260 
Miscellany. 
These are to be well mixed together and kept in a wide mouthed, glass 
stoppered bottle, and in a dry place. When it is to be used as a cautery, 
a small quantity of it is to be mixed with a few drops of alcohol or water, 
so as to form a liquid paste, which is to be spread between two pieces of 
adhesive plaster, the lower one of which is to be pierced with a hole of 
the size and form of the intended issue. The action on the skin is rapid 
though not very painful, and almost always is terminated in half an hour. 
Ibid. 
Origin of sulphur. — C. Gemellaro has read before the academy of Ca- 
tania, a memoir, entitled, a new theory relative to the origin of sulphur. 
He supposes it originates in the decomposition of naked molluscse, and 
that being acidified by the action of subterranean fire, it has been conver- 
ted into sulphate of lime, and also has given rise to the sulphate of stron- 
tian, which in the tertiary class of Sicily is associated with the preceding 
minerals. Am. Journ. Sci. and Arts. 
Ointment for the cure of scrofulous conjunctivitis. — M. Canon de Villard 
gives the following recipe for the treatment of this obstinate complaint. 
R. 01 hepatis Rajae ^i. 
Cyanid. Ferri. grs. xxiv. 
Cyanid. Hydrarg. grs. viii. 
Mix the oil cautiously with the cyanides, previously well agitated and 
then add, 01. essent. lauro-cerasi. gtts. iv. 
To prepare the oil, it is only necessary to take a sufficient quantity of 
the liver of that fish, and submit it to a slow heat, until it is so far prepar- 
ed, that the oil can be obtained by expression. It is of a dark colour, 
and resembles cod liver pi], except that it becomes concrete on cooling. 
To give it more consistence, when necessary, a small quantity of sperma- 
ceti or palm oil may be added. This ointment is very active and must; 
be cautiously used. At first it should be applied diluted with an equal 
proportion of simple cerate, and the strength increased as the eye becomes 
accustomed to it. Bull. gen. de Therapeut. 
Oil of Euphorbia lathyris. — M. Soubeiran states that this oil contains 
an acrid resinous matter, which he considered as the active principle. 
Lately he has found this supposed resin to be a very compound body, and 
has extracted four very distinct substances from it, viz. ; a white crystal- 
lized matter ; a brown oil having a very disagreeable smell and acrid taste, 
readily soluble in alcohol ; a kind of black resin which is insoluble in al- 
cohol, and scarcely soluble in ether, but which is readily taken up by the 
fixed oils ; and finally a solid, brown, pulverulent substance, which he 
has not yet examined. M. Soubeiran goes on to observe that the methods 
proposed by M. Chevallier to extract the oil, namely, by simple ex- 
