480 
VARIETIES. 
door  and  dragged  the  carboy  into  the  street,  where  it  shortly  took  fire  spon- 
taneously, and  burnt  with  a  bright  blaze  until  every  vestige  of  the  can  and 
acid  was  consumed.  The  effect  of  the  vapor  arising  from  the  acid  is  visible 
on  everything  about  the  store.  The  col  >r  of  the  paint  is  turned,  all  the 
paper  labels  are  discolored,  and  a  couple  of  tin  oil  tanks  are  covered  with 
a  very  pretty  representation  of  frost-work.  The  floor  where  the  acid  ran 
has  been  turned  a  good  cedar  color,  and  the  iron  work  in  front  of  the  store 
is  rusted  to  perfection. —  Cincinnati  Eclectic  Journal. 
Dental  Anaesthetic.  Tincture  of  aconite,  one  ounce  ;  chloroform,  one 
ounce  ;  alcohol,  one  ounce  ;  morphine,  six  grains.  Mix.  To  prevent  the 
pain  of  extraction,  and  destroy  sensibility  in  the  gums  by  local  application, 
moisten  two  pledgets  of  cotton  with  the  liquid,  and  apply  to  the  gums,  for 
a  minute  or  two,  over  the  tooth  to  be  extracted. — Dr.  Teft — Jour,  of  Materia 
Medica. 
Voltaic  Narcotism. — Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson,  Professor  of  Phyisology  at 
the  Grosvenor  School  of  Medicine,  has,  by  using  electricity  combined  with 
a  narcotic,  succeeded  in  inducing  local  anaesthesia.  He  applies  a  narcotic 
solution,  consisting  of  equal  parts  of  chloroform  and  tincture  of  aconite, 
to  the  part  in  which  he  desires  to  produce  anaesthesia-  then  covers  this 
part  with  a  plate  connected  with  the  positive  pole  of  the  voltaic  battery, 
and  applies  the  negative  pole  to  an  adjoining  part.  Dr.  R.  in  this  mode 
produced  anaesthesia  in  anaevus  on  the  back  of  an  infant,  when  Dr.  Halford 
transfixed  and  tied  a  ligature  around  the  naevus  without  the  infant  giving 
any  indication  of  suffering  pain  by  the  operation. —  Virginia  Med.  Jour. 
The  Ginseng  Excitement. — The  newspapers  having  teemed  of  late  with 
paragraphs  concerning  an  unusual  excitement  among  the  citizens  of  Min- 
nesota, who  were  turning  out  "  en  masse"  to  dig  the  roots,  it  occurred  to 
us  that,  having  subscribers  in  the  Ginseng  district,  we  might  obtain  reliable 
information  from  them  ;  and  the  result  of  addressing  one  of  them  is  em- 
bodied in  the  following  letter  : 
Faribault,  Bice  Co.,  Minnesota,  July  1st,  1859. 
Mr.  Frederick  Stearns:  Dear  Sir, — Yours  of  the  16th  of  June  was  duly 
received.  In  that  letter  you  request  me  to  give  you  some  statistics,  com- 
mercial and  otherwise,  of  Ginseng  ;  and,  in  answer,  would  submit  to  you 
the  following : 
It  is  found  only  in  timbered  land,  selecting  such  soils  as  produce  the 
Sugar  Maple,  Basswood,  Butternut,  and  Black  Walnut,  and  where  the  sur- 
face of  the  land  is  rolling  or  undulating.  Such  lands  in  our  State  are  not 
generally  very  heavily  timbered. 
That  portion  of  our  State  where  it  is  most  to  be  found  is  in  what  are 
termed  the  Big  Woods,  lying  between  the  town  of  Faribault  on  the  east, 
