•Am.  Jocr.  Phabm.  \ 
Nov.  1,  1872.  j 
Varieties. 
517 
Simon  Puster  to  establish  an  apothecary's  shop,  in  order,  as  stated  in  the  pat- 
ent, that  the  citizens  might  be  supplied  with  confections,  cooling  liquors,  and 
such  like  common  things,  at  a  cheap  rate  ;  and  that  in  cases  of  sickness  they 
might  be  able  to  procure  readily  fresh  and  well-prepared  medicines.  Puster 
was  exempted  from  all  taxes  for  ten  years,  but  was  obliged  to  furnish  two  col- 
lations in  the  time  of  the  yearly  festivals  of  eight  pounds  of  good  sugar  con- 
fections, fit  and  proper  to  be  used  at  such  entertainments." 
At  the  Byzantine  court  the  keeper  of  the  wardrobe  had  the  care,  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  of  the  portable  apothecary's  shop  whenever  the  emperor  took 
the  field.  "  It  was  called  '  pandectse,'  and  contained  antidotes,  oils,  piaster^ 
salves,  and  herbs  proper  for  curing  men  and  cattle."  What  a  step  have  not 
apothecaries  made  !  How  greatly  they  are  advanced  in  the  scale  of  society  ! 
and  deservedly,  for  they  owe  it  to  their  own  earnest  and  honest  endeavors  after 
knowledge. —  Good  Health,  Sept.,  1872. 
Adulterations. — The  French  tribunals  are  usually  severe  in  punishing  adul. 
terations  of  articles  of  common  use,  making  not  only  the  manufacturers  but 
the  intermediaries  responsible  for  the  nature  of  the  goods  they  sell.  The 
•agents  of  two  Belgian  starch  makers,  with  several  wholesale  and  retail  grocers, 
have  just  been  prosecuted  before  the  Paris  court  of  correctional  police  for 
selling  rice  starch  adulterated  in  the  proportion  of  from  10  to  24  per  cent,  of 
potato  flour  and  plaster  of  Paris. — Boston  Med.  and  Surg-.  Journ.,  Sept.  1, 1872. 
Efflorescent  Salt  obtained  twelve  miles  from  Denver,  Colorado,  contains,  ac- 
cording to  P.  Frazer,  Jr.,  sulphate  of  soda,  63*87  per  cent.,  sulphate  of  lime, 
9*70,  water,  21*88,  chloride  of  sodium,  sulphate  of  magnesia,  &c,  4-55. — Hay* 
den's  Report  on  Wyoming,  1871,  p.  187,  from  Am.  Journ.  Science  and  Arts, 
Sept,,  1872. 
Summer  heat  o/1872. — The  records  kept  at  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital  show 
the  temperature  during  June  and  July  has  been  unprecedently  high.  The  mean 
temperature  for  June  was  76*62  degrees,  within  three  quarters  of  a  degree  of 
the  highest  ever  known  since  the  record  has  been  kept,  and  for  July  82-31,  the 
highest  ever  recorded.  Usually  when  June  or  July  has  been  extremely  warm, 
the  preceding  or  succeeding  month  has  been  quite  temperate,  contrary  to 
what  has  occurred  the  present  summer.  In  this  respect,  as  well  as  in  the  un- 
paralleled heat  of  July,  the  present  summer  has  been  the  warmest  on  record 
in  our  vicinity. 
During  the  month  of  July,  11*22  inches  of  rain  fell,  a  quantity  never  ex- 
ceeded but  once  previously,  and  then  by  only  half  an  inch.  Rain  fell  on  eleven 
^different  days  of  the  month,  the  heaviest  fall  being  on  the  evening  of  July  4, 
and  measuring  3*13  inches,  while  the  average  rain  fall  of  the  month  during  the 
past  thirty-five  years  has  been  only  4*08  inches.  During  the  first  six  months  of 
the  present  year  18*24  inches  of  rain  fell,  making  a  total  of  29*46  inches,  against 
28*26  inches  during  the  first  seven  months  of  1871. — Med.  News  and  Library , 
Sept,,  1872. 
