422 
Varieties, 
(  Am.  Jouk.  Pharm. 
t     Sept.  1, 1871. 
ble  to  separate.  The  natives  of  the  Maldive  and  Laccadive  Islands,  and  the 
Malays  of  the  coasts  of  Borneo  and  Sumatra,  have  a  glue  which  they  make  as 
follows  :  they  take  the  scales  of  a  kind  of  fish,  called  by  English  and  Ameri- 
can sailors  salt-water  trout  (identical  with  the  salt-water  trout  of  the  G-ulf  of 
Mexico),  and,  after  thoroughly  washing  them,  place  them  in  a  glazed  earthen 
jar,  which  they  stopper  tightly,  and  weight  so  that  it  will  remain  under  water. 
They  put  this  jar  in  a  pot  of  water,  and  boil  it  until  the  scales  are  reduced  to 
a  semi-transparent  viscous  mass.  This  requires  several  hours'  boiling.  Care 
should  be  taken  that  no  water  or  extraneous  matter,  fluid  or  solid,  be  allowed 
to  get  into  the  jar  with  the  scales.  The  glue  thus  made  is  the  most  tenacious, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  transparent  and  beautiful  that  I  have  ever 
seen.  I  have  made  it  in  this  country  from  the  scales  of  perch,  trout,  and  bass. 
I  am  informed  that  a  similar  glue  is  made  from  the  bladders  of  various  fishes." 
— Dental  Cosmos,  August,  1871. 
On  the  Diseases  of  the  Silk-worm. — Justus  v.  Liebig. — v.  Liebig  sees  the 
cause  of  the  silk-worm  disease  in  the  want  of  care  given  to  the  raising  of  the 
Mulberry  tree,  the  soil  in  the  old  plantations  being  exhausted,  cannot  give  the 
necessary  nitrogen,  and  probably  inorganic  substances  for  the  nourishment  of 
the  leaves,  and  these  again  fail  to  be  a  satisfactory  food  for  the  silk-worm.  He 
criticises  the  French  method,  of  separating  the  diseased  eggs  of  the  silk- worm 
from  the  healthy  ones  by  means  of  the  microscope,  and  is  confident  that  this 
disease  will  soon  disappear,  if  proper  care  is  given  to  the  raising  of  a  healthy 
food. — Ame7\  Chemist,  July,  1871. 
How  to  Cure  Stammering. — Since  our  profession  do  so  little,  practically,  to 
relieve  this  trying  infirmity,  they  must  not  take  it  amiss  to  receive  a  lesson 
from  a  layman  who  seems  to  have  successfully  grappled  with  and  conquered 
the  difficulty  in  his  case.  Practical  facts  are  what  we  want,  from  whatever 
source  they  come. 
Lute  A.  Taylor,  editor  of  the  La  Crosse  (Wis.)  Leader,  who  has  been  an 
inveterate  stammerer,  writes  as  follows  about  the  way  to  cure  the  habit :  "  No 
stammering  person  ever  found  any  difficulty  in  singing.  The  reason  of  this  is 
that  by  observing  the  measure  of  the  music — by  keeping  time — the  organs  of 
speech  are  kept  in  such  position  that  enunciation  is  easy.  Apply  the  same 
rule  to  reading  or  speech,  and  the  same  result  will  follow.  Let  the  stammerer 
take  a  sentence,  say  this  one,  '  Leander  swam  the  Hellespont,'  and  pronounce 
it  by  syllables,  scan  it,  keeping  time  with  his  finger,  if  necessary,  letting  each 
syllable  occupy  the  same  time,  thus,  Le — an — der— swam — the — Hel — les — 
pont,  and  he  will  not  stammer.  Let  him  pronounce  slowly  at  first,  then  fast- 
er, but  still  keeping  time  with  words  instead  of  syllables,  and  he  will  be  sur- 
prised to  find  that,  by  very  little  practice,  he  will  read  without  stammering, 
and  nearly  as  rapidly  as  persons  ordinarily  talk  or  read.  Then  practice  this  in 
reading  and  conversation  until  the  habit  is  broken  up.  Perseverance  and  at- 
tention are  all  that  ia  necessary  to  perform  a  perfect  cure. — Med.  and  Surg. 
Rep.,  July,  1871. 
