filters into the well. In order to detect the lithia, a pint of the suspected water should be evaporated to dryness in a porcelain dish or cup, and a small portion of the dry residue burned on a clean platinum wire in the colorless flame of alcohol or of hydrogen before the slit of a spectroscope. If lithium be present in traces even, its characteristic line will flash in the spectrum. MURIATE OF CINCHONINE OFFERED FOR SALE AS SULPHATE OF QUININE. Five thousand ounces of what purported to be sulphate of quinine were lately offered for sale in Philadelphia. On analysis it proved to be muriate of cinchonine. DIGITALIS. Recent experiments by a French physiologist demonstrate that digitalis diminishes the relative amount of urea in the urine, and that this corresponds with the depression in the circulation, and is the corollary of it. The action of this agent as an antiphlogistic is thus explained. OZONIC ETHER. An ethereal solution of peroxide of hydrogen is the best agent for the disinfection of sick rooms. Into a pint glass-stoppered bottle put forty grains of pure chlorate of potassa; add half an ounce chemically pure muriatic acid. When the bottle appears to be full of chlorine gas, add one fluid ounce of distilled water; then stopper the bottle, and when the crystals have dissolved, add distilled water sufficient to bring up the measure of the whole to one pint. NEW PROCESS FOR THE QUANTITATIVE ESTIMATION OF ALBUMEN. The reagent is composed of Carbolic acid, crystal, 1 part. M.-The fluid containing albumen in solution is rendered slightly acid with nitric acid, and the reagent is added until it ceases to produce a precipitate. The whole is then poured upon a small tared filter well washed with distilled water, dried at 212°, Fahr., and weighed. A DELICATE TEST FOR IRON AND COPPER. The alcoholic tincture of logwood will produce a blue or bluish-black tint in water which has beeen run through iron or copper pipes, when neither tincture of galls, sulphocyanide, nor the ferrid and ferrocyanides of potassium show any reaction. MISCELLANEOUS. "Non omnes eadem mirantur ament que." The Pool of Siloam.-The miraculous efficacy of the Pool of Siloam, as recorded in the Scriptures, is familiar to us all, but its modern condition appears as fraught with danger, as was its ancient with the power of healing. Speaking of a fatal case of enteric fever, the surgeon of H. M. S., Endymion, Dr. Alex. Fisher, says: "I attribute the origin of this case to the use of the water at Jerusalem, and consider ourselves fortunate in having escaped with only one case of enteric fever among the seventy-two persons visiting it. Without the walls of Jerusalem the water appears to be very good, but inside it is received into vast tanks and reservoirs beneath the Haram area, and elsewhere. These, from what I saw in the excavations recently executed by the Palestine Exploration Society, are entirely without protection from receiving a large proportion of the sewage of the city, in some cases without even the slightest filtration through earth, or other obstacle. At the Fountain of Siloam and Pool of Siloam, the water distinctly tasted like soap-suds, brought down by the water from the baths, etc., close to the Temple enclosure." Lancet. Opium Eating. In a late number of the Philadephia "Medical and Surgical Reporter" Dr. Scheitzer, of Baltimore, relates the case of a lady, 28 years of age, who had consumed in two years 5,840 ounces of laudanum.-Cincinnati Medical Reporter. MEDICAL NEWS. The profession in Europe and America will learn with universal regret of the death of the distinguished Felix Von Niemeyer, the renowned clinical teacher and practitioner. He died from the effect of exposure to hospital poison, during a period of personal exhaustion, while acting as chief of an ambulance corps. The death of Prof. E. A. Clark, of St. Louis, Mo., will also be learned with regret. He died suddenly on the 16th of April, at Paris, Ill., while on his way to Europe. As the successor to Prof. P. F. Eve in the Missouri Medical College, as a prominent and successful surgeon, as a laborious and honest teacher, a successful and instructive writer, and an esteemed and distinguished gentleman, Dr. Clark has left a most happy and beautiful record. His family will receive the earnest sympathies of all who hear of their great and irreparable loss. The Atlanta "Medical and Surgical Journal" has again made its appearance in the journal field. It is edited, as before, by the Drs. Westmoreland. The "Journal" is so well known, and its editors have been so long before the public, that further notice is unnecessary. Its third appearance is welcomed, and it is again placed on the exchange list. "The National Medical Journal," at Washington, D. C., has been transformed from a Quarterly to a Monthly of fifty-six pages. Dr. C. Cox, LL. D., etc., retires from the editorial management, and is succeeded by Drs. S. C. Busey and W. Lee.. These gentlemen are well known, and will undoubtedly discharge their duties with distinction and success. They regret that Dr. Cox was noticed in the April issue of this journal, as he was retiring from the field, and therefore powerless. This fact was, of course, not known. Drs. Busey and Lee accuse the writer of casting aspersions upon the physicians of Washington because, in his last issue, he stated that these gentlemen desired to make Dr. Cox President of the American Medical Association. The remark was made in irony or jest. The Washington physicians are very sensitive upon this subject, and regard even the allusion to such an action on their part as "an aspersion." No one can possibly believe that they would have been so foolish as to really perpetrate so monstrous an injury upon themselves and the Association mentioned. This humor of Drs. Busey and Lee is very good. Virginia has a medical journal. It is termed "The Clinical Record," and is published at Richmond. It is a small octavo of thirty-two pages. The editors are not known. Readers must prepare themselves to hear infinitely of cundurango. It is a vegetable growth of Ecuador. It "cures venereal diseases, ulcers, and cancers." The pathology of these morbid conditions being notoriously identical, why should not one medicinal agent cure them all? Hon. Hamilton Fish, E. Rumsey Wing, Dr. Cæsares, etc., are (through the State Depart-ment) arranging a medicinal coup d'etat, and the medical world is warned in advance. Ricord, Cullerier, Hunter, etc., have been great stars in the pathological firmament, but these now wane; their cycle is ended. The medical world looks to Casares, Wing, and Fish, for light and future guidance! Professor L. S. Joynes has resigned the chair of Physiology and Medical Jurisprudence in the Medical College of Virginia, at Richmond. Dr. Joynes has served as a teacher in this School for sixteen years. He has always been a faithful, earnest, accurate, and distinguished preceptor. His loss is a severe one. His place, so far as is known, has not yet been filled. Professor Edward Warren has resigned the chair of Surgery in the Washington University at Baltimore. Dr. Warren may justly be regarded as the refounder of this old medical school. Since his connection with it, the operations of the school have been revived, and it has been an earnest and dangerous competitor to all of the medical colleges in that section of the country. Dr. Warren's record as a teacher has been most excellent, and his great labors for the school have been valuable, and fully recognized. His successor has not been appointed. Professor Joseph Jones, M. D., is preparing for the press a most interesting medical work; it is to be called "The Medical and Surgical Memoirs." It will give the results of his valuable labors for fifteen years, and of his investigations throughout the Confederate army. It will be published by subscription only. Those wishing a copy had best secure one at once by addressing him at New Orleans, A District Medical Society, under the name of "The Central Kentucky Medical Association," was organized at Danville, Ky., on the 24th of last March, composed of the counties of Boyle, Mercer, and Lincoln, (adjoining counties, however, are not excluded from membership), with the following officers to serve for the ensuing term of one year: President, Dr. Charles H. Spillman, Harrodsburg; Vice-president, Dr. H. Brown, Huston |