182 
VARIETIES. 
A  new  Sugar  Plant. — The  scarcity  of  corn  in  France  has  drawn  atten- 
tion to  a  new  plant  recently  introduced  from  China,  which  promises  to 
supercede,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  use  of  beet  root  in  the  manufacture  of 
sugar  and  the  distillation  of  alcohol.  The  Agricultural  Committee  of  Tou- 
lon has  recently  addressed  a  report  to  the  Minister  of  War,  with  respect  to 
the  use  of  the  plant  in  question.  It  is  called  the  sorgho  or  holcas  saccha- 
ratus,  and  was  first  introduced  into  France  in  1851  by  M.  de  Montigny, 
the  French  Consul  in  China,  who  sent  some  grains  of  the  seed  to  the 
Government.  Since  then  the  culture  of  the  plant  has  been  commenced 
with  success  in  Provence,  and  promises  to  be  of  great  advantage  to  Algeria. 
The  sorgho  has  been  called  the  "  sugar  cane  of  the  North  of  China," 
and  numerous  experiments  have  recently  been  tried  with  a  view  to  ascer- 
taining if  it  possesses  the  properties  necessary  for  producing  a  crystalliza- 
ble  syrup,  so  as  to  become  a  rival  to  sugar  cane  and  beet-root.  According 
to  the  report  of  the  Toulon  Agricultural  Association,  it  would  appear  to 
have  those  properties.  The  fact  has  been  ascertained  by  a  series  of  experi- 
ments made  in  the  department  of  the  Var.  It  also  appears  to  be  richer  in 
saccharine  principle  than  any  known  plant,  except  the  vine.  Beet-root 
contains  from  eight  to  ten  per  cent,  of  sugar  ;  the  sorgho  produces  from 
sixteen  to  twenty  per  cent,  from  which  eight  or  ten  per  cent,  of  pure  alco- 
hol, fit  for  all  industrial  and  domestic  purposes,  can  be  produced.  The 
refuse  is  excellent  food  for  cattle,  who  are  very  fond  of  it.  The  plant 
grows  with  great  rapidity,  and  does  not  require  irrigation.  The  sorgho  is 
not  a  new  discovery,  as  it  has  been  used  from  time  immemorial  by  the  in- 
habitants of  the  north  of  China,  by  whom  large  quantities  of  sugar  is 
extracted  from  it.  But  this  is  the  first  time  it  has  been  produced  on  any- 
thing like  an  extensive  scale  in  Europe. — English  paper. 
Serpents'  Bite  and  other  Poisoned  Wounds. — Dr.  Brainard,  of  Chicago,  in 
an  interesting  essay  on  "  treating  Serpent  bite  and  other  poisoned  wounds," 
concludes  with  the  following  observations  : — 
The  result  of  my  experiments,  taken  in  connection  with  those  made  by 
others,  is,  that  up  to  the  present  time,  no  substance  or  solution  has  been 
found  capable  of  preventing  the  fatal  effects  of  the  rattlesnake  bite  (unless 
destroying  by  caustic  or  excising  the  tissues  of  the  part)  excepting  the 
solution  of  iodine.  This,  within  certain  limits,  is  capable  of  neutraliz- 
ing it. 
In  order  to  guard  against  error,  it  should  be  stated  that,  in  experiment- 
ing with  birds,  the  separation  of  skin  by  injecting  even  distilled  water 
and  applying  cupping-glasses,  is  liable  to  cause  the  skin  to  fall  off  in  scales. 
When  the  skin  is  not  extensively  separated,  the  solution  recommended  does 
not  produce  an  eschar.  The  effects  of  iodine  solutions  on  the  tissues,  since 
the  publication  of  Yelpeau's  work  on  the  subject,  are  so  well  understood 
that  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  further  on  this  point. 
