Am.  Jour.  Pharro. 
Nov.,  1878. 
Varieties. 
549 
Large  Consumption  of  Opium. —  In  the  Maryland  "  Medical  Journal,"  June, 
3878,  Dr.  Chisholm  related  a  case  of  a  man  who  had  taken  3n  of  morphia  at  once, 
without  any  bad  effect.  A  child  of  eight  months  regularly  took  f^ii  of  Magen- 
die\s  solution  in  the  twenty-four  hours.  These  facts  illustrate  the  remarkable  toler- 
ance produced  by  habit. — Ibid. 
Quinoidin  as  a  Febrifuge  — The  "  Lancet  "  says  :  At  a  late  meeting  of  the 
Academie  de  Medecine  de  Paris,  M.  Burdel,  of  Vierzon,  read  a  paper  on  the  Febri- 
fuge Action  of  Quinoidin  in  the  Treatment  of  Telluric  Fevers.  M.  Burdel 
remarked  that  this  resin-alkaloid  possesses  distinct  febrifugal  properties,  and  that  it  is 
closely  analogous  in  its  action  to  quinia.  He  finds  that,  like  quinia,  it  may  be 
freely  administered,  and  with  good  results,  in  telluric  and  benignant  intermittent 
fevers.  But  it  is  in  quartan  fevers  and  in  telluric  cachexia  that  it  exerts  a  specially 
well-marked  action  5  in  these  it  is  even  superior  to  quinia.  Like  all  analogous 
febrifuge  remedies,  quinoidin  should  be  given  for  four  or  five  weeks  consecutively, 
in  successive  but  properly  timed  doses.  Its  relatively  low  price  is  a  great  point  in  its 
favor.  It  cannot,  M.  Burdel  thinks,  supplant  quinia  in  the  treatment  of  intermittent 
fevers  of  an  acute  type,  but  it  may  even  in  these  be  a  useful  auxiliary ;  while  in 
chronic  cases  he  believes  that  it  is  actually  superior  to  quinia. — Med.  and  Surg.  Rep., 
October  12. 
Collection  of  Caoutchouc  on  the  Banks  of  the  Amazon.— Robert  Cross,  who 
went  to  Para  for  the  purpose  of  studying  the  manner  of  collection  and  treatment  of 
the  milk  juice  of  Hevea  elastica,  the  tree  which  yields  the  Para  caoutchouc,  states 
that  this  tree  grows  in  low  moist  regions  5  hundreds  of  caoutchouc-collectors  were 
seen  by  him  on  the  shores  of  the  Rio  Guama,  who  gather  it  in  the  following 
manner:  Starting  at  daybreak,  the  native  makes  a  deep  longitudinal  incision  with 
his  ax  into  the  bark  of  a  tree  at  a  height  of  2  meters  and  fastens  a  clay  cup  to  the 
bark  with  a  little  clay  directly  under  it  y  10 — 12  cm.  from  this  incision,  at  the  same 
height  from  the  ground,  he  makes  another,  and  so  on  until  the  tree  is  encircled  by 
, incisions ;  he  then  proceeds  to  the  next  tree.  The  next  morning  he  makes  another 
circle  of  incisions  into  the  first  tree  about  15 — 20  cm.  lower  than  the  first,  and  con- 
tinues to  do  so,  until  he  reaches  the  ground,  when  he  again  commences  to  cut  circles 
between  each  two  previous  ones,  commencing  at  the  top.  After  all  trees  have  been 
thus  treated  the  collector  empties  all  the  cups  into  a  large  vessel  and  carries  this  to 
:a  shed  near  the  river,  where  the  juice  is  prepared  for  market,  by  pouring  2  or  3  cup- 
fuls  at  a  time  on  an  oar-shaped  mould,  suspended  from  the  ceiling  over  a  constant 
heat  of  about  42°C,  produced  by  conducting  the  heat  from  a  wood  fire  with  atmos- 
pheric air  through  a  bottomless  earthenware  jar,  filled  with  wood  and  palm-nuts. 
The  mould  has  a  thin  clay  coating  to  prevent  the  juice  from  adhering,  and  is  kept  in 
constant  motion.  The  milky  juice  soon  turns  yellow ;  when  sufficiently  dry  a  new 
Jot  is  poured  on  it,  and  so  on  until  the  mass  is  about  10  to  12  cm.  thick,  when  the 
mould  is  withdrawn,  the  caoutchouc  dried  in  the  open  air  for  several  days,  and  is 
/then  ready  for  the  market. 
