468 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, LITERATURE, AND ART. 
tion of it, we should be most happy, in his presence and with 
his assistance, to institute a series of experiments on its effec! 
on the rabid dog, and of which we should have frequent oppor¬ 
tunity. 
Orfila only knew that, “ according to Bancroft, the worari be¬ 
longed to some species of climbing shrub.” Mr. Hancock states 
that the plant is called by the Indians mavacuri; and that it 
belongs to the cucurbitacea (Query, Momordica?) Monoecia, 
Syngenesia, Class xxi, Ord. 9. He has not seen the flower, but 
has received two small roots of it from Mr. J. Forsyth. It is 
prepared by scraping the inner bark or rind of the root into some 
vessel, mixed with the root of the worarybalhj, and the vine itself 
of the courampoey , two climbing plants, poisonous, and supposed 
to increase the power of the worari. These are mixed together, 
boiled down with water, and evaporated to the consistence of a 
thick syrup. 
The next paper, by Mr. J. MacCulloch, is an interesting if not 
a useful one,—useful, indeed, it is, so far as it teaches us how to 
increase an innocent and not insignificant pleasure—the pleasure 
of the flower-garden. Many of our gardens are surrounded by 
walls; a portion may be occupied by our fruit-trees, but still there 
is a great deal of brick and moitar unpleasant to the eye. Mr. 
MacCulloch tells how the very wall may be rendered ornamental; 
and gives us a long list of very beautiful flowers, which will grow 
in or on the walls, and in many cases select them in preference to 
the soil. 
Mr. MacCulloch likewise takes compassion on the ever-longing 
and ever-disappointed horticulturists of cities and large towns, 
whose garden is a darkened smoky area, or, perchance, a mere 
flower-pot, or even a tea-pot. The antipathy which vegetables 
have to towns is not very easily explained. It is not want of light, 
nor want of air;—there is as much light and air in a town as in 
the country. It is not excess of carbonic acid, for our chemistry 
never yet detected it. It is partly the effect of coal-smoke, but 
it more depends on the sensations and vital power of plants, 
affected by the “villainous compounds” poisoning a city atmo¬ 
sphere. Whatever be the cause,we citizens, or our spouses, know 
too well that a garden will not flourish in the contaminated air 
of the metropolis. Mr. MacCulloch, however, kindly endeavours 
to save us from as much disappointment as he can, and gives us 
a list of some flowers that will not always deceive us. We recom¬ 
mend this paper to the general reader; but, remembering that we 
are veterinarians, we reluctantly pass on. 
The paper by Mr. Colchester, on the method of ascertaining 
the quantity of different alkalis, is particularly ingenious, and 
