Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Sept.,  1883.  j 
Varieties. 
471 
mug,  are  put  into  baskets.  When  the  shore  is  close  at  hand,  the  fisli 
are  again  put  into  the  dories  ;  but  the  roughness  of  the  sea  is  such 
that  these  boats,  when  loaded,  cannot  hind,  and  into  the  icy  sea-water 
the  horses  are  driven  until  the  carts  reach  such  a  place  that  the  cod- 
fish can  be  put  into  them,  when  oiF  they  go,  to  plod  the  night  through 
for  the  early  Boston  market.  The  livers  are  immediately  sorted  over 
and  the  gall  bladders  carefully  removed.  The  great  luscious,  flabby 
masses  are  thrown  into  a  large  oak  tub ;  with  this  are  connected  steam 
pipes.  When  the  receptacle  is  full  and  closed,  low  pressure  steam  is 
turned  on,  and  for  about  two  hours  and  a  half  cooking  goes  on.  Then 
the  plugs  are  taken  out  at  the  bottom,  and  the  hot  oil  streams  into 
buckets.  It  is  now  placed  in  butts  in  the  cooling-room,  and  allowed 
to  stay  there  until  it  freezes  solid.  So  it  is  kept  until  opportunity 
offers,  when  it  is  put  into  canvas  bags  holding  about  four  gallons  each. 
These  bags  are  then  placed  regularly  upon  a  heavy  oak  table  provided 
with  outer  grooves  for  conducting  liquid,  until  twelve  gallons  are  in  a 
row.  On  this  is  laid  a  slab,  then  canvas  bags,  and  so  layer  after  layer, 
until  about  eighty  gallons  are  piled  up.  A  ton  of  pig  iron  is  then 
placed  upon  the  top  slab  of  oak,  and  the  oil  begins  to  flow  out.  In 
about  twelve  hours  dripping  ceases,  and  the  apparatus  is  taken  apart. 
Inside  the  bags  is  found  a  yellowish  butter-like  mass,  as  hard  as  tallow, 
which  is  nearly  pure  stearin,  with  liver  debris  and  fibers.  This  goes 
to  the  soap-makers,  while  the  oil  finds  its  way  to  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital  and  other  places,  where  the  superiority  of  the  finest 
American  oil  over  the  Norwegian  is  recognized. — Boston  Med.  and 
Surg.  Jour. 
VARIETIES. 
Poison  of  Ergot. — It  seems,  says  "  Nature,"  to  result  from  recent  re- 
searches by  A.  W.  Pehl,  brought  before  the  Russian  Chemical  Society,  that 
the  poisonous  action  of  the  ergot,  the  bad  effects  of  which  are  so  often  wit- 
nessed in  Russia,  is  due  to  putrefaction-poisons,  true  i:>tomaines,  which 
appear  during  the  decomposition  of  the  albuminoids  in  flour.  The  ergot, 
that  is  the  sclerotium  of  the  small  mushroom,  Claviceps  purpurea,  has 
energetic  jieptic  qualities,  and  thus  would  directly  contribute  to  the  forma- 
tion of  ptomaines  in  the  flour.   
Glycerin.— M.  Desguin,  of  Anvers,  has  given  glycerin  internally  in 
certain  forms  of  skin  disease  with,  it  is  said,  marked  success,  especially  in 
acne  punctata  and  the  furuncular  diathesis.  He  commences  with  four 
drachms  daily  and  gradually  increases  the  dose.  He  states  that  the  secre- 
tion of  the  cutaneous  glands,  which  is  thick  and  irritating  in  these  diseases, 
