482 
VARIETIES. 
This  is  as  fair  a  statement  as  I  can  give ;  and  you  may  make  such  use  of 
it  as  you  may  think  best. 
Most  respectfully  yours,  W.  H.  Stevens,  M.  D. 
Ginseng  is  very  abundant  throughout  this  State,  and  there  is  no  reason 
why  it  should  not  be  profitably  collected  at  present  ruling  rates.  It  is  un- 
fortunate for  the  Minnesotians  that  they  chose  the  wrong  season  to  collect 
it,  as  it  should  not  be  dug  until  after  the  blossoming  and  ripening  of  the 
seed  of  the  plant— say  from  August  to  October. 
The  most  sensible  method  of  curing  it  would  be  in  the  open  air,  but 
under  shade. — F.  S.     Peninsular  and  Indepen.  Med.  Jour.,  Aug.,  1859. 
Poisoning  by  Cyanide  of  Potassium. — At  a  late  meeting  of  the  New 
York  Pathological  Society,  Dr.  Finnell  presented  a  specimen  of  a  stomach 
removed  from  a  patient  who  was  poisoned  by  cyanide  of  potassium.  The 
patient  was  a  Daguerrean  artist.  He  swallowed  a  piece  of  salt  as  large 
as  the  end  of  the  finger.  Immediately  he  cried  for  water,  but  before  he 
could  get  his  mouth  to  the  pipe  of  the  hydrant,  he  died.  Death  took  place 
in  from  three  to  five  minutes  after  he  swallowed  the  poison. 
In  answer  to  a  question  from  Dr.  Clark,  he  stated  that  the  symptoms  of 
poisoning  by  this  salt  were  very  like  those  from  poisoning  by  prussic  acid. 
The  death  was  very  rapid.  This  was  the  third  case  he  had  met  with.  This 
man  lived  but  three  minutes,  another  lived  twelve  minutes,  and  a  third,  he 
was  not  certain  how  long  he  survived ;  it  was  a  very  short  time,  however. 
In  each  of  the  cases  the  stomach  was  intensely  reddened. 
Dr.  Dalton  thought  it  was  important  to  know  that  injection  of  the 
stomach  took  place  in  so  short  a  time  as  three  minutes,  unless  most  of  the 
change  was  post-mortem. — Nashville  Monthly  Record. 
Vivianite. — M.  Schiff  has  proved,  by  chemical  analysis,  that  the  blue 
color  which  pus  sometimes  presents  is  owing  to  phosphate  of  iron  in  an 
amorphous  state.  It  is  this  same  salt  which  gives  the  blue  color  to  animal 
remains  which  have  been  interred  for  a  long  time.  The  demonstration  of 
this  fact  is  owing  to  M.  Nickles,  who  has  found  in  human  bones  phosphate 
of  iron  crystallized  in  the  form  peculiar  to  the  vivianite  of  mineralogists. 
 Ibid,  from  North  American  Medical  and  Chirurgical  Review. 
Adulteration  of  Valerianate  of  Iron. — The  valerianates  are  often  adul- 
terated, the  adulteration  consisting  of  the  mixture  of  some  salt  with  a  cer- 
tain quantity  of  essential  oil  of  valerian.  M.  Monnerat  has  given  some 
easy  methods  of  detecting  these  adulterations.  He  found  the  false  valeri- 
anate had  a  deeper  color  than  the  true,  and  that  it  was  insoluble  in  alcohol 
and  ether,  and  that,  when  treated  with  boiling  water,  it  gave,  after  cooling, 
a  deposit  of  subcarbonate  of  iron,  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  essential 
oil  of  valerian  floating  upon  the  surface  of  the  liquid.    Besides,  the  true 
