
alabastra duo ferentes, altero semper (ut videtur) abortivo. Pedbcelh incrassati, 
basi bracteis 2 minutis. Sepala ovata, obtusa, exteriora paullulum breviora. 
Corolla infundibuliformis, l£-2 poll, longa, glabra, rosea, pallide striata, btigma 
bilobum. Capsula calycem superans, conica, 2-locularis, valvis 4 conaceis. bemina 
glabra.— Proceeding’s of the Linnean Society.. 
METHYLIC ETHER AS AN ANAESTHETIC. 
Dr. Richardson, in a communication made to the Medical Society of London, after 
reviewing the claims of a number of anaesthetic fluids and vapours, decided in favour oi 
methylic ether for rapid anaesthesia. The ether is made by digesting one part of pure 
methylic alcohol with two of strong sulphuric acid. The mixture is heated, and the 
methylic ether, which passes over as a gas, is subjected to frequent washings in strong 
potash solution. The ether remains as a gas even below zero; it has an ethereal odour; 
ft is, chemically, an oxide of the radical methyl. Its vapour density is 23, taking 
hvdrogen as unity, and it burns in air. The strongest objection to methylic ether is, 
that it is a gas; but happily the difficulty is to a large extent overcome, the gas being 
very soluble in various substances. Water takes up thirty-seven volumes of the gas, 
yielding an ethereal fluid of pleasant taste. Pure ethylic ether and alcohol take up over 
a hundred volumes. For practical purposes the author prefers absolute ethylic ether ot 
sp. gr. 720, and boiling-point of 92° F. as the solvent. The ether is charged with the 
o-as at a temperature of 32° F., and the compound is at once bottled and firmly corked 
down. It should be kept for a time before being used, the process of keeping producing 
a comparatively stable compound. In using this compound, which he proposes to call 
methyl-ethy lie “ether,, the author at present employs the simple mouthpiece invented by 
Mr. Rendle, and made merely of leather .—Medical Times and Gazette , April 9, 1870. 
CROTONIZED ETHER. 
As a remedy in habitual costiveness, Dr. Rubio, of Barbacoas, strongly recommends 
what he terms “crotonized ether.” (‘Medical Times and Gazette,’ April 16th.) 
The following is the formula given Croton Oil, 3i, Sulphuric Ether, §i: mix. The 
dose is 20 drops in an ounce of cold water, with a little sugar, which may be repeated 
in an hour if necessary. 
IMPROVEMENTS IN DENTISTRY. 
At a meeting of the Medical Society of London, April 25th, Mr. Napier read a paper 
“On an Improved Method of Stopping or Plugging Teeth, and exhibited some speci¬ 
mens in which the cavities caused by decay were severally filled up with hippopotamus 
ivory, mother-of-pearl, and india-rubber, vulcanized to the consistence of ebony. M . 
Napier desires to obviate the necessity for using metal m any form for stopping teeth, 
and 1 read this paper with a view to prove the importance of the object he advocated. 
He argues that one of the principal causes of chronic inflammation in teeth that have 
been stopped according to the method now in general use, is that metal is a readier 
conductor of heat and cold than the natural substance of which a tooth is composed. 
The improvements he advocated would benefit both operator and patient. 
