ate to use four times that
quantity were it necessary, since it seems to exert no deleterious
effect, either locally or generally.

8. The involved area should be dressed by means of lint saturated with
fifteen per cent. permanganate of potassium solution. Stimulants
should be given according to the indications--i.e., the condition of
the pulse. Laxatives, diuretics, and diaphoretics should be
administered to aid in the elimination of the poison. The diet should
be as nutritious as the stomach can digest.--_The Therapeutic
Gazette_.

* * * * *

CHINESE COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS.

Wuchang, on the Yangtsze opposite Hankow, is the capital of the two
provinces Hupeh and Hunan. Here, every third year, the examination for
competitors from both provinces is held, and a correspondent of the
_North China Herald_, of Shanghai, describes the scene at the
examination at the beginning of September last. The streets, he says,
are thronged with long-robed, large-spectacled gentlemen, who inform
the world at large by every fold of drapery, every swagger of gait,
every curve of nail, that they are the aristocracy of the most ancient
empire of the world. Wuchang had from 12,000 to 15,000 bachelors of
arts within its walls, who came from the far borders of the province
for the examination for the provincial degree. About one-half per
cent. will be successful; thousands of them know they have not the
shadow of a chance, but literary etiquette binds them to appear. In
the wake of these Confucian scholars come a rout of traders, painters,
scroll sellers, teapot venders, candle merchants, spectacle mongers,
etc.; servants and friends swell the number, so that the examination
makes a difference of some 40,000 or 50,000 to the resident
population. In the great examination hall, which is composed of a
series of pens shut off from each other in little rows of 20 or 30,
and the view of which is suggestive of a huge cattle market, there is
accommodation for over 10,000 candidates. The observance of rules of
academic propriety is very strict. A candidate may be excluded, not
only for incompetence, but for writing his name in the wrong place,
for tearing or blotting his examination paper, etc. After the
examination of each batch a list of those allowed to compete for
honors is published, and the essay forms for each district are
prepared with proper names and particulars. The ancestors of the
candidate for