5i8 
Varieties. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1876. 
is  very  small.  M.  Schnetzler  recommends  that  the  boxes  should  be  placed  under  a 
shed,  as  in  case  of  the  escape  of  vapor  there  might  be  danger  of  explosion.  The 
same  process  may  be  employed  for  collections  of  insects. — Pop.  Set.  Mo..,  Oct.,  1876. 
Ointment  for  Burns.  —  Dr.  Bedford  Brown,  in  an  article  on  burns,  recom- 
mends the  following  treatment  to  allay  pain  and  promote  the  process  of  healing  : 
Take  iodoform,       .       .        .       2  dr. 
Spermaceti  ointment,    .       .       .    1  oz. 
Extract  of  coniuxn,  .        .       .        i<}  dr. 
Carbolic  acid.,  .  .  .  .10  drops. 
This,  spread  on  fine  linen,  is  applied  twice  daily  to  the  inflamed  surface,  and  then 
enveloped  in  oiled  silk,  no  other  dressing  being  required.  In  cases  where  there  is 
great  dryness  of  surface  from  destruction  of  vitality  and  want  of  exhalation,  the 
wound,  before  applying  the  ointment,  should  be  coated  with  the  common  linimentum 
calcis,  which  affords  a  soft  and  moist  dressing,  and  in  no  wise  interferes  with  the 
action  of  the  iodoform.  The  iodoform  acts  as  a  certain  and  most  effective  sedative 
on  the  painful  and  exposed  surface,  and  at  the  same  time  as  an  antiseptic.  It  re- 
duces inflammation  and  suppuration,  when  in  excess,  in  a  remarkable  manner, 
promptly  converting  a  most  painful  and  irritable  wound  into  one  that  is  compara- 
tively painless.  It  is  also  an  excellent  promoter  of  healthy  action  and  the  healing 
process,  and  has  besides  the  great  advantage  of  rendering  the  use  of  anodynes 
unnecessary. — Philadelphia  Medical  Times. 
Test  for  Bilious  Urine. — O.  Rosenbach  recommends  in  "Med.  Centr.  Bl.," 
the  following  as  the  easiest  and  a  very  reliable  test  for  bile  in  urine  : 
Urine  is  filtered  through  white  filtering  paper  ;  if  it  contains  bile  the  paper  will 
be  colored  lively  yellow  till  nearly  brown.  Now  let  one  drop  of  pure  concentrated 
nitric  acid  run  down  the  side  of  the  still  moist  filter  ;  it  will,  in  the  presence  of  bile, 
leave  a  yellow  streak,  which  soon  turns  orange  with  a  violet  border,  and  outside  of 
this  dark-blue  and  emerald-green.    These  colors  stay  sometimes  for  hours. 
Urine,  otherwise  dark-colored,  but  not  containing  bile,  does  not  show  this  display 
of  colors.— Ny  Phar.  Tid.,  1876,  p.  195.  H.  M.  W. 
Artificial  Coloring  of  Wines. —  Since  the  vintage  of  1875,  tne  artificial 
coloring  of  wines  in  France  has  attained  such  a  development  as  to  raise  fears  not 
only  for  the  good  name  of  French  wines,  but  also  for  the  public  health.  The 
Syndicate  of  wine  merchants  of  Paris  has  taken  the  matter  up  and  urged  it  upon  the 
attention  of  the  French  Government  in  a  vigorously  written  memorial,  in  which  it 
is  roundly  asserted  that  the  sole  object  of  the  coloring  is  so  to  treat  a  wine,  at  an 
insignificant  cost,  that  it  may  be  sold  considerably  above  its  real  value.  Formerly 
coloring  was  only  done  to  a  small  extent  and  with  vegetable  and  comparatively 
inoffensive  matters,  but  now  it  is  stated,  hundreds  of  kilograms  of  arsenical  fuchsin 
and  other  equally  poisonous  substances  are  used  for  the  purpose  and  the  sale  of  such 
preparations  is  openly  advertised.  The  Syndicate  urges  that  it  is  useless  to  discuss 
in  chemical  laboratories  whether  fuchsin  itself,  or  asenical  fuchsine  when  diluted  to 
