February 26,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
685 
European palate, or is placed, when quite ripe, in tubs 
tilled with salt, stirred about continually, and, after the 
lapse of a day taken out and dried. In this state it is 
hawked about in great abundance, and tastes much as 
the European olive might be expected to do, if removed 
from the brine in which it is kept and allowed to dry, 
with an appreciable soupgon of turpentine superadded. 
I have been told it is regarded as a preventive of sea¬ 
sickness. The black olive is never eaten raw, but only 
after having been steeped for a few moments in boiling 
water. Thus prepared (and packed in jars, with the 
addition of a little salt, when desh-ed to be preserved), it 
is of a fine purplish-red colour, like well-made fresh 
pickled cabbage, and has some resemblance in taste to 
freshly pickled mango, a flavour to me not unpleasant, 
but do gustibus non est disputandum. This fruit is held 
in much higher esteem than the other, and it is usual to 
keep a strict watch over it as it ripens to prevent depre¬ 
dation. I have seen a man who was found luxuriating 
in the umbrageous coma of a tree to which he could lay 
no claim, with a basket full of the fruit in his possession, 
tied “spread-eagle” fashion to the trunk for nearly a 
day, the monotony of his durance being varied by perio¬ 
dical flagellations. 
Loureiro thus describes the reputed qualities of the 
two olives: 
C. album. Drupao muria conditce olivis Europaois 
similes sunt colore, et quodammodo etiam forma et sa- 
pore; sunt autem saluberrimm, ita ut medici non eas 
denegent asgrotis, oxperientia docti digestionem et appe- 
titum cibi promove re. 
C. Pimela. Drupee muria conditse frequenter appo- 
nuntur mensis, non minus sapidae quam olivae, sed sto- 
macho graves. 
For the following notice of these trees, extracted and 
translated from a description of the ‘Memorabilia of 
Kwangtung,’ published in 1801, I am indebted to my 
friend Mr. W. F. Mayers, H.M.’s Acting Consul for 
Che-foo. 
“ The Tiieh Chung Kien Wen states as follows :—Of 
the Ian there are two species, the black and the white. 
Of both the tree grows high and perfectly straight, 
usually with the trunk quite devoid of branches except 
at the summit, where it throws out its crown. There 
are male and female [trees], the male having flowers 
[only] and the female fruit. The males are properly 
called Lang-hung [t. e. male or ‘sir’ Canarium ), and do 
not produce fruit, but if brought in contact with tho 
female the fruit forms. The fruit resembles that of the 
Two (Jujube, or Chinese Date), about an inch or more in 
length, and is devoid of angles. The earliest growth 
hangs downward, those grown later point upwards. 
The fruit is ripe in the eighth or ninth month, when the 
cultivators mount the tree by means of ladders, and 
knock the fruit down with sticks. Another way is to 
make an incision of about an inch [in width] in the 
trunk, on its east side and to rub in some coarse salt, 
which causes the fruit on the east side to fall down 
spontaneously; and similarly on the three remaining 
sides of the tree. The white Ian, if not eaten until after 
the Peh Lu period (8th September), does not cause sick¬ 
ness. Its qualities are heating. When eaten, the taper¬ 
ing points at either end should be removed. On first 
being chewed, the flavour is bitter and astringent, but 
after a time the flavour develops itself and turns sweet. 
The colour is white. When boiled in water at a high 
temperature the colour changes to a pale green, and its 
fragrance becomes as that of the Ian ( Epidendron ?), so 
that it sweetens the breath. Of the black Ian , the fruit 
is larger, and the flesh has greater substance. Its quali¬ 
ties are mild, and its flavour astringent, with a slightly 
sweet taste. It should be boiled in tepid water until it 
becomes soft and the purple skin puff's out, when it is fit 
to eat. If the water bo cold, it will emit a gummy exu¬ 
dation ; and if too hot, the flesh will harden, so that it is 
important to use tepid water only. In tho southern 
portion of the Pwan-yli district tho black Ian is largely 
grown, and the fruit, after being deprived of its stone, 
is cooked and preserved with brine as an article of mer¬ 
chandise, which has a sale far and near.” 
The stones of some species of Canarium are beauti¬ 
fully and elaborately carved by the Chinese; and, when 
set in gold, or separated by gold filigree beads, form ex¬ 
ceedingly handsome brooches or bracelets. These are 
popularly supposed by foreigners, and even by many 
Chinese, to be cut out of peach-stones; though a very 
cursory inspection will show that this is a fallacy. Amoy 
is renowned for this kind of work, and, so highly is it 
esteemed, that some beads I purchased on the spot, to 
have made into a bracelet, cost me a dollar (4s. 3d.) each; 
a very large sum, when the slight remuneration in China 
for skilled labour and the cost 6f native living are borne 
in mind. These stones, so far as I can judge from the 
sculptured specimens, seem too large to be the produce 
of Canarium Pimela. They may either belong to a dis¬ 
tinct species, or to one of those alluded to by Mr. Han - 
bury, respecting all of which I may, perhaps, hereafter 
succeed in gaining some reliable information.— Journal 
of Botany. 
PREPARATION OF COLOURED CEMENTS THAT 
WILL HARDEN IN A SHORT TIME. 
BY PROFESSOR BOETTGER. 
If finely-pulverized chalk is stirred into a solution of 
soda-water glass of 33° B., until the mixture becomes 
thick and plastic, a cement is obtained which will harden 
in between six and eight hours, possessing an extraordi¬ 
nary durability, and alike applicable for domestic and 
industiial purposes. 
If any of the following substances be employed besides 
chalk, differently-coloured cements of the same general 
character are obtained. 
1 . Finely pulverized, or, better still, levigated stibnite 
(grey antimony or black sulphide of antimony), will 
produce a dark cement, which, after burnishing with an 
agate, will present a metallic appearance. 
2 . Pulverized cast-iron, a grey cement. 
3. Zinc dust (so-called zinc grey), an exceedingly 
hard grey cement, which, after burnishing, will exhibit 
the white and brilliant appearance of metallic zinc. 
This cement may be employed |o advantage in mending- 
ornaments and vessels of zinc, sticking alike well to 
metals, stone and wood. 
4. Carbonate of copper, a light green cement. 
5. Sesquioxide of chromium, a dark green cement. 
6 . Thenard’s blue (cobalt blue), a blue cement. 
7. Minium, an orange-coloured cement. 
8 . Vermilion, a splendid red cement. 
9. Cai-mine red, a violet cement. 
—The New York Druggists' Circular. 
Turpentine as an Antidote to Phosphorus.— 
Personne’s statement that turpentine acts as an antidote 
to phosphorus, by preventing its oxidation at the ex¬ 
pense of the oxygen in the blood, having been called in 
question by Vigier and Currie, Kohler and Schimpf 
have repeated Personnel experiments, and report the 
following results in the Berliner Med. Wochensciirift :— 
(1.) Commercial oil of turpentine is a good antidote to 
poisoning by phosphorus; there is no fatty degenera¬ 
tion of the tissues, nor is there any free jdiosphorus in 
the urine or fxeces of animals experimented on. (2.) 
Phosphorus and turpentine oil form in the stomach a 
compound resembling spermaceti, jin dogs this was 
found to be readily excreted, or the phosphorus passed 
away slowly oxidized in the urine.— Wiener Medizin. 
Woe lunsch rift. 
