Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
Dec.  1, 1872.  j 
Varieties. 
568 
of  its  cultivators.  In  1858  or  1859,  a  professional  trapper  from  Wisconsin,  if  I 
am  not  mistaken,  caught  seventy  five  or  eighty  beavers  in  this  county  in  less 
than  a  month's  time. 
They  are  yet  increasing  in  this  county,  as  I  have  no  doubt  they  are  in  all  the 
counties  of  central  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  and  perhaps  entirely  throughout 
both  States.  I  have  no  doubt  that  in  Hinds  county  they  are  more  than  half  as 
numerous  as  the  population.  I  now  write  in  the  Court  House  of  the  county  ^ 
and  they  can  be  found  in  sight  of  it,  and  at  a  less  distance  than  one  mile. — 
Am  Jour.  Sci.  and  Arts,  Nov.,  1872. 
Opium  Smoking. — As  a  large  portion  of  Middle  China  is  devoted  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  poppy,  and  already  merchants  are  complaining  that  their  profits 
are  diminished  by  the  rapidly  increasing  product  of  the  Chinese  drug,  the  fol- 
lowing gleanings  from  a  correspondent  of  an  exchange  journal  at  Foochow 
may  interest  some  of  our  readers  : 
"Intelligent  Chinese  inform  me  that  the  number  addicted  to  opium-smoking 
is  rapidly  increasing.  All  classes  are  alike  guilty  of  the  vice,  and  in  some  cases 
entire  families  are  ruined,  both  physically  and  financially,  by  the  use  of  the 
drug. 
"This  is  an  aqueous  extract  made  by  first  dissolving  the  crude  opium  in 
water  and  steaming,  then  carefully  boiling.  The  impurities,  such  as  fragments 
of  leaves,  sticks,  &c,  are  skimmed  off',  and  this  is  continued  until  it  has  a  con- 
sistency  and  appearance  resembling  tar.  The  prepared  opium  represents  about 
twice  its  own  weight  of  crude  opium  drug.  It  is  retailed  to  the  smokers,  who 
carry  it  in  small  boxes  made  of  buffalo's  horns. 
"  The  implements  used  in  smoking  are  the  pipe,  a  small  lamp  and  a  flattened 
wire.  The  pipe  is  made  of  some  heavy  wood,  frequently  of  ebony,  mounted 
with  silver  trimmings.  They  are  from  one  to  one  and  a  half  feet  in  length,  and 
from  one  to  one  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter.  The  bowl  of  the  pipe  is  made 
of  earthenware,  and  has  only  a  small  aperture  to  receive  the  opium. 
"The  smoker  reclines  on  his  side,  and,  if  wealthy,  he  has  a  servant  to  hold 
his  pipe,  hand  him  his  opium,  and  fan  him.  A  quantity  of  opium  about  the 
size  of  a  pea  is  collected  on  the  end  of  a  wire,  placed  in  the  bowl  of  the  pipe, 
and  ignited  by  being  brought  into  contact  with  the  flame  of  the  lamp.  The 
smoker  inhales  it  in  two  or  three  whirls,  and  it  is  retained  in  the  lungs  as  long 
as  possible. 
"The  amount  consumed  by  the  habitual  smoker  is  quite  surprising.  A  quar- 
ter ounce  is  daily  used  by  hundreds,  and  in  some  cases  it  is  believed  to  reach 
an  ounce."— Med.  Press,  Lond.,  Oct.  2,  1872. 
Boldo. — This  is  the  name  of  a  new  remedy  which  has  been  recently  intro- 
duced into  Europe.  It  is  imported  from  Chili,  where  it  is  distilled  from  the 
leaves  of  a  tree  of  the  genus  Monimiaceoe.  Its  reputation  appears  to  rest 
upon  a  pretty  slender  basis,  and  not  upon  the  results  of  any  trustworthy  expe- 
riments. Thus  far  it  has  been  administered  empirically  for  the  more  frequent 
affections  of  the  liver.  As  in  the  case  of  cundurango,  its  use  is  most  strongly 
recommended  by  charlatans,  pecuniarily  interested  in  its  success,  and,  like  that 
drug,  its  popularity  will  probably  be  of  very  short  duration. — Boston  Med.  and 
Surg.  Joum.,  Oct.  3,  1872. 
