VARIETIES. 
183 
Chloroform, an Antiseptic and Substitute for Quinine. — Statements have 
been recently laid before the French Academy of Science, that chloroform 
has been found to be an antiseptic of great virtue, preventing animal de- 
composition after death, o r promptly checking it if already commenced. Be- 
sides this use of chloroform, Prof. Delioux, of Rochefort, has recommended 
it as a substitute for Quinine. He has treated various cases of periodic fe- 
vers with this remedy, with regular success. He administers it in doses from 
9 to 30 grains, according to the severity of symptoms, mixed with syrup and 
water. — Ibid. 
Success of the Kousso in the expulsion of Tape Worm. — To the Editor of 
the Lancet: Sir — I have much pleasure in forwarding for the Lancet the par- 
ticulars of a successful trial of the kousso. 
Mr. B , residing in Cheapside, a delicate looking young man had been 
troubled with taenia for some years, and had taken the usual remedy, tur- 
pentine, with partial succcess, having at times seen parts of the worm only. 
I obtained a bottle of kousso from my druggist, which my patient took on 
on Sunday morning the 15th; the monster was expelled, tete etcol complete, 
measuring twenty-one feet. I need not add that my patient was highly de- 
lighted at the good effects of the kousso, and has presented me with the 
largest specimen of a tape worm I have ever seen. 
T am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
Thomas Smith. 
— Western Jour. Med. and Surg. Feb. 1851. 
Oil for Lubricating Machinery. — M. Boudet describes an oil, which the 
French call Hard, used for greasing machinery. It is made by adding one 
part of caoutchouc, cut into small pieces, to fifty parts of rape-oil, and ap- 
plying heat until the caoutchouc is nearly all dissolved. This oil is more 
unctuous than most of the oils used for machinery, and is not so much af- 
fected by the rapid motion of the parts to which it is applied, or by other 
influences to which it may be exposed. It remains fluid at temperatures 
below the freezing point of water, and offers little obstruction to the com- 
mencement of motion in the machines. 
M. Boudet suggests the following method of determining the proportion of 
caoutchouc contained in this kind of oil : — A weighed quantity of the oil is 
saponified with potash, and the dry soap treated with spirit, which dissolves 
the soap with the aid of heat, and leaves the caoutchouc. The insoluble 
residue is washed with water containing a sixth part of spirit. — Pharm. Jour. 
December, 1850, from Journal de Pharmacie. 
Preservation of Protosulphate of Iron. By M. Giovinni Ruspine. — The 
extreme facility with which protosulphate of iron passes to the state of per- 
sulphate when exposed to the air, has induced many Chemists to seek an 
easy and sure method of preventing this oxidation. Selmi, Geisler, Bous- 
