VARIETIES. 
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New  Test  for  Manganese. — Boettgerhas  given  us  a  new  re-agent  for  man- 
ganese. He  states  that  the  minutest  quantity  may  be  detected  by  the 
chlorate  of  potash.  In  order  to  detect  it,  throw  a  small  quantity  of  the 
material  suspected  to  contain  manganese  into  a  test  tube,  which  already 
contains  the  chlorate  of  potash  in  a  state  of  fusion.  After  the  combustion 
has  entirely  ceased  and  the  tube  is  cold,  a  peach  blossom  residue  will  be 
left  if  there  has  existed  the  smallest  quantity  of  manganese.  By  means  of 
this  re-action  Boettger  has  discovered  manganese  in  boxwood,  beech,  cork, 
in  the  iodine  of  commerce,  tea,  leaves,  and  several  articles  of  food. 
The  Diseases  of  Quinine-Makers. — M.  A.  Chevallier,  at  the  last  sitting  of 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Paris,  communicated  a  paper  on  the  diseases  to 
which  workmen  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  sulphate  of  quinine  are 
subject.  It  appears  from  his  statement  that  one  of  the  disorders  is  a  cuta- 
neous affection  severe  enough  to  force  them  to  suspend  work  for  a  fortnight, 
a  month,  or  sometimes  altogether.  M.  Chevallier  further  quotes  M.  Zimmer, 
of  Frankfort,  to  testify  to  a  particular  kind  of  fever-bark  fever  (das  China 
Fieber,)  which  affects  workmen  engaged  in  pounding  bark.  This  has  not 
yet  been  observed  in.  France.  It  is  described  as  so  painful  that  those  who 
have  once  suffered  throw  up  employment  rather  than  risk  a  second  attack. 
As  for  the  cutaneous  affection,  it  attacks  not  only  workmen  but  those  about 
the  place,  and  affects  alike  the  sober  and  the  intemperate.  No  remedy  has 
as  yet  been  discovered.— Lancet,  May  22,  1858. 
Chlorate  of  Soda  as  a  Substitute  for  Chlorate  of  Potash. — M.  Gueneau  de 
Mussy  states  [Revue  Medicate)  that,  struck  with  the  little  solubility  of 
chlorate  of  potash,  he  substituted  the  chlorate  of  soda  for  it,  as  the  latter 
salt  is  much  more  soluble  than  the  former.  The  taste  of  the  chlorate  of 
soda  is,  moreover,  less  disagreeable  than  that  of  the  other  salt,  and  can  be 
given  in  a  smaller  quantity  of  vehicle.  M.  G.  has  given  the  chlorate  of  soda 
in  several  cases  of  diphtheria  with  success. 
Vaccine  Virus  vs.  Wax. — A  physician  of  some  note  in  Chicago  called  at 
one  of  the  leading  drug  stores  in  the  city  for  a  scab  of  vaccine  virus.  The 
apothecary  sold  him  the  desired  article  encased,  as  usual,  in  a  thick  coat- 
ing of  white  wax  to  guard  it  from  the  injurious  effects  of  the  air,  and 
wrapped  in  tin-foil  as  a  still  further  protection,  the  whole  forming  a  lump 
the  size  of  a  walnut.  In  about  ten  days  the  M.  D.  re-entered  the  empo- 
rium of  emetics  and  purges.    "It  isn't  worth  a  straw!"  says  the  doctor, 
