520 
TINCTURA  PHYSOSTIGM.E. 
middle  of  the  day  presented  a  scene  of  the  most  varied  and  interesting 
character,  embracing  as  it  did  so  many  useful  and  curious  arts  and  pro- 
cesses, from  the  plaiting  of  straw  and  the  cutting  of  corks  to  the  finest 
processes  of  the  jeweller,  watchmaker  and  lapidary. 
The  seventh  group  consisted  of  food,  fresh  or  preserved  in  various  states, 
such  as  the  cereal  grains,  bread,  pastry,  fats,  milk,  eggs,  meat,  fish,  con- 
diments, sugar  and  fermented  drinks. 
The  eighth  group  consisted  of  farm  buildings,  models  and  agricultural 
works,  live  stock,  including  horses,  asses,  mules,  bulls,  buffaloes,  sheep, 
goats,  pigs,  rabbits,  poultry,  &c. 
The  ninth  group  related  chiefly  to  horticultural  buildings,  and  products. 
The  tenth,  various  articles  exhibited  with  the  special  object  of  improving 
the  physical  and  moral  condition  of  the  people,  as  apparatus  used  in  in- 
struction, improvements  in  furniture,  clothing,  dwellings,  books,  etc., 
having  this  object  in  view. 
To  get  space  for  the  immense  number  of  articles  sent  that  the  main 
structure  would  not  contain,  numerous  out-buildings  were  erected  at  the 
expense  of  the  different  countries  wishing  to  occupy  them,  space  being  ap- 
portioned to  each,  and  some  of  the  most  interesting  processes  and  objects 
were  to  be  found  in  isolated  paths  and  avenues.  In  fact  the  visitor  re- 
quired a  week  to  get  a  reasonably  correct  impression  of  the  localities 
before  any  systematic  examination  of  the  Exhibition  could  be  accomplished. 
The  official  catalogue,  containing  a  mere  enumeration  of  the  articles  de- 
posited without  any  description,  and  not  including  many  introduced  later, 
embraces  more  than  a  thousand  closely  printed  pages,  while  the  special 
catalogues,  gotten  up  by  each  country  of  any  prominence,  make  a  pile  of 
voluminous  pamphlets  perfectly  discouraging  to  any  attempt  at  condensa- 
tion. The  objects  of  special  interest  to  the  pharmaceutist  are  so  limited, 
when  compared  with  the  entire  collection,  that  it  has  been  thought  feasible 
to  give  a  few  pages  to  their  notice,  and  in  the  coming  numbers  we  propose 
to  introduce  a  few  articles  in  continuation  of  this  letter.         W.  P.,  Jr. 
ON  TINCTURA  PHYSOSTIGM^. 
By  William  Procter,  J  r. 
The  tincture  of  Calabar  bean  (Physostigma  venenosum)  is  occa- 
sionally prescribed  in  Philadelphia,  and,  not  having  seen  a  for- 
mula, the  following  is  offered  as  affording  the  active  constituents 
of  this  new  remedial  agent : 
Take  of  Calabar  beans,  a  troy  ounce, 
Alcohol,  seven  fluidounces* 
Water,  three  fluidounces. 
Reduce  the  beans  to  a  fine  powder  in  the  mortar,  mix  the  alco 
