184 
VARIETIES. 
Medicine  in  India. — Nothing,  Judge  Raikes  tells  us,  astonished  the  ear- 
liest European  traveller  in  India  so  much  as  the  solicitude  of  the  Gentoos 
for  insect  life,  and  their  profound  indifference  to  human  suffering.  Men 
died  by  the  roadside  uncared  for ;  but  for  bugs  and  fleas  regular  hospitals 
were  provided. 
The  character  of  the  physician  in  the  East  is  highly  esteemed.  Every 
school- boy  knows  that  it  was  to  an  expert  English  doctor  we  owed  our  first 
step  towards  independence  in  Bengal ;  and  every  Englishman  is  looked  upon 
as  a  "  hukeeTn,"  and  invited  to  prescribe  for  all  kinds  of  ailments  in  all 
sorts  of  impossible  conjunctures. — Druggist's  Circular. 
Carbonate  of  Ammonia  in  the  Bites  of  Poisonous  Reptiles. — Dr.  A.  S. 
Payne,  of  Paris,  Fauquier  Co.,  Va.,  from  long  experience  in  the  treatment 
of  poisoning  by  snake  bites,  spider-bites,  &c,  has  come  to  the  following 
conclusions : 
"  1st.  That  hartshorn  is  the  natural  remedy  or  antidote  for  the  cure  of 
all  bites  of  poisonous  reptiles  or  stings  of  insects  which  exert  a  rapid  and 
depressing  influence  upon  the  heart's  action. 
"  2d.  That,  in  my  opinion,  second  to  the  hartshorn,  in  remedial  virtues, 
stands  an  etherealized  solution  of  iodine. 
"  3d.  That  the  biniodide  of  mercury  has  proven  itself  next  most  valuable. 
"  In  the  fourth  place  of  value  I  place  various  plants  indigenous  to  the 
United  States  of  America." — Virginia  Med.  Jour. 
Hairs  of  Urticacece. — The  stinging  hairs  (stimuli)  of  Urticaceae  consist 
of  a  single  cell,  more  or  less  elongated,  swollen  at  its  base,  where  it  is 
sheathed  by  a  layer  of  epidermal  cells,  and  terminated  sometimes  by  a 
sharp  point,  but  more  commonly  by  a  small  rounded  pyriform  or  accumi- 
nated  knob.  The  hair  becomes  broken  in  the  skin,  and  allows  the  acrid 
fluid  it  contains  to  flow  out.  This  gives  rise  to  accidents  of  a  more  or  less 
severe  nature.  The  severity  of  the  sting  depends  not  on  the  quantity  of 
fluid  which  enters  the  puncture,  but  rather  on  its  activity.  The  sheathing 
portion  of  the  hairs  varies  much  in  length.  Sometimes  it  exceeds  the  free 
portion,  as  in  Urtica  ferox,  one  of  the  species,  which  gives  a  most  danger- 
ous sting.  In  some  species  of  Urera  and  in  one  or  two  other  genera,  the 
sheathing  portion  increases  much  with  age,  becomes  woody,  and  forms  a 
true  prickle  or  aculeus,  analogous  to  the  Rose  and  of  some  species  of 
Hibiscus. 
Glandular  hairs,  properly  so  called,  are  rare  amoug  the  Urticaceae.  Spe- 
cies of  Fleury  present  examples  of  these  hairs,  as  well  as  the  ribs  of  the 
lower  surface  of  Parietaria  communis,  on  which  we  also  notice,  as  in 
Forskolilea  and  some  other  genera,  hooked  or  uncinate  hairs.  The  spe- 
cies of  Forskolilea  or  of  Droguetia  exhibit  in  different  parts  of  their  in- 
florescence a  mass  of  woolly  hairs  analogous  to  those  which  cover  the  cot- 
ton plant.  None  of  the  Urticaceae  have  webbed  hairs. — Ed.  N.  Phil.  Jour. 
