STRANGE GROCERIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVII, Issue III, 18 July 1896, Page 92

STRANGE GROCERIES.

An invoice received by the caterer of an English regiment stationed in India contained this bewildering item : * One case of Tomcats.’ No one had asked the caterer to order any dainties of that kind, and the mystery remained unsolved until the package arrived.

Then it appeared that the grocer’s assistant had a fancy for abbreviation, and that • tomcats ’ was only his way of writing the name of that useful condiment, tomato catsup.

When a child is threatened with croup, wring a linen cloth out in cold water, place it over the child’s throat and neck, and cover with dry flannel. Keep the feet warm and the child well covered. This simple prevention usually aets as a charm.

Salicylic acid is now well known as a remedy much used in the treatment of rheumatism. It is given internally in various forms, but recently a physician has been trying its effects in rheumatic cases, when applied to the skin. The salicylic acid was employed in the proportion of ten parts, to ten parts of lanolin, and 100 parts of lard. Two drachms of this ointment were rubbed into various parts of the patient’s body every four hours ; abont 60 grains of the acid being thus used in 24 hours. The effects are said to have been very satisfactory, more especially as no disturbance of the patient’s digestion took place. Medical men, it is to be hoped, will give this plan of treating rheumatism a wider trial than it has hitherto received. Any system for alleviating this most distressing disease would be of great value to medical men.