280 
VARIETIES. 
acid,  and  employed  in  the  same  manner  as  that  to  be  described  for  sulphate 
of  copper.  But  soon  the  destructive  influence  of  this  agent  was  recognised, 
inasmuch  as  bright  and  particularly  white  feathers  received  a  strong  reddish 
incrustation  from  the  separation  of  peroxide  of  iron.  This  is  not  the  case 
with  sulphate  of  copper.  It  will,  in  some  instances,  form  crystals  on  the 
stems  of  the  feathers,  but  these  can  be  easily  crushed  and  removed  by  means 
of  pincers. 
The  sulphate  of  copper  is  employed  in  the  form  of  a  thick  paste,  made  by 
rubbing  the  finely  pulverized  salt  with  water.  The  inner  surface  of  the  skin 
is  spread  over  with  the  paste,  and  the  remaining  operations  concluded  as 
quickly  as  possible  to  prevent  the  water  evaporating.  If  the  paste  is  al- 
lowed to  dry,  the  skin  becomes  inconveniently  hard  and  brittle.  The  skin 
is  thus  thoroughly  impregnated  with  the  salt,  which  even  penetrates  into 
the  stems  of  the  feathers.  It  will  now  withstand  decomposition,  and  the 
copper  salt  has  a  deadly  action  on  insects.  The  keeper  of  the  Oldenburg 
Museum  has  employed  for  several  years  this  agent  with  the  best  results. 
He  has  found  that  it  is  advantageous  to  mix  the  sulphate  of  copper  with 
about  double  its  quantity  of  alum,  which,  by  its  property  of  forming  insolu- 
ble compounds  with  organic  tissues,  may  be  very  useful. — Ibid,  from  Lie- 
big's  Annalen. 
Tincture  of  the  Flowers  of  Colchicum. — Dr.  Debout  has  recently  called  at- 
tention in  the  Bulletin  de  Therajpeutique  to  the  advantages  of  the  flowers  of 
colchicum  over  all  other  portions  of  the  plant.  He  declares  that  the  tincture 
of  the  flowers  is  less  variable  than  that  of  the  seeds  or  root,  and  far  more 
efficacious.  M,  Luskind,  a  distinguished  druggist  of  Geneva,  gives  the  fol- 
lowing directions  for  this  preparation:  The  flowers  are  to  be  plucked 
before  they  have  faded,  on  a  fine  sunshiny  day.  They  should  be  placed  in 
a  silk  bag  and  pressed.  The  juice  is  of  a  dark-brown  color.  It  must  be 
mingled  immediately  with  an  equal  quantity  of  strong  alcohol,  and  then  set 
aside  for  a  month.    It  is  then  filtered. 
This  preparation  promises  to  be  very  uniform  in  its  effects.  M.  Debout 
has  administered  it  with  success  in  many  cases  of  obstinate  rheumatic 
neuralgia  and  in  paroxysms  of  gout. 
This  is  not  the  first  time  that  the  efficacy  of  the  flowers  of  colchicum  has 
been  promulgated.  In  1823  Dr.  Copland  prescribed  the  flowers  in  sub- 
stance, and  found  them  less  irritating,  and  more  efficacious  than  the  seeds. 
Frost  and  Bushell  also  employed  them.  According  to  the  latter,  they  will 
cure  chronic  rheumatism.  Bushell  adds  that  they  retard  the  movements  of 
the  heart. —  Virginia  Med.  and  Surg.  Journ. 
New  Method  of  Testing  Quinine.  By  Signor  Pagliari. — Sig.  Pagliari,  a 
chemist  of  Rome,  the  inventor  of  a  new  haemostatic  compound,  has  pub- 
lished in  the  Corrispondenza  Scientifica  of  Rome  a  procedure  for  deter- 
