474  Pharmaceutical  Colleges.    ,  {Am'sipt.r;i^arm' 
iiard-boiled  if  coffee  or  cacao,  is  the  beverage.  (3)  The  casein  of  the  milk 
and  cream  taken  with  the  beverage  is  probably  absorbed  in  a  large  degree 
from  the  stomach.  (-4)  The  butter  used  with  bread  undergoes  digestion 
more  slowly  in  presence  of  tea,  but  more  quickly  in  presence  of  coffee  or 
cacao  ;  that  is,  if  the  fats  of  butter  are  influenced  in  a  similar  way  to  oleim 
15)  The  use  of  coffee  or  cacao  as  excipients  for  cod-liver  oil,  etc.,  appears 
not  only  to  depend  on  their  pronounced  tastes,  but  also  on  their  action  in 
assisting  the  digestion  of  fats. — Med.  and  Surg.  Rep. 
Hand-grenades. — Some  excellent  suggestions  concerning  these  high-priced 
appliances  for  extinguishing  incipient  fires  are  quoted  in  Building  from  Cham- 
ber's Journal.  "  Though  undoubtedly  the  saline  solution  with  which  they  are 
filled  is  somewhat  more  efficient  for  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  intended 
than  pure  water,  there  is  no  reason  why  a  householder  should  not  manu- 
facture his  own  hand-grenades,  and,  by  so  doing,  save  an  unnecessary  out- 
lay of  money.  The  hand-grenade  solution  recommended  is  a  mixture  of 
19.47  parts  common  salt,  8.88  parts  salammoniac,  and  71.66  parts  water.  It 
is  entirely  unnecessary  to  compound  the  mixture  with  any  such  exactness, 
as  a  rough  approximation  to  the  proportions  given  will  give  practically  the 
same  results.  Having  prepared  this  solution,  the  next  thing  is,  to  provide 
suitable  receptacles  for  it,  and  place  them  about  the  house.  Ordinary  quart 
bottles  are  made  of  too  heavy  glass,  and  do  not  readily  break  when  thrown 
at  a  fire;  neither  are  they  of  suitable  shape  for  the  purpose.  The  glass 
flasks  used  by  chemists  make  excellent  hand-grenades,  for  they  are  of  thin 
glass,  and  hold  just  about  the  right  amount  of  fluid.  The  principal  objec- 
tion to  them  is  their  cost,  but  the  combined  cost  of  such  flasks  and  the  so- 
lution for  filling  them  is  much  below  the  current  price  of  hand-grenades. 
There  are  certain  kinds  of  wine-bottles  also  which  might  be  used  advanta- 
geously, as  the  only  necessary  feature  is  thinness  of  glass,  so  that  the  gren- 
ade will  surely  break  when  thrown  at  a  fire.  The  bottle  or  flask  should,  of 
course,  be  stoppered ;  and  it  were  well  to  cover  the  corks  with  sealing-wax, 
so  as  to  prevent  any  loss  by  evaporation." 
PHAEMACEUTICAL  COLLEGES. 
Ihe  Department  of  Pharmacy,  University  of  Kansas,  had  its  second  anni- 
versary, June  6th,  when  addresses  were  delivered  by  several  students,  by  Mr. 
Rob.  J.  Brown,  and  by  Professor  Sayre,  the  discourse  of  the  latter  being  "  On 
Future  Study."    The  graduating  class  in  this  department  numbered  fifteen. 
The  School  of  Pharmacy  of  the  University  of  Michigan  held  its  nineteenth 
annual  commencement,  in  connection  with  the  semi-centennial  celebration 
of  the  University,  on  June  29th  and  30th.  The  degree  of  Master  of  Phar- 
macy was  conferred  upon  one,  and  that  of  Pharmaceutical  Chemist  upon 
twenty-nine  students.  The  Alumni  Association  elected  Prof.  A.  B.  Stevens, 
Ann  Arbor,  president;  T.  A.  Reyer,  Detroit,  secretary,  and  A.  C.  Schu- 
macher, Ann  Arbor,  treasurer. 
