276 
Varieties. 
(Am.  Jour.  Phabm. 
I    June  1, 1871. 
engines  of  modern  barbarity.  Alas  !  how  many  hopes  have  been  scattered  to 
the  wind  !  How  many  pale,  weeping  figures,  clothed  in  black,  are  daily  to  be 
seen  carrying  in  pious  hands  wreaths  of  "  immortelles,"  to  deck  the  rude  crosses 
that  lie  thick  at  Moutretout  and  for  miles  around.  The  past  was  dreadful 
enough,  gilded  over  by  a  coating  of  patriotism  ;  the  present  is  doubly  fearful — 
brother  against  brother,  and  no  canopy  of  glory,  but  one  reeking  shroud  of 
vengeance,  hatred  and  bloodshed. 
'['he  siege,  by  provoking  the  appetite,  instigated  curious  researches  among  the 
edibles  generally  found  in  pharmacies.  As  long  as  a  few  tins  of  concentrated 
milk  remained^  we  fared  luxuriously  on  arrowroot  puddings  and  oatmeal  gruel  ^ 
in  fact,  a  tolerable  pharmaceutical  dinner,  save  the  monotony,  was  daily  pro- 
curable, and  consisted  of  a  soup  of  Liebig's  extract  thickened  with  tapioca  or 
pearl-barley.  A  hors  d'oeuvre  of  anchovy  paste  or  olives ;  then  a  piece  de 
resistance,  such  as  curried  horseflesh,  or  a  cat's  thigh  strong  with  garlic^  a  salad 
of  mustard  and  young  flax,  which  we  grew  in  boxes  in  the  cellars,  a  dessert  of 
Jordan  almonds  and  conserve  of  hips,  and  a  strong  cup  of  coffee  with  which  to 
wash  all  down.  When  the  bread  became  almost  uneatable,  Hard's  food  was 
brought  into  requisition — the  dongh  was  cleanly  made  in  a  large  pestle  and 
mortar,  with  a  due  proportion  of  bicarbonate  of  soda  and  hydrochloric  acid, 
and  baked  into  light  little  loaves,  or  rather  cakes,  of  surpassing  delicacy  of 
flavor.  Our  distaste  for  horseflesh  induced  us  to  invent  sundry  bouquets,  the 
success  of  which  was  so  great  in  imparting  a  really  pleasant  flavor  to  the  insipid 
meat,  that  I  am  sure  no  cordon  bleu  should  ignore  their  utility.  The  favorite 
consisted  of  a  clove  of  garlic  and  a  pinch  of  peppercorns,  corianders,  cloves, 
parsley-seed,  dried  thyme  and  ginger,  bruised  together  and  tied  in  a  piece  of 
muslin. 
The  only  article  for  which  an  extraordinary  demand  existed  was  extract  of 
meat.  Tonics  were  much  taken,  and  resulted  in  several  new  specialities,  rather 
more  ingenious  than  tasty,  such  as  a  combined  essence  of  calisaya  and  Liebig^ 
prepared  with  Cognac  ! 
Ernest  J.  T.  Agnew. 
232  Rue  de  Rivoli,  MarcJi  227id,  1871. 
— Pharm.  Journ.,  Lond.,  April  1,  1871. 
Will  Snake- Poison  Kill  a  Snake? — Dr.  Fayrer,  in  India,  has  been  experi- 
menting to  correct  the  popular  error  that  a  snake  cannot  kill  a  snake.  He  took 
a  young  and  very  lively  cobra,  fourteen  inches  long,  and  which  was  bitten  in 
the  muscular  part  of  the  body  by  a  krait  forty-eight  inches  long.  The  krait 
had  not  bitten  for  some  days  before.  From  a  detailed  report  by  Dr.  Fayrer,  it 
appears  that  the  cobra  was  bitten  at  12.50  P.M.  At  1  P.M.  it  was  very  slug- 
gish, at  1.3  P.M.  so  sluggish  that  it  moved  with  difficulty,  could  be  easily  hand- 
led, and  made  no  effort  at  resistance.  At  1.20  it  was  apparently  dying,  and  its 
movements  were  scarcely  perceptible,  and  at  1.22  it  died,  thirty-two  minutes 
after  the  attack.  Dr.  Fayrer  has  found  that  the  water-snakes  of  India  are 
deadly  poisonous.  In  the  Bay  of  Bengal  they  swarm,  and  it  is  noted  as  omi- 
nous that  lately  it  was  proposed  to  erect  a  sea-bathing  establishment  for  Cal- 
cutta at  Barwar,  under  the  assurance  that  there  were  no  sharks.  It  is  remarked 
