82 
VARIETIES. 
to  each  pint  of  the  soup  ;  and  the  same  plan  will  unable  us  to  keep  jellies, 
which  ordinarily  decompose  so  rapidly  in  the  organic  germ-laden  air  of 
the  sick-room,  for  many  days  unimpaired;  these  are,  in  my  opinion,  con- 
siderations of  some  moment  in  all  circumstances,  but  most  especially  in 
the  habitations  of  the  poor.  Clothes  or  matting,  soaked  in  the  same  solu- 
tion and  hung  up,  act  as  disinfectants  of  the  most  effective  kind,  and  do 
not  exhale  the  peculiarly  unpleasant  odor  of  carbolic  acid,  or  the  irritat- 
ing vapors,  so  distressing  to  the  bronchial  system,  of  the  chloride  of  lime. 
I  have  successfully  employed  the  bi-sulphite  of  calcium  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  numerous  anatomical  and  other  specimens,  as  it  does  its  work 
perfectly,  and  without  occasioning  the  great  changes  of  color  and  con- 
traction  of  muscular  structure  so  frequently  produced  by  ordinary  anti- 
septics ;  moreover,  its  special  advantage  over  the  preparations  of  mercury 
and  arsenic  lies,  in  my  thinking,  in  the  fact  that  it  is  not  poisonous,  and 
can  therefore  be  handled  with  perfect  safety.  For  ointments,  a  fluid 
drachm  to  each  pound  is  quite  sufficient  to  preserve  them,  while  it  has  no 
injurious  action  whatever,  and  is  quite  compatible  with  the  great  majority 
of  ointments  and  oily  preparations — a  remark  which  does  not  apply  to 
the  alkaline  sulphites  and  bi-sulphites  which  have,  from  time  to  time, 
been  brought  forward  for  similar  purposes." — Med.  and  Sur.  Rep.,  Nov. 
16,  1887,  from  Brit.  Med.  Journal. 
Mercurial  Ointment  as  an  Anthelmintic. — Dr.  T.  E.  Broaddus,  of  St. 
Charles,  La.,  [New  Orleans  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour. )  in  1861,  prescribed  15 
grains  of  blue  mass  for  a  robust  patient,  to  be  followed  by  castor  oil.  Oq 
his  next  visit  he  was  surprised  to  find  the  medicine  had  produced  an 
extraordinary  evacuation  of  worms  (lumbricoides).  On  querying  as  to 
the  medicine  taken,  the  patient  said  he  had  great  difficulty  in  taking  the 
mass  and  had  to  swallow  it  in  lumps.  On  examination  the  doctor  found 
that  his  patient  had  taken  mercurial  ointment,  which  readily  accounted  for 
the  practical  difficulty  of  making  it  into  pills. 
Subsequently,  Dr.  B.,  in  unusual  cases  requiring  a  vermifuge,  prescribed 
this  mercurial  in  the  form  of  an  emulsion  for  lumbricoides  and  for  taenia, 
followed  by  castor  oil,  with  complete  success. 
Antidote  for  external  Poisoning  by  Cyanide  of  Potassium. — !*he  extensive 
use  made  of  this  virulent  poison  in  electroplating  and  other  arts,  some- 
times is  the  cause  of  painful  and  troublesome  ulcers  on  the  hands  of  the 
workmen.  The  Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry  contains  a  statement  from 
the  foreman  of  the  gilding  department  of  the  American  Watch  "Works,  in 
which  he  says  that  experience  has  taught  him  that  the  most  effectual 
remedy  which  can  be  employed  in  such  eases  is  the  proto-sulphate  of  iron 
in  fine  powder,  rubbed  up  with  raw  linseed  oil. 
The  Proposed  International  Coinage. — A  specimen  medal  of  the  pro- 
posed international  coin  of  twenty-five  francs,  recently  struck  by  the 
