276 
VARIETIES. 
A  New  Source  of  Naphtha. — In  the  4  Athenaeum,'  February  15,  1868r 
we  read — "The  belief  expressed  by  some  geologists  that  naphtha  would 
be  found  in  the  Caucasus  has  been  realized.  A  boring  276  feet  deep, 
near  Kuaaco,  has  struck  a  source  of  this  liquid,  which  yielded  1500' 
barrels  daily  for  one  month  ;  more  recently  a  second  source  has  been  dis- 
covered near  the  former,  from  which  the  naphtha  jets  to  a  height  of  40 
feet  above  the  ground,  and  flows  out  at  the  daily  rate  of  6000  barrels. — 
London  Pharm.  Journ.,  March,  1868. 
Preparation  of  Iodhydric  Acid. — C.  Winkler.  Instead  of  preparing 
this  acid  by  passing  a  current  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen  through  water, 
containing  iodine  in  suspension,  the  author  proposes  the  following  plan 
of  working.  Iodine  is  dissolved  in  carbonic  disulphide,  water  placed  on 
the  top  of  this,  and  the  sulphuretted  hydrogen  passed  to  the  bottom  of 
the  vessel  into  the  iodine  solution.  The  dark  color  of  the  latter  grad- 
ually becomes  lighter,  while  the  iodhydric  acid  formed  is  completely 
absorbed  by  the  water.  The  sulphur  which  separates  remains  dissolved 
in  the  carbonic  disulphide. — Ibid,  from  Journ.  pr.  Chem.  cii.  33. 
Mustard  Paper. — M.  Rigollot,  a  Paris  pharrnacien,  has,  under  the 
name  of  papier  sinapise,  contrived  an  elegant  preparation  which  embraces 
all  the  advantages  of  the  mustard  cataplasm  without  incurring  the 
risk  of  its  inefficiency,  owing  to  the  loss  of  power  in  the  flour  of  mustard.. 
He  has  done  this  by  extracting  the  fixed  oil  while  retaining  the  rube- 
facient principle.  A  piece  of  the  paper  of  the  required  size  is  put  in 
water  for  a  few  seconds  and  placed  wet  on  the  part,  whereon  it  is  bound 
with  a  handkerchief.  It  does  not  cost  more  than  the  ordinary  mustard 
plaster,  and  is  always  ready  and  promptly  efficacious. — Hays  Journal, 
from  Med.  Times  and  Gaz.,  and  Bull,  de  Therap.,  Sept.  30. 
[B.  J.  Crew,  of  Philadelphia,  has  introduced  a  portable  mustard  plas- 
ter spread  on  paper,  which  appears  to  retain  the  properties  of  the  mus- 
tard, and  is  very  convenient. — Editor  A.J.  Pharm.] 
The  Giant  Ostrich  of  Madagascar. — In  the  year  1850  two  enormous 
eggs,  found  in  the  bed  of  a  stream  in  Madagascar,  were  sent  to  Paris, 
accompanied  by  a  small  portion  of  a  skeleton,  and  on  a  careful  examina- 
tion by  the  naturalists  of  the  Garden  of  Plants,  it  was  ascertained  that 
the  remains  belonged  to  a  species  of  the  ostrich  family,  of  vastly  greater 
size,  however,  than  any  now  known  to  exist.  The  largest  of  these  eggs 
measured  about  13£  inches  by  9,  and  was  estimated  to  be  equal  in 
capacity  to  six  eggs  of  the  Africau  ostrich,  twelve  of  the  American,  and 
to  twelve  dozen  of  those  of  the  common  hen.  A  cast  of  this  egg  is,  we 
believe,  in  the  magnificent  museum  of  our  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences. 
The  bird  itself  was  supposed  to  have  been  nearly  fourteen  feet  high. 
Another  nearly  perfect  egg  of  this  bird,  named  aepyornis  maximus  by  the 
Paris  naturalists,  was  sent  a  few  years  ago  to  London,  where  it  sold  for 
