^oct^ber^fge™'}      A  Resume  of  Recurrent  Topics.  533 
us  to  an  endeavor  to  suppress  the  practice.  The  writer  believes  it 
is  generally  known  that  the  beehive  of  the  present  day  is  quite  as 
much  a  piece  of  human  as  of  insect  industry,  for  the  foundation  of 
the  comb  or  cell  is  ingeniously  made  of  paraffin.  Yet  we  affect  a 
surprise  when  we  are  confronted  with  a  sample  of  16  to  1.  It  is 
absolutely  futile  to  pose  here  under  a  plea  of  virtuous  intent  to  pro- 
vide more  of  those  "  shining  hours"  to  that  indefatigable  laborer  for 
the  fabrication  of  our  honey.  There  must  be  an  unerrring  means 
of  determining  the  purity  of  this  substance  (beeswax)  when  met 
with  in  the  course  of  commercial  pilgrimage,  but  the  modern  article 
is  so  adroitly  compounded  as  to  successfully  elude  ordinary  scrutiny. 
The  exact  temperature  point  of  congelation  or  solidification  after 
fusion  offers  a  good  guide.  In  the  instance  of  beeswax,  particularly, 
it  is  hard  for  the  rogues  to  imitate  this.  It  is  said  that  between 
specimens  of  pure  unbleached  and  bleached  wax  this  degree  varies 
considerably. 
Alcohol. — A  summary  of  expert  medico-legal  testimony  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  physiological  effects  of  alcohol  on  the  human  organism 
concludes  that  1 5  grains  to  every  2  pounds  avoirdupois  of  weight 
during  twenty-four  hours  is  not  incompatible  with  and  appears  to 
favor  health.  Thirty  grains,  however,  under  the  same  conditions  as 
to  weight  and  interval,  will  produce  intoxication,  whilst  120  grains 
will  cause  death  in  from  twenty-four  to  thirty-six  hours. 
Investigation  and  Research. — A  review  of  the  results  along  these 
lines  for  the  last  thirty  years  ought  to  prove  very  encouraging  to 
the  student  of  pharmacy.  Very  many  of  the  valuable  agents  which 
have  been  brought  to  knowledge  and  into  use  had  no  existence  pre- 
viously, except  as  curiosities  of  the  cabinet.  It  is  always  a  subject 
of  national  regret  that  American  chemists  and  pharmacists  do  not 
figure  more  considerably  in  these  discoveries  and  inventions.  It 
may  be,  perhaps,  that  we  have  not  imbibed  the  spirit  or  that  degree 
of  patience  which  characterizes  the  votaries  of  science  in  other  lands. 
The  history  of  the  antipyretics  discloses  a  fact,  namely :  that  in  the 
pursuit  of  a  definite  purpose  one  may  accidentally  stumble  upon  a 
useful  product  hitherto  unknown.  It  is  not  contended  that  dis- 
covery is  always  the  result  of  design.  On  the  contrary,  how  many 
of  the  most  important  and  enduring  contributions  to  scientific 
knowledge  in  its  application  to  life  and  health  have  been  the  result 
