152 
Varieties. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1      Mar.,  1883. 
VARIETIES. 
Thompson's  Chloroform  Liniment,  according  to  Dr.  G.  A.  Parsons, 
is  composed  of  chloroform,  alcohol,  ammonia  water,  spirit  of  camphor, 
tincture  of  aconite  root,  of  each  2  ounces,  spirit  of  nitrous  ether  6  ounces. — 
Med.  Brief,  1882,  p.  508. 
Lemonade  Iron,  as  prescribed  by  Professor  Goodel],  of  the  University 
of  Penns.ylvania,  consists  of  tinct.  ferri  chlor.  ^ij  ;  acid,  phosphor,  dil.  ^vj  ; 
spirit,  lemon,  ^ij  ;  syrupi  ad  ^vj.  M.  S.  a  dessertspoonful  in  water  after 
meals. — Practitioner. 
Amussat's  Laxative  Syrup.— In  the  Gazette  ITebdomadaire,  1882,  No. 
22  {Lyon  Medical,  June  4,  1882),  we  find  the  following  formula  for  the  pre- 
paration of  the  "sirop  laxatif  d'Amussat,"  or  "  sirop  de  sue  d'herbes:" 
Rasped  guaiacum  wood,  chicory  root,  burdock  root,  waterdock  root  (racine 
de  patience),  fumitory  tops,  toj^s  of  viola  tricolor  arvensis,  (pens6e  sauvage) , 
each  100  grams ;  senna  leaves,  500  grams.  Bruise  the  materials  and  infuse 
for  12  hours  with  5  kilograms  of  boiling  water.  Strain,  and  make  a  second 
infusion  with  3  kilograms  of  water.  Strain  under  pressure,  filter  through 
paper,  (evaporate  to  about  one-fourth. — Editor  Am.  Jour.  Phar.)  and  make 
with  honey  and  sugar,  each  3  kilograms,  a  syrup,  which  is  also  to  be  filtered 
through  paper,  and  which  should  be  of  the  density  of  31°  Baum6.  Dose, 
one  to  two  tablespoonfuls  a  day. — N.  Y.  Med.  Jour. [and  Obst.  Rev.,  October. 
Origin  of  the  Cereal  Grains. — Wheat  ranks  by  origin  as  a  degen- 
erate and  degraded  lily.  Such  in  brief  is  the  i^roposition  which  this  paper 
sets  out  to  prove,  and  which  the  whole  course  of  evolutionary  botany  tends 
every  day  more  and  more  fully  to  confirm.  By  thus  from  the  very  outset 
placing  clearly  before  our  eyes  the  goal  of  our  argument,  we  shall  be  able 
the  better  to  understand  as  we  go  whither  each  item  of  the  cumulative 
evidence  is  really  tending.  We  must  endeavor  to  start  with  the  simplest 
forms  of  the  great  group  of  j^lants  to  which  the  cereals  and  the  other  grasses 
belong,  and  we  must  try  to  see  by  what  steps  this  primitive  type  gave  birth, 
first  to  the  brilliantly  colored  lilies,  next  to  the  degraded  rushes  and  sedges, 
and  then  to  the  still  more  degenerate  grasses,  from  one  or  other  of  whose 
richer  grains  man  has  finally  developed  his  wheat,  his  rice,  his  millet,  and 
his  barley.  We  shall  thus  trace  throughout  the  whole  pedigree  of  wheat 
from  the  time  when  its  ancestors  first  diverged  from  the  common  stock  of 
the  lilies  and  the  water-plantains,  to  the  time  when  savage  man  found  it 
growing  wild  among  the  unfilled  plains  of  prehistoric  Asia,  and  took  it 
under  his  special  jDrotection  in  the  little  garden-plots  around  his  wattled 
hut,  whence  it  has  gradually  altered  under  his  constant  selection  into  the 
golden  grain  that  now  covers  half  the  lowland  tilth  of  Europe  and  America. 
There  is  no  page  in  botanical  historj^  more  full  of  genuine  romance  than 
this  ;  and  there  is  no  page  in  which  the  evidence  is  clearer  or  more  convinc- 
ing for  those  who  will  take  the  easy  trouble  to  read  it  aright.— i^rom  "  The 
