Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
July  1,  1871.  J 
Varieties. 
325 
reading  the  directions,  a  lady  had  swallowed  about  two-thirds  of  a  grain  of 
sulphate  of  atropia.  About  twenty  minutes  afterwards,  medical  aid  was  at 
hand  Doctors  Christopher  Johnston  and  George  Reuliug  succeeded  in  saving 
the  patient  through  the  evacuation  of  the  stomach  by  means  of  the  pump,  and 
through  the  hypodermical  injection  of  forty  minims  of  Magendie's  solution, 
Subsequently  fearing,  from  the  symptoms,  narcotism  by  the  morphia,  a  solution 
of  caffein  and  strong  hot  coffee  was  injected,  and  the  battery  applied.  In  18 
hours  the  patient  was  out  of  danger,  and  in  23  hours  she  merely  felt  a  "little 
uncomfortable." Medic.  Journ.  and  Bull.,  April,  1871,  p.  216 — 219. 
Coating  of  Copper  and  Brass  tuith  Zinc  in  the  Humid  Way. — Zinc  is  finely 
granulated,  by  pouring  the  fused  metal  into  a  hot  iron  mortar  and  triturating  it 
rapidly  with  the  pestle  until  it  has  congealed.  Prof.  Bottger  heats  a  concen- 
trated solution  of  sal  ammoniac,  in  a  suitable  non-metallic  vessel,  to  the  boiling 
point,  together  with  the  finely  granulated  zinc.  Into  this  bath  the  articles  are 
introduced  after  their  surface  has  been  cleaned  with  dilute  muriatic  acid.  A 
brilliant  and  lasting  coating  of  zinc  is  deposited  upon  them  in  a  few  minutes. — 
Arch.  d.  Ph.,  from  Wieck's  Gcw.  Zeit.  No.  25,  1870. 
Appointments. — Dr.  D.  Hayes  Agnew  has  been  elected  to  the  chair  of  Prin- 
ciples and  Practice  of  Surgery  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  made  vacant 
by  the  resignation  of  Prof.  H.  H.  Smith. 
Prof.  Alfred  Stille,  M.D.  of  the  same  University,  has  been  appointed  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Health  of  this  city. 
Dr.  Victor  Merz  has  been  appointed  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Director 
of  the  Chemical  Laboratory  at  the  University  of  Zurich,  Switzerland,  and  Dr. 
W.  Weith,  Professor  of  Pharmaceutical  and  Analytical  Chemistry. 
Fenfiale  Apothecari/. — The  "  Ostseezeitung  "  states  that  recently,  before  the 
government  examiners,  a  lady  passed  the  examination  as  apothecary,  and  ac- 
quitted herself  so  well  that  she  received  the  censure  "excellent."  It  is  the 
Deaconess  Phillipina  Mangelsdorff  who  was  thus  recognized  as  the  first  female 
apothecary  in  the  Province  of  Pommerania,  Prussia. 
Influence  which  Coffee  and  Cacao  exert  as  Food. —  Dr.  Rabuteau. — This  paper 
contains  the  account  of  some  experiments  made  with  dogs,  to  which  the  author 
gave  diets  in  one  case  consisting  daily  of  20  grms.  of  bre  id,  10  grms.  of  fresh 
butter,  and  10  grms.  of  sugar  ;  in  the  other  case,  20  grms.  of  cacao,  10  grms,  of 
sugar  arad  an  infusion  of  20  grms.  of  well  roasted  coffee.  From  these  experi. 
ments  the  author  draws  conclusions  leading  him  to  consider  coffee  and  cacao 
as  simply  preventing  de-nutrition.  This  view  was  objected  to  at  the  meeting 
by  MM.  Payen,  Dumas,  and  Chevreul.  whose  lengthy  discussions  on  this  sub- 
ject are  reproduced.  As  regards  cacao  (commonly,  but  erroneously,  in  this 
country  named  cocoa),  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  containing  as  it  does  from 
17  to  20  per  cent  of  albuminous  matter,  with  from  It)  to  12  per  cent  of  starch, 
from  40  to  50  per  cent  of  fat,  and  among  its  mineral  matter  phosphates,  it  is 
food.  M.  Chevreul,  very  properly  observes,  among  other  matters,  the  existence 
of  idiosyncracy  and  its  influence  on  the  individual  tastes,  and  hence  also  more  or 
less  on  the  action  of  various  alimentary  substances,  pointing  out  that  he  himself 
