QUININE.--This famous drug, which was once as high as $5 an ounce, has become very cheap by preserving the trees which were formerly destroyed in gathering "Peruvian Bark." The drug may now be purchased in quantities at half a dollar an ounce. The trees now yield a crop of bark every year. The fashionable sulphate of quinine, which is most extensively used, I consider the most objectionable form of the drug. My favorite form is the dextro-quinine, made by Keasby & Matteson, Philadelphia. But quinine is not at all a necessity. It could be satisfactorily replaced by Declat's syrup of Phenic Acid, a French preparation, which is free from the objectionable qualities of quinine. But even that is not _necessary_, for we have in the willow, the dogwood, and the apple tree, three American barks, which might well replace Peruvian bark by their fluid extracts and alkaloids. To these we may add Gnaphalium (or Life Everlasting), an admirable remedy in fever, and other medicines and combinations of value. Our slavish dependence on Peruvian bark has been due to our ignorance. LIFE AND DEATH.--Perilous is the fisherman's life. In the past year, ending October, 1887, Gloucester, Mass., has lost 17 vessels and 127 lives of fishermen, leaving 60 widows and 61 fatherless children. The Mayville family of Wakefield, Mass., begin small. Mrs. Mayville weighed but two pounds when born. Her son of 17 years, weighing 160 pounds, weighed but 24 ounces when born, and she has lately had a male baby, weighing only eight ounces. It was born Nov. 13, and appeared dead, but was revived. It was ten inches long and measured eight inches round the head and was perfectly formed. It died in two weeks, from irritation of the bowels. Mrs. Charlotte Tubbs of Caroline County, Md., recently gave birth to four babies, all of whom are alive. This addition to her family makes her the mother of nine children, all of whom were born within five years. Among the older children are two pairs of twins.--_Cin. Enq._ Mrs. Wm. Wright, of New Castle, Ind., recently gave birth to four children, making in all a family of fourteen children, including five pairs of twins. Who was it said that he'd rather be Wright than be President? We wouldn't.--_Norristown Herald_.