Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
April,  1878.  J 
Various  Notes. 
l73 
To  operate  the  tool  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  dip  it  first  in  water, 
then  having  secured  the  plaster  firmly  by  tacking  it  to  several  layers  of 
old  newspapers  on  a  rather  low  counter,  grasp  the  tool  tightly  with  both 
hands  and  drive  the  punches  with  some  force  through  the  plaster,  push- 
ing it  along,  from  the  operator,  the  wheel  revolving  as  it  is  pushed 
forward,  the  little  disks  of  plaster  collect  in  the  punches,  stick 
together  and  form  a  core,  which  falls  towards  the  axle  of  the  wheel 
and  is  driven  out  by  the  inclined  hub. 
A  cheaper  tool  could  be  made  with  but  one  series  of  punches 
arranged  on  the  wheel,  but  two  series  have  the  advantage  of  doing  the 
work,  more  quickly,  and  less  skill  is  necessary  to  operate  it. 
Hand-made  plasters,  spread  on  kid,  may  be  perforated  in  this  way  by 
hand,  and  physicians  may  order  any  combination  that  they  may  desire, 
and  secure  one  of  toe  advantages  of  the  machine-made  plasters.  The 
tool  should  be  cleaned  with  cloth  moistened  with  a  little  turpentine, 
and  kept  in  a  box  to  prevent  punches  from  being  injured  by  coming  in 
contact  with  hard  objects. 
Philadelphia,  Third  mo.  iSth,  1878. 
VARIOUS  NOTES. 
By  X.  Landerer,  Athens,  Greece. 
A  Useful  Bird. — A  raven  (Corvus  fructilegus)  is  in  the  habit  of 
burying  the  acorns  of  Quercus  aegilops  by  the  thousands  to  serve  as 
food  in  the  winter  time.  As  the  bird  generally  forgets  where  he  buries 
them,  the  acorns  soon  germinate  and  grow  up  to  stately  trees,  and  in 
this  way  the  raven  contributes  very  materially  to  the  welfare  of  hun- 
dreds of  families  and  thereby  to  that  of.  Greece,  since  the  cups  (valonia 
of  commerce,  which  are  much  used  in  tanning  and  dyeing)  represent  an 
annual  income  of  three  to  four  million  drachms.  The  name  aegilops 
comes  from  aix  (a  goat),  and  opsis  (eye)  from  a  supposed  resemblance 
of  the  cupula  to  the  eye  of  a  goat. 
Heron's  Fat. — A  popular  remedy  with  the  Greeks  and  Turks  is 
the  fat  from  the  neck  of  several  species  of  heron  (Ardea  cinerea, 
egretta,  etc.),  which  is  used  as  an  embrocation  against  whooping  cough 
and  scrophulous  swellings.  The  beautiful,  and,  in  many  countries,  so 
highly-priced  plumage  of  those  birds  is  thrown  away,  and  thus  one 
source  of  income  neglected. 
