PHARMACY  IN  BUENOS  AYRES. 
103 
Several  of  the  communications,  we  observe,  are  upon  substan- 
ces indigenous  to  or  peculiar  to  that  rich,  but  as  yet  imperfectly 
developed  country,  which  no  doubt  contains  many  products  as 
yet  unknown,  which  may  prove  of  value  to  mankind.  Among 
others  we  notice,  in  looking  through  some  of  the  former  issues,  an 
account  of  the  soap  manufactured  for  domestic  use,  from  that 
unique  production  of  Buenos  Ayres,  the  grease  of  horses,  and 
other  members  of  the  equine  family,  with  observations  upon  its 
chemical  composition.  This  substance  appears  to  be  produced  in 
considerable  quantity,  and  has  played  an  important  part  also  as 
an  illuminating  agent  ;*  we  observe  also  two  or  three  papers  upon 
the  cantharides  found  in  that  country,  and  its  preparations,  one 
of  which,  by  Dr.  H.  Burmiester,  has  been  reprinted  in  this  journal, 
(vol.  xxxvii.  p.  268),  and  an  essay  by  Prof.  Puiggari  upon  chem- 
istry applied  to  hygiene.  Several  miscellaneous  papers  of  a 
scientific  character  also  find  a  place  here,  among  which  we  may 
mention,  some  observations  upon  these  curious  Armadillo-like 
fossils,  the  various  species  of  Glyptodon,  found  only  in  South 
America,  and  of  which  the  best  collection  extant  is  said  to  be  in 
the  museum  of  that  city,  by  Dr.  Burmiester,  Curator  of  the 
Museum,  with  scientific  descriptions;  also  Meteorological  Obser- 
vations, and  a  note  upon  a  new  species  of  Cetacean  found  upon 
the  coast  of  Buenos  Ayres,  by  the  same  author.  An  account  of 
the  geology  of  the  republic,  by  Prof.  Chas.  Murray,  with  a  dis- 
cription  of  its  valuable  mines  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  &c,  and  its 
deposits  of  limestone,  gypsum,  asphalt,  coal,  &c. 
We  learn  from  its  pages  that  the  Society  of  Pharmacy  has 
been  actively  engaged  in  promoting  the  interests  of  pharmacy  by 
bringing  to  the  notice  of  the  government  the  necessity  of  estab- 
lishing an  authoritative  standard,  for  the  purpose  of  regulating 
the  diversity  of  action  among  pharmaceutists  in  regard  to  the 
preparation  and  compounding  of  medicines  ;  the  large  foreign 
population  always  existing  in  Buenos  Ayres,  and  the  diverse 
nationalities  represented  in  the  medical  and  pharmaceutical  pro- 
*The  town  of  Montevideo  was,  until  lately,  lighted  by  means  of  this 
grease,  though  since  the  prevalence  there  of  a  malignant  disease,  attribu- 
ted by  the  ignorant  portion  of  the  community  to  its  use — its  employment 
in  that  locality  has  been  abandoned. 
