92 
VARIETIES. 
treme  among  the  unprotected,  because  unvaccinated,  natives.  However, 
the  alarm  had  greatly  diminished  on  an  old  squaw  going  amongst  them, 
and  treating  the  cases  with  the  infusion.  This  treatment,  it  is  said,  was  so 
successful,  as  to  cure  every  case.  The  Secretary  of  the  Society,  Dr.  Mc- 
William,  C.  B.,  had  sent  specimens  of  the  plant  to  Dr.  Hooker,  of  Kew, 
who  pronounced  it  to  be  the  Sarracenia purpurea,  one  of  the  pitcher  plants 
of  North  America. 
Mr.  Marson,  of  the  Small-Pox  Hospital,  has  kindly  undertaken  to  give 
the  so-called  remedy  a  trial. — London  Pharm.  Jour.,  December,  1861. 
Carbonized  Eye  as  a  Tooth  Powder. — Rye  charcoal  is  said  to  be  much 
used  in  Paris  as  a  tooth  powder.  The  following  constituents  have  been 
found  by  Schrader  in  500  grammes  of  the  ashes  of  rye  :  Carbonate  of  lime, 
7  grammes  ;  9-8  ditto  of  carbonate  of  magnesia  ;  7-2  ditto  of  oxides  of  iron 
and  manganese,  and  1.9  ditto  of  silica. — Ibid. 
The  Action  of  Porous  Bodies  in  Inducing  Chemical  Combinations. — M.  B. 
Corenwinder  showed  some  years  ago  that  partial  combination  of  sulphur 
and  hydrogen  may  be  effected  by  bringing  the  two  bodies  together  in  the 
presence  of  pumice-stone  at  a  red  heat.  He  has  recently  shown  that  the 
vapor  of  water  may  be  also  decomposed  by  sulphur,  when  some  porous 
body  at  an  elevated  temperature  is  made  to  intervene.  The  experiment  was 
conducted  as  follows : — Same  fragments  of  recently  calcined  pumice  stone 
were  placed  in  the  middle  part  of  a  glass  or  porcelain  tube:  one  end  of  the 
tube  was  then  filled  with  pieces  of  sulphur,  a  plugget  of  asbestos*being 
placed  between  the  cork  and  the  sulphur.  A  tube,  by  which  steam  could 
be  sent  in,  passed  through  the  cork.  The  pumice-stone  was  then  heated  to 
redness,  and  the  sulphur  made  to  slowly  volatilize.  At  the  same  time  a 
current  of  steam  was  cautiously  sent  through.  After  a  little  time,  sulphur- 
etted hydrogen  was  produced  in  abundance.  A  still  more  decided  result 
is  obtained  if  pure  calcined  silica  be  substituted  for  the  pumice-stone.  The 
porous  body  is  totally  unacted  upon  in  all  cases. 
The  author  directs  the  attention  of  geologists  to  these  results  ;  he  thinks 
that  they  may  explain  the  presence  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen  in  certain 
volcanic  emanations. — Ibid. 
Formation  of  Fatty  Matter  in  Olives. — The  cause  of  the  formation  of  the 
different  fatty  and  other  principles  which  exist  in  plants  is  at  once  a  most 
interesting  problem  to  be  solved,  and  one  upon  which  but  little  light  has 
hitherto  been  thrown.  M.  de  Luca  has  endeavored  to  solve  it  with  regard 
to  the  oily  principle  of  olives,  but  he  has  only  succeeded  in  establishing 
certain  relations  between  the  density  of  this  fruit  and  its  richness  in  oil. 
