472 
Varieties. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      Sept.,  1882. 
VARIETIES. 
Borax  in  California.— Borax  is  now  well  known  to  occur  in  very 
many  of  the  salt-springs  in  the  Coast  Mountains  of  California.  But  in 
only  two  places  has  it  been  found  in  large  quantities:  these  are  Borax 
Lake  and  Hachinhania  (pronounced  Hah^-chin-ha^-nia),  both  being  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  Clear  Lake,  about  eighty  miles  north  of  8an 
Francisco. 
Borax  Lake  is  a  shallow  pool  intensely  of  alkaline  water,  without  inlet 
or  outlet,  and  of  course  its  extent  depends  on  its  reception  of  rain  water. 
After  an  exceptionally  wet  season  it  has  a  length  of  perhaps  a  mile  and  a 
half,  with  a  depth  of  eight  to  ten  feet;  after  an  exceptionally  dry  season, 
on  the  contrary,  it  shows  sometimes  no  water,  the  muddy  bottom  being 
covered  with  saline  incrustations.  When  it  has  a  length  of  three-fourths 
of  a  mile,  with  a  depth  of  four  feet,  being  perhaps  its  average  condition, 
the  water  holds  in  solution  18-75  grains  of  solid  matter  to  the  ounce— "039 
of  its  own  weight.  This  consists  of  salts  of  soda,  in  the  following  propor- 
tions: Sodium  carbonate,  "618;  sodium  chloride, '204 ;  sodium  biborate, '178. 
But  this  alkaline  water,  exceedingly  rich  as  it  is  in  borax,  constitutes 
only  a  trifling  part  of  the  commercial  value  of  the  lake.  In  fact,  it  has 
never  been  turned  to  accaunt  at  all  in  the  manufacture  of  borax,  though 
such  use  of  it  is  entirely  practicable,  as  the  statements  to  be  presently  made 
in  relation  to  Hachinhania  will  show.  The  muddy  bottom  of  the  lake  was 
found,  immediately  on  its  discovery  in  1856,  to  contain  borax  in  crystals, 
in  quantities  most  astonishing. 
These  crystals,  being  tested  by  various  workers  in  iron  and  steel,  were 
pronounced  equal  to  the  very  best  of  refined  borax.  They  are,  in  fact,  pure 
biborate  of  soda,  without  any  other  impurities  than  the  mud  mechanically 
entangled  with  them  in  their  process  of  crystallization.  They  correspond 
to  the  native  borax  of  other  localities,  designated  as  tincal^  but"  yet  are 
decidedly  distinct  from  it.  In  fact,  no  such  crystals  as  those  of  Borax 
Lake  have  ever  been  found  in  any  other  locality,  and  there  are  several 
points  in  connection  with  their  mode  of  formation,  and  even  their  very 
existence,  which  are  by  no  means  easy  of  comprehension. — Dr.  W.  O. 
Ayres,  in  Popular  Scienee  Monthly  for  July. 
Use  of  Geum  Album. — Dr.  W.  A.  Spurgeon,  in  "  Therapeutic  Gazette," 
March,  1882,  says  that  this  plant,  is  already  useful  as  an  anti-emetic; 
that  it  relieves  gastric  irritation  (from  any  cause)  and  headache.  A  tea- 
spoonful  of  a  tincture,  representing  eight  troyounces  to  the  pint,  is  a  dose, 
but  larger  doses  may  be  given.—  Virginia  Medical  Monthly,  August,  1882. 
Agaricus  is  much  used  in  France  as  a  remedy  for  niglitsweats,  and  Dr. 
B.  V.  Wolfendeii  has  found  it  of  great  value.  It  is  given  in  doses  of  twenty 
grains,  prescribed  in  a  confection.  It  may  at  times  cause  diarrhoea  which 
is  easily  prevented  by  combining  it  with  a  little  opium. — Medical  Times 
and  Gazette. 
