PELOSI E Oa, (Ammons's/int.. The root of the Cissampelos 'minim contains a peculiar alkaloid, to which these names havo been given. It presents the appearance of an amorphous whitepowder, which is but has a sweetish bitter taste. It is insoluble in water, and possesses the Name composition as codeine. When polosine is exposed to moisture, air and light, it becomes yellow, disengages ammonia, and becomes converted into pelluteine PiralPHIGUS is a disease of the akin, consisting of the eruption of one or more rather large blisters, containing serous fluid, and termi nating either in thin scales, in superficial exeoriations, or in ulceration. The common and most acute form of pemphigus is usually preceded by shivering, and accompanied by slight feverishness; the eruption appears on some part of the body from one to four days after the beginning of the illness, with a pricking sensation and bright redness of the part affectesL Within 24 hours afterwards the blisters begin to rise, and increase In size till they are most frequently as largo as nuts, but often much larger, and sometimes smaller. They then, after two or three days, burst, and leave the skin raw and painful. A thin scab usually forms over the exposed akin, and after a few days more, drops off and leaves it healthy, but redder, and with a thinner cuticle than natural. The treatment should consist of gentle purgatives, and cool ing medicines and diet ; the local applications, if any, should be mild dressings., merely for the purpose of defending the raw surfaces from the air and injury. The disease will thus usually run its course to natural recovery.
A more obstinate form is the ehronio pemphigus, which occurs in old or very debilitated persons. The blisters appear one after the other, through an indefinite length of time, some breaking out while others are healing or ulcerating or even sloughing. They are so com monly the accompaniments of other more serious disorders, that the local affections of the skin in these cases are seldom the objects of peculiar treatment ; if the condition of debility on which they are grafted can be relieved, they also will soon disappear.
A third form is that termed infantile or gangrenous pemphigus. It is entirely confined to children, and especially affects those who are less than five years old. It occurs sometimes as an epidemic, and is very common among the children of the poor in Ireland, where it is known under the name of white blisters, burnt-holes, eating-hive, &c. The blisters in this form are usually succeeded by deep ulcers, which enlarge rapidly and discharge profusely, and have dark livid edges and a remarkable smell. The child at the same time becomes emaciated and weak, and often about the eighth day of the disease sinks into a state of debility which soon terminates fatally.
PEN. This simple but useful little instrument was formerly made of reed; but the quill has been used in this country for the purpose for about five hundred years; and metal is now adopted still more largely.
Quill l'ens.—Uuder FEATHEES an account is given of the mode of preparing goose-quills, up to the point where they pass to the pen Of the common method of making pens by hand it is not necessary to speak ; we shall therefore only say a few words upon the manufacture of " quill nibs." The barrel of the quill in the first place has both ends cut oft, and is divided down the centre ; the halves are then laid on their convex side and the edges shaved smooth ; after this they are divided into three or four lengths each, and the end of each length is made into a pen by a small machine, which at one stroke makes the slit and cuts the shoulders; they aro then finished by being nibbed by band. Small pocket machines are sold by cutlers for making pens on the same principle as that used in the manufacture of the nibs; but they are expensive, and require careful usage, or they soon get out of order.