SELECTED ARTICLES. 33 
t-ion, administered internally as a remedy for gout, or applied 
as external fomentations for rheumatism, &c; but it is the 
powdered seeds, which is said to be the best vermifuge for 
ascarides and lumbrici in children. They are also efficacious 
in flatulent colic ; if an infusion be administered, it acts upon 
the kidneys, and is serviceable in cough. As it is much less 
disagreeable to take than the semen contra^ we are of opinion 
that it ought to be substituted for it, and this substitution will 
be easy, as the plant can be naturalized in our gardens. It 
must, however, be guarded against frost. 
ART. VII,— FALSIFICATIONS OF WINE VINEGAR AND THE 
MEANS OF DETECTING THEM. By A. Chevallier. 
Having been charged in 1833, as a member of the Counsel 
of Health, with the examination of specimens of vinegar, ob- 
tained from the cantines of several of the barracks of Paris, I 
thought it obligatory upon me to make some investigation into 
the purity of the vinegar sold in Paris, and the means em- 
ployed to adulterate it. I directed a poor woman to procure 
for me, from such grocers as I designated, a certain quantity 
of vinegar, and upon these specimens, in number an hundred 
and twenty, I made my experiments.* 
* The experiments made in Paris upon the purity of vinegar, originated 
from the information, that a large proportion of the vinegar sold in the 
departments was made up by the addition of sulphuric acid. Prior to 
this, at the commencement of the year 1833, the Deputy Mayor of Nantes, 
charged with the municipal police, had been informed that a large quan- 
tity of vinegar then in use had been adulterated ; an investigation of the 
matter was made by the commissaries of police assisted by mem- 
bers of the counsel of health, and 116 casks of vinegar were seized, and 
afterwards, in consequence of judgment given, the vinegar which they 
contained was poured out in the public street. 
VOL. III. — NO. I. 5 
