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J
YEAR-BOOK
OF
THERAPEUTICS,  PHARMACY
AND ALLIED SCIENCES.
$ty?,
             EDITED BY

       HOEATIO C. WOOD, Jr., M.D.,

PBOFESSOB OF MEDICAL BOTANY, TJNIVEBSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, PHYSICIAN AND LECTUEEE
        ON CLINICAL MEDICINE TO THE PHILADELPHIA
            HOSPITAL, ETC., ETC.
      NEW YOEK:
WILLIAM WOOD & COMPANY.
         1872.
 

/*7*                    urn ib
                               YXz
IMi
   Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872,
          By WILLIAM WOOD & CO.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
Poole & Maclauchi.an, Printers,
  205-213 East Twelfth Street,
       New York. 
CONTENTS.
                          PAET I.
                                                      PAGE
   THERAPEUTICS....................................................   1


                          PART II.

   MATERIA MEDICA.................................................. 180


                         PART III.

   TOXICOLOGY....................................................... 246


                         PART IV.

^  PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS................................... 290

>
q                         PART Y.

•3  GENERAL RECEIPTS............................................. 325

S
s 
 
Jkrt  1.
THERAPEUTICS.
                        KOUMISS.

                     BY DR.  VICTOR JAGIELSKY.

  The value of milk as  a  dietetic medicinal agent has so risen, that
there are  already on the continent of Europe 150 special institutions
in connection with its use.  All these  institutions employ milk in its
normal states: whey, buttermilk, thifck milk, etc.; but all these forms
are inferior to Koumiss.  In the steppes of Russia, between long. 55° 30'
N. to 40° K, and lat. 40° E. to 79° 50' E.,  and bordered by the river
Don and the lake of Baikal, consumption is unknown.  The people
are remarkable for their health and iron constitutions, and yet almost
their only food and drink is Koumiss.   The  exemption of these peo-
ple  from phthisis  is so remarkable as to have drawn the attention of
the  Russian Government.  The  result of  the official investigation
made was to settle the fact, that the health of the inhabitants is  due
chiefly to Koumiss.  The origin of the name is unknown, but in the
Tartar tongue it  signifies "silver."   True Koumiss is prepared from
mare's milk by  fermentation.  It is a piquant, sweetly acidulous,
fragrant liquor, which, when taken in very large quantity, produces a
pleasurable excitement without bad  after-effects.  A distilled, highly
intoxicating liquor, " aracu" is made from it in the East. 
2
THERAPEUTICS.
  Emaciated by their meagre rations of smoked meat during the long,
rigid winters, the Tartars hail the spring, the season of Koumiss, with
rejoicing.  The mares, under the use of the new grass, yield their milk
freely.  They are a hardy race of animals, and  if one  drops  her foal
on a journey, she and her colt are mostly able in a couple of  hours to
resume the march.  When the colt is weaned,  the  mare can only be
induced to yield her milk  by a ruse, which consists in making the colt
or a stuffed dummy stand by her side.  When she is milked every four
hours, she will  yield two or three litres (a little  over 2—3 qts.) daily.
  Mare's milk closely assimilates woman's milk, containing less caseine
and butter, but more sugar (lactose) than cow's milk.  It shares one
peculiarity with ass's and woman's milk, namely, rennet scarcely coag-
ulates it.
  The following table shows the average composition of the more
important kind of milks:—
	Woman.	Cow.	Goat.	Sheep.	Ass.	Mare.
Sugar..............................	4-8 2-9 2-9 2-21	4-6 3-6 5-1 06	43 3 4 4 4 0-8	5 4 2-4 4-8 09	6 4 1-3 1-9	7-3
						21
Cheesy matter.......................						X
Salts...............................						
						
Total___.......................	10-9	13-9	12 9	135	96	109
						
  Doubtless the large amount of sugar contained by the mare's, ass's,
and woman's milk is one reason they are so well adapted for prepara-
tion of Koumiss, and of the three, mare's milk is the best.   But the rea-
sons which cause cow's and sheep's milk to be less adapted for Koumiss
making are not yet determined,—it may be the large amount of caseine.
By the skill acquired by experiment and repeated trials, I have  suc-
ceeded in overcoming all  difficulties, and in producing a Koumiss the
counterpart of that from mare's milk.
  The Koumiss fermentation of milk is entirely different from that of
ordinary souring, products being formed wThich do not appear at all in
the latter instance.  According to With, Stalilberg, Hartier, and Wein-
berg,  fresh Koumiss (No. 1) is composed of alcohol, lactic acid, sugar,
finely divided caseine, fat, salts, carbonic acid, and water.  After hav-
ing been in bottle from five to ten days, according to temperature it has
changed  by progressive fermentation into Koumiss No. 2, which con-
tains more alcohol  and carbonic acid, and less solid matter, than No. 1.
It is also more acidulous, owing to the presence  of acetic  acid  and
more homogeneous, and sparkles like champagne.   By age it  becomes
converted into No. 3, which contains, in addition ' o the elements of
No. 1, butyric acid,  succinic acid, acetic acid, and  glycerine. It is 
THERAPEUTICS.
3
also  more  sparkling and acidulous than No. 2, and rushes from the
bottle as a rich foaming liquor.
  Cow's Koumiss should  be made to correspond in  composition to
mare's Koumiss;  but by peculiar  manipulations various forms can be
made to meet especial indications, as thick Koumiss, whey Koumiss,
skimmed Koumiss, etc.   According to Morfit, the Koumiss No. 2
from cow's milk contains traces in variable decree of certain fragrant
compounds, to which it may owe  its character as a delicious beverage.
These he supposes are generated from the volatile elements of the fat.
Mare's  milk Koumiss  runs  through the changes much more  quickly
than the Koumiss from cow's milk.  It is also more acid in No. 3 state,
and  acquires, preliminary to  its  decay, a  bitter taste; the No. 3 of
cow's milk is normally somewhat bitter.
  Most remarkable results are obtained by the use of Koumiss in all
complaints arising from feeble digestion, whether caused  by impover-
ishment of the gastric juice or catarrhal  complications, in  nervous
irritation, and in the different forms of dyspepsia.
  In commencing  the Koumiss  treatment the physician must judi-
ciously consider the state of the patient, and regulate the use of the
remedy accordingly.  If debility be so  great  that  the patient must
keep in  bed, the Koumiss must be given in small  quantities at short
intervals, say an ounce every hour, the diet being restricted solely to
it.  As the appetite for the Koumiss increases, it may be  taken more
and more freely.   In this connection it must be remembered  that the
Koumiss contains all the plastic, respiratory, and heat-giving elements
of the body in a form most  easy of assimilation.  When the patient is
drinking his second quart of Koumiss per day, his  increase of  flesh
and strength will be very perceptible.  I have had cases in which the
gain was as much as ten pounds a month, although no other food was
taken.  Each quart .contains four ounces of  solid food ; and if the
patient will, a gallon may be taken daily.  Patients in the  adynamic
stages of febrile disease regain wonderfully appetite  and strength, and
recover from stupor ; the black dry tongue rapidly  ameliorating, and
the nervous  tremors  subsiding.   Feverish persons  require  a thin or
whey Koumiss.  The physiological explanation of whey  Koumiss is,
that  it  contains not only very little caseine, but also very much of
sugar and salts.  For stout people whey  Koumiss is also best.   But if
a fat person has any morbid condition, such  as  chronic bronchitis, the
Koumiss must be not only whey Koumiss, but have the special action
suited  to that  condition.   No.  2, or in severe cases No. 3,  are for
such persons best, by reason of their large amount of lactic acid.
  Exercise  in open air after  each  dose augments the  appetite  for  the
drink, as does also warm weather. 
4
THERAPEUTICS.
  Fresh or No. 1 Koumiss is a mild  aperient, and  promotes the flow
of bile ; it is useful in constipation, with sallow complexion and yel-
lowish conjunctiva.
  No. 3 Koumiss applies to chronic diarrhoea, relaxation of the mucous
membranes, and nervous debility ;  and is valuable in bronchitis, win-
ter cough, and consumption.  No. 2 Koumiss  is neither binding  nor
aperient.
  In warm weather Koumiss acts as a diaphoretic ;  in  the cold season
as a diuretic.   The pulse at first shows no change, but after a while be-
comes slower, fuller, and softer.  Koumiss produces a general calmness-
of feeling, sometimes with slight drowsiness.  Its continuous use causes
in emaciated persons a great gain of weight.   If in such cases there is
no sign of increase in ten  days, it  is  better to stop the treatment.—
Food Journal.
  ON THE USE  OF SKIMMED MILK AS AN EXCLUSIVE
                      DIET  IN  DISEASE.

                      BY  S. W. MITCHELL, M.D.

  After some preliminary remarks Dr. Mitchell says :—
  The milk is to be used as free as possible from cream ; and if, as is
generally the case in our cities, there is an abundance of ice to be had,
I prefer to let the milk stand in a well-chilled refrigerator for twenty-
four hours.  It should then be carefully skimmed, after which it is fit
for use.   As Carel remarks, the quality of the milk goes for something,
and perhaps, too, the  surroundings,—since I have found persons who
could not bear the treatment in  the city, wrhile in the country they throve
under it admirably.   As to temperature, it may be  given  warm—not
hot—or cold, as suits the taste.    In rare cases, where at first it caused
nausea, I have had to use with it  more or less lime-water during the
first few days.  In other instances the repugnance to its taste is a diffi-
culty ; and this may be overcome by faintly flavoring it with a few
drops of  coffee or with caramel.   Other patients  prefer  to  add to it
a little salt; but, as a rule, I desire to give the milk alone as soon as
possible.
  Quantity.—The patient takes, to begin with, one or two tablespoon-
fuls on rising, and every two hours during the day.   When I followed
Carel's rule of giving at once  half a tumbler to a tumblerful (two to
six  ounces) four times daily, I found that few patients would bear it
without  nausea and early disgust.   I increase each dose by a  table-
spoonful every day,—say three the second day and four the third day. 
THERAPEUTICS.
5
Thus, if the patient begins at eight a.m., he takes, up to ten p.m., eight
doses,—that is  to  say, about sixteen ounces.    Now this is the lower
limit;  nor have I  been able, in the cases of females or delicate men,
to give it  more largely at first.   Indeed, few women of sickly or
sedentary habits are able to exceed, at any time, a pint and a half daily.
After  the  fourth  day it is best to separate the doses as you  increase
their amount, until they are taken at four equal intervals daily and the
maximum  quantity is attained.   This  varies  greatly: I had  one
patient, a railroad contractor, who, living an out-door life of the most
active  kind, took daily for more than  a year  fourteen  tumblers of
skimmed milk, and this alone.  Two quarts a  day is the limit with
most of my patients.
  Where people are well enough to live afoot, I have had little difficulty
in the  use of the milk ; but in very feeble persons—and I have often
given it to such—I have found  it absolutely necessary to use with it,
for a few days, brandy or whiskey, and even beef-soup, all of  which I
expect to abandon so soon as the patient can take milk enough to sus-
tain his strength.
  It is needless to  say that for a patient to  take steadily a diet of
skimmed milk alone requires the utmost fortitude and all  the moral
aid which the physician can give.  It is not, in these cases, hunger, but
simply the craving for other food which tortures the patients.  Most of
them avoid the sight of food, in order to control their desires  ; and in
one case 1 was much amused at  a gentleman  who said  to me, in  a
guilty  tone, " Indeed, doctor, I could not help  it, but I stole an  egg
this morning."
  Dr. Carel begins to alter the diet of milk after two or three weeks.
1 prefer to reach  the latter limit  before  giving other food;  but this,
after all, is a matter for separate decision in individual cases.   My own
rule, founded on considerable experience, is this:  Dating from  the time
when the patient begins to take the milk alone,  I wish three weeks to
elapse  before anything be used save milk.  After the first week  of the
period I direct that the milk be taken  in just as large amount as the per-
son desires, but not allowing it to fall below a limit which, for  me, is
determined in each case by his ceasing to  lose weight. Twenty-one days
of absolute milk-diet having passed, with such exception as I shall pre-
sently mention, I now give a thin  slice of stale white bread  thrice a
day.  After another week  I allow rice once a day,—about  two table-
spoonfuls,—or a little arrowroot, or both, as circumstance may dictate.
At  the fifth wTeek  I  give  a chop  once a day,  and then, in  a  day
or two, another at breakfast; and after  the sixth week I  expect to
return  gradually to a diet which should still consist largely of  milk for
some months.   In children I sometimes use raw in place  of cooked 
6                        THERAPEUTICS.
meat for a time ;  but grown people will rarely take it, although ^e J
often they are willing to take raw soup (Liebig's).
  The  symptoms  developed under the use of  milk are very interest-
ing.
   In no case have I seen any one gain weight during the first few days;
 but where the  treatment succeeds the patient soon ceases to lose, and
 then slowly gains, in weight.   In three cases I find this record :  The
 first lost in  two weeks 14 pounds of a weight of 131;  the second lost
 18 pounds of 120 ; and the third, 11 pounds of 117, her total weight
 at the  start.  In another  case, where the quantity of milk taken was
 two quarts daily,  and the exercise small, the man lost weight steadily
 up to the  time that I be^an to give bread, when the gain was immedi-
 ate and speedy (case, diarrhoea).   Mrs. S.,  ret. 47, weight 194 pounds,
 inactive, sallow, feeble, dyspeptic, and a very small eater, lost, in four
 weeks, 30 pounds, with general gain in strength and vigor.
   The  state of the skin has seemed to me to improve in old cases of
 chronic gastric or intestinal disease; but in others there has been no
 change.   The urine, in a few cases, is somewhat annoying during the
 first week, the patient  having  frequent calls ; but commonly no such
 complaint is made, although in certain dropsies I found the milk to
 act strictly as a diuretic.  The  changes in the urine we shall have oc-
 casion to study in future.
   The tongue is very apt to become furred, and to remain white and
 rough for two  or three weeks, and in some  cases so  long  as  milk
 is taken;  but so far is this from representing  a disturbed state of
 stomach that the dyspeptic usually finds himself, after a few days, in
 the enjoyment of  an amount of digestive comfort long a stranger to
 his viscera.
   The stools begin to show the milk tint—a yellowish or salmon hue
 —after  forty-eight hours, and when the milk disagrees they are apt to
 be loose, while usually they are intensely tough and constipated.  This
 feature  of the use of s  immed milk is at times most obstinate and an-
noying.    After some weeks of creamless milk, 1  have often resorted,
in such cases, to  unskimmed  milk, and with good eHect;  but  it is
 quite clear that even this, in adults, may constipate, as it never does in
the child.    Carel says that a little coffee in the morning is often  suf-
ficient to relieve the  bowels ;  and where a small cup of pure coffee
 can be used, this is true.  I give it without sugar.  Later in the treat-
ment, fruit, fresh  or stewed, may be used; but, as a rule, I find that a
little Saratoga water on rising, and a half-grain of aloes with a grain
 of ginger at night, will answer; or, if  these  do not, then an enema is
 required.  In some cases this symptom is simply unconquerable by any
 constant treatment, and twice  it  has forced me tc abandon the milk 
THERAPEUTICS.
7
In another case—a lady  who undertook the milk-cure unassisted—I
was sent for on account  of violent rectal  and sciatic pain which fol-
lowed every effort at  defecation.   She said she had had a daily stool,
which was true, but  the  amount passed was trifling, and her rectum
was packed with faeces so tough as utterly to defy injections until I had
mechanically  broken  up  the  mass.  The  pulse  is  usually quickened
until the milk-diet  is large enough to sustain the weight  unchanged,
when it  falls again.   In  certain  cases of hypertrophied left ventricle,
with palpitation of the heart, the immediate effect is to lower the pulse
and quiet  the heart.   The nervous system is not strikingly affected by
milk. I have once  only, in a very stout and hysterical lady, seen ver-
tigo and faintness follow its use and forbid its continuance;  but, as a
rule, it is in such persons soothing alone.
   Carel makes  no mention of  one symptom of which many patients
have spoken to me: this  is  an intense sleepiness.   It is  common, but
not universal,  and soon passes away.
   In no case is the treatment of more value than in obstinate stomachic
disease.
   Dr. Mitchell  then  details  a number of  cases of  stomachic disease,
one of which we select as an example:—
  Mrs. B., widow,  set.  33, had for years suffered from constant acid dyspepsia, for
which she had been treated by several physicians, both at home and abroad.  Her
only relief consisted in the most careful choice of a minimum amount of food, and
in the constant use of bismuth.  She weighed 118 pounds, and was sallow and dis-
figured by an eczematous  eruption.
  During the first day of  the milk-cure she took only one tablespoonf ul every two
hours, and after this it was increased as I have described.   In a week she was tak-
ing a little under a quart daily, and her weight was down to  114 pounds.   A little
whiskey was now added, and left off at the fifteenth day, when she was taking over
two quarts of milk. The weight continued nearly  steady up to the end of the third
week, when  she declared that even the perfect ease  attained as early as the third day
of the treatment was scarcely a compensation for the horrors of this exclusive diet.
A little persuasion, however,  enabled me to continue its use another week, when
I began to give stale bread, and in a few days later venison.  Her  gain in weight
from this time was strangely rapid, and five and a half weeks after we  began the
milk brought her up to 129 pounds, with a perfectly clear and spotless skin.  The
aloes pill  and enema answered throughout to control her bowels.
  It is now nearly a year since this  time, but, despite her final abandonment of
milk, she  retains alike  her good  looks and comfort in digestion, having had in
this time only one relapse, which yielded to a brief return to the diet.
  Dr. Mitchell has  not  found the  milk treatment of much value in
nervous  disease, except  in certain cases of very obstinate neuralgia,
which was probably connected  with a  weakened digestion.  In  the
early stages of  Bright's  disease, he  claims that  very  good  results
are obtained by it, and details several cases making good his  asser-
tions. 
8
THERAPEUTICS.
   One case was that of a young lady, who had in May an acute attack oi
 scarlatinal desquamative nephritis, and  whose  urine, in spite of  m™*-
 mediate treatment,  in  the following  September  was decidedly albu-
 minous, with a  sp.  gr. 1014, and numerous fine granular tube-casts.
 She entirely recovered under the  milk  diet.   The following case we
 quote in  full, as affording  a remarkable instance of the influence of
 altered  diet and hygiene.
   E. C, set 38.  Early in 1863 he suffered from pain in the region of the right
 lobe of the liver, a pain nearly constant, but not very acute.  It was regarded  as
 rheumatic.   Six months later a tumor appeared over and below the anterior portion
 of the seventh rib—the pain increasing as the mass enlarged.  Ease was had only
 when the body was bent to the right side.  After careful  examination, this tumor
 was regarded by the patient and his  surgical attendant as fatty—the pain being
 due to pressure upon the intercostal nerves.
   January 7, 1864, the mass was opened by an incision, preparatory to its removal;
 about six ounces of glairy albuminous fluid escaped, and it was then determined
 to stuff the cavity with lint, as the patient, who had  not been anaesthetized, was
 unwilling to allow of the attempt at excision.  Next day  "irritative fever" set in,
 and  soon took a typhoid type,  with total suppression  of urine, delirium, dry
 tongue, and the usual symptoms.  The suppuration caused by the lint in the cavity
 continued up to July, 1865—two months after the  buttermilk diet  was  begun—
 eighteen months from the time of the incision.   During about four months of this
 time there was a sensation of heat over the renal region;  the urine contained no
 albumen;  but during  January, 1S65, he was suddenly attacked with  diuresis,
 which came and went.   In these spells there was albumen in  the urine, and trans-
 parent tube-casts.  He would often pass as much as twelve ounces  of water every
 half  hour.  At this time I first saw him ; the wound  was suppurating, his pulse
was 120—thirst excessive,  incessant flow of strongly albuminous  urine.  Beneath
the diseased rib, which was rough and carious,  the whole of the organs seemed to
be involved in a mass of inflammation.   The liver  dulness extended two  inches
below the navel in the centre, and on the right  side to the  crest of the ilium.  The
right lung was hepatized half-way up, and posteriorly the  dulness was continuous
into the renal region.  The dejections were gray.  There  were several severe pul-
monary hemorrhages, with cough and purulent  expectoration.  Under the  free use
 of tinct. ferri chloridi he gained ground, the albumen lessening but not  ceasing,
 and the urine diminishing in amount.   In May of the same year, still excessively
feeble and emaciated, he went to the country.   He writes to me:
  "At this time I weighed 127 pounds.  On fine days I was assisted out  into the
sun, and left for some hours with a pail  of buttermilk and a ladle.   With these
alone I supplied myself with my only food and drink, if I except  six or seven
lemons daily; and thus  I lived for months.  My salivary secretion was too scant to
make a bolus.  No gain took place in the character  of the urine, but  I gradually
gained strength, so that  I could go out without help.   In two months I could carry
 a gun, and in two more  the diuresis grew less, so that I had to rise  only twee  a
night.  Then I ceased to improve.  I here thought I  had been four months in the
 country, and that a trip  to the impure  air of the city might enable me on my return
to gain ground again: I think I was right.  On my return to the country I seemed
to receive a new impulse, and my recovery was rapid.   I then went  periodicallv to
the city, with, I think,  great benefit.  I still continued through the  winter at 
THERAPEUTICS.
9
hotel in the neighborhood, skating and gunning,—at the end of eleven months had
gained  eighty pounds.  Strength fully restored;  urine still albuminous."  He
spent the summer at the sea-side, and again retuniing to the country, remained
there until January, 1867.   He adds at this time, " I resumed my occupations, with
still a trace of albumen in  the urine.  I then discontinued examining it  for six
months, when it had entirely disappeared.  I believe I  had albuminuria fifty
months, and consumed in eleven months four hundred gallons of buttermilk."
  I have seen Mr. C. recently, a very sturdy and vigorous man.
CLINICAL NOTES ON EELIEF OF NOCTURNAL DYSPNCEA
        ARISING FROM DISEASE OF  THE HEART.

                       BY S. O. HABERSIION, M.D.

  Dk. Habershon divides these cases into three sets:—
  No. 1.—Cases of  failing power of heart's action from loss of blood
and from sudden shocks to the nervous system.   The action of heart
is feeble,  often irregular;  pulse quick, irritable ;  first sound short, in-
distinct.  The best treatment consists in  administration of nourish-
ment and stimulants, followed by iron, with, if there be sleeplessness or
pain, chloral-hydrate, or chloroform, or, preferably to either, opium.
  No. 2.—Cases of  mitral deficiency, characterized by  heart-murmur,
irregular  and small pulse, internal  congestions, anasarca, etc.   Stimu-
lants and narcotics are here of little avail.  The most effectual method
of relieving the dyspnoea is by diminishing the tension on the right side
of the heart, with the visceral congestions, by small doses of mercurials,
by  squill and digitalis, by diuretics,  as  the  nitrate,  bitartrate, and
iodide of potash, by gentle but active purgatives.
  No. 3.—Cases dependent upon failing muscular power of the heart.
If congestions be present, they should be relieved b\" means just inti-
mated.   Stimulating narcotics should  be used, as the spirit of chloro-
form, camphor, senega,   ammonia, and  Indian  hemp; opium and
hydrate of chloral must be used with great caution.  Nervous excite-
ment to be  sedulously avoided.   Starchy food  should be abstained
from at night,  and temperature  carefully guarded during the same
period.    The drugs available for relief are included in the  fol-
lowing :—
   Opium and Morphia.—These  are less useful in organic  than func-
tional heart disease.  The distress of the patient is often aggravated
by them.   The  cardiac nerves are quieted, but the respiratory centres
are narcotized,  so that if the patient sleeps, he  wakes up more dis-
tressed.   The secretions  are  checked,  and the heart's  action thereby 
10
THERAPEUTICS.
        —----------------------------------------------------------------------------p 1
embarrassed.  Very small doses of morphia are, however, often use
in relieving excitement;  large doses alwavs tend to increase tne p
monary congestion and depress the heart's action.
   Digitalis is often of great value.   Its  primary action appears to^ be
that of a stimulant to the heart, and afterwards that of a sedative.
Its influence is much greater  on the cardiac than respiratory centres.
Foxglove acts  best  in cases  of imperfection of the mitral, where
there is great irregularity of action of the heart, and is advantageously
given with small doses of mercurials, squill, or saline diuretics.   But
while it often affords great  benefits  by regulating the pulse, relieving
dyspnoea, and stimulating the kidneys, Dr.  Habershon states : "I con-
fess I always watch its free administration with fear, on account of
the numerous instances of sudden  and  fatal syncope coincident with
its employment in full doses."
   Conium and Belladonna are useful when there is spasmodic con-
traction of bronchial muscular fibres, i.e., where bronchitis or bronchial
asthma  coexists with the heart affection.   Otherwise they are very
uncertain.
   Stimulants.—Alcohol,  ether, chloroform, carbonate of ammonia,
are useful  by directly stimulating  the  cardiac nerves.  Alcohol un-
fortunately  increases  congestion of the  liver,  and  interferes  with
excretion.  Chloroform and ether  afford only very  transient relief.
The carbonate of ammonia in full doses is deserving of  a fuller use
than it generally has received.   Ten or fifteen  grains may be given in
syrup, and both its primary effects  and its secondary action on the
skin and the  glands are  salutary.    The aromatic  spirit is  less
powerful.
   Camphor is a cardiac stimulant, but its action is transitory and some-
what  uncertain.  It  is  especially  useful  where there  is  flatulent
distention of the abdomen, and must be given in full doses.
   Senega seems to exert  a stimulant action both on the respiratory and
cardiac nerves, and tends to lessen paroxysmal  attacks of dyspnoea at
night.
   Indian Hem/p.  Dr. Habershon has found this drug very efficacious
in promoting  rest  in cardiac disease.  He states  that both it  and
senega have acted in his hands very beneficially in  many cases, and that
they deserve a fuller trial than they have  hitherto  had.  He thinks
the hemp is better than opium, as affecting less the cardiac centres.
   Chloral-hydrate induces,  in numerous instances, calm  refreshing
sleep; but where there is great dilatation of  the heart, or 'weakness from
degeneration of  the muscular fibres,  its employment is not without
danger.  In one case of  distressing sleeplessness from aortic disease
with imperfection of the valves, twenty grains  produced unconscious- 
THERAPEUTICS.
11
ness for twenty-four hours.  In another case, forty grains only aggravated
the symptoms.   Where there is much pulmonary congestion its use ia
very hazardous, for, whatever may be the primary effect of chloral, its
secondary effect seems to be that of a depressant, both upon the muscu-
lar fibre of the heart and upon the par vagum;  and if sleep be not in-
duced, the system becomes excited, the countenance flushed, the brain
disturbed, and we have the semi-intoxicating effects of alcohol, without
the benefit of its stimulating action.  Hydrate of chloral is less valuable
in cardiac sleeplessness than where there is no organic disease of the
organs.   As a rule, greater relief to cardiac dyspnoea is  obtained by
lessening  the distention of the cavities of the heart, than by urging it
to increased mechanical effort by the repeated administration of stimu-
lants.—London Lancet, March 7th.
                                                   1/
                   TRANSFUSION  OF BLOOD.

   Dr. AYied Betz details a case of a woman collapsing from anemia,
 due to repeated hemorrhages from the stomach and bowels, on whom
 he practised transfusion.  But two ounces of blood were given, and in
 spite of all care two very minute bubbles of air were forced into the
 veins.  The entrance of the air  was instantly followed by profound
 collapse, but by the use of cold water and other restoratives the patient
 was soon revived.
   The immediate effects of  the transfusion were not very marked, but
 the woman commenced to improve very gradually, and finally perfectly
 recovered.  After detailing the case, Dr. Betz describes the operation,
 and remarks upon it as follows.   The operation may be  described in
 four parts :—
   1st. Preparation. The points to be attended to are—to have a good
 light; the two subjects to be operated on close to one another; two glass-
 es standing in a basin of water at temperature of 29° R.; a bundle of
 fine, cle/m twigs; a fine piece of  linen to strain  the blood through
 after defibrination ; a bistoury, scissors, thermometer, sponges, restora-
 tives, cold water.  Also, a stout double thread, and  ear-sound, or De-
 champ'sche needle.
   2d. Consists  of  baring and binding the arm as for  venesection;
 choosing the largest vein; making an incision one  and a half inches
long  parallel  and down to it.  If there be  any bleeding it must be
checked by  cold, and the vein, as it lies in the centre of the cut,  must
be carefully dissected loose from the cellular tissue for about half  an
inch, and the  double thread be passed under it.  A cold-water com-
press should now be laid on  the wound. 
12
THERAPEUTICS.
   The 3d act consists in drawing five or six ounces of blood into one
 of the glasses, whipping it  five to eight minutes with the  bundle ol
 twigs, and then straining it into the other glass.
   The 4th act consists in placing the canula in the vein.   The latter
 is drawn out of the wound by the threads—the bandage haying been
 previously taken from the arm, and a Y-shaped piece, two  lines long,
 cut out of the vein with the scissors, or the vein cut half through.  The
 canula or tube of the syringe is now introduced, it having been previ-
 ously warmed and carefully filled with blood,  so  that no  air may be
 contained in it (the  point  in this respect  must be especially looked
 to).   When  the tube  is inserted the threads must be tied around it
 tightly, so as to prevent any escape of  the blood.  Some use  a Nuss-
 baum's or conical  canula, which  itself  fills up the vein and prevents
 any return of the blood.
   The 5 th act is the transfusion proper.  The  blood must  be forced
 into the vein very slowly and carefully, always remembering the re-
 sults of the introduction of  a little air.  The point of the warmed
 syringe should never be entirely emptied.  If a refilling of the syringe
 is required the vein should be held just above the point of the canula.
   The 6th act consists of placing a large wet compress over the wound,
 and  binding  it firmly by a roller bandage.   Sticking-plaster and other
 methods of drawing the lips of the wound together should be eschewed,
 as conducive to phlebitis.  After  this description Dr. Betz makes some
 further remarks:
   Woman's blood  should always,  if possible, be used in injecting into
 a woman, man's blood for a man, although,  if  necessary, this  precept
 may be departed from.  The blood  should be taken only from a strong,
 healthy individual. Blood defibrinated  by whipping is preferable to
 simple blood, unless time be so important that  the few minutes  occu-
 pied in preparing it are of consequence.  H simple blood be  used, it
 must be taken into the syringe as  fast as it flows from the veins, as ex-
 posure to the air favors greatly coagulation.  Dr. Braxton Hicks's sug-
 gestion that phosphate  of soda be  added  to delay coagulation seems a
 good one.
  Transfusion must not be put off too long, until death is, as it were,
 already sitting upon the lips.  Although one to two pounds of blood have
 been used, yet such quantity produces so much systemic disturbance
that  it is better not to throw in more than eight ounces.  If  as is often
 the case, the symptoms  of  prostration  reappear some days after the
operation, the latter should  be repeated.  It  is better to  use warm
blood, but cool blood  has been  used with  good results.   After the
operation absolute  quietude of body and mind,  and a supporting re<n-
men, must be observed. If headache, anxiety, etc., follow the traiisfu- 
THERAPEUTICS.
13
sion,the patient should be quieted by hypodermic injection of morphia.
—Memorabilien.  Heilbronn, April, IS71.
COLD-WATER TREATMENT OF TYPHUS  FEYER IN  THE
   NUREMBERG HOSPITAL  DURING THE YEAR 1868.
                     BY DR. GOTTLIEB MERKEL.
  During the year 41 cases were treated—18 men, 23 women.   The
cold full baths employed were at a temperature mostly 15° R., rarely
from 18° to 20° R.  The time of tarriance in them was ten minutes, and
they were only used between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
  They were used first on—
                                   8th day................. 4 cases.
                                   9th  " ................. 1 case.
                                  10th  " .................. 2 cases.
                                  13th  " ................. 1 case.
                                  14th  " ................. 2 cases,
                                  After 14th day............ 5  "
  The average number was 33 baths to a case:—
                         6 cases.
3d " .........	.......... 5 cases
4th " ......... 5th " .........	..........5 " ..........6 "
6th " .........	..........8 "
7th " .........	
   10 baths or fewer in
11-20   "
21-30   "
31-40   "   "
41-50   "   "
51-60 in................. 3 cases.
61-70 in................. 2  "
71-80 in................. 2  "
   97 in.................1 case.
  The temperature was taken every three hours—in women in rectum,
in men in axilla ; and the cases were bathed when temperature reached
39° R. and 39.5°  respectively.  Scruple doses of quinine had not any
fixed  influence on  temperature, sometimes apparently lowering it,
sometimes giving only negative results.  (Dr. M.  says his experience
in private practice is, that quinine is efficacious in protracting influence
of bath in proportion to youth of patient.)   Complications were abun-
dant : bronchitis, six times; croupous pneumonia, once; pleurisy, twice;
diphtheritis  of pharynx, once, of nose and bronchia, once;  parotitis,
once ; profuse diarrhoea,  three times; intestinal hemorrhage, twice;
menorrhagia, once; persistent albuminuria, twice; fugitive albumi-
nuria, often ; caries of rib, once ; facial erysipelas, once; roseola and
swelling of the spleen present in every case.
  There were only two deaths, both men :  one from profuse infestinal
hemorrhage, on 15th day; the other from diphtheritic  exudation, ex-
tending from nose into bronchial tubes.  The first case did not come
under treatment until 15th day, and was then cyanosed,  and  had very
great delirium, intense heat, albuminuria, and pulse 120.  The influ- 
14
THERAPEUTICS.
  ence of the baths was scarcely perceptible on him, save by a fall of
  temperature.  After death the heart muscle was well advanced in fatty,
  and the abdominal recti in waxy degeneration.
    Delirium in all cases  quickly subsided under the influence of  the
  bath, except in one of the  fatal cases, and in a boy 14 years old, who
  was originally taken with  diphtheritic pharyngitis and albuminuria,
  developing on  the fifth day  well-marked typhus.
    Involuntary stools were present at first in numerous cases, but quickly
  disappeared as delirium and coma subsided  under the  use of the cold
  baths, except in one case, in which they persisted after the mind be-
  came perfectly clear,  and were finally cured by  galvanism applied
  during convalescence to the  paralyzed sphincter.
    The occurrence  of menstruation did not interfere with the regular
  bathing; but Dr.  Merkel states that hereafter menorrhagia will  be
  looked on by him as a counter-indication.  In one woman, four months
  gone in pregnancy, the baths were used regularly and very successfully;
  she did not abort.  In 21.9 per cent, of the cases there was a distinct
  relapse, which persisted from eight to seventeen days, and in which all
 the symptoms typical of typhus were manifested.
   In regard to  temperature, in no case was the effect of bath negative.
 In most of the cases the temperature fell from 2° to 3° (R. ?) and&rarely
 4°; a result very  different  from that  obtained by Ziemssen, by the
 use of baths gradually cooled.   The fall of temperature obtained by
 him was much less, but was  much more persistent.  In most of the
 cases of Dr. Merkel the temperature would rise to the  bathing point
 again in three hours, whilst under Dr. Ziemssen's plan, especially early
 in the disease, it was often six hours before the bath was again required.
 Dr. Merkel's experience is, that often-repeated baths, if onlv very short,
 are not very disagreeable to the patient, and agrees with that of Lieber-
 meister, that frequently-repeated  short baths are better than more sel-
 dom and longer ones, and that  by far the greatest influence is exerted
 by the first few minutes of bathing.   Also, that the sooner the baths are
 commenced the. better is the prognosis,  and the more effect produced
 by them, the more  favorable are  the auguries for the future.  As to
 duration m true typhus the doctor  has not found the time very much
 shortened ; but the  chief end gained has been great lessening of mor-

 ^X"^ ^  " ^  ^^ diS-—^^
  Antipyretic Treatment  of Typhoid  Fever.—Prof Binz sav, • A,
 soon as one of my patients  had in the morning above 101° V    'a
the evening above  103° F., he was placed  during  fifteen to twlrv
minutes in a bath of 77° F., and  every second day he received eiCS
the morning or m the evening, fifteen, and in some severe case's twent " 
THERAPEUTICS.
15
three grains of quinine.   Prof. Binz claims that in the German Hos-
pital the mortality has been reduced from 12 to 25 per cent, to Q.6 per
cent,  by this treatment, and states that if  the bath  be  given in the
morning and quinine at night, a very marked relief of the nocturnal
delirium results.—London Lancet.
     COLD-WATER TREATMENT OF  TYPHUS FEYER.
                         BY DR. DRASCHE.
  In 1869 there were treated in the " Rudolf -pitaiV," in Yienna, fifty-five
cases of typhus, with six deaths and forty-nine recoveries.   So soon as
the diagnosis was certain the cold-water treatment was commenced.  In
all cases the temperature by this time had risen to 39° C. and 40° C. in
the evening, or the mercury rose higher.  The maximum temperature
observed was  41.5°  C.—above 41° repeatedly in two fatal and  three
favorable cases.   The length  of  sickness from entrance in hospital
averaged eight days, three and twenty-seven days being the  extremes.
Nearly always the patients had entered upon the  second week before
coming to  the ward.  The convalescence was always  favorable and
without complication, excepting that  in  one case  double  suppurative
parotitis was developed.
  The water was used in half and full bath packings, and by pouring.
The first day after the certain diagnosis the patient received, so soon as
the thermometer marked  in axilla over 35.5° C, a full bath from
25° to 29° C, which, by addition of cold water, was reduced to  10°.  The
baths lasted from five to  fifteen  minutes, and during  this time the
patient was rubbed off by assistants.   The daily number of baths varied,
seven being the maximum, and they were taken at all times of the day
and  night; when very  high temperature,  delirium, and restlessness
manifested  themselves, with unconsciousness, cold pourings of 18° to
6° C. were employed, especially if there  was marked cerebral or bron-
chitic symptoms.   Cold wrappers at 8° C. were used more seldom,
owing to their producing so much exhaustion.
  After baths the patients were wrapped in a sheet and put in a clean
bed.  If, after this, there were chilly  feelings, the hands and feet were
wrapped in warm cloths and the patient well covered.   Between the
baths ice was put to the head, to the breast if there was bronchitis, and
to the abdomen, if diarrhoea.  Plenty of fresh water was  given the
patients to drink.  The bathing temperature was mostly 39.5° C, but
when the face was very red, the tongue dry,  and restlessness, uncon-
sciousness, or delirium was  present, the bath was employed, although
the temperature was below the point alluded to.   Barley-water, broth, 
16
THERAPEUTICS.
milk, and flesh-extracts were used for food.   Of the six fatal cases raw
was moribund when brought in—one had Bright's disease.  One
of intestinal hemorrhage. All had hypostatic pneumonia—one general
peritonitis.  In order to establish the action of  the  cold water  upon
the peripheral arteries  and the heart, the pulse curve was taken by
means of the sphygmograph at all  times  of day and  at  all tempera-
tures, before and after the bath.   The typhus pulse preserved its dicro-
tic character, notwithstanding the most energetic cooling.   There was
however, a correspondence between the height of the second wave and
the hei-ht of the temperature, and after the bath the second beat  could
sometimes not be detected by finger, though evident m tracings.
  In cases  of bronchitis the spirometer was often used.   After cold
affusions (Begiessungen) there  appeared, early  in  the disease, an in-
crease of vital breath power, amounting to  300  c.c.   Later in the dis-
ease  there was, after the cold  bath or affusion,  a great depression of
luno- power.  The analyses  of  urine were made, but are  not given in
abstract from BeriXde des If. K. Budolfsjntale in Wiener Medicinische
Presse, January, IS71.
                           CHLORAL:
           Yiolent Convulsions in a Child—Recovery.
                    by dr. joseph g. plnktiam.
  The child had measles, delayed eruption, intense congestion of lungs;-
relieved by eruption; retrocession of  eruption at end of two days, fol-
lowed  by violent  abdominal pain, then constant  tetanic condition of
muscles, with occasional clonic spasms.   After failure of assafcetida,
bromides, belladonna, wUrm baths, etc., chloral was exhibited.   At this
time respiration 100; bronchial tubes loaded with mucus;  constant
tonic or clonic  spasms of nearly all the muscles, and apparently imme-
diate death threatening. Two grains were given at dose ;  ten grains in
first three  hours; then  two grains  every half hour for  a  time, then
once an hour.  The symptoms gradually ameliorated, pain and rest-
lessness disappearing;  tonic  spasms relaxing, clonic disappearing,
signs of pulmonary  congestion lessening.  The chloral did not inter-
fere with feeding  or expectoration.—Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal, March 17, 1871.
  Trismus Neonatorum.—Dr. Widerhofer, in the Children's Hospital
Yienna, has had six cases of recovery out of twelve treated by chloral.
Previously he had lost all his cases.   He gives the  drug in dose of one
or two grains by the mouth, or, when it cannot be  swallowed  two and
four grains by the rectum.—The Lancet (London), March 18  1871 
THERAPEUTICS.
17
  Chloral in Singultus.—Dr. Leavitt, in American Journal of Med.
Sciences for April, states that he  has found five-grain doses of  chloral
to relieve the most obstinate  hiccough, after the failure of all other
remedies.
  Chloral  for  Nocturnal  Enuresis  and  Spermatorrhea.—Dr.
J. Bradny, in British Medical  Journal, April 8,  1871,  praises
chloral in these affections, giving details of  cases which were speedily
cured by exhibiting fifteen-grain doses taken at bedtime.  Comparing
the remedy with belladonna, he says—1.  That the effect of belladonna
is not so immediate, it frequently taking weeks to produce any marked
control over the disease, whereas chloral is most rapid in its action, the
first  dose  often controlling the  affection.  2.  Belladonna sometimes
induces profuse diarrhoea, which chloral hydrate never does.  3. Bel-
ladonna has to be  pushed to producing  unpleasant optical  symptoms.
4. Belladonna often fails.
   Cerebro-Splnal Meningitis.—Dr. H. Sharp, in JYew York Medical
Gazette, April 15, commends chloral in epidemic cerebro-spinal menin-
gitis.
   Chloral ln Cancer.—Dr. W.  Cooke commends most highly {Med.
Times and Gazette) the use of chloral in cancer.  Where there is per-
sistent suffering, ten grains  three times a day—othe: wise twenty grains
at night—are the  doses he has used it in.
   Treatment of Hooping-Cough by Chloral. — Dr. F. "Waterhouse
{Practitioner, December,  1870, p. 344) recommands  chloral in the
second stage of pertussis, when the whoop is developed and the disease
uncomplicated.  To a child aged four years he gives five grains at bed-
time.  It must be used with great caution if  pneumonic symptoms
arise, for it has a tendency  to cause lung-congestion.
   Chloral Hydrate in Hydrophobia.—In the British Medical Jour-
nal of May 6, Mr. Henry W. S. Ellis reports two cases of hydrophobia
treated by chloral.  The drug seemed to assuage the sufferings of the
patients without affecting the result.
SKETCH OF THE PRESENT STATE OF OUR KNOWLEDGE
       RESPECTING THE ACTION OF MERCURY ON
                         THE LIYER.
                    BY DR. THOMAS R.  FRASER.
  Dr. Fraser sums up present beliefs as—1. That mercury simply in-
creases the flow of  bile into the intestines.  2. That  it  causes an
increased formation of  bile, by removing abnormal conditions that in-
terfere with the secreting function of the liver.  3. That  it causes an
           2 
18                      THERAPEUTICS.

increased formation of bile, by an indirect action on the liver.  ■ ^^
it does the same by a direct and primary action on the liver.   '
it has no cholagogue action whatever.   Each of  these doctrines aie
examined seriatim.
   No. 1. Under this, Dr. Fraser shows, by quotations from numerous
physiological and  clinical authorities,  that certain conditions or  the
alvine discharge indicate a more or less  complete  absence from them
of b'le, and, therefore, the probable  existence of such  derangements
of the biliary apparatus as result in a more or less complete suspension
of the flow of  bile into the duodenum.   By a similar series of quota-
tions he next shows that "merdury is able to  restore to their normal
condition alvine discharges, modified in such a manner as to indicate
an absence or diminution of bile pigments ; and further, that in vari-
ous diseases accompanied with evacuations, whose characters  denote
absence or diminution of bile, the administration of mercury may It
followed by removal of the symptoms."  Then by numerous authori-
ties he determines  that " healthy stools will  undergo such changes
after  the exhibition of mercury as to indicate an increase of the  bile
constituents."
   Dr. Stille and others, however, assert that these  changes in color are
deceptive, due to the formation of a salt of mercury, which imparts the
peculiar color.  No chemical proof of this assertion is, however, forth-
coming, and it is shown  to be incorrect by the  analyses of Golding Bird
and Simon, both  of whom  failed to detect  any mercury in  calomel
stools.  In Simon's analysis the ethereal, alcoholic, and watery extracts
of the dried stool all were stained by bile pigments, and bilin, while
bilifellinic acid and biliverdin were found in large quantity.  Michea
made a  series of  analyses of  the  faeces: 1. The spontaneous alvine
evacuated of six healthy individuals—adult children—were examined
by the nitric acid test, and gave no result.  2.  Green evacuations passed
by three patients affected with gastro-intestinal  derangement were ex-
amined, and bile pigment was found in one case only, in  which thero
was constant vomiting, and when this ceased  bile could no longer  be
found.  3. Calomel wras given  to five healthy men and three women;
in four of  these green stools were produced, in wdiich bile was readily
demonstrable.  4.  Saline  and  resinous purgatives were given to five
persons; cue evacuations were never or very rarely of a green  color,
and no bile could be detected.  For this chemical evidence, Dr. Fraser
only claims that so far from being opposed to, it strongly corroborates the
clinical observation that mercury may increase the  quantity of bile in
the feces.   The increase of flow of  bile into the  duodenum may  be
due to the overcoming of some impediment; but as the nature or even
the existence of such impediment is  a  mere matter of speculation as 
THERAPEUTICS.
19
abundantly shown by the quotations given, the method of its removal
is still more a  matter  of speculation, and we pass  by the  ingenious
theories suggested.
  Doctrine  JVb. 2 cannot at present be proven ; but in hepatitis it is
thought by some that mercury influences the inflammatory action, and
thereby removes an abnormal interfering condition.  Again, in the pe-
culiar condition of the digestive apparatus known as " torpor of  the
liver," mercury is believed by some to cause the formation of bile by
removing the congestion.
  Doctrine  No. 3.—It is conceivable that by irritation of the duo-
denal mucous membrane, mercury exerts a reflex action on the liver.
Trousseau appears to have held such belief, but there  is no evidence
of its truth.
  Doctrine  JVb. 4.—There is as yet no direct  proof of this, but  Dr.
Wares believes it is  quite legitimate  to  maintain it  as a possible or
probable explanation of several of the observed facts.
  Of the first four doctrines, then, the only one which  can be recognized
as established is that mercury increases the flow of bile into the intes-
tines.
  In regard to doctrine No. 5, the only proof at all of it is found in the
experiments of Dr. Scott, and the very similar  ones  of Dr.  Bennett.
The general plan of investigation  in these was to  ligate and divide
the common gall-duct, and then  make  a fistulous communication be-
tween the abdominal parietes and the gall-bladder.   Afterwards  the
amount of bile eliminated was measured, both when  calomel was given
and when it was not.  The objections to these experiments are:  First.
They have no direct relation to the only established clinical fact that the
flow of bile into the duodenum  is increased (Doctrine No. 1),  as in
such a' manner the action on the secreting activity of the liver can alone
be studied.  It is apparent, also, that they do not really affect Doctrine
No. 2, i. e., that mercury  increases the flow of bile  by removing a
pathological condition.  The objections  to allowing that the famous
" Edinburgh Report"  disproves that mercury causes  an increase of the
secretion of bile by a direct or  indirect action  on the liver are—first,
In the operation certain nerves going to  the liver were necessarily  cut,
and it is conceivable that this may have  influenced  the result.   Sec-
ond. Suppuration, irritation about the liver, absorption of bile pro-
ducts, all tended to produce an abnormal condition of  the liver, which
may have affected the  action of the mercury.   Again,  it is well proven
that bile  is  a necessity to proper digestion and assimilation, but  the
injurious effects which follow  prevention of the flow of bile  into the
intestines were necessarily present in the experiments of  Scott  and
Bennett.  How far they modified the result is not apparent.   In the 
20                       THERAPEUTICS.
first place, a condition was produced in which normal  vital proces   ,
intimately and directly related to the secreting or excreting functions
of the liver, were rendered  abnormal, and  then experiments  or the
most elaborate and careful description were performed in order to de-
termine the influence of mercury on  the  excretory or  secretory func-
tion.
   In the discussion which followed this paper at its reading before the
Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, Dr. Gamgee stated that  as
one of the Edinburgh  Committee, of which Dr. Bennett was chair-
man, he begged to state his opinion that the experiments had  not con-
clusively proven that mercury does not act on the liver.  The liver  is
the largest gland in the body, exercising  various and important func-
tions, and it was probable that the secretion of the bile was little more
than the drainage of the large manufactory; that mercury did influ-
ence these acts was a clinical observation constantly repeated for ages,
and it would be absurd to set up a few experiments upon dogs against
such oft-repeated experience.
  Dr.  Bennett, in reply, said that  experience had led to  the use
of the lancet for  4,000 years, although now we have learnt its in-
juriousness, and banished it almost entirely  from practice ; and that
universal belief, as this shows, is no argument for the truth of a scien-
tific problem.  Drs.  Wright  and Liston  called  attention to  the fact
that spinach-colored  mercurial stools can be produced  without  purg-
ing, as indicating that the bile is not merely hurried through the in-
testines.  Professor Liston also bore testimony to the relief of other
symptoms of deranged biliary action, such as clearing of the skin and
urine, often effected  by calomel.— Edinburgh Med. Jour.
       THE ACTION OF  MERCURY  ON CHILDREN.
                     BY WM. STEPHENSON, M.D.,
           PHYSICIAN TO THE KOTAL HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN.
  Dr. Stephenson, after calling attention to the  fact that pepsin is
often more useful than mercury in children in whom there is derange-
ment of the alimentary apparatus, even when the  latter is  apparently
more hepatic than stomachic in its origin, remarks in substance as fol-
lows :—There is a very prevalent error, that children are less suscepti-
ble to the constitutional action of calomel than adults.   This opinion is
based solely upon the difficulty of salivating young children.   The truth
is, children are more readily affected and more readily injured bv mer-
cury than adults.  We have not salivation as a guide, but take another
index.   In syphilitic  children I have frequently observed decided 
THERAPEUTICS.
21
results in six days from a grain of gray powder night  and morning.
Although this is a therapeutic rather than a physiological action, it yet
indicates that the system is brought under the influence of the drug.
  A smaller amount properly given will, however, produce very per-
ceptible  effects.  Mercury  produces  in children  a state  of  pallor,
feebleness, sickness, and  fretfulness, wTith green  mucous evacuations.
The result depends much upon the method of  administration.  The
effect is  produced in two ways: first, by the irritant  action on the
alimentary mucous membranes; and  secondly, by the  action on the
system in general.  Much of the depressing influence may be avoided
by careful administration.  Another effect  is the production of  ane-
mia.  This I regard a most important symptom to be watched for in the
administration of mercury  to children.   If we  take  the  depressing
influence and  the production of anemia, and not salivation,  as our
tests, wTe may  affirm that children are  at  least as easily affected  as
adults by mercurials.
  In simple intestinal derangements, where a healthy child is suffering
from constipation,-and passing white chalky stools, I have treated
some such cases with mercury alone.   The results have been: first,
griping,  without  change in the  character of the motions; then the
passages are more frequent, softer, and  mixed with green ;  then the
mercurial  motions  proper are obtained, and continue for some days.
Stopping the remedy;  in favorable cases a  return to healthy evacua-
tions takes place, but very gradually, and seldom without some other
remedial agency; in other cases, the old  chalky motions again appear.
  A dose of  castor-oil, and  proper regulation of the diet, will often
bring about a more speedy result; and when compared with rhubarb
and phosphate  of soda, the action  of mercury is far from satisfactory.
  In eases where there is diarrhoea with copious white stools, mercury
has  seemed to do more harm than good.  In the obstinate  and  pro-
tracted retching of  a bilious attack, I have seen the vomiting arrested
by  a few grains of calomel.  I employ it in some cases  in  robust
children, where the vomiting is  obstinate and  the bowels confined,
without a tendency to irritability of the mucous membrane.  It  should
be given in full dose, and not repeated. While I would,  then, limit the
use  of mercury in  intestinal  affections,  I believe it of great benefit
in certain constitutional affections.  In  infantile syphilis I have the
greatest  confidence in it.   Experience  has  taught  me that in cases
where I  have  sought to produce  change  by the  use of the iodide  or
other preparation of potassa, but signally failed, I have succeeded by
administering mercury.
  Dr. Stephenson  believes  that  in syphilis mercury acts not  on the
blood, but upon the tissue cells, and that it does not cure syphilis by 
00
THERAPEUTICS.
removing the diathesis, but by modifying the results of the diathesis;
and hence, in a strict sense, it does not cure syphilis.              ^
  His  experience  teaches  him that mercury acts most  beneficially
in the  sluggish constitutions of strumous and syphilitic diatheses, and
most injuriously in the tubercular diathesis.  His conclusions  are  as
follows:—
  1.  Mercury may be employed  to  influence the constitution  with
perfect  safety,  and without  any  injurious effects on the general
health.
  2.  That to obtain its therapeutical action  it is not necessary to pro-
duce its visible physiological action, and that  it becomes  injurious so
soon as these t re manifested.
  3.  That  in children its injurious effects are as  easily induced as  in
adults, but must be looked for in its depressing influence and deterio-
ration of the blood.
  4.  That it should be only used to stimulate nutritive changes, not to
alter the  blood, and that it should be administered occasionally and at
intervals, not continuously.
  5.  That its  use  in  modifying  acute  inflammatory  action  is  very
limited, but that there  can be no question as to its  power over the
products  of inflammation, in starting the  processes of resolution and
absorption.
  6.  That  no amount of abuse of  the  medicine can  in  any way in-
validate the results of  its effects when it has cured where other reme-
dies have failed, or lessen  in  any measure the position which I here
defend of a judicious use of the medicine. — Edinburgh Mid. Jour.
ON  THE  EFFECTS  OF  CONIUM  IN NERYOUS  AFFEC-
                             TIONS.

      BY DRS. M. GONZALES ECHEVERRIA AND A. E. MACDONALD.
  The especial object of this  paper is to call attention to the value of
conium in epilepsy and similar convulsions. Details of a number of cases
are given, but of these we  can only mention particularly that of an in-
fant, six days old, suffering from  most violent convulsions, consequent
upon chronic hydrocephalus.
  Every remedy proved powerless to arrest even  temporarily the con-
vulsions  and to quiet the infant, excepting  the succus conii  (from
William Ransom, Ilitchin,  near London), at first ten  minims every two
hours, gradually increased to one fiuid. drachm every two or three hours,
until the convulsions would discontinue with the appearance of nar- 
THERAPEUTICS.
23
cotic effects of conia.  Among the immediate changes noticed when the
infant took twenty minims of the succus every two hours, were a lessen-
ing of the fits, with regular evacuations of the bowels, and an  exces-
sive secretion from the kidneys, urine being passed almost every hour.
The frequency of the pulse and respiration decreased, the skin became
cool, and the infant would sleep for five or six hours, free from fits and
screaming, and Avith the limbs quite relaxed.  A second or third drachm
of  the juice, exhibited two or three hours after the preceding, would
show very strikingly the deficiency of the peripheral circulation, the
pulse at the same time being much more frequent, but  weaker, respira-
tion hurried and irregular, and the hands and feet cold and bloodless.
The pupils would become greatly dilated, with perceptible strabismus,
the face flushed, the tongue dry, and the infant, when sleeping soundly,
would be observed at times to move the lips and mouth in an automatic
manner, as though sucking, or would be seized for a wThile with hiccough
or vomiting—these two last-mentioned phenomena always  before the
production of complete narcotism.  In addition, the bowels would act
but rarely, and the faeces, white and hardened, would, on their passage,
give  the infant great pain.   The maximum of  succus conii ever em-
ployed was three fluid drachms within twelve hours, and  the succus
was administered in this manner, with  occasional intervals,  for several
weeks.   The infant, however, died in a severe fit, at a time when he
was apparently less distressed, and had not taken the juice of hemlock
for over  a week.
   The authors have also used the remedy in chorea, hemiplegia, lo-
comotor  ataxia, and  myelitis, with the result  of obtaining quiet and
sleep. To obtain effects, full repeated doses  must be used.  It gen-
erally requires half an  ounce  of the  English juice, or  half  to one
drachm of Squibb's fluid extract, to influence decidedly the nervous cen-
tres.   Sometimes much larger doses are necessary.  The utmost effect
becomes manifest in from twenty to thirty hours after these amounts
have  been taken.
   The operation of conia lasts from two to six hours, and then disap-
pears, leaving no other  traces than a sense of diminished muscular
energy, in  a few instances accompanied by nausea or hiccough, and
more frequently by a  burning sensation on urinating, both of which
phenomena are of short duration.
   It is important that we should remark—and in this our observations
corroborate those already made  by Harley—that the  weaker and
more inactive the  epileptic is, the larger  will  be the quantity  of
conium required to affect him as a narcotic.  And it is  striking, as
further asserted by Harley, that conium really operates as a tonic upon
the muscular system.   In this respect conium, when not carried to 
24                       THERAPEUTICS.
 the degree of paralyzing the muscular power, resembles in its action
 cod-liver  oil.   The fact is quite  remarkable with epileptics ^mS
 three or four drachms of the juice, or thirty minims of Squibb s fluid
 extract, three  times  daily, for the irritability  of the spinal system
 gradually diminishes, with notable improvement in their bodily con-
 dition.  This tonic effect of conium is no less obvious in myelitis.  We
 have in no case noticed that conium interferes with the sensory func-
 tions.
  We have found the pulse  regular  throughout the operation of
 conium, but not of undiminished force and volume, as stated  by Har-
 ley.   Our observations lead us  to believe  that conia,  from its special
 influence on the pneumogastric nerve, operates on the innervation of
 the heart with  paralyzing effect, the internal  sensibility of the  organ
 being affected through the depressor nerve, or sensitive cardiac branch
 of Cyon,  which accounts  for  the bloodless condition of the limbs,
 from  contraction of the peripheral blood-vessels, when the full action
 of conium is produced.   Conium, therefore, differs from bromide of
 potassium, which operates in a paralyzing  manner mainly on the vaso-
 motor nerves.   We are satisfied that the sympathetic system is  pri-
 marily involved in the production of epilepsy, circulation being thereby
 deranged  from  the inception of the disease.  Hence the  advantage
 which may be  derived from the  judicious employment of remedies
 like bromide of potassium and conium, operating chiefly on the motor
 nervous tracts  and the innervation of the  whole circulatory system.
 We look upon cerebral anaemia, due to excitation of the arterial nerves,
 as the initial link  in  the  chain of  epileptic phenomena.  The confu-
 sion generally made between hyperaemia and congestion explains why
 cerebral hyperaemia may be still considered by  some writers  as an
 etiological factor of epilepsy.  Hyperaemia is a physiological phenom-
 enon of short duration, depending upon  stimulus and greater action
 of the venous system, whereby the flow of oxygenated  blood is accele-
 rated  ; whereas congestion is, on the contrary, a morbid phenomenon,
the  result  of vascular paralysis of more or  less permanency, and caus-
ing stagnation of the blood.  Although the capillaries  overflow,  as we
 may say, in either  case, hyperaemia is of such a transient nature that
 it cannot induce structural changes, which are, however, the necessary
 consequences of congestion.  Excitation of  arterial vaso-motor nerves
 causes anaemia, but such excitation, as just observed,  is momentary;
and, if prolonged, it soon paralyzes the arterial walls, congestion  fol-
lowing thereon.  It suffices, therefore, to bear in mind such teachings
of the physiology of the circulatory systems, to understand how cere-
bral congestion must be, and is, so intimately associated with epilepsy,
notwithstanding the occurrence of anaemia at  the very onset of  the 
THERAPEUTICS.
25
epileptic paroxysm.  The one—anaemia—is the initial, the other—con-
gestion—the consecutive phenomenon of  epilepsy; both originating
in a derangement of the sympathetic system.—Medical Times.
  ON THE CORRECTIYE INFLUENCE OF  BROMIDE  OF
                  POTASSIUM  ON OPIUM.
                     BY J. M. DA  COSTA, M.D.
  Dr. Da Costa in this paper states that he has had very great success
in the conjoint use of bromide of potassium and opium, in those cases
in which  the latter drug cannot  be  taken  alone.  He  gives two
or three twenty-grain doses—one half an hour before the narcotic,
the  other  three hours afterwards, or sometimes  a larger  dose with
the opium.  He has used the combination in a large number of cases ;
in one  which he gives as a specimen, the patient herself said in a
note :  " I have been sending my thoughts back to the time when opium'
was my horror, and severe pain as easy to bear as its effects.   If the
pain was relieved, the faintness wTould return after twelve, fifteen, or
even twenty-four hours from the time of taking the opium.  Now, ou
taking twenty grains of the bromide one-half hour before a dose  of the
watery extract, and again in about two hours, I am pretty secure. The
more bromide I take, the sooner do I  get to sleep after a dose of
opium.  Two doses (20 grains each) are not enough to counteract  the
exciting effects and procure sleep under five or six hours from the time
of taking."  The faintness from opium is the phenomenon most markedly
prevented.  Next in readiness of being influenced stand the headache,
vertigo, and nausea ;  then the itching of the surface and dry mouth.
In some cases the bromide fails to have  any corrective  influence.—■
American Journal Med. Science, April, 1871.
  TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION" OF LIMBS BY CUT-
       TING OFF THEIR MAIN ARTERIAL SUPPLY.
                       BY DR. S. W. GROSS.
  In this paper Dr.  Gross  first details a case of intense sub-aponeu-
rotic inflammation of the hand, in which he was forced to take up the
brachial artery for bleeding from incisions made by the surgeon.
  Up to this time (he says) there had not been  any considerable dimi-
nution in the severity of the local symptoms, and the gangrene now
■Involved  the third and second phalanges of the ring-finger.  On the
following morning I found that the swelling had declined and that the 
26
THERAPEUTICS.
 pain, bat, and purulent discharge had also diminished.  In the course
 of a week the hand had regained almost its natural size, and  a distinct
 line of demarcation had formed on the proximal side of the first pha-
 langeal articulation. Ten days later I removed the offending finger at
 its metacarpal junction, and in a few days more the cure was perfect.
  After giving a history of the subject, he recommends manual com-
 pression of the artery as a safer, less serious, and equally effectual
 method as  the ligature. In 1867 Professor Yanzetti, of the University
 of Padua, proposed digital compression of the main artery for the cure
 of phlegmonous or articular inflammation of the extremities, and de-
 tailed two cases  as illustrations of the efficacy of this treatment; one
 being an instance of bad phlegmonous erysipelas of the arm, cured by
 compression of the  subclavian artery, and the other a case of acute
 arthritis of the wrist, successfully managed by compression of the bra-
 chial artery.   So manifest have  been the advantages derived from
 manual compression that it now forms  the ordinary means of treating
 such cases  at  the Padua clinic.  It need not be continuous, and the
 patient may be taught to exert it himself.  In general it need only be
 maintained for eight or ten minutes, and, after resting, again resumed.
 Professor Nelaton, in a case of inflammation of the hand after a lace-
 rated wound necessitating amputation of a finger, obtained good results
 from compression of the brachial artery.
  The same principle of practice has been carried out in other ways.
 Thus Mr. Jackson, of the Sheffield Hospital, subdued an inflammation
 of the knee-joint, consequent upon punctured wound, by compression
 of the femoral artery with a tourniquet for forty-eight hours ; but the
 disadvantage of the use of an instrument is obstruction to the venous
 return.  The Lancet, December 7, 1867, has briefly noticed " a case of
 severe traumatic inflammation of  the hand, under  the care of Mr.
Moore, at the  Middlesex Hospital, in  which  the compression of the
artery was procured by acupressure.  The  treatment  here  was quite
successful."
  Upon the Avhole, manual  compression is to be preferred to other
measures which have for their object the arrest of the circulation in
badly-inflamed parts.—Medical  Times.
      ON THE  ACTION OF ACONITUM NAPELLUS.

  Dr. Citas. Douglass Phillips, in a  paper with this title in the
London Practitioner for April, commends the use of aconite in the
early stage of simple inflammatory fevers,  whether parenchymatous or
membranous in their causal lesion.  He thinks it has no effect upon 
THERAPEUTICS.
27
exudation already thrown out, but, by preventing congestion and  re-
ducing action, prevents its formation or increase.  He states that he has
kept notes upon five cases of pneumonia and pleuro-pneumonia treated
by the drug.   The age of the patients varied from 20 to 60, the pulse
from 110° to  140°, the temperature  from 102° to 105-f°.  In all cases
the febrile reaction and physical signs of commencing sthenic pneu-
monia were present.   In no case did the fever last more than six days;
in five it left  in forty-eight hours.  In all these the temperature fell
to 99° when the pulse fell, but sometimes  the latter  remained very
frequent after the former had returned to its normal position.
  In from three to six days after  the  temperature  had fallen  to 99°,
the lungs had become perfectly  normal.   In eleven cases  of pneu-
monia in which the stage of  consolidation  had been reached before
coming  under care, the aconite seemed of no use.
  In apoplexy, tonsillitis, in asthma, whenever the pulse  is full and
strong, and the system plethoric, aconite is of value.  The drug has
without doubt a paralyzing action on the  heart, and  must be avoided
whenever there is  a  tendency to syncope  and a feeble  pulse, pale
skin, etc.
  In palpitation dependent upon simple cardiac hypertrophy it is very
valuable, but is very dangerous when the valves are  diseased so as to
admit of regurgitation.
  In sudden  arrest  of the  menses by cold, aconite  is of the utmost
value.  The body must be kept warm to  favor perspiration, and one
drop every half hour to hour  is generally quite sufficient to  bring  on
the flow within from four to eight hours.
  Five cases of puerperal peritonitis have been noted.  In two the  at-
tack  commenced on  the third day  after delivery,  and in  three  on
the second day.  With two the pulse rose to 140°, temperature 105-^°
to 105f °.  In three, pulse 120° to 135°, temperature 103|°  to 104|°.
From the time of the rigors until the  temperature fell to 99° nothing
was given but aconite and castor oil pro re nata.  All five recovered.
Poultices with laudanum were used extensively.
  In puerperal convulsions and mania, with high  arterial excitement,
aconite is of value, with aid from the lancet when necessary.
  In dysentery, in erysipelas of sthenic  character, aconite has been
found very useful.  In typhus and typhoid fever an  extensive  trial
has shown that it is of no use.
  Aconite should always be given simply in water, in  single or two-
drop doses every half, one, two, or three hours, according to the sever-
ity of the case.  In very acute cases it may  be  given every fifteen
minutes. 
28                      THERAPEUTICS.
SOME  FURTHER ADDITIONS  TO  THERAPEUTICS;  OR
  GANIC BROMIDES, METACHLORAL, WITH A  NOTE (ft
  SULPHUR ALCOHOL.
  At the meeting of the Medical Society of London, March 13, Dr.
Richardson read a paper with the above caption.  After some prelimi-
nary matter, he introduced some new medicinal bromides, viz., bromide
of quinine, bromide of morphia, and  bromide of strychnine, and some
of their combinations.  These bromides are best administered in syrup
of the strength—in regard to quinine, 1 grain; morphia, one-eighth
of a grain;  strychnine, one thirty-second grain—to the fluid drachm:
in compound syrups the same proportionate doses should be maintained.
Dr. Richardson had  found the bromide of quinine of  great use in
syphilitic  ulceration;  also  bromides of morphia and quinine, fre-
quently repeated, in neuralgia; and in a case of diabetes the compound
syrup of bromides of  quinia, morphia, and strychnia had been sig-
nally successful.  Dr.  Richardson also showed a specimen of pure
anhydrous chloral, and suggested it as a fluid caustic; it abstracts water
rapidly, and might be of use in cases of  soft fungous growths.  A speci-
men of metachloral  was then  shown—an insoluble wdiite substance
made by  exposing chloral hydrate  to  sulphuric acid.  It is isomeric
with chloral, and when treated with  an alkali is resolved  into chloro-
form and chlorate of the alkali.  Administered to inferior animals it
seemed to act as a gentle narcotic.  Dr. Richardson lastly exhibited a
specimen  of mercaptan, sulphur  alcohol (C2H6S.), in which  sulphur
replaces the oxygen of  ordinary alcohol.  He stated  that when taken
even in minute quantities it produced great mental depression.  This
alcohol is exhaled by the breath, to which  it imparts a peculiar odor,
similar to that met with in wasting diseases.  From this the doctor sug-
gested anew line of research in diagnosis, viz.,the detection of organic
sulphur  compounds derived from  the blood in the air expired by the
lungs by diseased persons.  Sulphur compounds liberated in the alimen-
tary canal seemed harmless—i. e., were not absorbed—but it was now quite
certain that when some of them are actually introduced into the circu-
lation, even in minute quantities,  and are  diminishable by exhalation
from the lungs, they produce muscular debility, feebleness of the heart's
action, and  mental depression.   We may therefore infer  that the
formation of sulphur compounds  within the circulation from disease
might account for some examples  of  excessive temporary prostration,
for the cause of  which we have as yet  no satisfactory explanation.—
Medical Times and Gazette, April, 1871. 
THERAPEUTICS.
29
                           TETANUS.

  Case, following severe injury to face by explosion of gunpowder,
reported in London Lancet,  p. 154, 1871, treated with chloral.  Fatal.
Chloral eased suffering by procuring sleep and rest; 770 grains taken
in eleven days.
  Also, fatal traumatic case, treated by calabar  bean, in a boy, aet.
11.—British Medical Journal, March, 1871.
  Case with recovery, in British Med. Jour., March 11, 1871, in a
boy, aet. 6 ; treated with hydrate of chloral.
  Death on the eleventh day, in a boy, aet. 5 ;  treated by  chloral.—
Med. Times and Gazette, p. 246.
  Recovery.  Boy, aet. 11; disease apparently idiopathic ; treated by
chloral.—Pacific Med. and Surg. Journal, April, 1871.
  Recovery.  Boy, aet. 10; calabar bean ; traumatic.—Philad. Medi-
cal  Times, Jan., 1871. J
  Recovery.  Man, aet. 26 ; traumatic; treated by calabar bean.—
Philadelphia Medical Times, March, 1871.
  Recovery.  Boy,  aet.  11;  idiopathic; treated by chloral.—Pacific
Medical and Surgical Journal, April, 1871.
  Recovery.  Two  cases.  One  treated with nitrite of  amyl  alone;
one with it and chloral.—London Lancet, p. 572, 1871.
                  CHLOROFORM  DEATHS.

  In a discussion in the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh,
following an account of a sudden death from chloroform by Dr. Gil-
lespie, Dr.  Geo. W. Balfour mentioned the case of a lady who had
taken chloroform very freely  in  eight or nine successive labors, re-
maining at one time under its positive influence twelve hours, and had
also taken it safely for extraction of teeth, but who finally died from
it, having on the last fatal occasion taken not more than a drachm.  Dr.
Fraser called attention to the importance of the form of electrical current
used in resuscitation.  He said that in cases of arrest of heart's action,
the interrupted current ordinarily  employed in this country only served
to render the arrest permanent; but Ominus and Legros had shown that
the constant current could restore the cardiac action of  a warm-blooded
animal which had been arrested one or two minutes, or for one or two
hours in a cold-blooded animal.  Moreover, if the current were passed
from above downwards, there was  no marked  action; but if passed
from below upwards, the action was immediate and remarkable. 
30
THERAPEUTICS.
  Dr. Argyll Robertson stated that in  the ophthalmic wards of the
Royal Infirmary they had found the administration of two ounces ot
brandy just previous to the production  of anaesthesia very useful m
preventing chloroform vomiting.—Edinburgh Medical Journal, Uaj,
1871.

              BICHLORIDE  OF METHYLENE.

  Mr. Charles Gaine commends most highly this anaesthetic, stating
that he has had a large experience with it.  When Mr. W. R. Wood's in-
haler is used and improper access of air denied, the effect is all that
could be desired, perfect anaesthesia being established in from twenty
seconds to two minutes.  The inhaler  consists of a hollow cylinder
made of thick leather, about five inches long, and shaped at one end
to the nose and chin, the other end having small holes punched in it for
admission  of  the air.  It is necessary to have three sizes, to guarantee
exact fitting of the  inhaler.  A flannel bag hangs loosely within the
cylinder, on which the  methylene is sprinkled.   The following rules
should be  strictly observed :—Abstinance from food and stimulants of
every kind should be insisted on for from three to four hours before-
hand ; all  garments should be loose.  The patient being either in the
recumbent or semi-recumbent position, forty minims should be sprin-
kled on the flannel bag, and the inhaler be then applied very closely.  A
slight choking sensation will be at first apparent, which passes off rapid-
ly ; if not,  remove the inhaler for an instant.  In from half a minute to
a minute  anaesthesia of eyeball is complete, and the operation  may
be begun.   Remove the inhaler  entirely until  symptoms of returning
consciousness are seen, when the inhalation may be renewed with half
a drachm  of the bichloride.  From forty minims to two drachms and
a half will be required, in accordance  with  the  length of the anaes-
thesia. Recovery is almost immediate and complete.—Medical Times
and  Gazette, Feb. 25, 1871.
      DEATH FROM BICHLORIDE  OF METHYLENE.

  In the Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions is an account of
a death which  occurred from this anaesthetic at Charing-Cross Hospi-
tal, in the service of Mr. Ewin Cantoir.  The man had  a finger ampu-
tated  on account  of an injury.  One and  a half drachms (half the
usual  quantity of  the methylene), were administered by the reo-ular
administrator of the  hospital.  The operation was performed as soon
as insensibility was induced, and lasted not more than  a minute.  At 
THERAPEUTICS.
31
its close it was noticed that the head  had fallen on one side, the eyes
were upturned, and breathing and pulsation ceased.   Every effort was
made to restore animation, but without success.  Upon a post-mortem
examination all the organs were found perfectly healthy,  " the heart
and brain, the  organs usually affected by chloroform, not presenting
any traces of the action of the anaesthetic."
   USE  OF  STOMACH-PUMP  IN  DISEASES  OF  THE
                           STOMACH.

  Dr. Wm. Pepper, in the Philadelphia Medical Times, after detail-
ing a case of cancer of  the  pylorus,  in which the daily emptying and
washing  out of the stomach  by the stomach-pump had afforded the
most marked relief to the patient, remarks as follows:—
  The next point of interest is in connection with the employment of
the stomach-pump in the treatment of this case.  The use of this
means in the treatment of  dilatation of the stomach was introduced
by Kussmaul, of Freiburg, in  1867.*  The case in which he first em-
ployed it was one of dilatation of the stomach, probably depending on
ulcer near the pylorus, in which there was frequent vomiting, burning
in the stomach, emaciation,  and exhaustion.  After the stomach was
emptied, Yichy water was thrown in,  and again removed by the pump,
so that the organ was thoroughly washed out.  For two days following
the relief was complete, and the symptoms, when  they returned, were
again relieved by a similar procedure at intervals of two or three days.
In a fortnight the patient had improved so remarkably that she might
be described as a different  person.   In two  months  she had gained
fifteen pounds in weight, and ultimately recovered completely.
  Several other cases  have since been recorded in which the employ-
ment of this mode of  treatment has been followed by permanent cure
of dilatation of the stomach.   The  advantages which are gained by
the evacuation of  the  contents of the stomach at  suitable intervals in
such cases are evident.   The retention of the  food in the stomach is
speedily followed by fermentative and putrefactive changes, while the
accumulating contents constantly increases the dilatation.  It is true
that frequent vomiting  is usually excited, but it fails to empty the
viscus.  Thus, in the case here recorded, over four pints of fluid were
withdrawn from the  stomach the first time  the  pump was used, al-

  * Deutsches Arch. f. Klin. Med., December,  1869.  F<v an interesting synopsis of th«
views of Kussmaul and of those who have employed this mode  of treatment, see Dublin
Quarterly Journal of Medical Sciences, November, 1870, p.  380. 
QO
THERAPEUTICS.
though the patient had taken but little food for some days preceding,
and had vomited occasionally during that time.  The presence of this
accumulation of indigestible fermenting fiuid  must cause great dis-
tress by its local action on the gastric mucous membrane, while the
general nutrition suffers rapidly and  severely,  because all food taken
into a stomach with such contents must speedily undergo fermentative
changes without being at all digested.
  In cases of scirrhus of the pylorus this treatment can of course only
be palliative; and  yet in many patients with  that disease I am satis-
fied that several of the worst and most annoying symptoms depend on
the constant presence in  the stomach of fermenting and decomposing
food, the action of which is to utterly prevent digestion, and to distend
and dilate  the  stomach  so as to impair its propulsive power.  The
hypertrophy of  the  muscular coat of  the  stomach, which is often de-
veloped in scirrhus of  the pylorus,  does something to  compensate
for this, but  cannot neutralize the evil effects;  and it appears clear
both that the patient's sufferings are increased and his life shortened
by the  existence of this state of the gastric contents.
               MILK IN DIABETES  MELLITUS.

   A. S. Duncan, M.D. {Lancet), strongly advocates  the treatment of
 diabetes with skim-milk exclusively.  In the first place, the milk diet
 is not objected to by the patient, but is relished, especially at the out-
 set, when the tbirst is excessive.  The  milk is as  far superior to the
 meat diet as  this was to any previously used ; but it must be persevered
 in methodically and exclusively until convalescence is established.  The
 use of milk for twenty-four hours will  produce marked improvement;
 the quantity and density  of  the urine will fall, thirst  and voracious
 appetite will  disappear, the skin becomes moist and perspiration is re-
 established, the troublesome nervous symptoms are abated, and refresh-
 ing sleep succeeds to the previous sleepless, restless condition, rendered
 intolerable by the incessant thirst.  In two cases recorded this rapid
 improvement was noted.   In another case, on the same treatment, at
 the end of three days, and with no other remedy, the  urine fell  from
 twenty-three  pints,  sp. gr. 1038, to six pints.  The other  prominent
 symptoms of  the disease also underwent a like rapid change for the
 better.  The  sugar of milk is altogether innocuous in the  disease, as
 has been shown by experiment.  It supplies the system with a saccha-
 rine, proximate elementary principle, equivalent to such as  vegetable
food affords.  The sugar of milk is destined to supply, for  the nutri-
 tion of the young, an equivalent for the amylaceous and  saccharine 
THERAPEUTICS.
33
principles of the food of adults.   Sugar in moderate quantities is not
injurious in diabetes.  It cannot be again converted into sugar by any
morbid process in the liver or elsewhere, and hence cannot furnish a
pabulum for the elaboration of diabetic sugar.  The success of the
milk treatment shows that in this disease it is not necessary to restrict
the amount of fluid taken  by the patient; the thirst bears a definite
relation to the quantity of sugar voided, and subsides as the latter is
reduced.   All the patients Dr. D. has treated were kept wholly on the
use of skim-milk until convalescence had been for some time established,
when lean meat and green vegetables were added for  dinner.  Two
cases of Bright's disease  are also recorded, in which  the skim-milk
treatment was used with excellent results.
                   TREATMENT  OF  CROUP.

   Glycerine  Inhalations in  Croup.—During  18G9 there was  an
 epidemic  of  measles, with a tendency of croup, at Mannheim, and
 twenty cases came  under the care  of Dr. S.  Of these, three  were
 treated by leeches and emetics, the remainder simply by inhalation of
 glycerine, because  the  former treatment was without result.  The in-
 halations were continued fifteen minutes, repeated every two to three
 hours, and were generally given until the ninth day.  All these cases
 recovered.  That most of them were true pseudo-membranous croup
 was shown by the throwing off of false membrane.
   In  cases of non-membranous or false croup the cough and symptoms
 were  relieved.  The inhalations were given by means of a small Siegle
 steam apparatus, care being  taken to avoid too hot a flame, as a disa-
 greeable fatty odor was otherwise  generated.—Journal fir  Kinder-
 Xranllieiten, p. 92, 1871.
   Sulphur  in Croup.—Dr. Lanini, in Lo Sperimentale, of Florence,
 of December, 1S70, writes that he has treated membranous croup suc-
 cessfully with powdered sulphur in doses of a scruple every two hours.
 He reports a case occurring  in a girl  of eight years, where all  other
: remedies  with which  he was acquainted had failed to give  relief.
• After the second dose of sulphur, the dry cough was diminished,
: and she soon began  to expectorate  casts of  the bronchial tubes, some
i of which were nearly an inch in length.  The treatment was continued
 two days, and the patient did well.  The doctor was induced to try the
■ remedy in consequence  of the experiments  and recommendations of
 Doctor Banieri Bellini, Professor of Toxicology in the Royal Institute
■ at Florence, published in the September number of the SperimentaU
i of 1869. 
34
THERAPEUTICS.
  Bkomide of Potassium in CROur.-Dr. S. B. Rieffer commends most
warmly the bromide used internally and by atomization of its solution in
membranous croup.  He combines the chlorate of potash with it  and
recommends it also in other simple throat inflammations.—Philadelphia
Medical Times
      ON  THE THERAPEUTICS OF DIPHTHERITIS.

  Dr. Stelner in this paper especially gives the result of local appli-
cations.   Internally the cases received chlorate of potash and quinine
when thought  necessary.   The remedies were applied as inhalations,
gargles,  etc.
  1. Lime-Water in fourteen cases.  Nine recoveries, five  deaths.
The solvent power of the lime-water was very marked, the  membrane
disappearing in six to eight hours.  The re-formation of membrane was
not prevented, and the lime-water- failed to limit  the  disease to the
mouth, and to prevent the formation of membrane in the larynx and
throat.
  2. Lactic Acid, by inhalation (fifteen to twenty gtt. to f. 1  Avater).
Seven cases, four deaths.  It also dissolved the membrane, but failed
to prevent its re-formation and extension.
  3. Sesquichloride of Iron.—Four cases, two deaths.  The disappear-
ance of  membrane not so rapid as with other substances, but it did at
last separate, and the swollen surface beneath appeared to be benefited
by the applications of the iron.
  4. Alcohol.—It had no visible effect on membrane.  Three cases, one
death.
  5. Sublimed Sulphur, applied by means of insufflation every three
or four hours.   Two mild  cases got well, a severe one died.
  In conclusion, Dr. Steiner believes that these local remedies are pos-
sibly  of some value, but that none of them have the power to  prevent
the exudation in the larynx and bronchi, and that  their influence in
severe cases is very slight.  Lime-water, he thinks, has the most sol-
vent power.   He recommends  as the  best treatment, locally,  cold
water, with chlorate  of potash, wdne, quinine; internally emetics for
laryngitis;   tracheotomy   for  asphyxia.— Centralblatt fur die Med.
 Wissensch. from Jahrb.fur Einderlrank., Dec. 1870.
 HYPODERMIC  INJECTION OF MORPHIA IN  CHOLERA.
  Dr. Jno. Patterson, of  Constantinople, has found  the hypodermic
use of morphia of immense service in cholera.  In ordinary cases one or 
THERAPEUTICS.
35
two injections of from one-quarter to one-half grain each sufficed; rarely
three, only in one case four injections were practiced.   Dr. Patterson
states that he has treated over 1,000 cases of the disease, and the hypo-
dermic injections are the only thing he ever saw really affect its course.
The following table expresses the results in the present epidemic treat-
ed in the usual way:—

            No. of cases.        Recovered.          Died.
               10                1               9
               42              22              20

Of those treated with morphia, 8 were in articulo mortis before being
seen, 1 had severe liver disease, 1 advanced phthisis, so that of the 32
cases in which a fair opportunity of trial was afforded there were only
10 deaths, of which 1 was GO years of age, 1 was within a few days of con-
finement, and  3 hard drinkers.—Med. Times and Gaz., Jan. 27, 1872.
 NEW METHOD  OF TREATING TUBERCULAR  PHTHISIS
   BY  MEANS  OF  COD-LIYER   OIL   SAPONIFIED  BY
   LIME.

   Dr. Yan den  Court, Professor of Clinical  Medicine at the Hospi-
 tal of St. Jean at Brussels, in a paper of some  length commends most
 highly the following formula:—
     Take pure cod-liver oil.....................100 drachms.
   Rub it with hydrated  (slaked) lime, added  little by little, until it
 acquires  the consistence of a pilular mass.  Add to this—
     Essential oil of bitter almonds..................1 drachm.
   Mix thoroughly, and divide into boluses weighing from 20  to 25
 centigrammes.  These may be coated over with tolu by means of the
 ethereal  tincture, and placed in a powder composed  of three parts of
 sugar and one part  of orris root.   Two to be  taken after each meal
 (6 to 8 daily).
 - Dr. Yan den Court  states that he has now not only himself used
 this formula for many years in very many cases, but  he has also freely
given the same to his professional friends, and in their hands as well
as his own  remarkably favorable  results have  been obtained.  Of 
36
THERAPEUTICS.
 course whilst  it is  being used, other judicious  hygienic and medical
 treatment must be employed.  The most  benefit is  to  be expected m
 the early stages of the disease.   In this  stage he has  always at least
 retarded decidedly the  march of the  affection, very often  amended
 the organic degradation  and the general nutritive  disturbance,  and
 not rarely effected  a cure.   In  the more advanced stages, under the
 use of the remedy, the expectoration very  sensibly diminishes, the hec-
 tic fever lessens or ceases, and the general nutrition often alters very
 greatly for the better.
   It does not appear to act with any real efficacy in the  acute forms of
 the affection ;  and the more  chronic and  torpid  the disease, the more
 is to be expected from its administration.
   In some cases it  produces diarrhoea, when  it must be temporarily
 abandoned. Hemoptysis and a very advanced condition of the disease,
 with  excessive hectic  and  profoundly affected  digestion,  are to be
 looked on as contra-indications.
   A very great recommendation is the  almost total want of disagree-
 able taste.—Bulletin General de Therap., March 15, 1871.

   In a subsequent number of the same journal M.  O.  de Beek, phar-
 macien  in chief to the St. Jean's Hospital, gives the following formula
 as the best method of making the lime saponification of cod liver, as
 determined by long experimentation and practice.  He  insists strongly
 that the ingredients shall be pure, and  the directions absolutely com-
 plied with:—
    Take of slaked lime in impalpable powder. .  600 grammes.
            Cod-liver oil.....................  500    "
            Water...........................1,700     "
   Rub up a part of the lime with two  and a half times its weight of
 water until it  makes a smooth  milk, marking in the Areometer 18°
 Baume.
   Put the oil with 200 grammes of hot water into a vessel (not tinned)
large enough to hold twice the bulk  of  the material, rub it up well as
though  to  form an  emulsion, and immediately  add, boiling hot, the
milk of  lime little by little and with constant agitation.   Heat the mass
gradually to 212°.   Maintain this  temperature and stir constantly till
the lime has disappeared, and the mass  acquired a firm, homogeneous
 consistence, and uniform yellowish color.   Decant the mother water,
 and wash at once freely with water until the latter passes  colorless.
Evaporate off the water at a low temperature.
   If the oil be pure and  limpid, the mass is odorless.  Freshly pre-
pared, it contains 15 to 19 per cent, of water.  It is insoluble in water,
but feebly so in alcohol.   Sulphuric  ether, chloroform, sulphide of 
THERAPEUTICS.                       37
L'arbon, and turpentine after a time soften it, and break it up into two
?erics of lime salts, the one soluble the other insoluble in the menstru-
um.  Concentrated hydrochloric acid turns it black.   Heated with
dilute nitric acid, it is decomposed  and a number of acids set free—
oleic, stearic,  palmitic, butyric, acetic, fellic, cholinic, phosphoric, and
sulphuric.  By heat  it partially fuses and decomposes.  Exposed  to
the air its surface beoomes brown and gradually hardens.  In making
into pills, the following formula is commended :—
     Take of Cod-liver oil lime-soap...............20 grammes.
            Oil of bitter almonds................ 4 gtt.
  Mix and divide into pills of the size ordered.  Coat the pills with
tolu  by means of the ethereal tincture.
ON  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ACTION  OF  BROMIDE  OF
                          POTASSIUM.

  In the Archives fur IleilJ'unde, Heft 2, 1S71, is an elaborate paper
upon  this subject by  G. I. Schouten, an  extended abstract of which
is contained in Algemeine Medicinische  Central-Zeitung, June and
July,  LS71.  From  this abstract we  give a  condensed  translation,
omitting the historical portion.
  Grandeau's  observation,  that even  small quantities of potash salts
injected directly into the blood cause almost immediate death, has been
confirmed by almost  every observer, for following such  injection
comes heart-paralysis, with consequent cessation of the circulation and
death,  artificial respiration being powerless to re-excite  the  heart's
action.  On opening  the thorax, if but a small amount of the potash
salt has been used, spontaneous contractions are often visible, sometimes
of the whole heart, more often of the auricle alone ; if the  dose has been
a little larger, the ventricle is always found still, but excitable by elec-
trical stimulation.  When a very large amount of the  salt has been
injected, the whole heart is perfectly quiet and insusceptible to elec-
trical excitation.  If  the thorax of a kitten be so  opened that the
heart's movements can be watched and a two per cent,  solution  of
bromide of potash be slowly injected into the jugular vein, the motion
will be seen to become slower, the pauses longer, and at last the heart
stands  still,  or  at least merely fibrillar contractions take place, no full
systole.   During the injection, however slowly it may be made, slow-
ing of the heart's movements and lengthening of the pauses can always
be observed, never acceleration of the heart-beat, although immediate-
ly afterwards the frequency of  the  pulse plainly increases. 
38                       THERAPEUTICS.
  The quantity that can be injected into the jugular vein of a cat with
out causing death  is very small, and depends upon the strength of the
solution and rapidity of injection.   Of a one per cent, solution, some 50
c.c. (0.5 grammes  of the salt)  were injected into the jugular of a cat
without causing death, but then an hour was required for the injection;
a few c.c. of  a two per  cent, solution always was fatal.   In the crural
veins,  however, 25 c.c.  of the latter solution  were injected without
lethal effects  ; but  when the repetition of the injection was attempted
three hours afterwards, the  animal died suddenly so soon as 6 c.c. had
passed into the vein.  Twenty-five c.c. of a three and a half per cent.
solution were injected into the carotid and femoral arteries without
killing the cat.
  The injection of the chloride of potassium was attended with similar
results, whilst the bromide of sodium was without influence.
  In the case of dogs the effects were similar, but larger  doses of the
potash salts were required to kill.   Thus, the injection of 3 c.c. of a six
per  cent,  solution  of bromide  of potassium in  the jugular of a dog
caused immediate  death, whilst 30 c.c. of  a six  per  cent, solution of
chloride  of sodium were rapidly thrown into  the  same vein without
disturbing the heart's action.
  One cat bore without injury  the  subcutaneous  injection of six
grammes  K.  Br., whilst in another death followed two days after the
similar use of the same quantity. Ten grammes produced death in one
and  a half hours and the chloride of  potassium appeared even more
powerful than the bromide.  Six grammes of bromide of sodium did not
appear to exert any influence whatever.  When given by the stomach, six
grammes of the bromide of potassium do not cause death in the cat,
but 10 grammes are speedily fatal.  The dog will bear the latter quan-
tity well.
  By small doses, voluntary motion and reflex activity were not per-
ceptibly altered.   With  larger doses  there were very evident weak-
ness and  uncertainty of  movement, the animal sitting still, and only
moving when strongly urged to it.  Tremblings of  the muscles only
happened after injection of the salt into the blood, especially into the
carotid artery.  The observation that  the  cautious injection  into the
jugular produces immediately lengthening of the intervals without any
increase of the rapidity of the heart's motion, Dr.  Schouten thinks
of great importance, as showing that the drug, when acting directly up-
on the heart, does not first produce excitement, and only after this  pare-
sis.   The fact that much larger quantities  are borne injected into the
carotid than into the jugular, shows that the central nervous system is
not  so readily affected  as the muscles.  The experiments  with the
chloride of potassium and bromide of sodium show that Guttmami and 
THERAPEUTICS.
39
Eulenberg were correct in attributing the action of bromide of potas-
sium to the potash contained in it.
  After all non-fatal doses of the bromide or chloride of potassium,
even if so small as to have no  perceptible influence  on sensation or
motion, there is constantly acceleration of the pulse.   After injection
into the blood or under the skin this increase  comes on quickly;  on
exhibition by the stomach, only after some time.  The influence on the
pulse is more apparent when the latter is slow than when it is rapid.
When  subcutaneous injection is  used, the increase is almost  in inverse
ratio to  the dose, being very much more marked after two to four
grammes than after five to six.  This does not occur, however, when the
drug is exhibited by the mouth or thrown into the blood.  If the animal
survives, the increase of the pulse frequency passes off gradually, and
is not followed by  a falling of it below the normal rate.  Bromide of
sodium has no influence  upon the frequency of the heart's  action.
Yery large doses injected  directly into the blood may indeed be fol-
lowed by such increase, but it is  so slight and fugitive as to be scarcely
worthy of note.
  3. On the Influence on the Arterial Pressure.—Kemmerich states
that small doses of the potash salts  increased not only the rapidity, but
also the energy of the heart's action.  He found the pulse  fuller and
stronger, and concluded that the potash salts, like other heart-poisons,
had in small  doses an exciting, in  larger a paralyzing effect upon the
heart,  and that this paralysis was preceded by a stage of very strong
stimulation of the heart-ganglia.  Kemmerich did not, however, prove
that the energy of the heart was  increased.   Even if the  pulse felt
more rapid and fuller, it is possible that the heart was really doing less
than its normal work.  Mere frequency of action is of no importance,
and Dr. Schouten shows by experiment that just as the pulse frequency
rises so does the blood pressure fall.
  This is of great  interest in connection with the therapeutical use of
the drug.  It was very difficult to reconcile Kemmerich's assertion that
there was real excitation of the  heart, with the  clinically well-known
quieting action of the bromides.
  In  explaining the consentaneous increase  in  the  rapidity  of the
heart's action  and sinking of the blood pressure, the inter-dependence
between the  heart and blood-vessels,  recently proven, is of great ser-
vice.   The nerves of the heart and of the blood-vessels exercise influ-
ence  both upon the pulse frequency and arterial pressure.  Is the
blood-path anywhere enlarged, the arteries exert less resistance to the
heart,  and the blood pressure sinks, and at the  same time, by the less-
ened blood pressure, the vagus centre is less stimulated, and the rapidity
of the heart's action is increased. 
40
THERAPEUTICS.
   The  relation  between  the  innervation of the heart and arteries is
 very complicated, and it is therefore very difficult to explain with cer-
 titude the causes of the  observed weakening of pressure and increase
 of the pulse frequence.   In order, however, to determine this, if pos-
 sible, Dr. Schouten made various experiments.   He  found that after
 seel'on of the vagi there was still increase in the rapidity of the heart's
 action.   Immediately after  the  injection there was some slowing, but
 very soon the strokes began to grow more rapid.   The pressure, on the
 contrary, was at first increased, and an hour after the injection had not
 fallen below the  normal point.   There is, however, a difficulty in this
 operation which cannot be surmounted.   Division of both vagi and tra-
 cheotomy are very serious operations, which produce great disturbance
 in the system.   One cannot, therefore, wait long after the operation.
 The fact that after the injection of the bromide of potassium, the pneu-
 mogastrics having been previously cut, the increased frequency quickly
 returns to the normal rapidity, gives ground for believing that if it had
 been possible to wait longer after the operation the increased frequency
 might not have  occurred.  The action of  the bromide on the heart is
 then certainly not dependent upon the vagi nerves, although Dr. Schou-
 ten is by no means disposed to deny them all  influence in the matter.
 The question, what influence the bromide exerts upon  the innervation
 of the vessels and upon their tone, is  not certainly answered; but Dr.
 S. believes that whilst positive proof is  not  forthcoming, it is  very
 probable that relaxation  occurs.  When it is remembered that by the
 potash salts the voluntary muscles are injured in their functional power,
 the heart by  even small amounts brought to a stand-still and its excit-
 ability destroyed, it seems most probable that the tone of the blood-
 vessels is lessened, even if the vaso-motor nerve-centres suffer no dis-
 turbance.
  The action of the bromide,  according to our author, happens in this
 way.
  Under the influence of the bromide of potash a disturbance of nutri-
 tion occurs, so that in muscle  and nerve the activity of tissue-changes
 is lessened.   The heart activity naturally suffers from, this, but so does
 also the innervation of the vagus  and vaso-motor nerves, by the dis-
 turbance of  which the rapidity of the heart-beats is increased, but not
 sufficiently to bring up the otherwise lessened arterial pressure.  The
 calls on the  heart are  also  lessened, owing to the lessened functional
 and chemical activities of the nerves.
  By large doses the capability of action is so diminished, that in  spite
of the action on the heart's innervation the pulse frequency sinks.  In
cats, under these circumstances, death rapidly ensues.   In this  animal
the tissue changes in health  are so slight that they cannot be materially 
THERAPEUTICS.
41
depressed without compromising life.  In other animals in whom tissue
changes are more active, life can be maintained  much longer.  The
main point here, however, is that the increase of frequency of beat does
not really mean increase in the work of the heart.
  That the bromide of potassium does lessen the activity of the tissue
changes was shown by the experiments of Kemmerich.   After twenty
days, a hound fed on cooked flesh with a certain amount of potash salt
weighed  1,275  grammes more than another which had received the
same  daily allowance, except that a soda salt was substituted for the
potash salt, and a reversal in the use of the salts  caused a reversal in
the proportional weight of the dogs, dog No. 2 soon outstripping No. 1
when the former received the potash, the latter the soda.
  Another proof lies  in the diminished respiration, which Dr. Schou-
ten has noticed as a constant result of the use of the bromide of potas-
sium.
  So also points the quieting influence which the bromide has upon
abnormally energetic  action of the heart  and of the nerve-centres.
  Whether the bromide acts in any way differently from other salts of
potash, Dr. Schouten  says he cannot say.   It is certain that all of the
potash salts have a similar influence on the  pulse frequency and blood
pressure; but whether one salt acts  more intensely than another is not
yet decided.  Dr. Sasse has already called attention to one thing which
must have influence on this point, namely, the more or less quick sepa-
ration of the salt by the kidneys.  According to Rabuteau, the iodide
and bromide of potassium differ very much in this particular, the bro-
mide  of  potassium being separated much  more slowly, so that after
four weeks it could still be found in the urine.  Surprised at this state-
ment, Dr. S.  made one or two experiments, finding the  bromide in the
ashes of the  urine, in one case, five days  after the  injection of 0.5
grammes into the jugular vein of a cat, and absent on the sixth day ;
in another failing to find it four days after the injection of 28 grammes!
(So printed; evidently a mistake.)
A NEW  AND  IMPORTANT THERAPEUTIC  PROPERTY
                         OF  QUININE.
  TnE following conclusions are arrived at in a memoir of 277 pages,
by Doctor Monteverdi.
  1.  The action of quinine and its preparations is especially upon the
grand sympathetic nervous system.
  2.  This action causes contraction of the muscular fibres supplied by 
42
THERAPEUTICS.
the sympathetic, particularly those of the uterus, urinary bladder, the
intestinal canal, and the blood-vessels.
  3. This action maybe physiological or pathological, according to the
amount of quinine given.   If the  fibres are relaxed, quinine restores
their tone, and enables them to perform their functions.  If they are
contracted and excited, quinine produces a rigid  tonic contraction,
which renders them unable to perform their functions.
  4. This property is especially marked on pregnant women, on whom
quinine must be  used with  care, as it  is able to and  frequently has
caused premature labor.
  5. In labor it may be often used with certainty  and advantage to
stimulate  the uterine contractions, for which it is preferable to ergot
for the following reasons :  It does not injure mother or foetus; it acts
very rapidly  and surely; it produces regular, intermittent labor-pains,
precisely normal in character;  it may be administered  at any stage of
the labor, from before the bag of waters is ruptured or the os dilated,
to the time when  the head is on the perineum.
  6. In cases of  retention of the placenta, either after labor or  mis-
carriage, it is of great value, causing expulsion, and replacing manual
assistance.
  7. In menorrhagia in pregnant or  confined  women,  it is to be pre-
ferred to ergot, as safer and more certain.
  8. In amenorrhoea from uterine inertia, it is of great  service.
  9. In puerperal fever it is very useful, not only as a preventive, but
also to combat victoriously the disease in its early stages.
  10. In  hysteria and hysteralgia it increases  the uterine excitement,
and more often is hurtful than beneficial.
  11. In  all  the diseases of  the digestive apparatus, or  of the genito-
urinary system, it is useful when  they depend upon  atony; if irritation
or inflammation be present, it does harm.  In the normal condition of
the bladder it will sometimes cause such a rigid, persistent contraction
of the neck,  as to render the evacuation of  urine difficult, or even im-
possible.
  12. Small  doses of quinine augment the force and frequency of the
heart's action;  large doses enfeeble it.
  13. Opium and morphia are antagonistic to quinine, and are useful
when it has produced toxic symptoms.
  14. To  produce physiological effects upon the uterus, to excite  con-
traction, etc., 20-25 centigrammes  (3 to 4 grains) should be given at
each dose; to produce the paralytic effect, the  dose should exceed a
gramme (15.43 grs.).—Annales et Bulletin de  la Societe de MSdecine
de Gand, May, 1871. 
THERAPEUTICS.
43
                          CUNDURANGO.

   In the JVew York  Medical Journal for July, Dr. Bliss writes  aa
follows:—
   Mrs. Matthews, the mother of  Hon. Schuyler Colfax, had been the
victim of mammary cancer for a long period, which had already as-
sumed secondary  and  constitutional  symptoms in a  marked degree.
On the 29th of April last I placed her on the decoction of cundurango,
and had the  gratification of observing  an early and  decided change
for the better in  both the local  and general conditions.  One of its
almost immediate effects was the relief of pain, and a free diaphoresis,
characterized by an odor,  distinctly observable, of  the infusion itself.
Upon the return of Mrs. Matthews  to her place of  residence in Indi-
ana, I still continued to direct her treatment, and furnished the requi-
site supplies of the medicine.
   On the 9th of May, just thirteen days after the commencement  of
the  new remedy, her  husband  addressed me a  letter, from which  I
make the following extracts :—
   " The stony condition of the tumor has given place to softness.  This morning I
notice about one-third of the surface has turned from a scarlet to a white color, and
it has commenced  suppurating, as though the thing were dead and coming out.
The whole tumor is very much flattened, the discharge is different, and not nearly so
offensive.  The greatest improvement is in her complexion.  From a tallowy, puffy-
looking, and somewhat bluish skin, she is regaining her old natural look, the skin
shrinking, becoming wrinkled and clear.
  " I am so happy in the prospect of a cure that I feel like a new man, as though a
ton of lead had been lifted from my heart.  Is it not a little singular it has not had
any perceptible effect upon her nervous system ? Her  digestion is good, and she
begins to feel that she will get well."
   On the fourteenth of the same month Mr. Matthews writes as fol-
lows :—
  " This is the seventeenth day  since I  commenced the use of cundurango ; I will
cease for a few days, and  note  carefully the  effect.  "When I began the treatment,
Mrs. Matthews1 breast was almost as hard  as a stone, about four  inches in  diameter,
witti raised edges, hard,  and scarlet-colored, bleeding profusely at the slightest
touch, emitting an odor of the most sickening and disagreeable kind, discharging a
brownish, cancerous, limpid fluid; the countenance bloated, tallowy-looking,  with
a bluish pallor of the whole face; the lips turned blue at the least exertion,  so that
I have been very much alarmed, fearing a  rapid crisis  and dissolution ; at the same
time the tumor itself enlarged with fearful rapidity, so much so that I could notice
its growth from day to day.
  " Now all is changed—the countenance has resumed its old  familiar look; she
moves about with great sprightliness,  the blue of the lips no longer indicating
fatigue or effort.  The granular swelling under the chin is gone ; strength increas-
ing; the tumor itself much  flattened and  decreased in protuberance: the color
changed to a white, maturating sore; the  limpid cancerous  discharge ceased, and 
44                       THERAPEUTICS.
in its place a h,althy discharge of white matter much less offensive;  the haideneu
elands are soft to the touch, the whole symptoms indicating most  plainly to me
that the treatment has so far neutralized the poison of the blood, and that another
short campaign with cundurango will insure a complete cure."

  On the second of  the present month I  visited  Mrs. Matthews al
South Bend, and was indeed astonished at the rapid change which had
taken place.  The  tumor had become  soft, the color natural, the
secondary glandular  deposits  had  all  disappeared.  The improved
complexion, muscular firmness, and  elasticity of spirits,  all pointed to
an early and complete recovery.
  Mrs. Handy, residing on M street in this city, was the next  subject
of experiment with the  cundurango.  This  was  a highly-typical and
fearfully-advanced case of cancer uteri.  The grayish color, unequal,
irregular elevations of the ulcer edges, the sympathetic disturbance of
the bladder, the paroxysms of intense pain, together with the hot, dry,
shrivelled, yellow surface, the wasted muscles, sunken eyes, the small,
quick, wiry pulse, revealed one  of those sad cases where  all hope of
remedy fails.
  The cundurango, in the form of decoction, was administered first to
Mrs. Handy on the thirty-first  day of last month.  A regular record
has been kept from day to day, describing the least  change of symp-
toms, but I have not the space  to introduce  it here.  Suffice  it that,
even in  this extreme case, the  beneficial effects of this  wonderful
remedial agent have been most apparent.  The pain has steadily
declined, the diseased parts are less tumefied and  sensitive, and the
discharge is very  slightly offensive.   The  cachectic appearance of this
patient has much improved, and she expresses herself as feeling alto-
gether better.
  A lady of the family of Hon. Mr.  Gorham, Secretary of the  United
States Senate, has had mammary cancer of several months' duration,
and her condition was pronounced hopeless by leading Northern sur-
geons.   I was called to see her  on the first  of June of this year, and
found cancer of  the breast, with secondary deposits in the shoulder
and humeral portion of  the left arm, attended by extreme rigidity of
the neck, and almost complete immobility of the affected limb.
  A careful daily record  has  been preserved of this case also, by
which the most decided improvement is  indicated.  The mammaiy
tumor has grown  softer, and the line of skin attachment bisecting the
nipple is much  less marked.   The head, before stiff, is now perfectly
free and movable, while  the natural mobility of  the disabled arm is
restored, and the tissues, before hard, are now soft and natural.  The
general  condition progresses favorably pari passu with the local im-
provement. 
THERAPEUTICS.
45
NEURALGIA  TREATED BY THE  CONSTANT  CURRENT.
  Dr. Buzzard  and Dr. Anstie reported cases to the Clinical Society
in which this mode of  treatment proved very effective.  In Dr. Buz-
zard's case,  a woman,  aged 65, had suffered for three months from
paroxysms of agonizing pain in the neck and right arm, which at-
tacked her  several times  every hour, night  and day, deprived her
of rest, and  rendered her arm  useless.  The  neuralgia had followed
seizures  which  sufficiently indicated its central  origin, and  this,
coupled  Mith the age of  the  patient and the degeneration  of the
tissues, rendered its cure in the highest degree improbable.   Appli-
cations of  a sedative  character had  been useless  in  relieving: her
suffering. A constant current derived from ten cells (increased after-
ward to  fifteen cells) of a Weiss's battery was applied from time
to time, between the cervical vertebrae and the hand, with the effect
of producing remarkable relief  to her pain, insomuch that she at one
time thought herself cured.  Under the influence of this treatment
the patient  was enabled to sew, and to cut her food with  her right
hand, which had previously been so helpless that she was  forced  to
lift it with  the  other.   With  the view  of testing  the  effects of the
application,  it  had been  omitted  on  several  occasions,  and other
remedies, as  blisters, sedatives,  and  tonics, had been employed; but
these failed in preventing the  paroxysms of pain.   Summing up the
results of treatment, Dr. Buzzard said  that out of sixteen applications
of the constant current, ten had been followed by very great and well-
marked relief, two by moderate relief,  and  four by very  slight re-
lief.  Dr. Buzzard brought the case forward, not as one of  cure  of
neuralgia, but as a good example of  the effects of the constant current
in relieving  pain; and he drew attention to the process because it was
as yet very little employed for this purpose  in  this country, although,
as was well  known, its  efficacy had been  perfectly recognized and
insisted upon abroad for many years past.
  Dr. Anstie referred at the same meeting to two cases—one of severe
neuralgia in the right cervico-brachialis, in a married  woman aged
4S ; the other of a double cervico-occipital neuralgia, in an unmarried
needle-woman aged 30.   In the former case a cure was effected;  in
the latter not. The constant current was employed, with the strength
of ten cells,  afterwards  increased to fifteen; the positive pole in the
first case being applied alternately  on the various  foci of  pain, the
negative  pole being applied by the right side of  the three lower
cervical  vertebrae.  The pain  was  at once diminished, and  ceased
altogether at the end of  thirteen days; and a secondary anaesthesia  of
the skin, with secondary paralysis of the deltoid and trapezius, were 
46
THERAPEUTICS.
removed at the end of twenty-four days'  treatment  The cure was
found persistent six weeks later.   Dr. Anstie remarked that the effect
of the constant  current in neuralgia was remarkable, but that there
were as yet some  unexplained anomalies in  its action.  In the large
majority of cases it acted as a palliative most strikingly.  In a not
inconsiderable number of  cases it appeared  to  cure the disease ab-
solutely; in a few examples it failed to produce any good effects.  Aa
a general rule, it was far less effective in the neuralgias of old persons
with degenerated tissues than in younger  subjects; but occasionally
even a young person, like the second  of  his cases, fails to  derive
benefit from it.—JLaneet.
NITRITE OF AMYL IN HEMICRANIA.
BY OSKAR BERGER.
  DuBois-Reymond having stated that certain forms of hemicrania,
especially associated with contraction of the pupil of the affected side,
were due to tetanic spasm of the arterioles and capillaries of the affected
part, and Brunton having portrayed nitrite of amyl as a direct relaxant
of the capillaries, it occurred to Dr. Berger to employ the remedy. The
case was as  follows:  An unmarried woman,  24 years old,  had for
many years  suffered at every monthly period (otherwise normal) with
left-sided migraine of the most severe form.   The attack commonly
commenced in the morning, increased in intensity till mid-day, and
slowly declined ; severe vomiting and total loathing of food were both
present.  The left side of  the face was very pale, with the carotid feel-
ing very hard and pulsating very strongly.  The feeling of cold soon
spread over  the whole surface, and the paleness of the left face lasted all
day.  The patient had herself remarked that often, at times when she
was free from pain, the left side  of the face and the left ear would be
much  more  red  than the other, sometimes without  obvious  cause,
sometimes in blushing.  During a paroxysm of pain five drops of the
nitrite were inhaled ;  the pain  was immediately 'k banished."  She
felt the  blood forcibly ascend into her face, and a peculiar, agreeable
sensation pass through her head, every trace of the agony having van-
ished.   The face became reddened, but this disappeared in a few min-
utes.   Yomiting did not  come on as usual; she was able to eat her
dinner, passed a comfortable day, and the next morning, instead of, aa
usual after an attack, being worn out, was perfectly fresh and well.__
Allgemeine  Medicinische  Central Zeitung, May 13, 1871. 
THERAPEUTICS.                      47
                       DISINFECTANTS.                ~
   The Metropolitan Board of Health of New York, having instructed
the Sanitary Committee to investigate the claims of various disinfect-
ing and deodorizing preparations, received the following report on the
subject, which explains itself.  In connection with the report of the
committee is also the report of the analysis of the several disinfectants
made to the  City Sanitary Inspector by the  Assistant Chemist to the
Board:—

                       Health Department, New York City, )
                                        August 9, IS71.        )
To the Board of Health:
   The Sanitary Committee,  to whom the applications with reference to
disinfectants were submitted by the board, having caused a chemical
examination and experimental tests to be  made  in  their presence, re-
spectfully report:
   On the 27th of July a series of experiments were made at the foot
of West Thirty-eighth street, in this city, with the following-named
articles, as furnished by their several proprietors, viz.:
   " Bromo-chloralum;" proprietors, Tilton & Co.
   " Hydrated Chloride of Aluminium ;" proprietors, Drs. Ehrhardt &
Alexander.
   " Girondin ;"  Jas. Meyer, Jr.
   The most offensive decomposing animal tissues, and matters  almost
in a state of putridity,  were the materials employed for the purpose of
testing the disinfecting power of these  different articles.  These tests
were therefore of the most severe character, as treating with substances
and  offensive odors, than which probably nothing worse could be found.
In making the experiments, each article was applied to the same kind
and  quantity of offensive material  or substance, using  them both in
their concentrated and diluted proportions.  In this manner the com-
mittee were able not only  to judge of the merits of each article as a
disinfectant, but also to form comparisons as to their  relative values
for such purposes.
   Portions of offal from slaughter-houses,  in very offensive conditions,
portions of livers and dead dogs in an advanced state of decomposition,
were each  experimented upon in turn, and  the time involved in de-
odorizing and disinfecting the same carefully noted.
   On the 3d  of August another  series of  experiments were instituted
at the Disinfecting Depot, on this  occasion  upon rotton eggs, night-
soil,  putrid fish, stable  manure, etc., with the same  articles as before
mentioned.   Without giving the minute details of these experiments, 
48
THERAPEUTICS.
which were carefully noted at the time, the committee would state the
results ascertained to be as follows:—
   The experiments and tests with the article called " Bromo-chloralum"
failed in each instance of convincing the committee of its possessing
any remarkable properties either  as a deodorizer, disinfectant, or for
the purpose of arresting  fermentation  or decomposition, except  in a
very slight degree.
   Those with the " Hydrated Chloride of Aluminium" gave somewhat
better results, but were by no means as efficient and rapid as is desira-
ble for such purposes, and also failed in that completeness  of  deodor-
ization and disinfection for which such articles are found necessary.
   With the " Girondin," however, the tests resulted most satisfactorily.
Its effects upon  the nauseous  substances  were prompt and efficient,
rapidly and  completely  neutralizing offensive odors,  arresting the
putrefactive process almost immediately upon  its application, both in
its concentrated and diluted proportions.
   The two  former preparations, " bromo-chloralum " and  " hydrated
chloride of  aluminium,"  are claimed to be inodorous and  innocuous,
two characteristics very desirable for certain specific  uses, but from
the fact that they do not either destroy or displace offensive  conditions,
and in fact  disengage the sulphuretted  hydrogen gas and thus create
more  offensive effect, under certain  conditions, their use for  general
disinfection is extremely limited.  On the other hand, the "girondin"
being  largely composed of  metallic  solutions, not  only prevents
further fermentation, but also neutralizes  sulphuretted  hydrogen.
Possessing an  acetic odor,  it also displaces any offensive  odors  that
may still  be evolved, during  its more  extended  effects as  a disin-
fectant.
   With respect to the  time  employed in  effecting the desired results
with these three liquids, in the quantitative experiments, it was found
that the  "girondin"  was capable of  perfectly deodorizing  and ar-
resting  the decomposition  of  animal   substances  and preventing
the fermentation of vegetable substances when applied in its  pure state,
in one minute, while the same perfect  result could not be obtained
with either of the other fluids employed even in a length of time.
   For practical  purposes in the application of disinfectants, it is
found necessary to employ such agents as will rapidly and  effectually
accomplish the desired end, and at the same time be non-destructive
to such articles  and things as it must  necessarily come  in  contact
with.   Probably an  article or  compound can hardly be found  that
will accomplish  deodorization, arrest of putrefaction  and  fermen-
tation which shall be inodorous or innocuous to every other substance
or thing than that to be operated upon. 
THERAPEUTICS.
49
  In the  "girondin" fluid, however,  your Committee believe that
these objections are reduced to a minimum,  as  it does not present
poisonous  properties, except in its most concentrated form, and that
only which would be used in the most extreme cases  by expert hands.
For general uses its ordinary dilution, 1 to 6 parts, appears to be en-
tirely devoid of any dangerous property.
                           Respectfully,
                                     G. Ceccarini, M.D.,
                                 Chairman Sanitary  Committee.

  The  Committee therefore recommended the  Board  to obtain the
necessary  quantity of the " girondin " fluid for the use of the Sanitary
Inspector.

          Chemical Laboratory  of  the Health Department. )
                                     August 5, 1870.         j
To Moreau Morris,  M.D., City Sanitary Inspector :
  Sir:—I have the honor to report on the qualities of the three disin-
fectants which I have submitted to analysis and various experiments
to ascertain their respective value.
  The disinfectants examined were:—
  1. Chloride of aluminium, manufactured by Ehrhardt  &  Alex-
ander.
  2. Bromo-chloralum, manufactured by Tilden & Co.
  3. Girondin disinfectant, J. Meyer, Jr., agent.
  The chloride of aluminium  solution is of yellow color, originating
from iron, which is probably an impurity of the acid or the albuminic
hydrate used for the manufacture.  This impurity is, however, of no
deleterious consequence, as iron compounds are  even better  disin-
fectants than  the aluminia.  The  specific gravity is 1.15.  The solu-
tion contains about 21 per cent, of anhydrous chloride of  aluminium
and iron, and besides that, considerable chloride of calcium, the whole
amount of solid constituents being  28 per cent.
  The Bromo-chloralum is  nearly free from iron, the specific gravity
is 1.143, the whole amount of solid constituents is about  27.5  per
cent.    It contains  about  IS.5  per  cent, of  anhydrous  aluminic
chloride.  It contains also lime and considerable alkaline salts.  The
bromine is combined and not free, and as we know only of the disin-
fecting properties of free bromine, but nothing of it when combined,
and also the experiments made with  it do not  show any superiority
over the chloride of aluminium patented in England, a determination
of this substance  was deemed unnecessary.
           1 
50
THERAPEUTICS.
  Deduced from theoretical reasons, it was to be  expected that both
these disinfectants, in  contact with putrid  animal matter, should de-
velop sulphuretted hydrogen.  A large series of experiments showed
plainly that this was a fact.  From this reason, a thorough disinfection
cannot be expected from these substances.
  The Girondin disinfectant is a solution of a light blue color, having
a specific gravity of 1.25.   It contains about  29.7  per cent, solid con-
stituents, and  is mostly composed of  sulphate of  zinc, of which sub-
stance it contains 25 per cent.   The oxide  of copper (0.67 per cent.)
is combined with other acids (acetic and nitrous).   As a disinfectant
the Girondin fluid becomes valuable by its  being mostly  composed of
metallic substances which not only prevent  further fermentation, but
also neutralize the  sulphuretted  hydrogen.  Experiments sustained
this view.   This chemical  reaction was  undoubtedly the reason that
the disinfection was in all cases considered to be more thorough, if the
Girondin disinfectant had been  used.  As none of these disinfectants
have a particular smell, it is easy  to make  comparative experiments.
The results of  our practical experiments showed  that a disinfection
could be performed, but not a complete deodorization  obtained.  Ai
acid smell will be always present, wThich in the case of the experiments
with the aluminia  preparations is  mixed with the foul odor of consid-
erable sulphuretted hydrogen.
  If substances to be disinfected contain but  traces of  sulphur, as for
instance horse-manure, or floors  in horse-stables saturated with horse-
urine, I consider all these disinfectants equally applicable, as the main
substance  to be  absorbed is ammonia, the tendency of which to com-
bine with  either hydrochloric or sulphuric acids does  not vary much.
  The following is a tabular statement of the results of the chemical
investigation:—
	Specific gravity.	Degrees Baume.	Solid matter. Total perc'tge.	ACTIVE DISINFECTANTS. AKHTDROtTS.		
				Chloride of aluminium.	Sulphate of zinc.	Sulphate of copper.
Chloride of aluminium.... Bromo-chloialum........	1.15 1.14 1.25	18.8° 17.7' 28.8"	28 0 27.5 29.7	21.0 18.5	25.0	1.4
                      Respectfully submitted,
                            ^ H. Endemann, Ph.D., Asr t. Chemist.
—Journal of Applied Chemistry. 
THERAPEUTICS.
51
 PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIOS" OF HYDRATE  OF CHLORAL.
  At the meeting of the French Academy, June 12, M. II. Byasson
announced the following conclusions, as drawn from a very extended
series of  experiments upon frog?, rats, dogs, and men :—
  1.  The action  of chloral-hydrate  is different from that of chloro-
form.
  2.  This action is peculiar, but may perhaps be looked on as the re-
sult of the conjoined action of chloroform and formic acid.
  3.  The action of chloral-hydrate  differs from that of trichloracetic
acid, or of the trichloracctate of soda, which breaks up into cliloroform
and acetic acid.
  1.  A part of the chloroform formed by the action of alkali of the
blood is  eliminated by the pulmonary mucous  membrane: a part of
the formic acid is eliminated by the  urine as formiate of  soda.
  5.  There are three degrees of the operation of chloral on the animal.
The first degree is a feebly soporific and slightly nervous sedative ac-
tion.
  The second degree:  an intense soporific action, with diminution of
sensibility; at this period there is a deep sleep, of  variable duration,
without apparent trouble of  the principal functions of life.
  The third  degree : complete  anaesthesia,  with total loss of general
sensibility and muscular power.  Death almost always follows this de-
gree of action for a plain reason:  a  considerable  dose of chloral has
been administered, and  as its action is progressive,  the organism can-
not endure the strain until the complete transformation and elimination
of the drug.— Gazette Medicate de Paris. June 21,  1871.
OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS WITH THE MICRO-
  SCOPE   ON  THE  CHEMICAL EFFECTS  OF  CHLORAL-
  HYDRATE, CHLOROFORM, PRUSSIC ACID, AND OTHER
  AGENTS ON THE  BLOOD.
               BY THOMAS  SHEAKMAN RALPH, M.E.C.S.
  In a paper with the above title, read before the Medical Society of
Victoria, the following conclusions  are arrived at: Hydrate of cJdo-
ral, administered in any way, gives rise  to the production of bright
red or dark red particles, masses, or globules in the blood.  Starchy
bodies are also met with in both the blood and urine.  The same results
follow exposure of freshly-drawn blood to the vapor of chloral.   Am-
monia given by  the lungs or subcutaneously during the action of
chloral, seems to heighten these effects. 
52
THERAPEUTICS.
   Formic Acid, Lactic Acid conjoined with Prussic Acid, Prussia
 Acid' conjoined with Ammonia, all produce the same effect on freshly-
 drawn blood.
   The action of  hydrate of chloral while decomposing under ammo-
 nia on a salt of iron, presents changes apparently identical.
   The chemical effects of hydrate of chloral and  ammonia, of prussic
 acid and ammonia, on some vegetable tissues,  appear to be much the
 same in  character as those  produced in the  blood, minus, of  course
 those on  the solid albuminous matter.  All these results Mr. Ralph re-
 fers to the action  of formyl  or ammonio-formiate on  the  iron of the
 blood and vegetable tissue.
  The decomposition of prussic with lactic acid, and of prussic acid
with ammonia, can supply chemically the element necessary for the
production of formyl or formiate of ammonia.—Monthly Microscopical
Journal, August 1, 1871.
           HYDRATE OF CHLORAL IN TETANUS.
   In this paper Mr. C.  Macnamara states that in the Chadwic Hospi-
 tal, from 1865 to 1869, of 42  cases of traumatic tetanus treated, 16
 or 38 per cent, recovered; whilst  of  39 cases of  idiopathic tetanus
 24 or 60 per cent, got well, the treatment being in all cases uniform-
 that  of  aloes and Indian hemp, as recommended by Dr. J.  Jackson.
 The patients' diet was  confined to bread and milk.   Recently 7 cases
 of traumatic tetanus were treated with chloral alone, the food being
 as before; only one of these  recovered.  Of three cases of idiopathic
 tetanus, two recovered.   The results are  therefore decidedly favorable to
 the old method of treatment.  Mr. Macnamara thinks that the chloral
 is simply useful in these cases as a hypnotic, but as such is invaluable,
 as it will never fail to  cause  sleep, if given largely enough.  It does
 not directly prevent the spasms; and  when the patients awake they
 often appear to recur with greatly increased violence, as though  the
 nerve-force had been simply pent up.  The combination of the chloral
 with Calabar bean or with Indian hemp seems to be  indicated: one of
 the marked effects of the latter drug has been found to be increase of
 the patient's appetite and a sustaining of his spirits, which often be-
 come exceedingly depressed if the drug is omitted.—The Indian Med-
 ical Gazette, April 1, 1871.
  In a subsequent communication to the same journal, Mr. Macnamara
details a very severe case of traumatic tetanus which terminated favor-
ably, the treatment of which was by chloral and Calabar bean. 
THERAPEUTICS.
53
  Chloral a Hypnotic rather than Anaesthetic—The following
extracts from a paper on chloral, by Dr. A. M. Fauntleroy, are interest-
ing as illustrating the fact that chloral  is much more decidedly a pro-
ducer of sleep than a luller of pain :—
  We essayed to operate, in both instances, for the removal of haemor-
rhoids by ligature, using the hydrate of chloral.  In these cases profound
sleep was induced  by the exhibition  in one  instance of sixty, and in
the other of ninety grains.  The very moment the tumors were pierced
by the needle, the patients awoke to  an acute apprehension of the cir-
cumstances and their surroundings, and it became necessary to resort
to the inhalation of cliloroform.
  To one of  the patients referred to we had on a former occasion ad-
ministered cliloroform by inhalation, and it was fully three-quarters of
an hour before chloroformization was established;  but when  we re-
sorted to the chloroform, after the failure of the hydrated chloral to
produce anaesthesia, the patient yielded  quietly and quickly to  chlo-
roform.  We have repeatedly administered it  in  cases of so-called
neuralgic  headache, in which the subjects have declared  their con-
sciousness of pain up to the last moment.  Some have expressed them-
selves as going to sleep despite of  the headache.—Richmond Med.
Journal.
  Mr. Robert Munro (London Lancet) sums up his experience with
chloral, as follows :—
  1st. It is  of great benefit in cases of mental excitement and func-
tional disturbance  of the nervous system, when there is no organic dis-
ease of  the brain.
  2d. It is  injurious in cases of protracted  and great debility, more
especially if the body is reduced  by unnatural discharges.
  3d. Its  long-continued use, even in  small  doses,  is injurious under
any circumstances whatever.
      ON THE  USE  OF HOT  BATHS  IN DROPSY.
                         BY A. STEFFEN.

  The use of hot baths for dropsy is not forbidden by any age, or
scarcely any condition, of the patient.  The youngest child and  the
most feeble person may be placed in them;  in the  latter case great
care, however, must be exercised  not to repeat them  too oft^n, as
experience has shown that the loss of bodily weight may go on for one
or more days after a single bath.  The bath should be at about 28° R.,
and increased up to 32° or 34° R. whilst the patient is in it, and the latter
should afterwards be well covered in bed, so as to sweat him for two or 
54
THERAPEUTICS.
three hours.  These baths are indicated by general oedema, and by free
exudation in the peritoneal  cavity, in the pleural cavity, and in  the
pericardium, provided in the last case that the disease has not progressed
too far.  When indicated, tonics, such as iron and  quinine, should be
exhibited during their employment.  Dropsy from improper nourish-
ment or care, and dropsy after severe sickness, the expression of a loss
of heart-power, will often disappear  by  judicious  general treatment
and nursing; sometimes the hot bath may  be used with advantage.  In
the dropsy appearing during scarlet fever, without kidney affection, on
the first appearance of the oedema the bath should  be used, a practice
which  the experience of the children's hospital at Stettin strongly con-
firms.  The use of the hot baths for dropsy after scarlet fever is not, how-
ever, followed by uniform results.   In some cases the first bath is fol-
lowed by profuse sweating and loss of weight;  in other cases two or
three baths are required before any reduction commences.   In a third
set the swelling  and exudation steadily increase for a time, in spite of
the use of the hot bath; and after a decrease has apparently set in, a
renewal of the increase may take place.   In all these cases, however,
with very rare exceptions, the disease finally yields to the treatment.
Care must be taken not to continue  the latter too long,  as experience
has shown that the decrease of  weight goes on often  many days after
the disuse of the baths.
   In dropsy dependent upon organic disease, the hot bath treatment is
often of  great service in freeing the patient from the torture of the
dropsy, even when it can  have  little or no effect upon the final issue.
in dropsy associated with acute kidney disease,  especially after scarlet
fever, caution must be practised in the use of hot baths, although they
are often very useful. They are contra-indicated by capillary bronchitis,
or the commencement of oedema of the lungs; when these are present,
they have a very rapidly fatal influence.  When the  urine is being
passed in very small amount, they must also be avoided,  as tending to
lessen still further the  excretion, and  favor thereby ursemic eclampsia.
In such cases Dr. Steffen has used the warm {not hot)  baths, with cold-
water douche and leeches to the  head, benzoic acid internally, and has
not lost a single case.  The contra-indications to the use of the hot bath
are: The existence of fever,  acute disease of the brain, high grade of
transudation  and  exudation into the  pericardium,  threatening  of
ajdema of the lungs.  In some cases, when the lungs have been entirely
free, the oedema will  come  on  during the bath, betraying  itself  by
great sudden  dyspnoea.   The  patient in such cases should  be im-
mediately taken out  of the bath, and  cold water be  energetically
poured upon his head, neck,  and back.—Jahrbucher fur Kinderheil
lunde, Heft 3, 1871. 
THERAPEUTICS.
55
ON THE COOLING OF FEVER PATIENTS  BY  ICE-BAGS.

  Dr. W. Leube states that his position in  a military hospital, during
the late war, brought under his care a large number  of fever cases,
who  were treated by the  cold bath  with  satisfactory results.   The
French prisoners, however, resisted the bath with  all  their strength,
and he consequently was led  to invent a new method of  reducing the
temperature.  Two parallelogrammatic water-tight  bags of India-rub-
ber cloth were prepared, the one measuring unfilled 70 cm. long and
45 cm. broad, the other 60 cm. long and 45 cm. broad.   These bags
were filled with  a freezing mixture,  composed of ice and salt.  In
order to allow comfort to the patient, the ice was reduced to a powder
and passed through a sieve.  After five to six pounds of  this ice pow-
der were put  into each bag, one to one and a half pounds of salt was
thrown into each and the orifice closed.  Two bandages were then
laid transversely  across the bed, and the ice-bags were  placed on them
in such a way that the shorter should correspond to the trunk, the lon-
ger to the legs of the patient, who was laid upon  the ice-bags after
they had been covered with  a gum blanket and a linen sheet.  By
means of the bandages the man was then tied down, one  band passing
over him above the knees, the other above the navel.  The patient was
then covered over with bed-clothes.   The patients rarely complained
of the  cold, and  were allowed to remain upon the ice-mattress from
an hour to an hour and a half.   In order to show the  effect of the
ice-bags on the temperature, a number of experiments are given; of
these one only is  here quoted.

  Experiment.—French prisoner, 24 years old.  In the third week of
typhoid fever, with albuminuria and enlargement of spleen.
Time.	Temper.
1.	39.7. Pulse 100.
2.	39.8.
3.	39.9.
4.	39.9.
5.35.	Put on the ice-mattress.
5.40.	40.1.
5.45.	39.9.
5.50.	39.8.
5.55.	39.65.
6.	39.5.
6.5.	39.4.
6.10.	39.25.
 
56
THERAPEUTICS.
Time.	Temper
6.15.	• 39.20.
6.20.	39.2.
6.25.	39.0.
6.30.	38.95.
6.35.	38.97.
6.40.	38.95.
6.45.	38.80.
7.	38.7.
7.30.	38.7.
8.	38.8.
Pulse 96.
Lower of the ice-bags, upon which  patient had
  been lying, placed on front of the legs.

Pulse 87, full.
Patient commenced to tremble.

Cold mattress removed.
  Dr. Leube claims for this  method superiority over  the cold baths,
because the patient is not moved and fatigued so much, the shock is
not so great to the nervous system, and the circulation of but a por-
tion of the surface being interfered with, there is less  danger of inter-
nal congestions.—Deutsches Archwfur Klin. Medicin.
   The Use of  Cold  Baths  in the  Epidemic of  Petechial
Typhus  in Breslau,  1868 - 69. — In  the first portion of the
epidemic 498 cases  were treated expectantly, in the last  period 216
by cold baths.  Every two hours, if the temperature rose above 33° C,
the patient was  put in  a bath at 15° R.  for fifteen minutes.  After
hathing the temperature fell from l°-2° C, and remained so one-half
to one and a half hours. The duration of  the fever did  not appear
to be lessened, but its mortality decidedly so.  16.47 per cent, died of
cases treated expectantly; only 9.23 per  cent, when the bath treatment
was commenced the first week ;  14.66 per cent when it was not begun
until the second week of the disease.  Complications, such  as pneu-
monia,  were most  rare  under the water  treatment. — Allgememe
Medicinische CentralZeitung, June, 1871.
 ON  ABSORPTION THROUGH THE  SKIN  FROM FULL
                            BATHS.
  In a paper in the ^Yiener  Med.  Wochenschrift, Dr. Chrzonzewski
relates experiments upon this subject  made  both  upon animals and
man.  The anus and urethra were covered up, and in thick-haired ani-
mals the skin was shaved.  The result was that in a two per cent, so-
lution of muriate of morphia the  animal died in eio-hteen to twenty
hours; in one per cent, of strychnia, in two and a half to four hours; 
THERAPEUTICS.
57
in one per cent, of nicotin, in one to one and a half hours;  in two per
cent, of cyanide of potassium  at 2° C, in a half to  one-third of an
hour; more quickly at a higher temperature.
  A boy, set. 15 years, remained six hours in a  sitz-bath'  (65° C.) of
infusion of digitalis (one-half pound to  four buckets of water);  four-
teen hours afterwards the  influence on the heart manifested itself, the
pulse fell from 84 to 60, gastric and cerebral symptoms came on and
lasted two days.
  In order to test the method of absorption, such  experiments as the
following were instituted: Ferro-cyanide of potassium was  injected
into the vein of a dog, and the  animal placed in a bath containing an
iron salt; in three to  five hours  the veins and capillaries  of the skin
were stained an intense blue, the cellular tissue remaining colorless.
  The following conclusions were arrived at: 1. The skin of man and
animals is permeable to substances in watery, and still more  easily in
spirituous solutions.  2. Elevated temperature hastens absorption.  3.
Absorption may take place in various  ways, diffusive (Indigo carmine),
through the blood-vessels (formation  of Prussian blue), and  through
the lymphatics (ammoniacal solution of  carmine).  4.  The lymph ves-
sels have their origin in the  cells of the connective tissue.
BRIEF  MEMORANDA  ON TREATMENT.   CHARITE  HOS-
                        PITAL, BERLIN.
                      BY DB. SPENCER FEBBIS.
  Ileo-typiius.—Traube distinguishes two stages in this disease.   The
first, which lasts about fourteen days, is characterized  by swelling and
ulceration of Peyer's patches.  The second, which immediately fol-
lows, is marked by the process of sloughing; it is indicated by a morn-
ing temperature of normal, or less than normal height, and  a very high
evening temperature.   In the first stage the  treatment consists of aqua
gummosa and milk and soup diet.   In the second stage excitants and
stimulants are given;  Rhine wine is the stimulant always used—never
brandy.  When the temperature rises to 40° C. (104° F.), Celsius's ice-
bag is placed to the head.   The mortality from this disease is not more
than 3 or 4 per cent.   Dr. Vreuzler states  that out  of the  last 123
cases not more than 4 deaths have occurred.   This appears to indicate
that  at Berlin the disease is of a mild character.  In the same affec-
tion  Frerichs gives no alcohol, and not always wine, but as much beef-
tea, eggs, and milk as the  patient can  take, with nitric and  muriatic
acids.  In hemorrhage from the bowels he gives a quarter of a grain of
acetate of lead, or a dose of tannin or sesquichloride of iron,  with the 
58
THERAPEUTICS.
addition of  an ice-bag.   Frerichs has also treated a few cases, both of
typhus and typhoid, by baths and wrapping the body in cold cloths.
  Acute Rheumatism.—Traube says that in persons under twenty-five
years of age endocarditis, pericarditis, or some form of heart-disease
almost  always takes  place;  between  twenty-five  and thirty cardiac
complication is not unfrequent, but that in those over thirty it is very
rare.   It may become developed, he says, whether the patient be in
hospital or not.   This is contrary to the experience of Dr. Gull, who
says, in one of the " Guy's Hospital Reports," that if  it is not estab-
lished before  the patient's admission, it does not come after.   Traube
envelops the limbs  in flannel, never in  cotton-wool,;  in light  cases his
treatment is entirely expectant.   When limbs are much swollen, large
blisters are  used; in severe cases, where there is  not much swelling,
antiphlogistic  remedies are employed.   Frerichs gives half a drachm
of iodide of potassium in the day, and when there is bad pericarditis
or pleurisy, he lays the ice-bag over the  chest, as he says it eases the
pain.   He also gives infusion of  digitalis.   The  ice-bag  is especially
resorted  to when, with  endocarditis, there is great excitation of the
heart's action.
  Pleuko-Pneumonia.—Traube gives citric  acid  and aqua gummosa,
warm  applications, and in very bad cases takes blood  from the arm.
He finds that wdne is very badly  borne, and never  gives it.   His mor-
tality is very small.
  Peritonitis.—Traube rubs in a scruple of mercury ointment daily,
till the mouth is affected, gives no opium, and allows the bowels to act
when they  will.   He occasionally  employs warm applications and
leeches.  He pursues the same treatment for puerperal peritonitis, in
which his mortality is not more than  twenty-five  per cent.  He dis-
tinguishes two kinds of puerperal  fever, the  " peritonisch"  and the
" phlebitisch;" the former he treats by  inunction, as above, and the
latter by quinia and tonics.
  A Case of  Ileus.—The bowels had not been  open for nine days,
and the patient experienced great pain in the bowels, and could not
lie still.  Traube  gave him ice to suck constantly, and he had  as much
ice-water as  possible injected up  the bowel.  But  these measures had
no effect, and  in  three  days  an artificial anus  was made in the right
inguinal region.   Three days after the patient was  going on well.
  A Case of  Trichuriasis.—The first  symptom was oedema of the
eyelids and face,  then pains in all the muscles  and  joints, followed by
stiffness of all the joints, and then came contraction of the joints and
a flabby swelling  of the muscles, with high fever  and hio-h tempera-
ture.  The treatment consisted in friction of the limbs with bay salt.
Patients generally remain in the hospital six or eight weeks  for this 
THERAPEUTICS.
59
disease.   As the malady recedes  the muscles  often shrink and waste.
Traube finds it of little use to cut out a piece of the muscle and put it
under the microscope by way of aiding the diagnosis; for it is seldom
that trichinae are found in such a piece, although the body after death
may be found to be full of  trichinae.   Other  reasons against the pro-
ceeding are, that  the wounds made in people with this  disease  heal
very badly, and if  the patient does not regain full use of the limb the
unfavorable result will be ascribed to the puncture.—Lancet, July 8,
1871.
PUNCTURE  OF  THE  STOMACH  AND INTESTINES FOR
                TYMPANITIC  DISTENTION.
  At the meeting of the French Academy of Medicine of July 11, a
communication was  received from Prof. Fonnssagrives, of Montpellier,
on the above subject.  He  stated that the procedure was very common
in veterinary medicine, and that in Bolivia it was habitually resorted
to in the treatment of man.   The  operation was first practised in
France by Nelaton.   Since 1866 he himself had frequently resorted to
it.  He  had used a hydrocele  trocar,  and  in no instance  had  any
inflammation or serious local symptoms followed.
  If done with a small exploring trocar and canula, he considered
the operation perfectly safe, and that it  ought to be performed when-
ever serious symptoms arise from distention by gas, and was often
strongly indicated in cases of strangulated hernia.  It had been  per-
formed ninety times on sixteen individuals, and as many as fifty times
in a single case.—E Union Medicate.
  M. Depaul stated before the Societe de Chirurgie at Paris,  that
recently he had employed the  puncture in a  case of peritonitis  in a
woman aged twenty-two years, eight  days confined.
  She was in a most critical condition, everything presaging approach
of death.  He plunged a  small trocar  in the direction of the trans-
verse colon ; a jet of fetid gas escaped with sufficient force to make a
musical sound through the canula, and with it was also ejected fluid of
a stercoraceous odor.  The patient was relieved.  At the evening visit
nothing new presented.   The  next day the  puncture was  repeated,
with similar results.  This  time the spot selected was a little above the
umbilicus.  The patient at the time of his speaking was free flora
fever, and apparently convalescent.
  M. Trelat stated he had twice performed  the operation in cases of
puerperal peritonitis.  No evil results followed it, but the patients
died notwithstanding.—E Union Med., July 27. 
60                       THERAPEUTICS.
  M. Blot, before the Society of Medicine, stated that he had prac-
tised the operation on a woman on whom he had performed Cesarean
section.   The tympanites had caused the tearing out of the sutures.
The woman finally perished, and on post-mortem  examination neither
gas, nor liquid, nor indications of peritonitis were found in the abdomen.
^ M. Giraldes had made the puncture both in adults and children, and
thought it especially useful in cases of intussusception.
  M. Fonssagrives thought the innocuity of the gastro-intestinal punc-
ture had been established by its having  now been performed without
accident in eighty cases.   He preferred the instrument recently in-
vented by M. Huguier to the trocar, and thought the operation should
always be performed when  other measures failed in tympanites threat-
ening suffocation.
  M. Huguier described his instrument  as a very  sharp needle placed
in a fine canula.—E Union Medicate, July 20, 1871.
  The Dublin  Quar. Jour, of Med. Science  mentions three  cases  in
which marked relief was afforded by this operation.   In one  the dis-
tention was caused by the pressure of an ovarian tumor on the intes-
tine.  The puncture was made in the cascal region, and was repeated
daily more than fifty times, at  the  request of the patient.   At the
autopsy no traces of the punctures  could  be observed.  The second
case was that of a man sixty-one years old.   Eight punctures were
made in fourteen days, with great relief and no unpleasant results.
In another case, reported in  the Practitioner, the operation was per-
formed upon a  patient with double pneumonia.  The punctures, two
in number, were made over the transverse and descending colon, and
gave great relief.   The patient, however, died of pneumonia, but  no
traces of the puncture could be found after death, except on  the sur-
face of the body.  The instrument used was an exploring trocar.
            THE  YALUE OF  MEAT  EXTRACT.
  Meat, as an article of diet, owes its value partly to the mineral,
partly to the organic compounds, albuminoid and  oleaginous.   The
mineral substances probably undergo little change in the human body,
and with the oleaginous we  do not now concern ourselves;  but the
albuminoid having been ingested, are in the stomach reduced to a
uniform substance, termed albuminose or peptone, by means of the acid
and pepsin of the gastric juice.  But straightway the process of degra-
dation commences, and a multitude of new compounds, kreatin, krea-
tinine, leucin, etc., are formed; but the force evolved in the changes ia
the force manifested by the  body—in other words,  life implies these 
THERAPEUTICS.
61
changes.  Let it be noted now that in the substance of meat there is
available material over and above what exists in its juice.
  In the extract, substances which exist  only in very small  quantity
in the meat are increased a hundred-fold, whilst the really important
and nutritious substances are actually diminished.  Animals  have no
constructive power that resides in vegetables. Albumen having ceased
to be albumen, it can never be again converted into  albumen  in  the
animal economy; it can  only proceed in its  retrograde march to urea.
This being so, it is evident that the nutritive value of meat in  regard
to its albuminoid constituents  must be  small.   Some time ago Kim-
merich astonished and, we may say, frightened  the world by announc-
ing that Liebig's extract  was absolutely poisonous.  In a recent article,
however {Deutsches Klinik), he has reconsidered the subject, pointing
out the actual value of the extract.   First, then, it causes a  sensation
of warmth in the stomach, it  strengthens the heart's action  and  the
circulation generally, acting as a stimulant rather than as an article of
food.  In its action it is  allied to tea and coffee rather than meat.  So
also in  cases of  sickness will the solution of  the extract,  properly
flavored, prove of value as a stimulant, in the same way that a glass of
wine will enable a man, immediately after he has taken it, to do what
he was not able to do before.   But,  however useful in  debility, it is
now well known that wine is not food, and so also with  meat extract.
The real use of the  meat extract, as an article of diet, is to give taste
and relish to a  mass of nutritive but insipid food.   A patient will
swallow large quantities  of this  extract, thinking he is  imbibing nu-
triment  proportional to the quantity  of meat used in its preparation,
while in truth he may swallow several  ounces of it daily and yet  be
starving.  A bone boiled with it for a time  is a great improvement;
thickening it with corn-meal, not starch, makes it of very great  value.
—Medical Times and Gazette.
              FLUID  MEAT—DIGESTED  MILK.
  According to the Medical Times and  Gazette, Mr. S. Dailey has
succeeded in preparing a  palatable solution of meat in pepsin and
hydrochloric acid, by the addition of a small portion of pancreas to the
meat before solution.  After solution the acid  is converted into com-
mon salt by the addition of  a little soda.   This preparation is much
more nutritive than Liebig's  extract, containing as it  does  the fibrin
and the nutritious portions of meat which are  wasted in the making
of the former stimulant.   Curiously enough there is a class of patients,
or rather impatients, who have already learned the value of the digested 
62
THERAPEUTICS.
 viands.  These are the London stock-brokers and other business men,
 who  cannot allow their  stomachs to use one  atom  of the nervous
 force which the brain is using in money-making, and who find the
 fluid meat pass into the circulation without the flatulence and stomach
 trouble which would  attend the effort to eat ordinary meat or soup,
 and find it infinitely more " staying " than Liebig's extract.   The use
 of  the preparation in severe anemia, extreme dyspepsia, cancer of the
 stomach, obstinate vomiting, low fevers, etc.,  etc., will suggest itself to
 every practitioner.
  In the  same journal, June 24,  Dr. James Morris details a case  in
 which "digested  milk" was employed at the suggestion  of  Sir Wm.
 Jenner, with apparently great benefit.  The infant (aet. 4 mos.) was in
 a very precarious state, and the only other  child of the mother had
 died under similar circumstances at the age of six months.  The milk
 used was asses' milk;  of this, § v.; pepsin (Bullock's), gr. v.; dilute
 hydrochloric acid, nixxx.   These ingredients were digested for two
 hours by the heat  of a water-bath at 120°  F.   The  acid was then
 neutralized by carbonate of soda, grs. xij., and the solution filtered.  It
 had always a slight bitterness, which was covered by sugar and a little
 brandy when needed.   At first this quantity was prepared twice daily,
 and after a short time double the quantity, the child being able  to
 take more food.   Still later other  infant's food was used, but causing
 indigestion,  wTas abandoned.   After persevering with  digested milk
 three months, the child became strong enough to take  ordinary food,
 and is now in good health.  Cow's milk  was tried occasionally, but it
was found that  unless more pepsin and acid were added, much curd
remained upon the filter.  The removal  of this  is, perhaps, not a dis-
advantage.
   SOME FURTHER  ADDITIONS  TO THERAPEUTICS.
  In a  paper with the above caption, in the  London Practitioner,
Dr. Richardson  states he has found bromide of quinine of  value in
«ases where  certain special  symptoms followed upon  syphilis.  He
says, a  case  of recurring rheumatism of this nature; a case of recur-
ring ulceration of the fauces; a case of general nervous exhaustion,
with flying pains in the limbs, loss of appetite, general debility, loss of
hair, and a remaining thickening and  enlargement from  oubo; these
have been instances in which the bromide has been more immediately
and determinately beneficial than  any other treatment.   He admin-
isters two to three grains three times a day, and notes that large doses
are not followed  by cinchonism. 
THERAPEUTICS.
63
  Bromide of morphia  appears  to produce the narcotic effects, with-
out the  after  unpleasant  symptoms, of  opium.  Of the  bromides
of morphia and quinine in combination, he says, I cannot speak too
favorably.   Four classes of  cases  seem  to  be  especially  benefited
by them, viz.:  neuralgic  fever, cerebral irritation, diabetic phthisis,
and extremely acute attacks of intermittent pulse, the result of nervous
shock.
  In acute  neuralgia I administer a drachm of the solution (containing
1 gr. of the quinise, % gr. of the morphia  salt) to an adult every two
hours until the pain is  abolished, and am  able to report that not only
pains can be  effectually removed,  but that the medicine causes no
derangement of the body.  It calms pain  without inducing deep nar-
cotism ; it interferes little with the secretions or the appetite, and rarely
causes nausea.  In diabetic phthisis, under its influence the quantity
of sugar and fluid excreted by  the  urine  notably decreases, cough  is
relieved, and recurrent hectic is held in abeyance  more  certainly I
think than  by any other remedy.
  Bromide of strychnia is of value in dyspepsia from deficient nervous
control over the vascular supply of the organs concerned, in cases of
partial organic nervous paralysis of the ventrical division of the organic
nervous system.  In these cases, when the  body is without food, there
is no true  sense of hunger, but rather of  emptiness.  In cases where
there is  much  dryness  and irritability of the  mucous membrane of
the pharynx and larynx, the bromides increase the irritation.
  Dr.  Richardson commends very strongly hydrobromic ether  as an
anaesthetic, C2 II6 Br.   This  ether is a light volatile liquid, made by
distilling four parts of powdered bromide of potassium with five parts
of a mixture consisting of two parts of strong sulphuric acid and one
of alcohol, having a boiling point of 104° F., sp. gr. 1,400, and a vapor
density of  54,  taking hydrogen as  a unit.  Hydrobromic ether  was
largely used  by Mr. Nunnery, of Leeds, as a general anaesthetic.   An
atmosphere containing S to 10 per cent, of the vapor  causes, when in-
haled, active  destruction of  common sensibility rapidly  and  safely.
The breathing remains  tranquil, the pulse  quiet, the expression good;
the transition from the first to the third degree of narcotism is, more-
over, so rapid that the second degree, or stage of muscular excitement,
is scarcely  recognizable.  There is no apncea; and in animals, where
the inhalation is  carried to an extreme, the resistance of  the heart to
the paralyzing action of the narcotic is good.   Recovery is very rapid.
In animals killed by hydrobromic ether, the heart is found with blood
in both  sides,  and free from congestion.   The color of the blood  is
natural and  the  lungs  contain  a normal amount.  The faults of  this
ether as an anaesthetic are its costliness, the  rapidity with which  it 
64                       THERAPEUTICS.     ^________________

undergoes" decomposition on keeping, and the irritation  of the throat
which it causes.                                              .
  Bromide of methyl shares the anaesthetic qualities of bromide of
ethyl, both the good and the bad.
                TREATMENT  OF DIABETES.
  In these days  of almost universal  scepticism on therapeutics, it is
encouraging to note the numerous attempts made of late to solve the
problem* of&the  treatment of  diabetes.  There is, perhaps, no disease
respecting which our knowledge has grown so fast, and our treatment
been so stationary.  Since 1797, when Rollo wrote, we have unravelled
one by one nearly all the chemico-vital changes on which the morbid
process depends, and now stand, as it were, on the very edge of the
border-land which separates light from darkness, waiting for the secret
of the disease to disclose itself.   But all this advance has  been in
pathology; our treatment has scarcely progressed a step.   We have,
indeed, tried many remedies,  but  our results have mostly been nega-
tive.  Each newly vaunted mode of cure has in turn been rejected, till
opium, the old remedy, seems  after all the only trusty one.   The latest
novelty comes to us from Italy.  We learn from the pen of Dr. Sam-
mela, in Dr. Dobell's reports on the Progress of Scientific Medicine,
Yol. II., that Professor Cantani, turning back to the old theory of de-
ficient combustion, has found  a new, and according to his account, a
successful remedy in lactic acid.   In diabetes, Cantani holds that there
is no excessive production of  sugar, but only a deficient combustion,
owing to the non-occurrence of the transformation of the sugar formed
from food into lactic acid and fat. The sugar of the  food, no longer
undergoing its healthy transformation, passes off by the urine, and the
patient consumes all his own fat, as well as the albuminates and fat of
his food, to  keep up the organic combustion.   The Italian professor
seems to have been led to these views mainly by the  peculiarly low
temperature of diabetics.  Dr. Foster, of Birmingham, pointed out in
the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, some  two years ago, that
the body heat in diabetes is always some two or three degrees below
that of health.   This is  a most noteworthy fact, and when conjoined
to another fact pointed out by Foster, viz., that the temperature has no
relation to the amount of sugar excreted, we have data of cardinal im-
portance to our future  study of the disease.  In diabetes, we have a
tissue waste so rapid that it  almost  rivals that of any fever, and yet
the contrast with the febrile temperature is complete.   Febrile wasting
means increased heat; diabetic wasting means diminished heat.  Can- 
THERAPEUTICS.
65
tani points out that with this low temperature there is often a diminu-
tion in the frequency of the respirations.   In one of his cases they fell
to nine per minute.  On these observations he founds  the theory that
diabetic sugar (paraglucose he calls it)  is a non-combustible element,
with which the oxygen cannot combine, and that consequently all com-
bustion is effected at the expense of  the albuminates and the  fats.
The oxygen finds no material on which to fix  itself in the lungs; hence
the low temperature and the unfrequent respirations.   The  remedy is
lactic acid (150  to 250 grains per day).  This, the professor thinks,
supplies a combustible element, and so  saves the albuminates and  fats.
A rigidly enforced animal diet at the  same time diminishes the sugar
formation, and  the  disordered  functions  thus placed at rest,  soon
recover.   We hope this  may prove so here as well as at Naples.  Dr.
Foster, who has been carefully testing in the  Birmingham General
Hospital the effects of  a  number of drugs on  diabetics, has, among
others, tried the lactic  acid.  The drugs chiefly used in his experiments
have been ergot, bromide of potassium, peroxide of hydrogen, opium,
and lactic acid.  The  results are as  follows : The effects of ergot are
limited to a diminution  of the water passed,  the sugar  not being
affected.  Bromide of potassium, which Dr. Austin Flint recently  pro-
posed. Dr. Foster finds has no  effect on the sugar excretion; the good
results observed by its proposer were  doutless  due to the restricted diet
with which it was combined.  In one case bromide of potassium, when
given with tr. ferri perchlor.,  acted  more beneficially than did either
remedy alone; the sugar secretion falling some  IS grains per oz. under
their use, the other conditions of  diet, etc., as  far  as could be ascer-
tained, remaining the same.   Peroxide of hydrogen, although a pop-
ular remedy with patients, was found  to have  no effect on the daily
loss of sugar.  Opium in several cases diminished the quantity of urine
passed, diminished the loss of  sugar,  and greatly checked the elimina-
tion of urea.  The good effects which follow its use Dr. Foster is in-
clined to attribute more to its decided effect on the urea elimination
than to its less marked effects  on the sugar loss.   The lactic acid has
only recently been tried, but so far its  effect has not answered the ex-
pectations raised by Cantani.  The sugar has not been noticed to fall
steadily under its  use;  falling one day, it has  risen the next.   The
quantity of urine has not been  diminished by it, nor  in  the case in
which it was used longest  did the temperature of the body rise or the
weight of the patient increase.  Dr. Foster has remarked, however, a
peculiar effect from the  use of lactic  acid, viz., the occurrence of pains
of a rheumatic character in the joints and limbs ; these were so severe
in one case as to necessitate the discontinuance of the treatment.  With
reference  to the infrequency of respiration, this has not been noticed
by Dr. Foster, even Avhen  the temperature has been lowest.—Doctor. 
G6
THERAPEUTICS.
ON  THE  HYPODERMIC  USE  OF CORROSIYE  SUBLI-
                     MATE  IN SYPHILIS.

  In a paper upon this subject in the IVew York Medical Gazette, Dr.
R. W. Taylor lays down the following aphorisms, as  based upon a
large experience:—
  1. That the use of the bichloride  of mercury in hypodermic injec
tions, though a method of treatment  possessing certain  advantages, is,
for various reasons, of limited application.
  2. That  it is  useful in the whole  secondary period  of syphilis, in
roseola, and in the various papular syphilides, and in that form of pus-
tular syphilide in which there is only slight tendency to the formation
of pus.
  3. That  it very rapidly cures  all syphilitic neuroses,  and that  it is
very beneficial in the cachexia of syphilis, whether accompanied or not
by perceptible lesion.
  4. That  it possesses no advantages over other modes of administer-
ing mercury in the treatment of mucous patches and condylomata lata;
and that these lesions yield  more rapidly to a  local than to any form
of constitutional treatment;  and  that  in the syphilitic lesions of the
nervous system and  of bone, particularly if late, its use  is not to be
commended.
  5. That  the very early tertiary syphilitic lesions, provided  they are
not of an ulcerative character, may be very much benefited by it,  and
that the simultaneous administration of iodide of potassium internally
may produce a cure more rapidly than when the two are given inter-
nally.
  6. That the peculiar advantages of the treatment are : the smallness
of the  amount  of mercury used; the rapidity of action;  and  the
absence of  systemic disturbance.
  7. That a very minute quantity of mercury, averaging  from two to
three grains, thus administered, may cause the disappearance of very
extensive syphilitic lesions, and the alleviation  of  very severe  symp-
toms.
  8. That in the greatest number of  cases, an  injection every second
day of an eighth of a grain of  the  bichloride of mercury will produce
a cure in rather  less  than two months, and that in very urgent cases
they may be pushed, with good effects, to the extent of one or two
daily.
  9. That the rapidity of eure is the  rule, rather than  the exception,
and that the time required  may be stated as varying  between three
weeks and two months.
  10. That when the injections are given every second day it is very 
THERAPEUTICS.
67
rare to observe any unpleasant systemic effects of the mercury;  and
that even when they are pushed more than this, these effects are never
as severe as when mercury is pushed to a similar extent by the mouth.
   11. That the relapses after this treatment  are equally as frequent,
as rapid, and as severe in character, as when mercury is given in other
ways.
   12. That there are unpleasant local  effects of the injections, such as
pain of the puncture, pain over the site of  injection, induration of the
connective tissue, and abscesses.
   13. That in many cases the pain is very slight, and soon ceases to
trouble the patient; but that in others it is so  severe and persistent as
to necessitate a discontinuance of the treatment; and that in every
case some slightly unpleasant local effects  are experienced from  the
use of the  injections.
   14. That in exceptional cases, the  injections cause a low grade of
inflammation in  the subcutaneous connective tissue, producing a de-
cided induration in  deep portions of the  derma; and that, owing to
complications which might, perhaps, arise from this condition  later on,
it is advisable to discontinue the injections  in these cases.
   15. That this induration may be observed in many cases in  which it
is only of an ephemeral character.
   16.  That if proper  care  is  used  in administering the injections,
abscesses will rarely, if ever, occur.
   17. That it  is absolutely necessary that  the patient should be  both
intelligent, and,  at the  same  time, thoroughly impressed with  the
gravity of his disease,  in order that he may comprehend the advan-
tages he is to derive from this mode of treatment; otherwise, he could
not subject himself to the inconveniences which  are inevitably experi-
enced in the course of the treatment.
   18.  That while  in dispensary and hospital practice the injections
 maybe frequently given,  in private practice the smallness of a patient's
 means may often be an obstacle in the way of the continuance of the
 treatment.
   Finally, that, while in  some  cases the treatment may be useful by
reason of its rapid action, and in others for the  smallness of the dose,
the inconveniences which it produces, the  objections of the patients,
 and the presence of lesions which contra-indicate its use, confine its
 sphere of usefulness to very narrow limits.
   Dr. Taylor gives an eighth of a grain at a dose, dissolved in twelve
drops  of  water.   He thinks  much  less irritation is produced in this
way than by the use of a weaker solution.   In order to avoid pain in
the operation it is best to have  an exceedingly fine nozzle tube to the
syringe. 
68                       THERAPEUTICS.
              TREATMENT OF  GONORRHOEA.
  Dr. H. F. Patterson, Royal Artillery, writes to the London Lanoet,
June 24, 1871, substantially as follows:—
  For a considerable time I have been in the habit of treating my
cases of this affection with water injections only, and I do not remem-
ber a single case of failure where the system was adopted at the com-
mencement of the disease and employed throughout.   I begin with
injections  of  lukewarm water, continued till the chordee and  scald-
ing cease, after which cold water  is substituted and continued till
cure.   My instructions are to use the injections  freely once an  hour
during the day, and as often at night as can be done conveniently.  I
generally give a little saline mixture internally, as  a laxative, but do
not consider this essential  to the treatment, the  principle of which is
to keep the mucous membrane  clear and, as much  as  possible, free
from its own  unhealthy secretion.  Cubebs, copaiba, and the other un-
pleasant nostrums of gonorrhea I have long since ceased to employ. Mj
cases get well in a shorter time than under any treatment I have tried,
and are free  from unpleasant sequelae.   Epididymitis  is very  rare;
gleet will, I believe almost never occur if the treatment be well car-
ried out.   Without any statistics at hand, I believe the average duration
of treatment is from ten to fourteen days.
  M. E. Noble Smith recommends the following plan, the case being
seen at the commencement of  the attack.  A mild purgative may be
given, but is generally  best avoided as conducive to after-irregularity
of the bowels.  A glass of warm milk in the morning,  before rising,
often has the desired effect.   The diet should be  regulated, and all
food should be of plain character.   Meat should be fresh and not pre-
served ; coffee and tea, condiments, beer, spirits, wine (except a  little
dilute claret)  must all be strictly forbidden.   The patient should not
be allowed to take any exercise, and therefore the quantity of his food
must be diminished.  Early going to bed is  good.  A mixture " con-
taining conium and mucilage, or equivalent  substances," should be
given several times daily, and  when all inflammatory symptoms have
subsided, simple astringent injections will soon effect a cure.  Acetate
of lead is generally the best; but if a cure  does not speedily follow,
other mild astringents may be used, the rule being, if the case be ob-
stinate, to vary the injection at short intervals—Zomfow Lancet. 
THERAPEUTICS.
69
  ON THE  YALUE OF  TORSION AS  A  HAEMOSTATIC.

                      BY DR. CHAS. PHELPS.

  In this paper Dr. Phelps,  after detailing several  cases in which he
employed torsion, and stating that in his  experience the  method has
never failed,  continues substantially  as follows:—
  The torsion of arteries, first  methodically practised by Amussat, and
more recently recalled to notice by Professor Syme, has been very
thoroughly studied and described, especially by Mr. Bryant, of Guy's
Hospital.   The subject, condensed from various writers, may be thus
stated in some of its most important points :—
  First. Torsion is practised by two  methods.
  Ywfree torsion, the artery is twisted at the end without being fixed
above.  This may be accomplished without drawing the artery from its
sheath, and without twisting off the end included in the forceps (Thierry);
or the artery  may be detached and withdrawn from its sheath for two-
thirds of an inch, and the torsion continued till the end is severed (Fricke).
  In  limited torsion, the artery is drawn out from  its  sheath half an
inch, and fixed transversely  at the margin of attachment  by one pair
of forceps, while with another pair the end  is twisted off (Amussat).
  Second.  The physiological effects of torsion on the vessels, as ascer-
tained by Mr. Bryant's experimental and cadaveric observations, are:
Twisting of  the external coat, and  division, retraction, and incurva-
tion of the middle and inner  coats, with formation of a clot extend-
ing from the  point of contact of the divided coats to the origin of the
first branch above.   A second clot  may also  extend from  the  same
point to the twisted end below.  There is no  tendency to untwist in
the cellular coat, and its vitality is not impaired;  the  twist  is perma-
nent.  The divided and retracted coats are ultimately consolidated by
the inflammatory process. ,
  Third. Free torsion is the method  to be chosen for  most,  if not for
all, arteries, fixation not being necessary to prevent  detachment of the
vessel from its sheath.  Whether the artery be fixed  or not, the end
should not  be severed.  It is  unnecessary, since  the  artery does not
untwist  without it when the  torsion  is properly made  with a proper
instrument.  It is unsafe, since the clot is liable to be disturbed and
the incurvation of  the divided coats  destroyed, and experience  shows
that hemorrhage does thus occur.
  Fourth. Torsion is preferable to the ligature for all arteries :
  1. Because the safeguards against  hemorrhage are greater and more
numerous.  There is more complete division and greater  retraction of
the middle and inner coats, and superadded  valvular incurvation. The 
70
THERAPEUTICS.
twisted cellular coat and incurved middle coat are permanent  as well
as temporary hemostatics.   In the use of the ligature, inflammatory
adhesion is the only permanent  hemostatic.  Atheromatous arteriea
thus become more amenable to control.
   2. Because, as the twisted end does not slough, there  is nothing left
in the wound to maintain irritation or to favor inflammatory processes
by which hemorrhage  may be produced, even though the  occlusion
of the orifice of the vessel remain perfect.
   3. Because it leaves  no excuse for failing to secure all the vessels in
a wound, however numerous or small, and thus tends  to diminish sep-
tic material.
   4. Because the wound may be more perfectly closed, and the chances
of union by first intention thus increased.
   The advantages above claimed for torsion are scarcely open to ques-
tion.  Its safety and reliability are  sufficiently  proven by  the expe-
rience of Guy's Hospital alone, where, as I  am informed, no ligature
has been employed for more than three years.  My  own limited ob-
servation has satisfied me that the facility and rapidity of application
will depend upon the manual dexterity and skill only to be  acquired
by practice, and^upon the character of the instrument employed.
With a proper  instrument, however, I believe that the arteries as a
whole, large and small, can be more rapidly secured  in  this way than
by the ligature.   The ordinary forceps ought  not  to  be trusted; tho
blades are too narrow,  and are liable to tear the vessel, besides being
unfitted to bear the strain of torsion.  The English  instruments for
the purpose which I have seen, though combining the most  essential
characters, and apparently reliable and safe, are awkward to  use.  Br.
Simms has replaced the slide by a spring-catch, and modified the form of
the blades, thus materially perfecting the instrument.   I am now using
an instrument made by Mr. Ford, of William street, in accordance with
some suggestions which I have given him.  It retains the long handles
and spring-catch of Dr. Simms, but has fenestrated blades.  It is thus
a combination forceps,  which can be  used for ligation as well as tor-
sion.  It is readily applied over the tenaculum with which the  artery
is seized, and will always twist accurately in the axis of the vessel.
Finally, it is equally applicable to  arteries of every size.
  The number of twists required  is  said to vary  from three to six,
according to the size of vessel—The Medical World.
  Milk as a Prophylactic against Lead Poisoning.—According
to M. Peligot, the free daily use of milk by workers in lead has seemed
to be of service in warding off saturnine poisoning.—Journal de Mede-
cine et Chir. Prat., March, 1871. 
THERAPEUTICS.
71
         PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS  OF COFFEE.
  An interesting communication was recently made at a meeting of
the Academy of Sciences in Paris, in regard to the value of coffee as
an article of  food.   Attention was  called to a statement of Mr.
Gasparin, in 1850, that the miners of Charleroi preserved their health
and great vigor of muscular force by the use of less than half of  the
nutriment indicated  as necessary by theory  and daily  observation.
Using food containing less nitrogen and carbon than the daily ration
of the  monks  of La  Trappe, whose  countenances are pale, and who
exercise scarcely one-fifth as  much as an ordinary workman, these
Belgian miners were most industrious and  energetic in their labors.
The secret of the difference was stated by Mr. Gasparin to consist in  the
use every day by these miners of a pint of an infusion of about an ounce
of coffee prepared in two quarts of water, which served the purpose
of counteracting the  injurious effect of an insufficient supply of food.
  Reference was also made to an experiment in 1860, by Mr. Jousand,
in which, by the use of a  decoction of about an  ounce and a half of
powdered coffee, a young man was kept, with no other food whatever, in
good health and strength for seven days, during which time he took more
active muscular exercise than usual, without any special inconvenience.
  The  particular deduction from these experiments appears to be that
coffee has an important action in preventing denutrition and emaciation.
An illustration of this is seen, according to the author, in the  effect
upon the urea.  In one experiment about half a  grain of  caffein was
consumed daily, and the amount of urea was diminished twenty-eight
per cent.; while an infusion of about two ounces of roast coffee dimin-
ished it by twenty per cent.  This is asserted to be the result  of very
careful experiments of a physiologist upon himself, proving that caffein
and roast coffee diminish the oxidation of the system, and temper  the
process of denutrition. The excessive frequency  and intensity of  the
beating of the heart was also found to be reduced in several instances.
It is probable,  according to the author, that a similar action is  exerted
by some other substances—the  Paraguay  tea, especially, which, it is
well known, enables the natives of the Andes to subsist for a long time
on an incredibly small amount of food.—Druggists' Circular.
REMARKABLE CASE OF CONSTIPATION CURED ON THE
      FORTIETH DAY BY INDUCED  ELECTRICITY.
  Mme. de----, aged twenty-four years, had suffered from  repeated
attacks of rheumatism and of constipation.  She was taken in August 
72
THERAPEUTICS.
with a fresh access of the latter, and used against it the usual remedies;
these failing, castor-oil, belladonna, according to the method of Trous-
seau, mix vomica, aloetic suppositories,  abdominal frictions with tinc-
ture of aloes, drastic injections, croton oil, etc., etc., were all employed
in vain.  On the fortieth day the usual symptoms of protracted consti-
pation became very alarming, threatening death.   The negative pole of
the medical electrical battery of Gaiffe was then introduced into the
rectum, the positive being  placed  over  the umbilicus.   A current at
first exceedingly feeble was passed, but its strength was steadily in-
creased, so that at the close of  a seance  of twenty minutes it had be-
come very  powerful.  The  pain was borne with great resignation and
patience, the  reward of which  was a free passage from the bowels ten
minutes after the battery was  removed.  All the general symptoms
were immediately relieved  by the stool.—Bulletin General de The'ra-
peutique, June 15, 1871.
 ON  THE  EXCLUSION OF LIGHT IN  THE  TREATMENT
                        OF  SMALL-POX.
                        BY W. H. BARLOW.
  There can be no doubt but that the exclusion of light exerts  a
retarding  influence upon the  progress of the pustules in their later
stages, so  that, instead of acuminating, they shrink and shrivel about
the sixth or seventh day of the eruption.  The effect of this is to pre-
vent destruction of tissue and much of the consequent pitting.   That
light  has  an influence on the pustules has been shown by an experi-
ment  {Lancet, 1867) in which one portion of the face was covered by
a warm-colored  gelatin (to exclude  actinic rays), and the rest of the
features left exposed.   After  recovery there was a very  pronounced
difference between the two sides.   The use  of arsenic Dr. Barlow
does not think of much  importance, cases treated simply with acetate
of ammonia apparently doing as well as those with arsenic.  Within the
last four years, until the present epidemic, Dr. B. has  had very numer-
ous cases, and has not had one patient badly marked or left with injury
to the eyes.   The present London epidemic he thinks very severe, and
he has recently lost four cases.   lie says, so great is the effect of the
exclusion  of light upon the maturation of the pustules, and so rapid
in these four cases was the sinking and death, just at the period when
the  pustules  would, under the  stimulus of the light, have  acuminated
and ripened, that I have been  led to believe that there might exist be-
tween them the relation of cause and effect, and that the patients have
sunk  overpowered by  the virulence  of the poison^ which has, by the 
THERAPEUTICS.
73
obstruction of the accustomed stimulus, been  prevented from taking
its natural course to the skin, in the same way as death may occur from
the suppression of  the exanthem of  scarlatina or measles.   In all the
cases the death was from sudden  collapse ;  the pulse very little altered
in quickness, but weak; the surface pale  and shrunken; and stimu-
lants seemed to have no effect.   Now, although  deaths of this kind
are by no means  infrequent in  malignant small-pox, even when  ex-
posed to the full  effects of daylight, yet it would be but seldom that
four such cases would occur almost consecutively ;  and the shrinking
in these cases of  the pustules which  preceded death, so exactly cor-
responded with that observed  in the  cases which did well and which
was then looked upon as the  desired effect of the exclusion of light,
that my mind is irresistibly impelled to attribute it to that cause, and
these  deaths to  its consequences.   Dr. Barlow afterwards suggests
that it would probably be equally  effectual to exclude in small-pox
cases  the actinic rays of  the light as to exclude all; and if so, in that
way much of the  depressing mental effect of  the darkness might  be
avoided.
              GLYCERINED YACCINE LYMPH.

  According to the Medical Times and Gazette (June, 1871), the ex-
perience of the late war has completely established the value of glyce-
rine as  a  diluent of vaccine lymph.  By its use only could the great
demand for virus to revaccinate the soldiery have been met.  As show-
ing how much can  be done with a very little virus, the following state-
ment is of great interest.  The medical officer of a German military
prison found that small-pox was rapidly spreading among the inmates,
and that there were 5,142 men in urgent want of  rcvaccination.  Three
infants were vaccinated with glycerined lymph from Berlin, and  with
the lymph  derived  from these, diluted with glycerine, fifty men were
revaccinated with such brilliant results, that fourteen  days after the
commencement of  revaccination, the surgeon was possessor of fifteen
grammes of glycerined lymph, only half of which was used in revac-
cinating 4,000 men in the next eight days.  According  to Dr. Midler,
the most certain mixture consists of one part of lymph, two parts of
pure glycerine, and two of distilled water.   As no solution of  the
lymph takes place, the glycerine lymph must be well mixed up again
each  time before   using  it.    Dr. Wiener, of  Culm, vaccinated  in
1870 1,600 children,  with only five failures, the lymph used being
in the proportion   of  one to three  or one to four  of  glycerine.
The course of the pustules was in all cases normal.   Some of  the
glycerined  lymph  was eight  months  old.  In  preparing the  mix- 
74
THERAPEUTICS.
ture,  he empties  the  lymph which  has  been collected  in one of
Bretonneau's tubes into a small porcelain saucer, such as is met with in
color-boxes.   To this he adds, by means of  capillary tubes of about
the same calibre, a mixture of equal  parts of  distilled water  and
glycerine, stirring  with a glass rod.  The mixture should be stored
away in capillary tubes, in a cool and dark place.
  Abstinence  from Liquids  in  Pleuritic  Effusion.—In  the
Medical  Times and Gazette, Jan. 1872, is reported a case of  Dr.
Moxon's, in which rapid absorption of an enormous pleuritic effusion
followed the restriction of fluids injected to ten ounces and the admin-
istration of 5 grs. each of iodide of potash and chloride of ammonium
three times a day, with bitartrate of potash in the mornings.
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL  ACTION OF  BEEF-ESSENCE AND
                    THE POTASH SALTS.
  Under the above title Gustave Bunge publishes an elaborate paper,
the more important points of which are  contained in  the following
translation :—
  Beef-essence and beef-extract are among the most used  agents of
modern therapeutics, and for a long time were supposed  to contain the
substance of  the  meat.   When under rigid experimentation this was
discovered not to be the case, and it was found that beef extract con-
tained little or none of the nutritive portion of the meat, Liebig as-
serted  that the muscular  extractives, especially the kreatin and the
kreatinin, were of value as a working material for the muscles of the
economy.   This assertion was shown to be incorrect by the experiments
of Meissner and of Yoit,  who proved that the kreatin  and  kreatinin
were excreted unchanged from the kidneys.
  Kemmerieh  then, in  an elaborate paper in the Deutsche Klini\
investigated the matter, and arrived at the conclusion that beef-extract
is a stimulant, strengthening the heart's force and acting generally more
like tea or coffee than like a food.
  Ivemmerich had noticed that after an injection of concentrated flesh-
broth into the stomach of a rabbit there followed increase of the rapid- 
THERAPEUTICS.
75
ity of the heart's action, and  finally death  from the paralysis of the
heart.  He ascribed these  results to the influence of the potash salt
upon the heart, as he  found the same results follow the similar use
of the ashes of the meat, in proportional quantity.   The quickening of
the  pulse by a potash salt is, however, in  direct contradiction to the ex-
periments of Traube, Guttmann, and Podkopaews, and it was especially
to this point that the researches of G. Bunge were directed.   He found
by chemical analysis that Liebig's extract contains, besides water, 21.9
per cent, of inorganic matter, about half of which is potassa, and of
the remainder about -fo is soda and ^V  phosphoric acid.
  The first set of experiments were directed to seeing if the extract
had any appreciable effect in quickening  the pulse of  the  dog, or
in elevating  the  temperature in the rectum.  The chief difficulty in
this is found in the repugnance both of the dog and his stomach to the
material; but by making it into  pills it was finally given and  retained
for two hours before vomiting came on.  The result of the carefully
conducted  experiments was entirely negative; the largest doses that
could be given failed entirely  to elevate the temperature or pulse.
  These experiments were  followed by  similar ones made upon him-
self ; every precaution was taken to avoid all disturbing influences, and
the result  confirmed entirely the previous  ones.  Owing probably to
the perfect quietude preserved, the  pulse actually fell in some of the
experiments.  No increase of  the  bodily  temperature or  the pulse
rapidity could at any time be discovered following the ingestion of the
extract.
  The experiments  of Kemmerich  on rabbits were then carefully re-
peated, and similar  results obtained.  Always following the injection
of the beef-extract into their stomachs, there was very marked  increase
of  the pulse rapidity, and finally, if the quantity were sufficient, gra-
dual death from paralysis of the heart.  The agreement with Kem-
merich's results was complete, even as to the quantity necessary to pro-
duce death.
  The potash exists as a phosphate  in the  flesh-extract,  and Herr
Bunge now injected an amount of the pure salt, equal to that contained
in the  fatal dose of extract,  into the stomach of a rabbit, with the
same results as  Kemmerich, namely, great increase in the rapidity of
the heart-beat, and then death from paralysis of the heart.
  The resulting paralysis is in complete  accordance with the results of
all  investigations of the action of  the potash salts, and is, no  doubt, a
direct action of the potash of the extract;  as to the increase in the heart's
rapidity, that  is another question.   By direct  experiment our investi-
gator found the mere gagging and introducing of the stomach-tube was
sufficient to influence for  a considerable time the heart's action;  but 
76
THERAPEUTICS.
that after this, injection of distilled water, of solutions of sugar, sod^
and potash salts, and of beef-extract, all caused very marked increase ir,
the rapidity of the heart's beat.   In the case of the warm water this in-
crease was not nearly so lasting as when the saline and saccharine solu-
tions were used.   The syrup was especially active  in this respect, and
the author thinks the increased activity of the heart is simply owing to
the effect of the  liquid on the intestinal canal and stomach, and that
the differences in the endosmotic action of the various fluids is indirect-
ly the cause of the different degrees of their action.  All the evidence
seems to  bear out his  conclusion, that there is no proof that the in-
creased rapidity of the  pulse, after the injection into the stomach of a
rabbit of  a solution of beef-extract or a potash salt, is due to a direct
action of the latter on the heart.
  Mr. Bunge also studied the action of the potash salt upon the rabbit
when injected subcutaneously.   He found  that after  the injection of
a fatal dose of a potash solution, there wras, after a period of increased
rapidity, lessening both of the rapidity and force of the heart's contrac-
tions, and finally death.   When a not fatal dose was used, there was a de-
cided increase in the rapidity of the pulse.   Our author attributes this
increase to the  pain caused by the injection, but did not prove it, not
being able to devise an experiment which should avoid the local action
of the salt.  The pain produced was  very intense,  and may have been
the cause of the increase of the heart's  action, as is made more especially
probable by the fact not noticed in Mr. Bunge's remarks, but evident
in his notes on the experiments, that when the potash was injected into
the jugular vein no increase in the rapidity of the pulse occurred.
  Experiments upon dogs and cats yielded similar results; the slowing
of the pulse was only seen in fatal cases, when death took place through
gradual extinction of the heart's action.
  Yarious experiments were  also gone  through to test the effect upon
the arterial pressure.  In some  a slight increase, in others a slight de-
crease of the arterial pressure was produced by the injection of the salt
into the jugular vein;  only after fatal  doses was  there a decided re-
duction of the force of  the heart.  In one case immediate arrest of the
heart's action followed  the injection.
  The nitrate of potash, given to men  in doses as high as two and a half
drachms,  produced no  perceptible influence on the pulse or tempera-
ture,  and heart poisoning  from the  salt  taken into the  stomach is
shown to be impossible, the quantity required being  so great that it
would of  necessity be rejected.
  In  conclusion, Mr. Bunge thinks it  cannot be longer denied that the
beef-tea or beef-essence is really of  no  use except on account of its
taste, which  it may impart to a mass of otherwise insipid vegetable 
THERAPEUTICS.
77
food.   The feeling of refreshment following beef-tea, he thinks, is only
due to its being taken hot, and to its taste having a psychical influence.
—Pfliiger's Archives fur die gesammte Physiologie, 1871, p. 238.
    ON  THE  MEANS OF TEMPERATURE LOWERING.

  Under the above caption Dr. Wjatscheslau Manassein publishes, in
Pfliiger's Archives fur  die gesam. Physiologie, p. 283, 1871, a paper
of twenty pages, whose  study wre commend to any  one interested in
such subjects, as being full of instruction as to the method of such ex-
perimentation.  We have only space for his  results.  He found that
merely swinging rabbits in a box was sufficient to cause a depression of
temperature varying from 1.2° C. to 0.3° C, the average of fifty-six ex-
periments being 0.66°  C.  That  this was not owing to cooling by the
currents  of air, was demonstrated by the fact that wrapping the ani-
mal in cotton-wool did not alter the result;  that when a short, rapid vi-
bration was used the lowering of the temperature was less marked than
when a long, slow swing was employed, and that the  lower point was
not attained  until some time after the cessation of the motion, gener-
ally about thirty minutes.  Whether the axis of the swinging motion
corresponded to or was at right angles to the long axis of the body did
not affect the result, and the  experimenter thinks that this shows the
results were not due to interference of the motion with the circulation.
Bandaging the  eyes intensified the fall of temperature, the result being,
in fourteen experiments, maximum 1.4° C, minimum 0.3° C, average
0.70° C.   On the other hand, if  a band was drawn around the throat,
so as to decidedly interfere with respiration, the animal remaining quiet,
the repression of temperature was much less.
   It has been shown by the experiments of Gscheidlen that the activity
of the respiratory centres in the medulla oblongata is lessened by mor-
phia, even in small doses; and previous experimentation having shown
Dr. Manassein that whilst large doses of morphia depressed the tem-
perature, small doses had no such effect, but at times were even followed
by a rise of temperature, it occurred to Dr. M. to try the influence of
small doses of morphia in the swinging experiment.  The result was,
that in thirty-seven out  of forty-five experiments the swinging was not
followed by any fall of temperature, small doses of  morphia having
been previously administered.  Twenty-eight experiments were tried
upon rabbits, in whom pysemic fever had been caused by the injection
of  putrid  matter.  The results were, that in  the  feverish  state the
swino-ino- has the  same effect  as in the natural  condition, and that by 
78
THERAPEUTICS.
repeated swingings it is possible to depress the temperature to the nor
mal  point, and that the swinging has less action at the time when the
fever heat is rising than at periods when it is falling.
                        DISINFECTION.*
  A disinfectant is, in the broadest acceptation of the term, anything
which counteracts  infectious,  contagious, or effete  matter.  How a
few disinfectants produce their effects is perfectly  understood, and
presents no kind of mystery;  how other disinfectants work is matter
of dispute, and  regarding the  action of a good number  of them we
have as yet hardly arrived at the stage of controversy.
  The material whose effects are to be opposed by disinfectants is held
by some authorities to be animal or vegetable germs, and  by others to
be subtle organic poisons of surpassing power; and  possibly enough
may be of all these kinds, but must at any rate consist  of complex
organic matter.   In common  with all organic matter, the  matter of
contagion may be destroyed, and therefore rendered inoperative, by
exposure to a red heat, in presence of excess of oxygen.  Fire, there-
fore, is a disinfectant whose action is intelligible, and whose absolute
efficacy is undoubted.
  The action of  destructive chemical agents, such  as hot  concen-
trated sulphuric, nitric, or chromic acid, is, in like manner, quite intel-
ligible.  Disinfection by this means is even more costly than by fire.
  We have instanced disinfectants which are effective and imprac-
ticable, in order to throw light  on those which are practicable and not
effective or much in vogue at the present time.   Chlorine, which in
the form of bleaching-powder  is much employed as  a popular disin-
fectant, will necessarily destroy contagious matter, as it does all organic
matter, if suitable precautions  be taken to insure the conditions under
which it can  act thoroughly.   But to use chlorine under these con-
ditions is no more practicable than to use boiling  concentrated nitric
acid, and the  manner in which chlorine  is actually used,  and that
which alone is practicable, is not effective.
  Suppose, instead of burning the clothes of the plague-stricken pa-
tient, we were  to reduce them to pulp, bleach the pulp, and make
paper of it, should we get plague-paper  from  the plague-rags ?   We
cannot guarantee that we should not; but if we pushed the  action of
the chlorine  further, destroying the  pulp so that it  could  not make
paper, and until  complete chemical  disintegration, then  we could
guarantee that it would  not be infectious.  If, then, there be doubt
whether the  paper made from some  descriptions of  infected rags
              * Reprinted from the Lancet, September 30, 1871. 
THERAPEUTICS.
79
be infectious, what shall we say of the chances of the  decomposition
of infectious matter  by the popular expedient  of just sprinkling
clothes with  a  little  bleaching  liquor?   Fumigations  of sick-rooms
with chlorine gas are not likely to be effective, for long before the
proportion of chlorine in  the atmosphere  could  reach the point at
which we could hope for any attack of infectious matter existing in
the atmosphere (and  certainly very long before we could guarantee
any attack of the infectious matter), the smell of chlorine would have
become unendurable.  In  fine, the  actual  practical employment of
chlorine as a  disinfectant does not rest on a  sound  chemical basis,  and
we are not warranted  in assuming that any great good is done by it.
   Leaving disinfectants which aim at the  chemical disintegration of
infectious matter, we  pass on to others, the  modus operandi of which
is in dispute.   Corrosive  sublimate,  carbolic acid, and  sulphurous
acid,—do they  poison the germs, or are they chemically incompatible
in relation to the organic poisons ?  We shall not discuss this question
on the present  occasion, but it is a fact, ascertained by experience, that
these substances, in common with very many others, have some power
of suspending  the action of infectious matters.  Of late years it has
been the fashion to single out carbolic acid as pre-eminently service-
able.  But Dr. Sansom, who is  one of the  warmest advocates of  the
use of carbolic acid, has shown that if we  measure its activity by its
power of arresting fermentation it is far behind corrosive sublimate;
and  if by its  destructive action on low forms of animal life—on sper-
matozoa, infusoria, and entomostraca—it  comes behind corrosive sub-
limate and most of the commonest acids.  In  short,  there is no reason
why carbolic acid should be so singled out, whilst its being notoriously
poisonous makes it no fitter for general and popular  use than corrosive
sublimate.
   It appears to us that, whilst possibly all may have their uses in skilled
hands, for household  and popular use we must avoid corrosive chem-
icals, poisonous substances, and  bad-smelling things, and select agents
which, having none of these properties, can be employed thoroughly
and  unsparingly.  The property of deodorizing is also one which will
be valued in a popular disinfectant, and since most of  the common
bad  smells are stinking alkaloids, a great variety of  substances, in-
cluding all the  acids,  will possess this property.
   In practising disinfection it has been sought either directly to influ-
ence the  state  of  the atmosphere  surrounding us,  or else to operate
upon the solids and liquids with which we come into relation more or
less closely in the course of daily life; and  if we would have definite
ideas on the subject, the distinction between these two methods of  op-
eration must  be kept  clearly in view. 
80
THERAPEUTICS.
   The direct disinfection of the general atmosphere of a town is a task
too hopeless to be undertaken  by man;  as will be manifest from the
mere consideration of the vastness of the mass of air to be dealt with,
and the comparative minuteness of the materials wherewith to  deal
with it.  Not by one-tenth  per cent, can all  the breathing of all the
inhabitants of a town, and the burning of all the fires in it, alter either
the  percentage of carbonic acid or of  oxygen in the  general atmo-
sphere  pervading the town.  If, then, our  means of  influencing  the
atmosphere are so limited that we cannot add  to it so much as the one-
tenth per cent, of any material, what chance should we  have—even if
we were to expend the entire national revenue on the undertaking—of
so thoroughly  dealing with  the mass of  the atmosphere  pervading
a town  as to eliminate any impurity ?
   In the days of  the cattle-plague, those wdio were set in authority
over us  made  an assault of  this description on the atmosphere of  the
country. They swept the air of the fields with towels dipped in carbolic
acid, and borne aloft on  the  horns of the cattle, hoping  thereby to rid
the air of cattle-plague germs.   As well  might they have tried to alter
the composition of the water of  the Irish Sea.  The first step  in prac-
tical disinfection  is the comprehension of the fact that, whether it be
poisons  or germs we fear in the out-door  atmosphere, we cannot re-
move them from  it by the employment of anything either to decom-
pose them or to kill them.
   Leaving  the streets, and entering the houses, one thing at least is
possible, and that is, to ventilate and secure  that the air within  the
house is not much worse than  the air  outside.  Obviously,  too,  the
limited  air of  a  room lies within the compass of the action of such
quantities of chemicals as we are able to  command.   But whether it is
economical to attempt the  purification of the air of a room by acting
upon it  by chemicals, or whether the means wThich are in vogue  are
effectual, are other questions.   The last we will now take up.
   We have before us a little card bearing on it the inscription, " Disin-
fectants, and how to use them," by Edward T. Wilson, M.B., F.R.C.P.;
and among other directions are the following:—
   " For an Unoccupied Room.—Pour two wineglassfuls of dilute  sul-
phuric  acid (oil of vitriol) over two ounces of chloride  of lime in an
earthenware saucer, placed high near the window.  It bleaches, and is
apt to make white-limed  walls sweat.  Useful for cabs.
   "For  an Occupied Room.—Put  a crystal or two of chlorate of
potash into a saucer of muriatic acid (spirit of salt) placed high, as the
gas is heavier than air."
   We presume that the  rooms are  of ordinary dimensions—say four-
teen feet square and ten feet high—and for convenience  of calculation 
THERAPEUTICS.
81
let us take the contents of a room four metres square and three metres
high.   This gives forty-eight  cubic metres, or forty-eight thousand
litres' capacity.   Now, from the two ounces of bleaching powder we
should do well if we  got five litres of chlorine gas.  We have, there-
fore, five volumes of chlorine in forty-eight thousand volumes of air, or
about one volume of  chlorine in ten thousand volumes  of  air; or, in
percentage, 0.01.  This is for the unoccupied room, but for the occupied
room the proportion  of  chlorine (from  the crystal or two) would be
very small indeed.*   Chlorine so highly diluted  is  not  the energetic
reagent that  it is when pure.  If  there were traces of sulphuretted
hydrogen in the  atmosphere  of  the room, they  would  coexist for  a
long time with so weak a gaseous mixture of chlorine, and germs would
probably be untouched by it.  In short, such a chlorinous atmosphere,
though dreadfully disagreeable to human inhabitants, might be organic-
ally impure.
  The card from  which we have quoted falls  foul of  scents.  " Scents
are useless," says  the  card, after  having  recommended  how we may
make the sick-room stinking  under pretext of  purifying  its atmo-
sphere.  Wiser far were  it to make it fragrant with perfumes, which,
if they neither  decomposed the organic poison nor  killed  the germs,
would delight and not distress the patient.
  In fine, if the atmosphere of a room be foul, let it out, which is the
cheapest and well-nigh the  only practicable, if not the  only possible,
method of  improving it.  The proper  sphere of disinfectants is the
solids  and liquids which harm us,  either by direct contact with our
bodies or by their proximity to us and action on us through  the atmo-
sphere.
  When we add to the  atmosphere of a room a sufficient  proportion
of an ordinary gaseous disinfectant to act on the atmospheric  impuri-
ties,  we render it unfit to breathe, and fit only to  be sent up the chim-
ney.   All those mixtures for generating chlorine in dishes exposed  in
the sick-room, all the cloths soaked in liquid disinfectants and hung up
in the  room, are more or less futile for the purpose  for which they are
intended.  In this general condemnation we do not include the use  of
  * Some  notion of  the quantity of chemical substance requisite to effect a real dis-
infection of the atmosphere of  a dwelling-room of ordinary dimensions may be gathered
from a recent Oxford disinfection minute, which  prescribes four ounces of sulphur to
be burned in every 100 cubic feet of air.  Sulphur yields twice its weight of sulphurous
acid, so that there would be about eighty litres of sulphurous acid gas to 3,000 litres of
air, equal to 2.6 vols,  of gas in 100 vols, of air.  The minute informs  us that " no dis-
infection of this kind is thorough if a man can live in the room whilst it  is going on,"
from which we see that it cannot be resorted to for the sake of the atmosphere in the
room (which must be sent up the chimney or out of the window, and replaced by fresh
air before the room becomes habitable), but for the sake of the walls and ceiling, and
clothes hung up on poles, etc.  In short, it is a method of treating the solids.
            6 
82
THERAPEUTICS.
disinfectant cloths to block up window or doorway communicating be-
tween the sick-chamber and the rest of the house.   This we regard as
quite legitimate, and as helping to isolate the patient.
   In the selection of disinfectants for  use in the sick-room, we should
prefer such as are non-volatile  and destitute of smell,—such, in fact,
as will not themselves  defile  the air.  For this reason, among others,
bleaching-powder and  carbolic acid are not so suitable as some other
disinfectants.   Copperas  and chloralum, possessing the requisite qual-
ifications of  being non-volatile  and odorless, and being at the same
time active disinfectants, are mentioned  in the Oxford Disinfection
Minute, which we have already referred to, and from which we quote
the following:—
   " Water-closets, privies, cesspools, and drains can be disinfected  by
copperas (sulphate of iron).  Carbolic acid can be used with advantage
with, or after, but not without copperas.  A certain quantity of disin-
fectant will disinfect only a certain quantity of foul matter ; and disin-
fection is imperfect till all  hot  smell or alkaline reaction is abolished.
For  the disinfection of a cubic foot of filth, half a pound of copperas
dissolved in a couple of quarts of soft water is  sufficient.  The daily
addition, by each individual using a privy or water-closet, of two-thirds
of an ounce of  solid copperas to such privy, or one-third of a pint of
the above solution to such water-closet, will keep it wholesome, if any
accumulation of filth which it may contain or communicate with has
been previously disinfected according to the  directions given above.
Carbolic acid, which  need not  be chemically pure, can be used after
the addition of copperas till the place smells strongly of it.  It should
be used  in the fluid  state, its  combinations with  lime and magnesia
having  an alkaline  reaction, and being therefore unsuitable  for the
present purpose.  It may be diluted by being shaken  up with twenty
times its volume of water, and if poured from a watering-pot with a
rose-nozzle over the sides of a recently emptied privy or cesspool will
do great good.  Sawdust or sand strongly impregnated with  carbolic
acid may be used for this purpose.  Chloralum (solution of chloride of
aluminium of specific gravity 1160) will acidify ordinary sewage, and
destroy its living organisms when added in the proportion of one part to
forty.  It may be expected, therefore, to act as a  disinfectant. This
cannot be  said of chloride of  lime.  All water-closets and  privies
should,  when epidemics  of  cholera  or  typhoid  may be expected,
be disinfected, whether they  be offensive or not.   It  is well at such
periods to avoid using any such conveniences which have not been dis-
infected, especially if, as at hotels and railway stations, they may have
been used by persons  from infected localities.  All the conveniencea
mentioned need ventilating as much as living-rooms do." 
THERAPEUTICS.
83
  The subordinate position of carbolic acid  is noteworthy.  If the ex-
periments and researches that have been undertaken in regard to car-
bolic acid be reliable {vide Crace Calvert,  in the  Chemical  News of
Dec. 9th, 1870, and Dr. Ballard's remarks thereon in the  same journal
of Jan. 20th, 1871), then we must admit that undoubtedly carbolic and
cresylic acids are about the most powerful of  antiseptics ;  and  there
are few who will not admit that where carbolic acid can  be used, it is
the best for direct  disinfection.  Its odor  is the objection against it,
but still there is a very large number of cases in which the odor of the
disinfectant proves no bar to its employment.
   The minute  also assigns a low rank as a disinfectant to chloride of
lime;  and here it will  not be out of place to indicate the manner in
which different disinfectants act on a mass of organic matter in inci-
pient decomposition, such as faeces, urine, etc.
   Copperas, chloralum,  and Burnett's solution (chloride of  zinc) ab-
sorb the most offensive products of decomposition, which  appear to be
stinking alkaloids, and  in  so doing deodorize; they may also act as
powerful antiseptics,—that is to say, arrest putrefaction, and so prevent
the production afresh of products of decomposition ; but more  evidence
is wanted on this point.  Carbolic acid does not absorb the products of
putrefaction which has  already taken place, but it  arrests putrefaction
and so stops  the further  production of products of decomposition.
Bleaching-powder and  Condy's  fluid (alkaline permanganate) appear
to oxidize the products of decomposition, but they have little  power as
antiseptics,—that is to say, they have little power of preventing the
organic matter from continuing to putrefy.   These latter, therefore, are
not so economical as other disinfectants.
   For use in cesspools and drains there is  at present in  the market a
very cheap material, known as Cooper's salts, and consisting of a mix-
ture of chlorides.  It has considerable deodorizing power.  It deserves
a trial in privies and  urinals, and  indeed  is known to answer in the
latter.
   Leaving the water-closets  and cesspools, and  returning to the sick
man's chamber, the first thing demanding attention is the  night-stool or
bed-pan, which should  be  charged either with a sufficient quantity of
copperas  or else chloralum.  We  think that  most persons who have
tried the two will be inclined to give the preference to the latter, from
its superior cleanliness, and  in the form of a  dry powder sufficiently
cheap to be used to cover the excreta it will be found very convenient.
Charcoal or sand to cover up excrement  and discharges  of all kinds,
and these moistened with copperas solution or solution of  chloralum,
will also  answer.  But  carbolic acid  and  bleaching-powder may be
used in the sick-chamber, on an emergency, when nothing better is at 
84
THERAPEUTICS.
hand.  Chloralum is very likely the best of the non-volatile disinfectants,
but its superiority to Burnett's fluid, sulphate of iron, etc., can hardly
be said to be as yet established.
  The clothes worn by a patient ill with small-pox or cholera should
afterwards be burnt, and, as far as possible, the bedding too.  Failing
this, they should be boiled for half an hour with soap and water, or else
exposed'to a dry heat of  250° F.  In order to produce an appearance
of cleanliness, bleaching-powder may be used in the subsequent wash-
ing of the linen of patients suffering from infectious diseases;  but it
would be injudicious to rely on that substance as a disinfectant of the
linen.  Finally, it should be remembered  that the surface of  every
solid which is for  a length of time exposed in a sick-room inhabited by
patients suffering from infectious diseases is liable to contract a taint,
and will  need disinfection.   The surface of the patient may even be
treated, and with great advantage to himself and everybody concerned.
In most cases, as  is now recognized, a bath will at  least do no harm,
and in cases of small-pox the addition of some convenient disinfectant
to the  bath has been found to comfort the patient.—London Lancet,
Sept. and Oct., 1871.
              THE TREATMENT OF SYPHILIS.

  Dr.  Bumstead  says:—My  own  experience with  mercury  in  the
treatment of venereal diseases leads me to conclusions which may be
briefly stated as follows:—
  1. Avoid  mercury in all cases of chancroids, also in all doubtful
cases of venereal sores following exposure, unless the failure of other
remedies and the danger of destruction of important parts leaves no
other resource.  Such  cases are  extremely rare.  Experience shows
that even in well-marked cases of true chancre it is  better to defer the
administration of mercury until secondary symptoms appear.  We are,
however, justified  in its use in case the chancre, contrary to custom,
assumes a phagedenic form; in case the patient's relations,as in matri-
mony,  demand that the sore should  be speedily healed;  or  in case that
he himself is unwilling to submit to delay.
  2. Although a true chancre will heal and secondary symptoms will dis-
appear spontaneously, especially when favored by attention to hygienic
rules, yet  mercury is the  only  known agent which has a direct action
upon them.   In tertiary syphilis the iodide of potassium  alone has a
remarkable effect in dissipating the  symptoms for a time, but the con-
current use of mercury is of great value in preventing their return.
  3. When using mercury for syphilis, use it, as the French say, couf 
THERAPEUTICS.
85
sar coup—"blow on  blow."  In other words, give it actively and for
short periods, repeated, if necessary, rather than in small and long-con-
tinued doses.  Harm  is less likely to result from the former than the
latter course, and another advantage is that you have the means of test-
ing the correctness of  the course you are pursuing.   If the disease has
progressed in spite of the first thorough trial, you are  probably wrong
in your indications;  if it has yielded but  not disappeared under the
first hit, you can hit it again !
  4. When a  patient for the first time  comes under treatment for
syphilis, mercury is usually  well borne and does its work well, given
by the mouth.   It may therefore be administered in this way, and the
greater inconvenience of its external use be avoided.   During the first
mercurial course that a syphilitic patient undergoes, the remedy com-
monly acts more effectively and speedily upon the  symptoms than in
subsequent courses.   In the first course, also, there is greater danger of
salivation; so  that a patient who at this time has had  his gums made
tender by the administration  of mercury for  a few days, may, in a
second or third course, be  brought under the  influence of this agent
with  great difficulty.   Hence  greater  caution is requisite in the early
treatment of syphilis; and since the physiological influence of mercury
often rapidly  follows the therapeutical, it is well to  suspend the treat-
ment or diminish the dose as soon as a decided effect upon the symp-
toms  is apparent.  In old  cases of syphilis, especially when mercury
has already been used repeatedly or for a long period, its internal
administration is found  to have  less effect  upon the disease;  and
although  the danger  of salivation is  slight, yet other  ill effects of the
mineral—such as irritation of the intestinal canal, loss of appetite, diar-
rhoea, and general cachexia-^are more  likely to  ensue.   Hence, its
external use is now to be preferred to its internal.
   5.  For  reasons already given,  the corrosive chloride is the least desir-
able of all the preparations of mercury for internal administration.  I
usually employ  in my own  practice either  the pil.  hydrargyri or the
proto-iodide, or sometimes  the  hydrargyrum cum creta.  The proto-
iodide is  found to be too irritating to the bowels of some patients, and
in all cases should be given half an hour or an hour after meals, and
not on an empty stomach.   The mercury with chalk acts mildly, but
effectually, when well prepared,  and is  conveniently  combined with
quinine and put up in capsules.  I most frequently, however, employ
the blue  mass, made into pills  of two or three grains each, with the
addition of one grain of the dried sulphate of iron; one pill to be
given, three or four  times a  day, an hour after eating.  These pills
rarely act upon the bowels or require the addition of opium.
   Of the  three methods for the  external use of mercury more common- 
86
THERAPEUTICS.
 ly employed—viz.:  inunction, fumigation, and hypodermic injection—1
 decidedly prefer the first named, for which I have given minute direc-
 tions in 'the third edition of my treatise  upon venereal diseases, page
 497.  Moist mercurial fumigation, so strongly recommended by Mr.
 Langston Parker, is indeed less repugnant  to sensitive patients;  but,
 judging from my own observation, is less efficacious  and less conveni-
 ent, and requires  more time for each bath than most  patients can well
 spare.  Moreover, unless the patient take the baths in his own room,
 or the surgeon administers them at his office, they must be intrusted to
 one of our professional bath-givers, who, as a class, I am  sorry to say,
 are prone to wean the patient from his  medical adviser,  or to fill  his
 mind with ignorant or false notions.  It is  pretty generally conceded
 by those who have made an impartial trial of hypodermic injections in
 the treatment of  syphilis, that this method is not to  be recommended
 for general adoption.  (See a review of  this method by my partner,
 Dr.  F.  R. Sturgis, in the  American Journal of Syphilography and
 Dermatology, April, 1871; also, an able  article by my friend, Dr.  E.
 W. Taylor, in the Medical Gazette for May 13, 1871.)
  Mercurial suppositories  introduced into the rectum were  recom-
 mended by Lebert, Berl. Klin. Wochenschrift, No. 14, April, 1870.  I
made a trial of them recently in four cases at Charity Hospital, with
results so unsatisfactory in controlling the disease that I abandoned the
experiment.—American Practitioner.
        Treatment of Syphilis by Calomel Injections.
  Dr. F. Zambon {Gazz. Med. Ltal. Prov. Venete) relates how a patient
with two gummy tumors, one in the groin, the other on the thigh, was
treated  by himself with injections in the middle external aspect of the
left arm, by means of twenty-five centigrammes of calomel, performed
three times in forty-three days.  The two tumors gradually disappeared
under this treatment.—The Doctor.
                      CROTON-CHLORAL.
  De. Oscar Liebreich has lately been  engaged in investigating the
physiological and therapeutical  properties of a new organic compound
called croton-chloral, which is formed by conducting chlorine gas into
allylene.   A peculiar action of this new substance in animals is, that at
first a high degree of anaesthesia in the head is produced, while sensi-
bility in the other parts of the body remains intact.   The second stage is,
that the spinal cord loses its functions, and reflex excitability is every- 
THERAPEUTICS.
87
where  extinguished.  During  that  stage both  pulse  and respiration
remain unchanged.  The third stage, which is induced by large doses,
is  characterized by paralysis  of  the  medulla oblongata,  and  death.
Animals may, however, be kept alive  by artificial respiration, because
the function of the heart is not interfered with; while the ultimate
effect of hydrate of chloral is to paralyze the heart.   The first thera-
peutical experiments with the new compound were made in the Uni-
versity Clinique of Berlin.   Complete anaesthesia of the fifth pair of
cerebral nerves was produced in a child, reflex excitability in the other
parts of the body continuing unchanged at the same time.  Pulse and
respiration remained exactly the same during  the whole time of the
narcosis.  Further experiments on insane patients showed that we pos-
sess in croton-chloral a remedy by means of which the  brain may be
profoundly  narcotized without any other functions being  disturbed,
while by chloral not only the brain,  but the nervous system altogether,
is  rendered anaesthetic, and the heart's action is diminished, which must
always constitute a source of danger.
   Dr. Julius Althaus (who reports these investigations  in the Medical
Times and  Gazette) considers, therefore, that croton-chloral promises
to produce all the good effects of hydrate of chloral without any draw-
back being attached to its judicious use. Its apparently specific effects
on the fifth pair of cerebral nerves make us indulge the hope that it
may perhaps be found useful in  that most intractable  affection—tic
douloureux.— Chemist and Druggist, Nov. 15.
THE ANTAGONISM  BETWEEN  THE  ACTIONS OF  PHY-
                 SOSTIGMA AND  ATROPIA.
                         BY DR.  FRASER.
  In a Preliminary Note read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
on the 31st of May 1869,  a  number of experiments were  described,
which proved that the lethal action of certain doses of physostigma can
be prevented by the administration of atropia.   Further, it was pointed
out that antagonism between any two  substances, in the sense of the
lethal action of the one being preventible by the physiological action
of the other, had not previously been shown to exist by any certain and
satisfactory  evidence.   In the various instances where experiment
seemed to indicate existence of such  an antagonism,  sufficient proof
was not given that the dose of the substance whose action appeared to
be antagonized was certainly a lethal one.  The conflicting opinions
and doubts this fallacy has given origin to, have induced the author tc
follow a plan whereby it may be completely avoided. 
88                       THERAPEUTICS.
cies
  In the first place, the minimum fatal dose of physostigma for the spe-
„3S of  animal employed was accurately determined by a number of
preliminary experiments; so that the weight of the animal being ascer-
tained, it was an easy matter to be certain of the dose that could kill it.
Then, in those experiments where an animal recovered after the admin-
istration of a dose of atropia given in combination with a dose of phy-
sostigma equal to or in excess of the minimum fatal, it was killed many
days afterwards, and when the  effects of the  two substances had com-
pletely disappeared, by  a dose  of  physostigma equal to or less than
that from  which it had previously recovered.   Therefore, when the
administration of  atropia prevented an otherwise fatal  dose of physo-
stigma  from causing death, a perfect demonstration was obtained of
the power of atropia to produce some physiological action or actions
that counteracted some otherwise lethal action or actions of physostigma.
  In  the preliminary note referred to  it was suggested  that as both
atropia and physostigma are capable of producing a number of different
actions, several of  which may not  be mutually antagonistic, and  that
as both  substances are capable of producing several actions of a similar
kind, considerably less potent to cause death than those  by which their
fatal  effects are usuially induced, it would probably be found that a
region exists where the  non-antagonized and the similar actions are
present in sufficient degrees of activity to be themselves able to produce
fatal  results.  This anticipation has  proved  to  be correct.  A large
number of experiments have been made, by which the region of the
successful  antagonism of fatal doses of physostigma  has been de-
fined with  considerable exactness.   The smallest and the largest doses
of atropia  that  are able to prevent death after the  administration of
different fatal doses of  physostigma, and the maximum fatal dose of
physostigma that is capable of being rendered  non-fatal by atropia were
ascertained, and it was found that beyond these various points death
may be produced by combined doses  of the two substances, either by
some non-antagonized action belonging to one or other of them, or by
a combination of similar actions belonging to both.
   As the above  results could be obtained  only by performing a  very
large number of  experiments,  rabbits were the  animals selected, it
being impossible to obtain a sufficient number of dogs, or other  con-
venient animal.  The weight of animal employed was, as nearly as pos-
sible, three pounds ; and when below or in excess of this a correction
was made, so that each dose represented three pounds  weight of ani-
mal.
   In one portion of this investigation experiments were performed in
which physostigma was given five minutes after atropia, both substances
being injected under the skin.   In the first  series the  dose of physo- 
THERAPEUTICS.
89
stigma was the minimum fatal, and the doses of atropia ranged from
one that was too small to prevent the lethal action of this dose of phy-
sostigma, through a number of gradually increasing doses of atropia
that were able to prevent death, until a dose was found whose admin-
istration resulted in death.  Similar series of  experiments  were made
with doses of physostigma, one and a half times, twice, two and a half
times, thrice, and three and a half times as large as the minimum fatal.
With the minimum fatal dose  of physostigma, it was found that while
.01 grain of atropia is too small  to prevent  death,  .015 grain is able
to do so ; and that with any dose ranging from .015 to 5.2 grains the
lethal effect of this dose of physostigma may be prevented ;  while  if
the dose of atropia be 5.3 grains or more, the region of successful an-
tagonism is left, and death occurs. With one and a half times the min-
imum fatal dose of physostigma, successful antagonism was produced
with doses of atropia ranging  from .02 grain to 4.2 grains; with twice
the minimum fatal of physostigma, with  doses of atropia ranging from
.025 grain to 3.2 grains; with  two and a half times the minimum fatal
of  physostigma, with doses of atropia  ranging from .035  grain to 2.2
grains; with thrice the minimum  fatal of physostigma, with doses  of
atropia ranging from .06 to 1.2 grain;  and with three and a half times
the minimum fatal dose of physostigma,  with doses of atropia ranging
from .1 grain to .2 grain.  Successful antagonism could not be obtained
above this dose, and, accordingly, three and a half times the minimum
fatal dose of physostigma would appear to be about the largest quan-
tity whose lethal action may be prevented by administering atropia five
minutes previously.
   A similar series of experiments has been made, in which physostigma
was administered five  minutes before atropia, and the results were
essentially the same, excepting that the region of successful antagonism
was found to be more limited.
   Series of experiments were also made, in each of which the doses of
physostigma  were the  same, and the  doses  of atropia varied;  while
with each dose of atropia several experiments were made which differed
from each other by a  difference in the interval of time  between the
administration of the two substances.
   It seemed of interest to ascertain what dose of atropia is required to
produce death with a dose of  physostigma below the minimum fatal.
The experiments performed for this purpose show that when one-half
of  the minimum fatal dose of physostigma is given five minutes after
atropia, so large a dose of the  latter substance as 9.8 grains is required
in  order  to  cause  death;  recovery taking place with doses ranging
from 3 to 9.5 grains.
   The minimum fatal dose of sulphate of atropia given alone was found 
90
THERAPEUTICS.
to be 21  grains for a rabbit weighing 3 pounds.   It is, therefore, re-
markable  that the ^ of a grain can prevent a dose of physostigma,
equal to the  minimum fatal, from causing death, and that the ^ of a
grain is capable of rendering non-fatal a dose of physostigma equal  to
three and  a half times the minimum fatal.
  Excepting  dilatation of the pupils, these minute doses of atropia, and,
indeed,  any dose capable of antagonizing the  lethal action of physo-
stigma,  are unable to produce any symptom  recognizable by a mere
inspection of the animal.  Still, they undoubtedly produced energetic
physiological effects—effects, however, which it is  unnecessary to de-
scribe in this brief abstract.  It is sufficient to point out that the no-
tion which exists in many quarters, that rabbits can scarcely be affected
b\r atropia, is an erroneous one.
  Without referring to the other results obtained in his  investigation,
the author pointed out, in  conclusion, that unless the antagonism be-
tween any two active substances be examined in the manner indicated
in this  communication, no satisfactory proof  of its existence can be
obtained.  The superficial area of the region should always be defined,
otherwise  indications of antagonism obtained by one  observer will be
liable to be discredited by those who subsequently examine the subject.
The  first observer may succeed in performing an experiment within the
area of  successful antagonism, and thus feel satisfied of  its existence;
but his  successors may fail in obtaining any proof by so varying the
dose  of one  or other substance as to pass the limits of  the region of
success. Feeling assured that many examples of successful antagonism,
besides  the one he had the honor of bringing before the Society, will
yet be discovered, the author  could  not avoid the conclusion that the
imperfect methods of investigation  hitherto pursued  are accountable
for the  absence of success that has attended the numerous researches
made on this subject—a subject, it need scarcely be added, of the great-
est importance to toxicology and  to  scientific  therapeutics.—Abstract
of paper read before the Royal Society.  Edinburgh Medical Jour-
nal.
ON THE  THERAPEUTIC VALUE OF  NITRITE  OF AMYL.
                     BY H.  C. WOOD,  JR.,  M.D.

  It will be remembered that  the conclusions arrived at in my paper
upon the nitrite of amyl, which was published in the  last number of
this Journal, were, that in its action on animals it is an almost univer-
sal sedative, impairing the power of muscular fibre to contract, and the
nerve to carry the motor  impulse; lessening the reflex excitability of 
THERAPEUTICS.
91
the spine, etc., and acting similarly, though much more feebly, on the
centres of sensation and consciousness.  As regards the circulation, its
uniform action was to lessen arterial blood-pressure, although at first
this diminution of force in the circulation is associated, at least in the
dog, with a wildly excited action of the heart, without loss, and possi-
bly even with gain, of power in the individual heart-beat;  in a little
while, however, the heart itself manifests very plainly  the  sedative
influence.  It was further shown that the nitrite of  amyl catalytically
arrests oxidation.
   These views are apparently not  in accordance with the theories of
some previous writers, that  the nitrite acts upon man as  a powerful
stimulant.    The systems chiefly affected, i.e., motor and  circulatory,
are so consonant in their functions throughout the  higher vertebrates,
as to render it inconceivable that a drug which  acted as a uniform de-
pressant upon the lower animal should be a stimulant to man.   Fortu-
nately there have not been as yet any cases of human poisoning by the
drug, and no one in experimenting upon man, that  I  know of, has as
yet carried the effect far enough to produce  serious spinal symptoms.
Strychnia, woorara, calabar bean, etc., affect the motor apparatus of man
as they do that of the dog ; and  there is no reason for believing that the
nitrite of amyl differs from them in this respect.  In a case of Dr. Da
Costa's, the  remedy which  he  had used with good effect was admin-
istered too  freely during his absence from the  city, by another physi-
cian, and produced alarming general prostration ;  the evidence, as far
as it goes, therefore favors the  view so strongly  commended by a pri-
ori reasoning.
   The most prominent symptoms  induced when the nitrite of amyl is
inhaled bv a man in moderate quantities, are a  sense of great fulness
 and distention of  the head, amounting at last to severe pain, and ac-
 companied by intense flushing of  the face, a deep, labored respiration,
and an exceedingly rapid, violent action of  the  heart.
   It is these latter symptoms which have been looked upon as demon-
strating that nitrite of  amyl is a direct vascular stimulant.  I think,
however, they have  a different significance.   The sensations in  the
head and flushing of the face  are evidently explainable  as being the
 results of  the dilatation of the  capillaries.   The excited, violently
labored action of the heart is no indication of increased arterial blood
pressure, since it is precisely what is seen in the dog under similar cir-
cumstances, associated with lessened arterial  pressure. If  the windpipe
of a man or animal be suddenly compressed, the same violent respira-
tory efforts and the same wild tumultuous action  of the heart result, and,
I believe, from the same cause.  When the nitrite is taken into the lungs
it instantly arrests or diminishes oxidation, and a thrill of  impending 
92                       THERAPEUTICS._____________

suffocation runs through the system, in  obedience to which the respi-
ratorv and circulatory organs gather up and exert to the utmost then
forces   The central impulse sent to the cardiac and respiratory mns-
cles is at first much more than sufficient to overcome any direct action
of the nitrite upon them, but the inhalation being persisted, in  the im-
pulse is constantly growing weaker, and the direct influence of the
drug stronger, so  that there soon comes a time when the reverse is
true, and  the heart's power is more or less nearly extinguished. Any
one reading the account of the experiments previously given, can note
this as true'in regard to the dog, and some who have administered the
remedy to man  with a little too  great  boldness  have been sorely
frightened and puzzled by the same phenomenon.  This loss of power
comes on too quickly, is too great and  progressive, and is  too  clearly
connected with the presence of a certain amount of  the nitrite in the
svstem to be explained as a mere secondary depression from over-stimu-
lation.  Those who have watched the steady whirr of the heart in a
case of atropia poisoning, know how it often takes hours of intense ac-
tion to exhaust the viscus."  Nor is the loss  of heart-power at all
comparable to the deadly paralysis sometimes produced by chloroform.
It comes on gradually, rapidly to be sure, but still by degrees, and not
abruptly, and, as  before hinted at, is always proportional to the dose.
For these reasons, I do not see how the phenomenon can be explained
otherwise than above, and believe it fairly demonstrated that nitrite
of amyl acts upon man precisely as upon the lower animals.  A recent
writer in the London Practitioner deems the fact that the nitrite re-
lieves the paroxysms of angina pectoris sufficient to prove that  it is a
stimulant.   The truth is, we have no positive knowledge of the real
nature of the disease alluded to.  How futile then  to attempt to ex-
plain the physiological action of a medicine by its effect upon it. This
attempting to study physiologically a not understood medicine by its
influence upon a not understood pathological  condition,  is unfortu-
nately not new in medical  annals;  to  complete its absurdity  is only
needed the common practice of explaining also the disease by  the in-
fluence of the medicine upon it.   Surely this reading the unknown by
the unknown resembles the youthful gambols of  a kitten in pursuit of
its tail—a circle of useless labor.
   The question now arises, of  what practical value is the nitrite of
amyl?  Its peculiar  physiological  power  of checking oxidation and
lowering temperature suggests its use in fevers, when it is desirable to
lessen the rapidity of the tissue changes.   Its action upon  the nervous
and circulatory systems would, however, very possibly, do more harm
in a low fever than its other powers would do good.   I have, however,
no clinical evidence to offer, and therefore the matter must be left aa 
THERAPEUTICS.
93
1 a simple  suggestion.   There  is one  disease  in which, theoretically, it
' ought to be of great value, i.e., tetanus.   There  is scarcely any doubt
} but that there exists in that affection a condition  of exalted functional
■ activity of the reflex motor centres, and of these centres the nitrite  is
* a powerful depressant.  Moreover, in many cases of tetanus there is an
 enormous rise in the activity of oxidation, and, consequently,  of tem-
- perature of the body, so that the nitrite would meet a second indication.
 Clinical evidence  also is not  altogether  wanting, and although not
 enough to warrant  any conclusion, is  sufficient to encourage  further
 trials.
   Two  cases of  recovery from tetanus are reported in the Lancet of
 the present year  (vol. i. p. 572), one of which was treated by nitrite of
 amyl alone, the other by it and chloral.   I am under the  impression
 that another successful case has been reported, but cannot refer to it.
   There is one fearfully painful affection, namely, angina pectoris, in
 which a considerable amount of clinical evidence shows the nitrite of
 amyl to be of very great  value.  Quite a number of cases have  been re-
 ported,  in which the inhalation  has been  of very  great  service  in
 affording  rapid and permanent relief.  Nor are these cases  limited to
 true angina pectoris, in which there is no evident organic cardiac dis-
 ease ; on  the contrary, many of the patients have been sufferers from
 very well  marked valvular disease. Among the cases reported the fol-
 lowing  may be  cited, the  reporter's  name  and  journal being  alone
 given: Brunton,  London Lancet,  1869, and Medical Times and Ga-
 zette, 1870; Leishmann,  Glasgow Medical Journal, August, 1869 ;
 Haddon, Edinburgh Medical Journal, 1870 ;  Anstie, Thompson, Med-
 ical  Times and Gazette,  1870 ;  also, Clinical Society's Transactions,
 vol. iii.
   I have had an  opportunity of using the nitrite in one case of severe
 suffering connected with valvular  disease,  and the  effect  in relieving
 the  heart-pang after the failure of  other remedies  was astonishing.
 The following resume of the case  is offered :—

  H. D., colored ; female ; get.  21; sick in  Philadelphia Hospital with chronic pneumo-
 nia and heart symptoms, believed to depend upon chronic mitral disease.  There was
 slight increase of cardiac dulness, with a soft but loud systolic murmur, loudest at the
 apex,  but audible at the base, and very distinct between the shoulders.
  Feb. 20.—Commenced to suffer with paroxysms of severe pain in the region of the
 heart, with suffocative  feeling; chiefly complained of a griping sensation, as if some
 one was holding and  choking her in the cardiac region.  She stated that she was in
 agony, and  appeared to suffer violent pain.   Various remedies were used without
 decided relief; I copy now from my note-book.
  March 2d. —Suffered from anginoise attack last night ; during a " spell" this morn-
 ing was allowed to inhale nitrite of amyl very cautiously, with apparently marked re-
lief and shortening of paroxysm.  3 p.m.—Found by Dr. McCoy, resident physician,
Buffering from  a severe spell.   He reports:  "Her pulse was 34 in a  quarter of a 
91
THERAPEUTICS.
 minute.   Five gtt. of the nitrite were placed upon a handkerchief and held over het
 nostrils.   In second quarter of a minute pulse rose to 40;  third quarter, 39, and Dr,
 Bullard. of Brooklyn, who was present, said 'weaker.'  In a minute she appeared
 easy, reclining on a pillow (during paroxysm she always sat up bent forward), and soon
 after she said her pain was gone."
  3<f.—Had a very severe spell, during which she was seen by Dr. Murray (resident
 physician), who reports: " Found her suffering great agony; gave by inhalation 5 gtt.
 of the nitrite of amyl; pulse 37 in the quarter of a minute preceding inhalation; same
 for the three quarters after giving the medicine; she appeared easy in half a minute;
 could not answer questions as to how she was for a minute after; heart agony instantly
 stopped."
  6th. Had a paroxysm during my visit; pulse 110;  5 gtt. of the nitrite on a handker-
 chief held at a little distance from her nostrils; 1 minute, says she is somewhat relieved;
 pulse  110; 2 minutes, 5 gtt. more put on handkerchief and held close to nose; 3
 minutes, says she is completely relieved.
  15th. Has had Beveral spells since last entry, all of them at once controlled by the
 nitrite.  They have been gradually occurring at longer intervals, and have now appar-
 ently ceased.
  20th. Had no more spells.
   In regard to  the method of administration, I am not aware that the
 nitrite has been given otherwise than by inhalation.   Its totally insolu-
 ble and  highly  volatile nature renders it unfit for exhibition either in
 solution or mixture ; but I do not see why it could not be given dropped
 upon a piece of sugar.  In cases of tetanus it seems plausible  that  the
 remedy would be more efficient if given  by the stomach  in frequent
 small doses. When it is to be inhaled, five drops should be placed upon
 a handkerchief and held close to the nostrils, the  pulse  being closely
 watched and taken as a guide for the continuance or withdrawal of the
 drug.   If necessary the dose should be repeated.  AVhen giving it by
 the stomach I do not  think it  would be  safe  to  start with more than
 two drops until the effects of the medicine so administered have been
 more studied than at present.   Xitrite  of amyl  is  without doubt a
 powerful agent in its action on  the economy, and yet my experience
 with it on animals would seem to show that with proper care and a due
 understanding of  its  physiological action it is a safe remedy.   By this
 is meant that it does not act unexpectedly and out of proportion to the
 dose.  I  have  never  seen indications of anything such as constantly
 happens  in  the use of chloroform upon dogs, sudden  arrest of  the
 heart's action, unexpected death, the mysterious  production of symp-
 toms apparently out of proportion to the  amount given.  On the other
hand, I have frequently been  astonished  at the ease with  which very
serious  symptoms have been  shaken off, the animal  reacting  rapidly
from a condition on the very border lines of death.—American Jour-
nal of Med. Scien., October, 1871. 
THERAPEUTICS.
95
NITRITE  OF AMYL  IN  THE COLLAPSE AND  CRAMPS
             OF CHOLERA,  AND IN  ASTHMA.

  De. Talford Jones has a paper in the British Medical Journal of
Sept. 30 on this subject, in which he  advances  and supports the fol-
lowing propositions:—
  1. That the collapse of  cholera is  due  to impediments to the cir-
culation of blood through the lungs, and that this impediment is due
to the contraction of the muscular fibres of the pulmonary artery.
  2. That the cramps of cholera are due to a like spasm or contraction
of voluntary  and  involuntary muscular  fibre  in other parts of the
body.
  3. That nitrite of amyl has the  power of producing relaxation of
muscular spasm and arterial dilatation.
  4. That in many cases there is a considerable resemblance between
cholera collapse and asthmatic collapse.
  5. That nitrite of amyl is a remedy giving instant relief in asthmatic
collapse.
  Of this paper we condense only the proof of the last proposition.
  Dr. Jones was called, October 23, to a young married woman suffer-
ing from asthma, and found her sitting on the bed, holding to the bed-
post.  Her surface was of a dusky leaden hue, bedewed with sweat,
and cold, especially the  feet and hands, which were icy.  Her  pulse
could  hardly be felt, and  she was making the most violent efforts to
breathe.  She could not speak, only making a few faint gasps.
  Five drops of the nitrite were applied to her nostrils on a piece of
lint.   In a minute her face was  deeply flushed,  her heart palpitating,
carotids beating, surface  warm, respiration easy, and she was able to
converse.  A return of  the asthma the next night was instantly cut
short by a respiration of the amyl.
STRANGULATED  HERNIA—PUNCTURE OF  INTESTINES
                           —CURE.
                       BY DE. DIEULAFOY.
  There was lately reported in the Gazette  Hebdomadaire a case in
which Prof. Delpeau made subcutaneous pneumatic puncture into the in-
testine of a strangulated hernia in a far advanced case of heart disease.
The immediate object was  obtained, but the man  died shortly after-
wards from the heart trouble, and the tunic of the intestine was found
to be entire.
  M. Nelaton has condemned the puncture of the intestines in strangu- 
96
THERAPEUTICS.
lated hernia, saying that if it were large enough to allow anything to
escape, fluid would, after reduction, escape into the abdominal cavity.
But with the aspirateur this danger is avoided.  The doctor reports the
following case as successful:—
  M. G., set. 82, suffering from hernia, the result of the  severe cough
produced by pulmonary catarrh.   The 30th of July the tumor became
irreducible.   Repeated  efforts at  reduction, both  with  and  without
chloroform, were made until August 3, on the morning of which day the
patient  complained of severe pain, radiating from inguinal canal, all
over the abdomen, which was slightly tympanitic  and  tender.  There
was also dry tongue, constant thirst, incessant but  not  fecal vomiting,
absolute constipation.   Pulse 86 ; feeble, intermittent.   The  forces of
the system were a good deal exhausted, and the extremities cold.   The
tumor, the size of an e^g, wTas at the  bottom of the scrotum, very hard,
evidently containing gas and liquid.  The skin was of natural color over
it.  The diagnosis  was considered certain that there was an enterocele.
After vain efforts at reduction an aspirateur of 45  grammes  contents,
modelled by Charriere, was used.  The needle No. 2 was introduced
into the most prominent part of the tumor, and a primary aspiration
practised, which drew out nothing but gas.  The  needle having been
left in place, the syringe was reattached, and about a tablespoonful of
brown liquid fecal matter was drawn out.  A third aspiration yielded
about the same amount of the latter.   Reduction was now easy. After
its performance  a free dose of opium was administered.  The relief was
immediate;  no  bad  symptoms followed, and the same evening the
patient had a free  spontaneous passage from his bowels.
       ABDOMINAL PUNCTURE  IN  TYMPANITES.

  Mr. John McBride, Lecturer on Veterinary Medicine  and Surgery
in the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, in the British Medical
Journal of Nov. 4, 1S71, states  that it is a mistake  that the intes-
tines of the ox are customarily opened by veterinary surgeons for the
relief of tympanites.   It is  the rumen or first stomach only which is
ever opened.  Puncture of the colon has been tried in  the horse, but
without success, peritonitis generally following.   In the same number
of the journal Dr. Braxton Hicks  gives a reference  {Obstetrical Trans-
actions, 1869) to four cases of puncture of the intestines in the human
subject, performed by himself.
  Dr. G. D. Brown also details the case of a boy, aged 3 years, suppos-
ed to be sinking rapidly, and in great pain from tympanitic distention, 
THERAPEUTICS.
97
believed to be dependent upon tubercular peritonitis.  A small trocar
was inserted, and  a good deal of fetid air with a drop or two of pus
escaped.   This giving relief, the operation was repeated in a few days,
when a reaccumulation had taken place.  To the surprise of all, the
child recovered, and remained well for sixteen months, at the end of
which time he died of whooping-cough and bronchitis.
  Dr. Piorry read a paper before the French Academy, Nov. 14, in
which he arrived  at the conclusion that puncture  of  the intestines for
the relief of tympany was a very dangerous procedure, only to be
practised when the distention threatened death and other measures had
failed.—Revue de Therap. Medico-Chirurg., Dec. 1, 1871.
TREATMENT OF INTESTINAL OCCLUSION  BY FORCED
                         INJECTION.
  This powerful means of treatment, says  M. J. Roux, has a variable
action, according to the seat, age, and the nature of the occlusion.  It
offers a chance of success, especially when the occlusion is due to a mass
of hard matters or to a lesion of the large intestine, this lesion not con-
sisting either in organic stricture or strangulated hernia.  The invagi-
nation, the torsion, and especially the Siliac, and certain hernias recently
strangled or obstructed, are victoriously combated.   In case of failure
the injection, if well  done, does  not increase  the  danger.   The pro-
cedure consists in  the  injection  by the rectum of a great  quantity
(many litres) of cold water.  The injection  must be made slowly and
gradually, so as not to tear the coats of the intestine in case of soften-
ing.  The water acts mechanically by its mass, and as a stimulant tc
the intestine by its temperature.
  Dr. Isuard gave to M. J. Roux the following outlines of a case:—
  A female, 19 years of age, was seized with • metroperitonitis, with
symptoms of intestinal obstruction, twenty days  after a natural deliv-
ery, followed  by intense constipation.  Purgatives  having been used
without relieving the patient, 5 to 6 litres of cold  water were thrown
into the  intestine in  a steady  current, with perfect relief  to all the
serious symptoms.—Marseilles Medical.
ON  THE  ACTION  OF  PURGATIVES, ESPECIALLY  SUL-
                   PHATE OF MAGNESIA.
  Dr. Armand Moreatj read  at the Seance of  the French Academy
of Sept. 12, 1871, a note  with the above title.  I described, he said,
           7 
98
THERAPEUTICS.
in the Seance of July 5,1S70, some experiments which illustrated very
nicely the action of purgatives  upon the intestine.   I made this publi-
cation in reply to a theory formulated in Germany (Bois-Reymond's Ar-
chives, April, IS70).   I  now again discuss the theory, with new experi-
ments.  One point which it is important to fix in the beginning is, that
the experiments do not  contradict one another.   The German authors
whom I cited in my first communication believe that the purgatives do
not act by producing new secretion, but  by increasing the peristaltic
action and sweeping out of the intestines the liquids already therein.
   I obtained a considerable quantity of liquid in a fold of the intestine
by placing there some cubic  centimetres of a 6t§- per cent, solution of
sulphate  of magnesia, and obtained the same positive results in acting
according to the method prescribed by the German authorities, as well
as in  varying these conditions.   Thus, a fold of  the intestine isolated
according to their manner  furnished an abundant quantity of liquid,if
I  put the purgative  solution in  the same day as the operation, or had
done  the latter some days previously.  These are positive results;  the
following negative.   A fold of the intestine which had received the
ordinary purgative solution did not distinctly react if this solution did
not remain a sufficient length of time.   Thus, the solution put in the
intestine having been withdrawn  after remaining only ten minutes, the
fold was found empty many hours afterwards.  Likewise, if I had
acted on the intestine, isolating a fold precisely in the German method,
I found that many days after the operation, the dog being well cured,
the fold was only obliterated in appearance;  the injected solution
passed directly into the  peritonaeum without causing any trouble.  This
is  still a negative result which I obtained under those conditions.  I
have taken care, in order to have a  contrary result, to place a ligature
at both ends of the fold.
   Lastly, it  would appear as though an isolated fold of the intestine is
in an abnormal condition, and would not act like a normal fold.  The
fold of intestine having undergone  atrophy would  necessitate a nega-
tive solution.
   In  resuming, the experiments do  not contradict one another;  they
are only different when important  conditions are different,  and the
theories of the German authors are false, because unwittingly they had
suppressed some of the  essential conditions of the problem.
   Experiment.—I operated  on a dog, August 29, 1871, according to
the method of MM.  Thiry and  S. Radjijewski.   The dog, in a good
state of health, is 8 days afterward anaesthetized;  the wound reopened;
a  ligature is placed at  each extremity of the fold, into which 20 c.c.
of a 6£ per cent, solution of sulphate of magnesia is injected;  24 hours
afterwards the fold contained 198 c.c. of liquid. 
THERAPEUTICS.
99
  On the 23d of August I operated on a dog in the same manner; 17
days afterwards 20 c.c. of the purgative solution were injected into the
intestinal fold;  16 hours after, the fold contained 180 c.c. of liquid.
  The following experiments were especially made  to investigate the
negative results:—
  May 18, 1810, I exposed in a dog a portion of intestine, upon which
I placed a tight ligature, and below it a temporary one, and, elevating
the fold, injected 20 c.c. of ordinary purgative solution.   The solution
remained in contact with the mucous membrane  for  10  minutes, and
I then allowed it to run into the lower bowel, then tightened the lower
ligature; 19 hours afterwards the animal was  examined; it had been
purged, but the fold of the intestine was empty7.—Gazette Medicate.
ON  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION* OF CRYSTALLIZED
                         ACONITINE.
  At a meeting of the Parisian Academy of Sciences, M. CI. Bernard
presented the results of some experiments made by MM. Grehaul and
Duquesnel upon the action of crystalline aconitine.  These observers
injected under the skin of a frog one-twentieth of a milligramme.
  In thirty minutes the sciatic nerve of the animal had totally lost  its
motricity, so that  when an induced current was passed through it  no
contraction of the muscles was produced.   On opening  the thorax the
heart was found to be beating regularly.
  Two hind legs of a frog were so prepared that in one the hanging
nerve could be dipped in  a solution of aconitine (one-fifth millig.  to
cubic centim.), in  the other the muscle could be placed in the solution,
the nerve being left free.  After a time it was found that an induced cur-
rent  through the nerve of the former failed to excite muscular contrac-
tility, whilst in the latter it did so—showing that conducting power of the
nerve is destroyed by  aconitine, and the contractile power of the mus-
cle itself is not affected.   Again, the circulation being arrested in the
hind legs of a frog, the latter is  poisoned.  All the  nerves soon lose
their excitability, except  the  nerve in the leg  whose circulation has
been stopped.
  It is very evident that  sensibility is preserved so long as the condi-
tion  of the motor nerves  allows reflex action.   These experiments  are
believed to show that crystalline aconitine acts like  curara in destroy-
ing the conducting power of the  nerves.  In another experiment it
was found that after a very large dose (one milligramme) a frog pre-
served  for a very long time the excitability of its motor nerves, and
                  * For  Chcznistry, see Materia Medica. 
100
THERAPEUTICS.
 executed both spontaneous and convulsive movements.  On opening
 the thorax the motion of the ventricles was found to be completely ar-
 rested.   The explanation immediately suggested itself that the  large
 dose had arrested the heart's action,  and stopped the  circulation, and
 therefore had not been carried to the extremities.  This supposition was
 confirmed by placing a frog  so that the  interdigital circulation could
 be watched with the microscope, and then injecting a milligramme of
 the alkaloid.   In a minute the  circulation had become very feeble ; in
 three minutes it had ceased altogether.  The motricity of the bronchial
 plexus was then found to have suffered very much;  that  of the  scia-
 tic nerves to  be nearly untouched.
  In mammals it was found  that crystalline aconitine does not affect
 the muscle, but does the conducting power of the nerves.—E Union
Pharmaceutique, August, 1871.
 ON   THE   HAEMOSTATIC  PROPERTIES  OF ALNUS  Itf.
                              CANA.
   In the Canada Lancet for October, 1871, is a paper with the above
 title by Dr. T. R. Dupuis.  After giving a botanical description of
 the plant he say^s :—
   The taste of the bark is sweetish, inclining to bitter ;  has a rough
 feeling in the mouth when chewed, possesses some astringency, and
 affects the fauces with a slightly acrid sensation.   It imparts a reddish
 color to the saliva, and both the recent bark and the stick from which
 it has been peeled very soon acquire a  red color by exposure to the air.
   I am not aware that any thorough chemical examination of the con-
 stituents of  this bark has  been made.   It  contains both tannic and
 gallic  acids, the latter probably in  greater abundance, besides volatile
 oil, fixed oil, resin, coloring matter, and other constituents peculiar to
 the plant.  The precipitates thrown down by the ferric salts from the
 infusion, decotion, alcoholic  and ethereal tinctures, have a greenish
 black color, similar to those from tea, sumach, catechu, and some other
 vegetables.
  Very little seems  to be  known of its  medical  properties.  It is,
 doubtless, astringent, somewhat stimulating to the stomach, and per-
 haps tonic ;  but its hcemostatic property is to me its most characteristic
 one, and that with which I am best  acquainted.  I have prescribed the
 bark both externally and internally, and have never observed any ill
 effects  follow its use, except occasionally nausea and vomiting when
drunk  too freely.
  My attention was first called to the hcemostatic properties of this sub- 
THERAPEUTICS.                      1Q1
stance when I was a lad, by seeing it used in this way among horse-
farriers and in domestic practice.   The following cases, in which it
appears to have been used  with advantage, I have  noted from amono
several others which have occurred during a practice of twelve years.
I have also prescribed it  in haemoptysis and in monorrhagia with bene-
fit ; and I consider  it well adapted to any internal or external passive
hemorrhages in which astringents  are  generally esteemed beneficial ;
for beyond its merely astringent action, I conceive that it has a power
over bleeding vessels  possessed by few  other substances, either vege-
table or mineral.  And, though its action on the various organs differs
from such medicines as matico, gallic acid, oak bark, uva ursi, etc., it
may, without doubt, be prescribed with equal or greater advantage in
many cases where these are used.
  Dr. Dupuis then describes some cases in which he used the remedy
externally.
  Case II. was in a boy aged 13, suffering from  profuse  epistaxis, which had lasted
thirty hours in spite of vigorous treatment.  The notes are:—
  He was then so much exhausted as to be in a state of almost constant syncope and
was considered hopeless.  I wanted to try the alder bark before attempting to plug
the posterior nares; so I immediately prepared a decoction, and soaking pledgets of
cotton wool in it, pushed them as far back into the nostrils as possible, and then kept
them wet with it by tilting back the head and pouring the liquid into his nostrils with
a teaspoon from time to time.  In a surprisingly short time hemorrhage ceased •  there
were no symptoms of a return.
FACTS RELATIVE TO PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF BEL-
                    LADONNA AND OPIUM.
  Under the above  caption  M. Colton, pharmacien a Lyon, publishes
a paper {E Union Pharmaceutique, August, 1871) in which he states
the results of his experiments  are opposed to the idea of there being
an antagonism in these drugs.  His experiments were  made by pluno--
ing frogs, as near alike as possible in all respects, into distilled water
containing in variable quantities the extracts of opium or of belladonna,
or a mixture of the two.   The following table exhibits the results:—
      f.
- (  The frosr became somnolent, and  .Q ,   ( T  .. , ,      , .
5 \ died at thl end of-               ^ hrs" \ *» sll^ht convulsions.

                                       f  Without convulsions
    1« j  The frog became somnolent, and  017 ^   J to the moment when
      ) died at the end of—                    ' 1 I put it in ordinary
      [                                     [water.

         !The frog became somnolent.  At about 48 hours I put him back
       into ordinary water.  He swam with difficulty at first, but in 36 hours '
       had recovered entirely.

    on (  Is less  sleepy than  in previous  10 y,-,, j   In convulsions more
oz#  ^U | case; died at the end of—          ia  s* ( strong than the first. 
102
THERAPEUTICS.
s~i
;-S,n!
.2 «
a-0
£«"
°S°
■g -g ■«
B S S -i
£*§
£ <p o

  I
c3 g
f oz.
 oz.
oz.

oz.

 5 (  Appeared at first not to be influ-  gg ^ \ j^ violent convulsions,
10 J enced, but died at the end of—            (

10 (  Remained torpid from the begin-        (    .  ,        , .
  ■] ning, then recovered his vigor, and  24hrs. -j In violent convulsions.
10 ( died at the end of—                     '

10 (  Remained torpid from the begin-        C
  \ ning, then recovered his vigor, and  18 hrs. -j In violent convulsions.
10 ( died at the end of—                     (

 ,. j  Did not appear to be influenced, or to lose his vigor in 3 days.
  j When he was put in fresh water seemingly as usual.

     {Remained some time somnolent, then seemed to recover some.  At
   end of 48 hours he was put in water,  and after 2 hours had regained
   his usual appearance.

  (  Remained very torpid, then seemed to awaken.  At the end of 48
20 < hours was put in water; he swam in a disorderly manner, but 12 hours
  ( afterwards seemed to be in his normal state.
  M. Colton afterwards  states that some of his experiments seem to
indicate that belladonna  and opium, given one  after the other, cause
mutual elimination and thus simulate counter-poisons.
              THE TEEATMENT OF SMALL-POX.
  De. Alexander Collie, the resident medical officer at the Homer-
ton Fever Hospital, says that treatment in the mild variety of variola
is unnecessary, and in the black small-pox useless.  In  the  confluent
form, however, treatment is of the greatest importance, and  the result
of the case will sometimes be determined  by it.  The room in which
the patient is placed should be thoroughly ventilated, the windows be-
ing kept open even in winter.  If possible, there should be two beds in
his room, in order that he may be  changed from one to the other.  He
should be allowed a highly nutritious diet, consisting of milk, beef-tea,
eggs beaten up with whiskey, tapioca.  Cold water will be found most
efficacious in  relieving thirst, and the prejudice of the patient's friends
should not be allowed to interfere with its administration.  Effervescing
drinks and lemonade may also be allowed.  For heat of skin the pa-
tient  may be sponged with  cold water two or  three times  daily.  If
there be much restlessness or sleeplessness, the followinc, repeated in
half an hour if needed, will be found  of  great service : Tincture of
opium, 15 minims; spirit  of ether, 15 minims;  camphor water, 1
ounce; and if this fails stimulants may be given.   For the soreness of
throat, oleaginous or mucilaginous  drinks may be given, and the follow-
ing has also been found beneficial: Tincture of  iron and o-lycerine, oi 
THERAPEUTICS.
103
each 39 minims three times a day.  If laryngitis occur, a large linseed
poultice should be  applied  round the throat, and the temperature of
the room  should  be raised, and rendered moist  by means of steam.
All depressing remedies should be avoided, and tracheotomy should be
performed whenever there is much interference with  the  respiration.
If the patient becomes delirious, it is of the utmost importance that he
should be treated with patience, gentleness, and firmness, and  that  no
measures of restraint should be employed.  Nothing has been found
absolutely preventive of pitting.   Common olive-oil may be used for
this purpose in preference to applications which are more or less irri-
tating.  If diarrhoea occur, a mixture containing laudanum  and sul-
phuric acid may be given.
  In regard to the time when a small-pox patient may be considered
free  of danger to his  neighbors, Dr. Collie says that  this cannot be
until all the products of disease are removed from his body, and until
he presents all the ordinary indications of health, such as a normal tem-
perature, a quiet pulse, a clean tongue, a clear mind, etc.—Philadelphia
Medical Times.
                  PITTING  IN SMALL-POX.
  In regard to the very numerous methods for preventing small-pox
pitting, the truth appears to be that none is thoroughly effective and
to be relied on, but that anything which excludes thoroughly the light
and air will have a certain amount of influence in lessening the chances
of severe disfigurements.
  Dr. Pendle, in the  London Practitioner of  October, writes as fol-
lows:—He says, " I have now  two cases convalescent from small-pox,
in which I applied cotton wool  to protect  the face.  The disease  in
each case was  of the distinct form.  One of the two, a girl, aged fif-
teen years, had an abundant eruption, which, in the unprotected parts
of the  body, went through the usual  consecutive changes.    In both
cases the parts covered with the wool  are left without a vestige  of
marks.  The mode of application is as follows: On the first appearance
of the  eruption, patches of skin, about an inch square, were washed
over with collodion, and immediately covered over with a thin uniform
layer of fine wool; the wool readily adheres if applied before the ether
of the  collodion evaporates.  "When the whole of the face, etc., was
thus covered, the wool was brushed over with a solution of starch  or
gum.   The starch or  gum was occasionally reapplied  to the edges  of
the wool, to prevent any shifting by the movements of the face.  This
covering was kept on until the  dry crust fell off the other parts of the
body."  ° 
104
THERAPEUTICS.
SOME OF THE ILL  EFFECTS OF  BROMIDE  OF POTAS-
                              SIUM.
   Under this heading Mr. T. O. Wood,  Medical Superintendent of
Dunston Lodge Asylum, publishes a paper, with cases, in the British
Medical Journal of October 14, 1871, in which, inter alia, he  says its
most dangerous effect is when, after a course of  comparatively small
doses, which do not seem to  be taking any great hold of the system
generally, or upon the mental  symptoms, to control which it is given,
it suddenly, and without apparent cause or warning, displays its cumu-
lative effects, and rapidly reduces  the patient to a condition of great
bodily prostration, and completely alters the character of the mental
symptoms.   The physical prostration is at once evident.  There is
great muscular debility;  dimness of sight,  with dilated pupils;  irregu-
lar gait, the patient reeling as though intoxicated ; whilst nausea, vom-
iting, or purging, with abdominal pain of a low aching character, may
also  be present, the breath having a peculiar disagreeable odor.  Its
effects upon the  mental symptoms are  no less marked.   The patient,
who was excited, glorying in his imaginary powers of body and mind,
becomes  despondent, sullen, melancholy, and frequently lachrymose,
often even despairing.
   In a previous number of the same journal are cases reported by Wit-
low  Bovis, L.R.C.P.,  and Dr.  P. W. Foss, bearing out these state-
ments, except in regard to the suddenness of the symptoms.
           PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF CONIA.
  The Russian Archiv fur Gerichtliche Med. has published an account
of a number of experiments on man and the inferior animals, made by
Dr. Verigo, with a view to determine the physiological action of conia.
The results are as follows:—
  1. Conia acts most strongly upon the spinal cord, affecting especially
the motor nerve-fibres.  2. This  action is exhibited in frogs by the
phenomenon of paralysis, without any trace of convulsion, whatever the
dose of the poison.  In mammals, on the other hand, the most violent
convulsions occur after large (lethal)  doses of the poison, whilst after
small  or non-lethal doses paralysis of the extremities only occurs.  3.
The phenomena of  paralysis proceed from  the spinal  cord to  the
peripheral system of the motor nerves, which, therefore, first become
affected after the cord itself.   4.  The brain appears to be but little
affected by conia.  5. The sensory nerves are  scarcely at all affected.
6.  Administered in small doses, conia retards respiration, and in large
doses  may altogether paralyze the respiratory acts, which depend not, 
THERAPEUTICS.                      105
as Kolliker supposed, upon  an affection of the peripheral nerves, but
upon paralysis of the spinal cord.  7. The  convulsions produced  in
mammals by conia form a tolerably certain indication of the fatal issue
of the case in which it has been administered.  They constitute a symp-
tom of the poisonous action of the drug, and  do not depend upon par-
alysis of the respiration.   8. The blood  does not appear to undergo -
any alteration, the  corpuscles at any rate retaining their capability of
absorbing oxygen.  9. Conia exhibits no action upon the heart or upon
the pulse.  10. It depresses the temperature of the body, and to a greater
extent  the  more distinctly the  paretic symptoms are produced.  Its
action on the pupil is not constant.  11. The  action of conia  is more
strongly and  more rapidly  expressed when it is injected directly into
the veins, more feebly when it is injected  into the stomach, or subcu-
taneously injected.  In the two latter cases the action is identical.  12.
Conia has no influence on the quality or the quantity of the urine.  13.
When  applied externally it only produces slight itching and  redness.
14. Post-mortem examination shows no appearances characteristic of
poisoning with this drug.—The Doctor, Oct.  1, 1S71.
IPECACUANHA USED AS AN INJECTION IN DYSENTERY.
  In the India Medical Gazette of July 1, Surgeon  Chas. M. Jessop,
4th Hussars, states that he has been very  successful  in the following
method of treating dysentery.   He  gives as an enema ten grains of the
powder, with half a drachm of laudanum, in two ounces of arrow-root
mucilage three times a day until the symptoms abate.  The patient is
also kept absolutely at rest in bed, and milk diet and  bland  drinks
only allowed, with sometimes  a dose of castor-oil, tincture of rhubarb,
or senna, in  drachm  doses, with a few drops  of laudanum  first.  He
rarely applies leeches to the anus, but prefers fomentations of steam or
hot water to  the stomach and arms, the parts fomented having been in-
sulated with an oleaginous  fluid to  prevent catching cold.  The ipe-
cacuanha is valuable in direct proportion to the lowness of the  part
affected, and acts very quickly in rectal dysentery.  He insists that no
patient should be allowed to get up until the stools are natural in color,
and the entire disuse of tobacco should be rigidly enforced both in the
acute and chronic form of the disease.
       THE USE OF COLD ABLUTIONS IN FEVER.
  Dr. Lambert, in the Jour, de Med. de Bord. et Ann. Univ. de Med.,
arrives at the following conclusions:— 
106                     THERAPEUTICS.________________________

  1. They are especially useful in typhoid and the eruptive fevers, and
are strongly indicated in malignant cases.
  2  They act upon the chief  and most constant phenomena of these
diseases, and are especially antifebrile, reducing the temperature 1.5°
to 3° Cent.
  3. They favor the re-establishment of a f ull, profound, regular respi-
ration.
  4. They favor the peripheral circulation by the  strong  rhythmical
contractions of the small vessels, which they produce in a reflex man-
ner.
  5. They render more active  the secretions.
  6. They make the skin supple, moist, and fresh.
  7. They favor the outcoming of the eruption.
  8. They calm cerebral  and  other nervous  excitement, suppressing
headache, coma, delirium, restlessness, and causing sleep.
  9. They cause the pulse to fall 8 to 30 beats.
  10. Their action persists from two to eight hours, and they ought to
be repeated  two to four times in the twenty-four hours.
  11. They  have no influence  upon the length of the sickness, but ren-
der it milder.
  12. They  are not disagreeable; are  readily applied either  as cold
baths,  or by wrapping the patient in a cold wet  sheet.—Revue de
Therap. Medico-Chirurg., Sept. 1, 1S71.
              TREATMENT OF CARBUNCLES.
  Carbuncles are most safely, humanely, and more regularly treated as
follows:—
  Introduce the canula of a hypodermic syringe into the centre of the
tumor, draw out the piston, and with it will come  pus, if  any be
present.   The syringe is to be removed from the canula and emptied,
the canula left in and the syringe  replaced to the canula again, and
the piston withdrawn as before, as long  as pus follows.  When all
the pus is out, withdraw the canula and apply on the tumor, externally,
with a brush, the following:—
       1>  Collodion................................3 i.
           Castor-oil............................gtts. xx.
           Carbolic acid..........................ots. v.
           Tannin.................................3i.
  Mix.   Several applications are to be made, one after the other, so that
a good outer covering is obtained at once.   If the patient is weak, give
him tr. iron, 20 drops, every four hours; also, 
THERAPEUTICS.                     107
       R  Fl. ext. Peruvian bark.................gtts. xx.
          Spts. amnion., arom..................grs. xx.
          Infusion gentian.........................§ i.
  Mix.  Repeat as often as deemed advisable.
  This is the only treatment I  have found recommendable in such
cases.   Psoas abscess, pus in the joints, etc., can be so treated, to great
advantage and safety to the patient.— Georgia Medical Companion,
September, 1871.
YAPOR OF AMMONIA IN THE TREATMENT OF WHOOP-
                         ING-COUGH.
  Mr. John Grantham states {Brit. Med. Journal, September 16,
1871) that  in cases of whooping-cough in the last stage  (that  is,
after the third week)  he  has  had one ounce of the strongest liquid
ammonia put into a gallon of boiling  water  in an open pan, and
the steam kept  up by means of half a brick made  red-hot  through-
out and put into  the boiling water containing the ammonia, the pan
being placed in the centre of a room, into which the patients were
brought as the  ammoniated steam was  passing off.  " This method
was  used in  the  evening, j ust before bedtime; and it has been so
efficacious,"  he  says, " in  abating  the  spasmodic attack, and after
three or four days terminating the malady, that I cannot overestimate
the great value of  this  mode of inhaling the ammonia as a therapeutic
agent in tranquillizing the nervous system in whooping-cough.—Medi-
cal News and Library.
INFLUENCE  OF  TOBACCO  IN  DISEASES  OF  NERYE-
                          CENTRES.
  In the Bxdletin de VAssociation Franc, cont. VAbus du  Tabac, M.
Tamisier states that out of fifty-nine grave affections of the nerve-
centres, observed from  1860 to 1869 among men, forty occurred in
smokers. In fifteen cases of hemiplegia, nine abused tobacco, and two
used it moderately;  four did not smoke.   Of eighteen cases of para-
plegia, five were  great  smokers, three moderate  smokers, and ten
abstained from tobacco.  Out of twenty cases  of locomotor  ataxia,
fourteen were great smokers, five moderate, and one  abstainer.  Ta-
misier thinks  that it is especially, if not wholly to this cause that we
must attribute the disease in the majority of cases of hemiplegia and
of ataxia he has noticed since 1860.  M. Lefevre, of Louvain, thinks it
indubitable that excessive smoking causes paralytic mania : because, 1st.
Nicotine causes in animals progressive enfeeblement of the muscles of 
108
THERAPEUTICS.
motion up to paralysis, and congestion of the nerve-centres.   2d. Ana-
logous symptoms have been noticed in numbers of persons who abuse
tobacco in smoking or chewing.  3d. It has been found in all countries
that there is a constant relation  between the consumption of tobacco
and the increase of general paralysis.—The Doctor, October  1, 1871.
 CHRONIC  OPHTHALMIA CURED  BY TAKING OUT OP
                           A  TOOTH.
                          BY DR. BLANC.

   Charriere, of the 98th line regiment, came into the hospital the 3d
 of July for inflammation of the left eye.
   The disease had commenced the previous February, whilst he was a
 prisoner in Prussia.  He was  seen numerous  times  by  the doctor
 charged with attending the prisoners, and followed his  advice without
 success.  The 20th of April he was sent to the  Hospital of Ivrekon,
 where he remained two months without receiving  any relief, until he
 was sent back to France.
   When he entered the hospital the note was, July 3d : Ocular and
 palpebral  mucous  membranes both very red; the  radiating  vessels
 crowding up to the cornea ; continuous pain, exacerbated at intervals,
 and especially at night; photophobia intense; head heavy  and painful;
 tongue coated; appetite poor, pulse small, frequent.  Treatment: Ten
 leeches  to  the angle of  the left jaw, collyrium of sulphate of zinc,
 diluent tisane one-half a quart.
   4th. Marked improvement.   Treatment  continued  without  the
 leeches.   5th and 6th. Still better.   7th.  A  blister to the  nucha.
   9th. Last night the worst he has had.
   Dr. Blanc, remembering an able article of Dr. Tavignot {Revue de
 The'rap. Medico-Chir., April, 1871), now inquired  into the condition
 of the man's teeth, and finding the first upper molar of the left  side
 very bad, extracted it.  After the operation there was rapid and  steady
amendment of  all  the symptoms.  On the 15th of July the patient
was surprised  reading a newspaper, and on the  21st was dismissed
cured.—Revue Therapeut. Chir., 1871.
EPILEPSY   IN  A GOUTY  SUBJECT  CURED   BY COL-
                           CHIC UM.
  Dr. Rounel was called to see M.  P., a bailiff, by his son, who said
his father was dying in an epileptic fit.   By the time the  doctor ar- 
THERAPEUTICS.
109
rived the fit had passed, and the man was able to tell him that he had
suffered from epilepsy for ten years, and  had consulted many noted
physicians; but in spite of the most faithful trial of their treatments,
the paroxysms were constantly becoming more frequent and  severe.
The various prescriptions (copies of which had been kept)  comprised
almost all the recognized anti-epileptic drugs.  On questioning it was
found  that the patient had formerly been  a  martyr to gout—that a
severe gouty attack had immediately preceded  the  first epileptic par-
oxysm—since which he had been free  from  his disorder.  He was at
once put upon the steady use of colchicum, and after a short time was
freed from his epilepsy.—Revue de Therapeut. Medico-Chirurg.
               LYCOPERDON AS A STYPTIC.

  In the  Canada Dental Times, Mr. C.  Brewster writes as follows
concerning this fungus :—
  " Thirteen years ago I commenced using the lycoperdon in my prac-
tice, and in all cases  it was  attended with great  success; so that in
course of years I gradually abandoned all other material, officinal and
non-officinal, and to-day I  regard it, without  any exception, the  best
known remedy wherever it can be applied locally.  Its mode of appli-
cation is very easy, being simply to  take a piece of the fungus large
enough  to fill the cavity left  by the extraction of  the tooth,  and press-
ing it firmly in, hold  it there for a minute.  If  there is blood still
flowing, place another piece on the top of the first, and again hold it
firmly  there.  If this does not yet arrest the  hemorrhage, remove
all that  you have put in  the cavity and repeat  the operation.   Two
or three applications will cure the worst case.  For any other descrip-
tion of wound, a piece large enough to cover  its surface, held firmly
on,  or,  if circumstances  will  admit of it, bandaged  on.   For cases
where it is necessary to arrest the flow of  blood  from a leech-bite, a
small piece of this material pressed firmly on  the  spot for a moment
will completely arrest the flow.
  " I have never tried it, but I think in cases of bleeding at the nose,
if the nostrils were  cleared as much as possible  of the blood, and a
good-sized piece of lycoperdon was held beneath them, tightly squeezed
between the fingers, the patients being directed to inhale with all their
force the fumes that arise from this fungus on pressure, it would  have
the  same effect on the lining membrane as if  brought into actual con-
tact with it.  The smoke arising from the  combustion of lycoperdon
is a powerful anaesthetic." 
110                     THERAPEUTICS.

HYPODERMIC INJECTION OF MORPHIA INTO A VEIN.
  In the  Northwestern Medical and  Surgical  Journal, Dr. N. R
Norris describes the sensations produced by an injection of morphia
(amount not stated) into a vein of his arm :—
  " Immediately afterwards I experienced  a strange sensation in the
region of my heart, and a creeping and  tingling  down my arms  and
legs.  I spoke to the clerk, and told him I  felt queer,  and asked him
to get some water.   The suffocation and constriction at my heart  and
throat increased, and the tingling in my limbs, hands, and feet became
unendurable.  There was  a feeling of swelling  and stiffness in my
joints and lips, and motion and speech became laborious  and painful.
I dashed some water on my arms and face, and felt my pulse, which
was irregular and hardly perceptible.   The clerk remarked my pale-
ness, and asked what the matter was, and knowing what I had done, as
well as the danger of injecting a vein, which he surmised was the case,
became alarmed and commenced to briskly rub my arms and face, as
I sat leaning against the wall.   The choking and suffocation continued
not longer than two  minutes, though to  me it  seemed much  longer,
when I  broke out  with a profuse perspiration—my face  became
flushed, and  my pulse rose to over two hundred.  I felt  as  if  I was
dying.   My  mind was clear and I showed no alarm.    This  condition
continued for about two minutes, and was followed by vomiting and
intense pain in my  head.  As soon as the vomiting commenced my
pulse fell to  forty, and I felt better.  The  vomiting continued about
twenty minutes.  The tingling in my limbs, and swollen  and stiff sen-
sation in my joints and lips lasted for about an  hour.   My head con-
tinued  to ache until  about  nine p. m., when  it ceased.  For two days
there was a feeling of weakness and lassitude."
             ON RHIGOLINE—AMYL HYDRIDE.
  In the Medical Times and Gazette of Sept., 1871, are some lectures
on the organic hydrides by Dr. B. W. Richardson, in  which he calls
attention especially to amyl hydride or rhigoline.  He believes it will
prove of value as a solvent.  Thus iodine may be dissolved in it in the
proportion of 20 grs. to the  ounce, and the solution affords a most ready
means of applying iodine,  especially to irregular surfaces, such as old
sores, the haloid being left  by the evaporation of the liquid evenly dis-
tributed over the most uneven surface.  The solution may be simply
poured on.   The solution is also commended as a means of administer-
ing iodine by inhalation in  throat and chest diseases.  For this purpose 
                        THERAPEUTICS.                       Ill

the 20-grain solution should be reduced in strength, as its vapors are too
irritating to the throat.  With a little care 5 grains of the iodine can
be nihaled at one sitting.
  By repeatedly wetting bibulous  paper with  the strong  solution,
and  allowing it  to dry, it can be so saturated with the iodine as, on
exposure to the air, to yield the iodine more  or less rapidly.  When
this  process is not sufficiently active to disinfect a ward, the solution
may be thrown, by means of  an atomizer, into the air, upon the floor,
clothes, etc.  Dr. Richardson believes  that iodine is the most potent
disinfectant known.
  Dr. Richardson has also tried the amyl hydride,  as an anaesthetic,
largely on animals, slightly on man.  Its action in this respect is a very
rapid one, and, he believes, will prove a very safe one.  When the inspi-
ration of it is suspended, consciousness returns in from half a minute to
a minute and a half.  When the inhalation is continued  in an animal
until death,  the latter is very gradual in its approach, and appears to be
brought about  almost equally through the heart and respiratory system.
After death the irritability of the voluntary muscles is preserved for a
long time, but the heart is completely dead, failing entirely to react to
any stimulus.
                   ERGOT IN DYSENTERY.
  In the Gazette Hebdomadaire of October 20th is published a com-
munication to the French Academy from Prof. A. Luton, of Rheims,
who states as a new thing, that he has used ergot with remarkable suc-
cess in a violent and protracted epidemic of  typhoid dysentery in that
city.  He gives the ergot in powder, 3  grammes  a day, in divided
doses, and has also used  ergotine in corresponding  doses.   In most
cases convalescence is established on the third day;  in other cases a
longer time  is required.   Under its influence blood soon disappears
from  the  stools, pain and  fever  disappear, and the whole train  of
symptoms rapidly ameliorate.
  [That this use of ergot should be  considered new by the French
Academy, and pass unchallenged by the editors of the Gazette Hebdo-
madaire, is rather astonishing, seeing that in 1858 Dr. F. E. Barlan-Fon-
tayral published a work of  220 pages, entitled "Etude botanique  et
medicale sur le Seigle Ergote et de l'application de l'ergotine a la cure
de la dyssenterie et de la diarrhee chronique," in which he gives ac-
counts  of numerous cases cured  by the use of ergot.—Editor of Year
Book.] 
112
THERAPEUTICS.
OPHTHALMOSCOPY  OF  NITRITE  OF  AMYL, ERGOT,
                   AND  NITROUS  OXIDE.
  In  the West Riding Lunatic Asylum Report, vol. i., p.  187, Dr.
Charles Aldridge has a paper in which he discusses the appearances
produced in the retinal circulation by the use of nitrite of amyl, ergot,
and nitrous oxides.  The first of these  drugs produced very distinctly
enlargement of the retinal arteries and  deepening of the capillary tint.
The action of the second was not so distinctly made out, but Dr. Aldridge
thinks that he has established that it slowly produces contraction of the
arterioles.  The strongest evidence was the case of an epileptic woman,
with marked hyperaemia of the retina and optic disc.  She took 3 ii. of
the fluid extract without  appreciable  ophthalmoscopic  changes two
hours afterwards.   She then  took 3 ii.  three times a day for fourteen
days, when, the fits in the meanwhile having very much diminished in
frequency,  the  ophthalmoscope  showed  marked contraction of the
arteries, lowering of the capillary tint of the  disc, and a decided reduc-
tion  of  the  calibre  of the veins.  Nitrous oxide has apparently the
same action on the capillaries as nitrite  of amyl.
THE INFLUENCE  OF  ALCOHOL UPON THE  TEMPERA-
               TURE OF HEALTHY PERSONS.
   In Yirchow's Archive fur Patholog. Anatomie und Physiol., etc.,
Sept., 1871, is a paper by Prof. C. Binz with the above title;  much of
this we  give below; for many valuable references to authorities, and
for the remainder of the text, we must refer our readers to the original
paper.
  The old idea  that spirituous drinks increase the heat of  the body
has in recent  times received many experimental contradictions.  Espe-
cially from our experimental institute have come a number  of publi-
cations,  plainly  showing that in the lower animals  a temporary de-
pression of temperature follows doses of alcohol not dangerous to life.
  In regard  to man the matter is not so settled.  Partly the habitual
use of the alcohol, partly the high  demands  made upon the patience
and self-control of the  person experimented on, make the  experimen-
tation on human beings a very difficult one.  The clinical experiments
of Todd and his followers make it  very probable that alcohol has no
heating  power on the organism.
  As a  further  experimental effort at settling the question is the
inaugural dissertation of my student.* The arrangement of his experi-
  * M. Mainzer: Ueber die Wirkung des Alcohols auf die Temperatur des gesunden
Menschen. 
THERAPEUTICS.
113
ments was  such as to eliminate, as far as possible,  every  source  of
mistake, and in their performance every care was taken.
  Of thirty experiments, which lasted  from three  to four hours, Dr.
Mainzer has  made most on himself, only six upon  another person.
M. is 26 years old, of vigorous constitution, a weight of 75 kilo., and
1.8  metre high, and is  accustomed to the moderate habitual use  of
alcohol.
  The  experiments were made by M. in the daytime,  lying, lightly
covered, in bed.   The measurements were  made  in the rectum  by
means of a maximum thermometer constructed by Dr. Geisler.  Every
fifteen minutes it was read off.
  The  inquiry as to the normal temperature curve, for the time during
which the experiment was made, preceded the individual experiments.
The hours were from  7  to 10 in the morning, 3 to 7  in the  afternoon,
and 9 to 12 in the evening.   The alcohol  used was 90 per cent., mixed
with two  or  three times its weight of water. The quantity was 15,
10, 50, 75, and 80  cubic centimetres.
   The result was that the temperature of  Mr. Mainzer was not percep-
tibly altered by doses of 15 to 80 c. cm. of 98 per cent, alcohol.
   Bouvier has drawn the conclusion that alcohol  depresses the tem-
perature in fever cases only when given continuously and in large
 doses.
   Whether this is useful or not is another question.   That in this way
 the object aimed at is reached is shown by the experiments of Manas-
 sein and  Bouvier upon septicsemic rabbits, and also by the labors of
 Todd and his followers.
   The person upon whom Mr. Mainzer experimented proved somewhat
 more susceptible to the action of the alcohol than he  himself.
   In all these observations  there was shown a tendency to depression
 of temperature after the ingestion of the alcohol.  In the first experi-
 ment it was not very noteworthy, but in  the  second and third  (50 ami
 80 cm. having been taken respectively) it amounted to 0.4° C.  and
 0.3C C., at a time, too, when the temperature normally rises.  No poison-
 ous effects at all were produced by the alcohol. The  second person ex-
 perimented on, like Mr. M., was a stout, healthy man, accustomed to the
 moderate use of alcohol.  Before  this, Ringer and Richards {Lancet,
 Alio-. 25, 1866) had shown that in such  persons alcohol had but little
 influence on  the  temperature; and Neumann had noticed that in a
 rabbit, who had been frequently  used for experiments with  alcohol,
 the fall ol temperature was produced with more difficulty. 
114
THERAPEUTICS.
                    ALCOHOLIC STUDIES.
                        BY CURRY BOUVIER.
  The answer to  the question as to the influence of alcohol on tempe-
rature has been attempted during  the last years, especially by Prof,
Binz, who has shown that if the spinal cord of animals be cut between
the sixth and seventh cervical vertebrae fever results, which can be
either prevented, or the temperature much lowered, by alcohol.
  If the animal is left alone a post-mortem rise of temperature occurs,
which may be prevented by the use of large doses of quinine.   The
post-mortem rise of temperature in my experiments was:—
               0.40° and 1.50° C. in dogs.
               0.10° and 0.30° C. in rabbits.
               0.30° and 0.40° C. in chickens.
  In rabbits and chickens the post-mortem rise of temperature could
be produced without previous fever by quick death—as destruction of
the medulla or upper portion of the cervical cord.
  The post-mortem rise was prevented by  alcohol, except in the case
of a large dog, in which a comparatively slight rise occurred.
  The influence on septicaemic animals was also tested.  It was found
that animals  to  whom  alcohol  was given resisted the  fever longer
than others  which received nothing-.  This agrees wdth  the observa-
tion of Manassein {Centralbl., 1869,705), that no fever arises in animals
narcotized with alcohol  when  putrilage  is injected into them.  The
temperature in septicaemic fever could be depressed many degrees.
  The alcohol also was tried at the sick-bed, and in typhus gave favor-
able results; towards  the malarial  poisons it showed itself without
influence.— Centralblatt far die med. Wissenschaft, Dec. 6, 1871.
ON  THE YALUE  OF  QUININE  AS  A PROPHYLACTIC.
  Dr. J. B. Hamilton states that during the wet season of 1866 he
was in charge of a battery of 135 men, stationed at Jubbulpore, East
Indies, and that quartered in the same barracks was a regiment of in-
fantry, numbering 500 men.  To the artillerists he served out 3 grs. of
quinine every other morning; the infantry got none.
  Th*e result  was, he never had more than 4 per cent, sick at one time,
whilst of the  regiment 300 were on the sick and convalescent list from
malarious disease  at  one  time, so that  the regiment  was temporarily
almost destroyed.  Afterwards quinine was  also served to the regi-
ment, but the men being already saturated with  malaria, its prophy 
THERAPEUTICS.
115
lactic powers were not so apparent.   As the result of experiment he
believes cinchonia to come first in prophylactic power, quinia next, and
a long way after this  quinoidine.—Lndian Medical Gazette, Nov. 1,
1871.
THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  ACTION  OF  DIGITALIS  UPON
  THE   CENTRES  CONTROLLING  REFLEX  ACTION  IN
  FROGS.

                           BY A. WEIL.
  The author studied the influence of  digitalis upon the reflex excita-
bility by Setschenow's method of putting the feet of the frog in an
acid solution.  He found that after the injection of from 1-2 grms. of
infusion of digitalis under the skin there was  an enormous depression
of the reflex excitability.  This depression, however, ceased so soon as
the frog was entirely decapitated, or the cord cut high up, when the
reflex excitability became normal.  This shows that digitalis has an
exciting influence upon the centres of control of reflex action in  the
optic  thalamus and corpora quadrigemina.   If decapitation precede
the injection the digitalis has no influence upon the reflex excitability.
In these experiments the heart's action was rendered slower by small
doses, arrested by large.  Experiments were now made to determine
whether the lessening of the amount of  blood in the centres was  the
cause  of the diminution of reflex excitability, and it was found that if
the heart of a frog was opened, reflex excitability rapidly sank, and was
restored by decapitation.  The  same occurred when the heart was de-
pressed with an alkali.
  It was now conjectured that the exciting  influence of bleeding and
of slowing of the circulation depended upon the stagnating blood
losing O  and  receiving C 02.  From  the relation  of  the respiratory
and other motor centres of the  brain to the gases contained in the
blood  it was probable that the blood poor in O also excites the control-
ling centre, as Rosenthal had shown to be the  case for other centres.
This was confirmed by experiments, in which the blood, by separation of
the lungs, by keeping a long time in a  IT. atmosphere, by poisoning by
S II, was deprived of oxygen.   In all cases the reflex excitability sank,
and could be restored  by decapitation.   The conclusion was that  the
action of digitalis upon reflex centres was secondary  to  that on  the
heart.—Reich, und Du Bois  Archiv, 1871,  and Centralbl. fur  die
medecin. ]Yissensch., Dec. 23, 1871.
t 
116
THERAPEUTICS.
                           DIGITALIS.
  Dr. Gourval has a long paper upon the action of digitalis, extending
through  numbers 26, 27, 28, 31, 39,  40, 43, 47, 50, 51, 1871, of the
Gazette  Medicate.  In number 52, Dec. 30, 1871, he  arrives at the
following conclusions:—
  It follows that  digitalis does not act upon  a  single organ or tissue,
but upon all the functions simultaneously, or successively and progres-
sively.  If digitaline be  exhibited in  small successive doses, so as to
avoid the symptoms which mark  saturation  of  the  system and intol-
erance, its action appears to be limited  to the systems of organic life,
upon which it acts by its  influence on the sympathetic, of which it is
a direct stimulant.   The two apparatuses  more directly  in relation
with the sympathetic are those of digestion  and circulation, and the
functions over which they preside are the  first affected, the others
secondarily.
  The action of the drug in small  doses is a quiet, mild one.  On
digestion it does not exert a very marked influence; still it facilitates
defecation and gives some  appetite  to the patient, as the  result,
apparently,  of its action on  the peristaltic action.  On  the  empty
uterus it has  no  decided action, yet in  the gravid uterus, or in one
recently emptied, it produces intermittent contractions, and in  hemor-
rhage arrests the flow.  It produces mydriasis  by contraction of the
dilator of the pupil.
  Its action on the circulation, although mild  and not  apparent, is
really very decided and well-defined.
  I have demonstrated in fact that digitalis contracts the arteries and
arterioles, diminishing their calibre and  opposing an obstacle to the
passage of the blood ;  that it  renders the  heart's movements  more
strong, energetic, and regular;  that it  augments  the  arterial tension,
increasing the fulness and  force of  the pulse, and  moderates the
number  of the beats in  direct proportion to the elevation of arterial
pressure.
  It results from this action that the course of the blood, when  it has
been irregular, becomes more  regular.   As a result of this, respiration
becomes more calm and regular, the oxidation more normal, the skin
paler and more natural in color, the secretions more abundant, and the
urine often very much increased in quantity.
  The increase of the secretions, especially of the urine, is a powerful
cause of denutrition sufficient to cause absorption of  solid and liquid
morbid exudations, or even wasting of healthy tissue.
  If the small doses are given so rapidly  as to accumulate in the sys-
tem, or if sufficiently large doses  or dose be given, the symptoms of 
THERAPEUTICS.
117
intolerance are induced,—many of them the exaggeration of the pre-
ceding, such as intestinal colic, alvine evacuations, nausea, and even vom-
iting, frequent micturition, more rapid dilatation of the pupils, change in
the force and frequency of the  pulse,—all indicating that the digitalis
acts  upon the grand sympathetic ; but here another element enters,
which  changes especially the circulation and those functions immedi-
ately subordinate to it; this element is the diminution of the arterial
pressure, which the sensitive nerve of  the heart, very actively impressed
by a strong dose of digitalis, produces  by determining a paralysis of the
vaso-motor nerves by a reflex action through the cord.   The  capillaries
then relax, and the blood rushes from the large arteries, causing dimi-
nution of arterial pressure and acceleration of the beats of  the  heart.
The exuberance of the peripheric circulation causes the respiration to
become more active, oxidation more  quick, the  temperature more  ele-
vated, the mucous, cutaneous, salivary, and bilious secretions more free,
and, per contra, the urinary secretion less;  at the same time the calm
caused  by the small doses gives way to the  restlessness and malaise
caused by large doses of digitalis.
   Given so as to rapidly produce  serious symptoms, or in a  single suf-
ficiently large dose, the phenomena  just noted become exaggerated,
and soon there  comes a third period, characterized by  paralysis of
the  nerve  centres, paresis of the voluntary muscles, great  feebleness
of the heart's action, and, at last, death by syncope.
   DR. ACKERMANN ON THE ACTION OF DIGITALIS.
  According to Prof. Ackermann (Wien.  Med. Woch.)  the  action of
digitalis on the circulation consists in a falling off of the rapidity of the
pulse, after which it becomes more frequent, lastly slower again, even
to the extent of arrest of the heart's action.  The primary arrest of the
frequency is in consequence of irritation of the vagus nerve, with the
certainty that this remains absent when the vagi have been previously
paralyzed by atropine.   The rapidity of the pulse is only partly the con-
sequence of  paralysis of the vagi, inasmuch as it is  more marked before
lhan it is after the  use  of atropia.  Besides this, marked increase of
pressure and lessening of pressure in the aorta is noticeable, which can
only partly be accounted for by means of irritation and paralysis of
the  vaso-motor centres : and with these occurs a rise in the temperature
of the blood.  The  rise of pressure explains the action of digitalis in
cases of valvular failure at the left venous orifice, and the rise  in  tem-
perature, which probably is caused by the greater rapidity of  the blood,
explains the antiphlogistic action of the remedy.—The Doctor, Jan. 1,
1S72. 
118
THERAPEUTICS.
            ON THE INFLUENCE OF  BLEEDING.
                        BY DR. D.  GATZUCK.
   With  the aid of Prof. J. Dogiel, I have made a series of experi-
ments upon the influence of  blood-letting  upon the rapidity of the
blood stream, upon the lateral  pressure, and upon the temperature.
   A more extended discussion of these  experiments can be found in
my Russian Dissertation.  In  this communication I simply give some
of the results.
   The influence of bleeding upon the nourishment of the organism was
investigated by Prof. Botkin's pupil  and by Panum {ExperimenteUe
Untersuchungen uber  die Verdnderungen des Mengen-Verhaltn. des
Blutes und seiner Bestandth. durch  die Inanition.  Yirch. Archiv,
Bd.  xxix., 1864),  and  Tolmatshoff  {Medicinisch- Chemische  Unter-
suchungen; herausgegeben von  Hoppe-Seyler,  3 Heft, Berlin, 1868).
In later  times  Bernstein {Centralbl.  f  Med. Wissen.,  1867,  No. 1)
and Nawrotzky (Ueber den Einfluss des Druckes aufdas Centrum der
Nervi Vagi.  Warschauer Unversitats-Nachrichten, 1870) have made
experiments upon the effect of bleeding upon the heart's beat and the
blood-pressure.  So far as I know, the  influence on the lateral pressure
has never been investigated.
  All my experiments were made upon dogs; and the measure of the
central blood's  rapidity, the  central lateral pressure, and the number
of the pulsations were  measured by Prof. Dogiel's method {Die Aus-
messung  der stromenden Blutvolumina: Arbeiten aus der physiol.
Anstalt zu Leipzig, 1867).  The apparatus was  generally connected
with the  carotid, and the bleeding  was from a vein or  artery in the
upper or  lower  extremity.  The results were :—
  1.  Bleeding  slows the central rapidity in the  blood stream in the
carotid and femoral artery.
  2.  An  arterial  or  venous bleeding  from  the  upper extremity has
more influence  on the rapidity of  the blood current than a similar
bleeding  from the hind legs.
  3.  The amount  of lessening depends  upon the  amount of blood
drawn.
  4.  The central lateral pressure sinks  under the influence of bleeding,
although  there  are cases where it  remains unaltered or  even rises.
This difference  depends as well  upon the amount as the rapidity of
the bleeding.
  F. Nawrotzky observed in his experiments upon rabbits a distinct
ascent of the blood pressure through bleeding,  and explained it by
cerebral anaemia.
  I. Narvalichin ( Ueber die Wirkung des verm. Blutzufl. zum Gehirn, 
THERAPEUTICS.                    ,119
u.s.w., Centralbl. f d. Md. Wissensch., 1870, No. 31) witnessed a very
marked ascent  of blood-pressure in the crural artery of a cat, upon
pressure on the carotid.  He explained this by irritation of the vaso-
motor  centres, which produced contraction  of the capillaries of the
body.  When I made my experiments  upon  dogs, I also observed a
distinct rising of the lateral pressure during and after free arterial
bleeding; still it was not so great as Nawrotzky saw, was  of short
duration, and always followed by lessened arterial pressure.
   5. After the bleeding the alterations of the lateral pressure and the
rapidity soon subside into the normal state.
   6. With the  lowering  of  pressure and  rapidity there is commonly.
an increase in the number of the pulse.
   7. In the course of and after the bleeding, one perceives a lowering
of the bodily temperature, which in my  experiments amounted to
1° to 2° C.— Centralblatt fllr die Med.  Wiss., Dec. 23, 1871.
   Bleeding—Transfusion-—In the American Journal of Medical
Science for Jan., Dr. C. C. Hildreth has a paper of some  interest on
these subjects ; which, however, contains  nothing absolutely new, and
will hardly bear extracting.   He commends bleeding when from acute
congestion of lungs or brain there is pronounced danger to life; and
in " certain cases " of peritonitis, croup, pneumonia, pleurisy, and acute
rheumatism.
   In the same number, Dr. J. E. Winants  details a case in which a
man moribund, about a  month after crural amputation, was tempora-
rily resuscitated by the injection of eight ounces  of non-deflbrinated
lamb's blood.  He  died fifteen  days  afterwards with symptoms of
gastritis.
  TREATMENT  OF  HYDRARTHROSIS BY ASPIRATION.
  Dr.  Dieulafoy  has  recently published  a pamphlet on this subject
in Paris, in which he reports a number of cases both acute and chronic,
traumatic, rheumatismal, and without obvious cause, in which  aspira-
tion  of the  knee-joint  was practised with  good result.  The follow-
ing are a  very few of  the cases given :—Double hydrarthrosis of fif-
teen  days' duration, attended with great pain, in a man aged 47.   Be-
tween the 26th of October and  the 29th of November five operations
were performed on each knee ; the liquid reproducing itself so rapidly
that in twenty-four hours 120 grammes of fluid would re-collect in each
joint, and the pains, which would at first cease, would reappear with the
effusion.   The application of ice was found efficacious.
  Hydrarthrosis, of six months' duration, of right knee, without obvious 
120
THERAPEUTICS.
cause, in a conscript.  35 grammes were taken out.  The man then
walked  ten kilometres  (about  six  miles) without suffering.  Twelve
days afterwards the liquid had reappeared, 40 grammes were evacuated,
paintings with tincture of iodine were practised, and no further effusion
occurred.
  Rheumatic hydrarthrosis of the left knee, of eight days' duration, in a
man aged  38.   70 grammes of fluid  containing  a  large  number of
leucocytes were  drawn  off.   Bandages were applied, and  three days
afterwards, the effusion having  reappeared, 45 grammes  of liquid, con-
taining fewer leucocytes, were drawn off.  Two days after 30 grammeg
were evacuated; compression ;  cure after nine days'  treatment.
  The operation is performed as follows:—The piston of the aspirateur
is drawn partly up, so as to form a vacuum, and the needle connected
with it, by means of a  short caoutchouc tube, is  pushed a little way
into the tissue at the designated spot, and the cock of  the aspirateur
turned.  The needle  is then slowly pushed into the joint, and when the
fine jet spouts into the cylinder, the needle is known to have fairly en-
tered, and motion of  it ceases.  The aspiration is then continued until
no more liquid can be obtained  ; no pressure is to be made on the joint.
A drop of collodion  is to be put  over the little hole the moment the
needle is withdrawn.  A simple spiral  or  number-of-eight bandage
is  then  applied, the  limb raised slightly, and quiet  enjoined.  If in
twenty-four hours marked effusion has occurred the operation is repeat
ed,  if not, the pressure reapplied.   Dr. Dieulafoy  claims that the ope-
ration is harmless, painless, and diminishes greatly suffering—shorten-
ing the time necessary  for  cure.—Bulletin Gener.  de Therap., Jan.
15,  1872.
   ARSENIC IN  MENORRHAGIA AND LEUCORRHCEA.
                      BY DR.  J. H. AVELING.
  When these affections depend upon the presence of polypi, fibroids,
cancer, etc., Dr. Aveling  thinks that arsenic is  of no use;  but when
hyperaemia is the cause of the flow, arsenic, he believes, arrests the latter
by curing the former.  He says :—Hyperasmia of the passive or atonic
character  is that which is most benefited by the use of  arsenic.   The
nterus, when in this condition, is larger and softer than in its normal
state.  It is usually tender to the touch, but not always so.  To the eye
it appears of a deeper red than is natural.   After death, the capillaries
are found dilated, and the tissues tinged with red.   Unlike the color
produced  by inflammation, however, this  redness can be removed by
careful  washing. 
THERAPEUTICS.                     121
  A patient coining to you with her uterus in the state just described,
will, in addition to a host of other subjective and objective symptoms,
most probably complain of the too frequent recurrence of  the catame
nial period, of the excessive discharge at that time, and, in the interca-
tamenial period, of persistent and distressing leucorrhceal flow.  Now,
in such a case as this, I  should commence by administering two drops •*■
of the liquor arsenicalis, or one granule (one milligramme) of arsenious
acid, three times a day, at meal-times.  This dose I should continue for
a fortnight.   If, at the  end of that time, no conjunctival irritation had
displayed itself, I should increase the dose to four drops of the solution,
or two of the granules ; and then again, after another interval,  to six,
eight, ten, or even more drops or granules in proportion, watching the
patient, and being guided by her  tolerance of the remedy.
  Besides the general  effect of arsenic  already alluded  to, the  first
result of this treatment will be the lengthening of the intercatamenial
period; and it is remarkable how this is sometimes extended,  one or
two days being  only gained at a time.   By persisting in  the remedy,
however, the interval will become greater until it arrives at its normal
duration.   Occasionally the progress is  more  rapid,  and the proper
interval is at once attained.  Besides  the improvement in  this respect,
the amount  of  the discharges  will gradually decrease,  and in  like
manner all the other hypersemic  symptoms disappear.  I have found
it necessary to administer large doses, and cannot remember ever hav-
ing produced any of the premonitory symptoms of arsenical poison-
ing beyond that of conjunctival  tenderness.   I have been obliged,
however, to continue the remedy for several months, and have had to
recur to its  use  more than once when the hyperamric symptoms have
reappeared.  In some cases an excessive leucorrhceal discharge has the
effect of supplanting the catamenial.  In these the cure of the former
has the result of removing the amenorrhea—British Medical.
                       CHROMIC  ACID.
  In the London Lancet (Yol. II., p.  847) is a paper on chromic acid
by Dr. John Dougall, the more  important portions of  which we give
here in full.
  Antiseptic properties.—As an antiseptic, disinfectant, and prevent-
ive of germ growth, chromic acid stands " second to none."  Several
varied experiments were made in order to ascertain its antiseptic pow-
ers  in contrast with those of carbolic acid.   One detailed may suffice,
all the others confirming it.   One ounce of ox  muscle was immersed
for twenty-four hours in four ounces of an aqueous solution of chromic
acid (1-2000), then suspended in air. In two days it was quite black, and 
122
THERAPEUTICS.
 in six days as hard as wood, in which condition it still remains (three
 months after) without mould or  taint.   One  ounce of ox  muscle was
 immersed  for twenty-four hours in  four ounces  of an aqueous solution
 of  carbolic acid (1-1000), then suspended in  air.  In  six  days it was
 much hardened, brownish-black, speckled with  mould, and distinctly
 tainted.
   It appears that chromic acid acts as an antiseptic by coagulating pro-
 tean compounds, a property which it possesses  in the highest degree,
 and to which I am not aware that attention has been hitherto directed,
 although used for a considerable time in hardening animal tissues for
 microscopical examination.  The  coagulating power of chromic acid in
 albuminous solutions has been compared with that of most metallic salts,
 various acids, etc., and found to exceed them all: e. g., it has about ten
 times the coagulating power of carbolic acid, fifteen times that of nitric
 acid,  twenty times that of bichloride of mercury, and a hundred and
 fifty times that  of  chloralum, etc.   Shortly after a piece of muscle is
 immersed in a solution of chromic acid, there forms in considerable quan-
 tity a grayish, opaque, granular sediment, coagulated albumen; while
 the deep red of  the muscle is changed to brownish-yellow; ultimate-
 ly it looks as if it had been boiled, the residual portion of muscle being
 composed almost exclusively of fibrous stroma, and becoming, on dry-
 ing, extremely hard and  tough.  A portion of muscle immersed in a
 solution of carbolic acid retains a light pinkish, somewhat blanched as-
 pect ; while the solution, remaining void of sediment, is reddish and hazy,
 but translucent.   If to a portion of this fluid there be added a little
 chromic acid solution, not stronger than 1-1000, a voluminous precipitate
 of albumen is at once obtained, clearly demonstrating the  superior
 coagulating power of chromic acid over that of carbolic acid.
  A solution of  two grains per ounce at once indicates the presence
 of albumen in a solution consisting of one part of a saturated solution
 of beef-juice in  twenty of water; while one of beef-juice  in thirty of
 water may be detected by allowing the mixture to  stand for twelve
 hours.  Chromic acid is  admirably adapted for determining volume-
 trically the  percentage of albumen in a fluid.  An albumenometer may
 be constructed as follows: Fill a wide-mouthed burette to a multiple
 of 100 with albuminous urine or an albuminous fluid; add solution of
 chromic acid, about four grains per ounce, in  slight excess ; shake the
mixture;  set aside  for twenty-four hours; read off  the  precipitate,
 and multiply. No heating is required.   Chromic acid also coagulated
mucus, saliva, chrondrin, and gelatine.  With the latter two it form?,
in excess,   canary-yellow fluids  and  flocculent  precipitates  colored
like chromate of lead.  The reaction with gelatine  is as delicate as
that with tannin, giving a response with 1 to  5,000.  Chromic acid is 
THERAPEUTICS.
123
therefore a test  for gelatine.   An  aqueous solution  of  carbolic acid
(1 to 20) produces only slight haziness in gelatinous solutions.
  Disinfecting properties.—Chromic  acid coagulates,  hardens,  and
oxidizes decomposing organic matter.  It combines simultaneously with
ammoniacal products  and with nascent sulphuretted hydrogen, redu-
cing the latter to water and free sulphur (2Cr03 x 3H2S = Cr20, x
3II20 + 3S).  Added to putrid blood, flesh, pus, urine, or fecal matter,
the offensive odor is soon absolutely removed, the mixture  remaining
fresh for an indefinite time.   Dr. R. A. Smith found that bichromate
of potassium surpassed thirteen other of the most energetic antiseptics,
including carbolic acid, in preventing the evolution of  sulphuretted
hydrogen in a mixture of equal parts of blood and water.*   This salt
has a coagulating power near that of nitric acid; i. e. fifteen times
weaker than that of chromic acid. Hoppe-Seyler has shown that " while
in disinfection it is highly necessary to destroy the products of fermen-
tation and putrefaction, yet the destruction of sulphuretted hydrogen
and ammonia can have no more influence on the fermentative changes
involved in cholera and typhus than the removal of carbonic acid can
have upon the progress of alcoholic fermentation; and therefore the
ferment itself must be attacked, which, as pointed out, is more insist-
 ent than the living organisms in decomposing solutions."f  Now chro-
\ mic acid, as already shown, fulfils admirably these requirements.  Car-
 bolic acid does not combine with ammonia, nor decompose sulphuretted
 hydrogen.  This is surely of importance in a sanitary sense, when it is
 remembered that almost to these properties alone are due the marked
 disinfecting powers of sulphurous acid, nitrous acid, permanganate of
 potassium, bisulphite of lime, protosulphate of  iron, chloride of zinc,
 chloride of aluminium, chlorine, bromine, iodine, etc.  Carbolic acid
 seems to act as an antiseptic  solely by coagulating albumen.   It does
 not preserve by absorbing and retaining moisture, like chloride of sodi-
 um, alcohol, etc., as,  practically, it has no affinity for water.  Chromic
 acid is the reverse.
   In Dr. A. E. Sansom's book, page 28,^: the following passage occurs:
 —" It has been shown, however, that carbolic acid has the faculty of
 coagulating albumen.  Is it on account of this faculty that it prevents
 fermentation and putrefaction?  On this point  a comparative experi-
 ment throws some light.  Let a solution of the albumen of egg be pre-
 cipitated, in one case by heat or by an ordinary chemical reagent, and
 in the other by  a solution of  carbolic acid, and let the resultant preci-
 pitate be kept a considerable  time in contact with the air.  It will be
 observed that whereas in the one case the albumen will become decom-
  * " Disinfectants and Disinfection," pp.  89, 91.   f The Lancet, August 26, 1871.
  \ The "Antiseptic System."  By A. E. Sansom, M.D., London. 
121
THERAPEUTICS.
 posed in the  ordinary manner, that precipitated by the  carbolic acid
 entirely resists putrefactive change.  It is therefore obvious that car.
 bolic acid has an action over and above its action as  a mere precipitant
 of albumen."  The fact is here ignored that in general chemical preci-
 pitates of albumen are soluble in water, specially carbolico-albuminoid
 precipitates;  and as the latter cannot exist without the presence of
 carbolic acid, the difference between the  " carbolic " and " heat" pre-
 cipitates is simply that the  one contains an antiseptic, while the other
 does not.  As regards the  other  precipitates, the  alleged results only
 show that carbolic; acid is a more powerful antiseptic than any of the
 ordinary chemical reagents referred to. Furthermore, it may be urged
 that carbolic acid is volatile, whereas chromic acid is fixed; therefore
 the former can arrest putrefaction  by coagulating floating particles of
 organic debris.   But in a series of  experiments by Dr. R. A. Smith,*
 " to determine the efficiency of strong gases and volatile substances in
 preventing putrefaction," it is shown that pieces of fresh meat suspend-
 ed  in bottles  containing chlorine, bromine, iodine, hydrochloric acid,
 ammonia, protoxide of nitrogen, nitrous acid, and sulphurous acid, were
 fresh at the end of  twenty-eight days; while a  piece suspended in a
 bottle containing heavy oil  of tar, and a piece in  a  bottle containing
 M'Dougall's powder, of which the  chief ingredient is crude carbolic
 acid, grew slimy and putrid in seven days.  I have also made the fol-
 lowing experiment:—A piece of ox muscle, a portion of beef-juice, of
 urine, and of  infusion of hay, the three latter in separate phials, were
 suspended in  a gallon bottle, which contained fully a pound of pure
 carbolic acid, about six inches from its surface.   The bottle was kept
 open at about 60° F.  On the fourth day the beef-juice was putrid and
 swarming with bacteria,  vibriones, etc.  A portion of the same juice
 exposed to the air was not more putrid on the fourth day than that in
 the bottle. On the fifth day both the urine and infusion of hay teemed
 with life; while on the surface of the latter there  was an abundant
 development of  penicillium.  On the sixth  day the piece of  muscle
 was  putrid and slimy.  These facts prove that  the  vapor of  carbolic
 acid, even when most concentrated, fails to arrest putrefaction, and to
 prevent the  appearance of germs ; indeed, as seen with the beef-juice,
 it does not even delay those phenomena, the portion suspended in  the
 carbolized atmosphere  putrefying as quickly as that kept  in ordinary
 air.   " Here is a  beautiful hypothesis slain by an ugly fact."   After
these results it is impossible to conceive, as it would be absurd to ex-
pect, the  infinitely minute  quantity of carbolic vapor which  can be
tolerated in the wards of a hospital, or is capable of diffusing sponta-
neously in an  alleged infected medium, competent to destroy floating
                 * " Disinfectants and  Disinfection," p. 109. 
THERAPEUTICS.
125
unseen germs and organic particles, seeing that in the highest state of
concentration, and  all the conditions in its favor, it failed  to  affect
visible germs and tangible organic particles.*
  Power  in preventing animalcules.—As a preventive of germ life
chromic acid surpasses sixty-six other chemical bodies, consisting of
irritant, narcotic, and narcotico-irritant poisons, including all the known
antiseptics and disinfectants, except two or three substances, with which
it has not  yet been compared.  In this respect it greatly excels carbo-
lic acid, the average preventive strength of which,  in  three aqueous
solutions of hay, urine, beef-juice, and egg albumen, is only 1 to 400,
while that of chromic acid is 1 to 3,300.f
  Effects  on animals.—The results of various experiments  on rabbits,
etc., show that chromic acid, in concentrated solutions, is  a pure  and
powerful  corrosive of animal textures, effecting speedy and com-
plete local  disorganization.   So actively does it  destroy  the vascu-
lar tunics,  gelatizining  their fluid  contents,  that absorption is ren-
dered  impossible;  these, by the merest contact with the acid,  being
converted into consolidated emboli, which choke the  capillary passages
and preclude further ingress.   This view is  confirmed by, or may be
inferred from, the fact of the poison not being found in the  blood or
urine.   If equal portions of muscular tissue and chromic acid be  left
in contact for about one  hour, the whole is converted into a mass like
burnt sugar, which is freely soluble in  water,  rendering it yellowish-
brown.
   Chrome sores.—Through the kindness of Messrs. White, of Shaw-
field, near Rutherglen, the largest makers of bichromate of potassium
in this country, I had an  opportunity lately of  examining some of  the
" chrome sores " on the bodies of several workmen.  These occur chiefly
on the hands and exposed  parts, and are said  to arise  from the  salt
coming in contact with a denuded cuticular surface.   The first symp-
tom is pain, succeeded by redness; and latterly the affected part assumes
a papular or f urunculoid form.  After the lapse of some days, a cylin-
drical slough or core exudes from the centre of the swelling, leaving a
deep pit with nearly vertical walls, the bottom of which generally ex-
tends through the  cutis vera, and not  unfrequently into or through
some of the muscles.  The sores are long of healing, doubtless from
loss of structure, the salt acting like its acid, though with less intensity.
  Chromic acid in this form has been said to have a strong  propensity
for the destruction of cartilage, inasmuch as the nasal alae and septum,
   •
  *  See also " On the Relative  Powers of various Substances in the Destruction of
Microscopic  Organisms," in the Lancet of August  6, 1870.
 + " On the Relative Powers of Various Substances in Preventing  Animalcules."
Churchills. 
126
THERAPEUTICS.
 and even the larynx, of workmen employed in the manufacture of hi-
 chrome are frequently greatly corroded by it.  The ulceration has
 been considered similar to  that of tertiary syphilis, and bichloride of
 mercury recommended  as an antidote, and withal, this absurdity has
 been promulgated in a standard work on chemistry.*  From experiments
 made with the acid on portions of the trachea of a cow, the  reverse is
 proved to be the case.   Indeed, chromic acid might rather  be said to
 have a  specific action on gelatine or muscle, because breaches of sur-
 face are here the rule, whereas ulceration of cartilage is the exception.
 The cause of the nasal and laryngeal affection is  clearly the sam^ as
 that of the other sores—a cuticular  hiatus; and, while there seems an
 additional reason why the nasal walls should  be attacked more than
 other parts, still that is fully counterbalanced by the material of which
 they are composed, resisting  the action  of the acid more ; hence it is
 seldomer affected.
   During respiration in an atmosphere contaminated with floating par-
 ticles of the chromic salt these are constantly brought in contact with
 the anterior nares, etc.;  and, dissolving in the nasal secretion, set up
 irritation, which, if prolonged, results in abrasion of the mucous mem-
 brane.  What follows is plain: each  inspiration deposits a variable
 quantity of the salt upon the affected part, resulting in ulceration.
   As a test for strychnia.—Chromic acid elicits the colored reaction
 in a solution containing  T<t£001) of strychnia.   The modus operandi is
 to put two or three minims of the strychnia fluid on a white non-porous
 surface, then add a few needles of  chromic acid, which instantly dis-
 solve, imparting to the  liquid their characteristic tint.  One or two
 drops of concentrated sulphuric acid are now added, and the play of
 color  is at once  evolved.  With stronger solutions the result is very
 distinct, and in any case unfailing.   In  applying this test the  above
method must be strictly adhered to;  because if sulphuric acid be added
to the strychnia solution before the chromic  acid, the latter will not
dissolve, and the  result is negative.   Chromic acid does not give the
colored  reaction with dilute sulphuric acid.
   Dr. Dougall then speaks of the uncertainty of the test when bichro-
mate of potash is substituted for chromic acid, and concludes  his paper
as follows :—
   " In the absence of such knowledge, it seems to me that it might be
used with a fair prospect of success  in the following cases, for some of
which it is already recommended in works on materia medica:—As a
haemostatic; as a caustic to cancerous  tissue, chancres, condylomata,
hospital gangrene, phagedenic ulcers, bites of  rabid animals, poisoned
  * In Meadow's " Preservers' Companion" (page 152) potassse bichromas is said to
 have been recommended as an antisyphilitic. 
THERAPEUTICS.
127
wounds, warts, haemorrhoids, etc.; as a wash to allay fetid discharges;
as a gargle in diphtheria; as an injection in ozsena, uterine catarrh, leu-
corrhoea  and gonorrhoea;  to  disinfect  cholera  and fever stools, for
which it is admirably adapted ;  as a preventive of  suppuration, putre-
faction, etc.   In every case it must be used dissolved in water; and,
except where a strong caustic  effect  is desired, in medical or surgical
cases, the solution should not be stronger than half a grain to the ounce,
and be succeeded immediately after gargling or injection by the appli-
cation of pure water.   I have used chromic acid  to a limited extent in
the five latter affections above specified with a fair measure of success;
in gonorrhoea and ozsena the results are especially gratifying.  Finally,
I have no doubt that  its remarkably antiseptic, disinfectant, and co-
agulating powers will suggest many applications  in medicine, surgery,
and hygiene not above enumerated."
      DISINFECTING POWER OF CARBOLIC ACID.
  The disinfecting power of carbolic acid seems yet to be dubious, and
certainly not so great as to be relied upon.  Dr. II. J. von Ankum in-
serted a  paper in Morandschrift voor Natuurwetenschappen  stating
the following facts :-—
  Atmospheric air, to which are added the vapors emanating from car-
bolic acid, is unable to hinder the development of lower organisms  in
water with hay, in milk, and in urine.   He put those substances under
a glass bell, with an opening at the upper side, and surrounded by little
cups filled with carbolic acid.  All was placed in a ventilating closet,
and  the  arrangement was  such that  the air that passed the  above-
named substances was mixed, if not saturated, with the vapors  of car-
bolic acid.  After the lapse of a little time, the development of lower
organisms took place just as if the fluids had been exposed to the free
air.  Yon Ankum made use of pure and impure carbolic acid, and only
once he saw, in using the impure strong-smelling carbolic acid, that the
formation of those organisms was retarded, and did not take place  in
so many forms.   He concludes, from his experiments, that no disinfect-
ing action can  be expected from the vapors of carbolic acid when they
are mixed with the atmospheric air in such quantity that the respira-
tions can  take place in it without  damage.—Med. Times and Gaz.,
Dec. 16, 1871.
                       DISINFECTANTS.
  Foremost in interest, if not particularly novel, are the views express-
ed by M. Jeannel, of the Military School at Metz. 
log                     THERAPEUTICS.
  He speak> first of all of those agents which  destroy fetid gases  and
miasms-burning them up with oxygen.   These are oxygen itself the
atmosphere, ozone, the permanganates, and nitric acid.   The first three
are the natural  disinfectants, but they act  slowly, and  must be con-
tinually renewed, which  is the  philosophy  of ventilation.  The per-
manganate acts bv offering to oxidizable matter its large quantities of
oxygen, and thereby burning them at a low  temperature.  It  is there
fore, he savs. a verv energetic disinfectant.
  The strong suffocating and disagreeable odor of nitrous acid restricts
its use. but ?t  may be depended on  for  certain  purposes.  Its action
is analogous to that of  permanganate.
  The second  class of disinfectants described by M. Jeannel takes in
those substances which act by combining with  the hydrogen of organic
bodies.  The chief of these are  chlorine and  those  of  its  compounds
that have  been employed as  disinfectants.  Iodine and bromine are
classed with chlorine, but Jeannel thinks that much of their action is
to be traced to their caustic properties.  They are very useful as sur-
gical appliances  in fistula, etc.
  A  report of  an interesting meeting of the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society of Brussels, at which  the subject of the disinfecting property
of certain  supposed disinfecting and antiseptic substances were  dis-
cussed, has appeared in the Presse Med.  Beige.   M. Creteur has made
many experiments, and he shows that nothing is  comparable in effect
to a mixture of  sulphate of iron  and chloride of lime in its action on
organic putrefactive matter.   He shows, by a double series of experit
ments on  blood, the  injurious action of  fetid gases  in the  blood.
Nothing is easier than to prevent  animal  decomposition by causing
them to undergo the action of  oxygen.   He  showed a piece of veal
preserved in water for three weeks by this method.
   From these experiments the author  concludes that  all substances
capable of assimilating hydrogen products, or causing  a formation of
oxygen, ought to be considered as disinfectants.
   Af. Gille has published, in  the Archives Medicates   Beiges, an in-
teresting  article " On  the Value of a Disinfectant," in which he says
we must not only get rid of offensive smells, but of all other  products
of  decomposition, and that any substance  which only effects one of
these ends is  a very imperfect disinfectant.  He then passes in review
some of the disinfectants in  common use.  Sulphate of iron he  con
siders is useful  from its  effect  of  decomposing ammonia, carbonate,
and  sulphohydrate.   Perchloride  of iron, besides this,  precipitates
albuminoid matter, and acts also by its  chlorine. Lime  disinfects
organic matters, fixing carbonic acid and sulphuretted  hydrogen, and
decomposing  hydrosulphate of ammonia. The permanganate of potass 
THERAPEUTICS.
129
is a most energetic oxidizing agent, decomposing sulphuretted hydro-
gen, destroying organic matter, and  acting upon all fixed compounds
with which it comes in contact.
  It may be remembered  that M. Decaisne employed it in dissecting-
rooms, but that M. Gosselin in 1801 reported that it was not adapted
for this purpose.  Chlorate of potass may be used to disengage chlo-
rine in places that are not easy  to reach  by other means.  This is  a
capital plan for cesspools and middens.
  Chloride of  lime acts by  the  chlorine it  sets free, and chemically
decomposes most foul gases.   M. Decaisne  considers it the best disin-
fectant of offensive gases.  Does it  also, mixed with metallic  oxides,
act by disengaging oxygen, as  has  been asserted ?  M. Gille doubts
this.  He also observes, that although chloride of  lime  destroys offen-
sive gases, it does not arrest putrefaction,  but, by the  lime set free,
hastens the process.
  Hydrochloric acid is employed to disinfect  dog-kennels.  Vessels
containing  it, left open, completely destroy the offensive gases that
abound where a large number of dogs are kept.  This plan is adopted
in the Veterinary School of  Brussels.
  The action of carbolic acid, M. Gille says, is not chemical.   He ac-
cepts  what is commonly called the  germ  theory, inasmuch as he says
the acid prevents germs from provoking putrefaction.  He also thinks
it will hinder the  formation  of miasms, and is, therefore, a  good pre-
ventive of epidemics.   It is thus  to be seen that all the disinfectants
are good, but  that they should  be used with discernment, a selection
being made  according to the products we  wish to get rid of.
  In a discussion  that took place at an earlier date  in Paris, M. Dumas
said the acid had  been employed since 1866, by thepompes funebres.
It was also observed that this substance was first used  as a preventive
of cholera at Marseilles.
  Dr.  Henry, in  the last century,  determined the degrees  of heat
necessary for destroying infection by experimenting on infected cloth-
ing, which he afterwards got people to wear.  Since then disinfecting
ovens  have generally been made  to produce  the heat indicated by that
practical physician.
  Dr. Crace Calvert  now  asserts  that a  less degree of heat  than 400°
Fahr.  is useless, because bacteria  will resist heat up to that degree.
  M. Lemaire, it will be remembered, by  not brushing his teeth for  a
week,  allowed them  to swarm with  bacteria, but  he, nevertheless, re-
mained in perfect health, so that bacteria and disease-germs can hardly
be considered synonymous terms, as some writers seem to fancy.—The
Doctor.
9 
130
THERAPEUTICS.
  ON THE TREATMENT OF  HYPERPYREXIA BY  WITH-
                    DRAWAL OF  HEAT.
  De. T. Clifford Aixbittt has a paper on this subject in the London
Lancet of Dec. 23, in which he contends that the withdrawal of heat
should be as slow as possible—that the bath  at the entrance should
have a temperature of 96°, and the time of tarriance in it be correspond-
ingly long, the water being slowly cooled during this period.  Thus a
patient may remain one, or even two hours in the water,  and the tem-
perature of the latter be  slowly reduced from 96° to 80°.  He thinks
after such bathing the reduction of  temperature will be  more  perma-
nent, and should be made still more so by the administration of five to
twenty  grains of  quinine.   During the  bath  the  patient must be
watched as closely  as  the steam-gauge of a rotten boiler, and any
tendency to shivering, syncope, or other  untoward symptoms  be the
signal for his immediate removal.  He states that he had seen eleven
cases of  cerebral  rheumatism with but a  single  recovery, and in that
case the  symptoms never were violent, before last  September, when a
very violent case was saved, apparently, solely by the abstraction  of
heat by means of bottles of ice applied to his body, and ice applied
freely to his head, and allowed  to drip over his shoulders.  He details
this case, and thinks the partial application of the intense cold about
equal to the general application of mild cold, advocated  earlier in the
paper.
  The Cooling Pad.—Dr. Wm. Roberts commends, as a means of cool-
ing, a pad consisting of a close flat coil of very thin India-rubber tubing,
f of an inch bore, cemented to a coarse canvas backing.   The terminal
portions of the coil are made of large tubing, and reaching a couple  of
feet beyond the pad, are furnished with stop-cocks near the end.  The
inner end of the  coil escapes  by piercing the  centre of the canvas.
These pads are placed under  the  patient, the  coil being previously
filled and connected with a reservoir above, so that a current runs  on
the syphon principle.  The largest pad used was three  by two  feet,
and appears to have had a pronounced cooling influence.—Med. Times
and Gazette, Dec. 16, 1871.
  On Artificial Cooling  as  Affecting the Elimination  of
Carbonic Acid.—Gildemeister finds that cooling of the body causes
increased production of  C0.2, both in health and fever.  The  bath,
^however, in fever withdraws heat much faster than the increased pro-
duction multiplies it.
  Wertheim found  that cooling a dog with ice increased greatly the
depth of respiration and the amount of COa given off.—Journal of
Anatomy and Physiology, Nov., 1871. 
THERAPEUTICS.
131
                   DANDELION IN INDIA.
  Ix the Pharmaceut.  Journ. and Trans., Dec. 30, 1S71, Mr. J. R.
Jackson gives the following:—
  The plants are cultivated in various parts of India, and the roots are
collected between the months of September and February.   To cul-
tivate the  plants  properly, the following plan  is  recommended:—
The seeds should be sown in beds, and the young plants, when suffi-
ciently grown, should be planted out on ridges at a distance  of nine
inches from each other.   This  system of planting is the best suited for
the production of large roots, which is the principal end to be obtained,
and, to  further insure  this result, the  flowers should be gathered as
they open.   The roots, after they are taken up, are washed clean and
wiped dry.
   Tarui-acum roots are used in a variety of ways in India; one useful
form is that of a paste, which is made by pounding the fresh roots,
putting the mass into tins or jars, and gently baking or  heating in an
oven ;  when cool the paste is ready for use, and can be kept for a long
time.  To prepare dandelion-coffee, the roots are washed, dried in the
sun, and cut up into small pieces, after which they are roasted  in  a
similar manner to true coffee ; they are then ground, and to every nine
ounces of coffee one ounce of  pounded dandelion root may be added;
these proportions make  an excellent and useful beverage.   The use of
this coffee in India has  been much recommended.
   Lieutenant  Pegson,  in a communication to the Agri-horticultural
Society of India, advocating the more general cultivation  and use of
the dandelion, says :—" Medical men admit the value of this prepara-
tion, and I know several gentlemen in India who are, by their own
admission,  kept  alive  by the daily use of Taraxacum-coffee.   It is
fairly entitled to  be called a specific  for  the cure of  torpid liver,  a
complaint  from which the majority  of  Europeans suffer ; the fact
being made known when they proceed to  a cool or hill climate, and
shiver and  shake with  cold while the  thermometer is  at 62° F. only.
The sallow  complexion of such men, women,#and children, their lan-
guid movements, and their enjoyment of heat, all alike  proclaim that
they are suffering from sluggish action of the liver.  The conserve of
 Taraxacum may be made into  syrup for use.   Horses and valuable
dogs, sheep, and poultry, all suffer in India from  disease of the liver.
A  Dolus of  Taraxacum conserve to a horse, and a pill thereof  to  a
fowl, would be  most beneficial, and act as a curative agent.   Rabbits
also suffer greatly from liver disease, but if they were supplied with  a
few (two to four) green Taraxacum leaves twice or thrice  a week,
the mortality resulting from this  (hitherto) incurable  disease would 
132                    THERAPEUTICS.   ________________.

disappear,  and  rabbits  could  then be  extensively raised for the
market."
PREPARED COLLODION FOR FRACTURES OF THE RIBS.
  M. Dumas, in the Montpellier Medical, summarizes in the following
manner the  rules for the  application  of  this preparation.  The sub-
stances required are: —
  1. Three pieces of thin muslin, of the same breadth as from the ster-
num to the spine, and of a  length stretching from the top of the thorax
to. the second rib below the fracture.  If the last rib is fractured, we
must make the preparation come down two or three finger-breadths
on the abdomen,  and dispense with reaching the top of the chest. "We
can, according to the case and the subject,  augment the number  of
pieces of muslin, and, of course, of the layers of collodion.
  2. Collodion vicine  as  fresh  as possible.  Mode  of application:
Apply alternately a coating of collodion and a piece of thin muslin
impregnated with this liquid, and reunite  the whole by a thick ban-
dage.   For that an assistant is indispensable, for the  collodion dries
so rapidly that the  one who lays on the coatings cannot occupy himself
with the pose of the muslin.
  The author cites two cases, one of which is very curious: the union,
retarded by hypertrophy of the heart, had not taken place at the twen-
ty-fifth day.   The collodionized preparations  assured the formation  of
callus in a month.   In the first case the relief was immediate.—The
Doctor, Jan. 1, 1872.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF
       GETTYSBURG AND ADIRONDACK WATERS.
                       BY ISAAC  OTT, M.D.
  The conclusions in the  following paper are founded on a series of
experiments which will'be published  in detail at some  other time.
The means employed were the same as those described in  a paper on
Congress water, published in No. 19 of the Medical Times.

                       GETTYSBURG WATER.
  The observations were made  during a period  of six  days.  The
quantity and quality of food and drink were nearly similar during the
whole period, except that four hundred cubic centimetres of bottled
Gettysburg water were taken early in  the morning, before breakfast,
in the last three days.   The amount of sleep was the same, as was also 
THERAPEUTICS.                      133
that of exercise, although the intensity of  the exercise on the after-
noon  of  the  second of the Gettysburg-water days was considerably
greater than  on normal days.   The average temperature  on normal
days at three fixed periods was 60°, 61°, and  62° F., while the baro-
metric mean at similar periods was 29.5, 29.5, 29.5.   On Gettysburg-
water days, the  average temperature  at similar periods as on normal
days was  51°, 51°, and 52° F.; the  barometric mean at the same
periods was 29.6, 29.1, and 29.3.
   On Gettysburg-water days the daily average excess of all  egesta over
those of normal  days from 6 a.m. to 12 m. was  335.96  grammes; from
12 m. to 6 p.m. the daily average decrement was  31.8  grammes;  and
from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. the daily average increment was 2.9 grammes,
making the  total  daily average excess of  all egesta  307.0 grammes.
On Gettysburg-water days the daily  average excess just  mentioned
from 6 a.m. to 12 m. was made  up of increase of  " insensible  perspira-
tion" 24.06 grammes, of renal excretion 333.9 grammes ; the intestinal
excretions were  diminished 22 grammes;  the daily average decrease
from 12 m. to 6 p.m. was formed of an increase of  " insensible  per-
spiration" 105.8 grammes, and a decrease of renal excretion equal  to
11S.U5 grammes, and of intestinal excretion 19.6  grammes; the daily
average increase of excretion from  6 p.m. to 6  a.m. was  made up of a
decrease of insensible perspiration  61.9 grammes, and an  increase  of
renal excretion  67.8 grammes.  The excretion of urea for the three
normal days  was 31.17, 29.53, and 32.96 grammes, the arithmetic mean
of which is 31.22  grammes.  The ureal excretion on Gettysburg-water
days was 32.07,29.72, and 32.11 grammes, the arithmetic mean of which
is 31.31  grammes, thus  showing an increased  daily excretion of urea
 by .09 grammes.   On  the  days when  Gettysburg water was ingested
there was a  daily decrease of  uric  acid .065 grammes, of  phosphoric
acid .09 grammes, of chloride  of sodium   1.27 grammes, and a  daily
increase  of sulphuric acid .17 grammes.  There was a relative increase
during the use of  Gettysburg water, and the most reasonable explana-
tion of the increase seemed to be the retention of  Mater.  Thus it
would appear that the retention of  water whilst  Congress water is
being taken  is not unique as regards our own economy.

                        ADIRONDACK WATER.
   The observations on the physiological effects of this water extended
over six days.   The food was nearly the same in quantity and quality;
exercise,  sleep,  study, and so  on,  were as similar as  possible.   The
drink was the same  in quantity and  quality  in exact  series of days,
except that six hundred cubic centimetres of bottled Adirondack water
was taken half  an hour before breakfast  during the last  three  days. 
134
THERAPEUTICS.
The average of the temperature on normal days at three  fixed period*
was 63°, 64°, and 58° F., while the barometric mean at the same periods
was 29.7, 29.6, and 29.6.
  On  Adirondack days, at  similar periods, the  average temperature
was 60°, 64°, and 55° F.; the barometric  mean 29.8, 29.7, and 29.7.
The daily average  excess  of all the  excreta during the ingestion of
Adirondack water over those of normal days, from 6 a.m. to 12 m., was
552.3 grammes, from 12 m. to 6 p.m. 58.5 grammes, while from 6 p.m.
to 6 a.m. there was a decrease of 131.3 grammes;  thus making a total
daily excess of  all excreta 479.5 grammes.    The  aforementioned
excess of excreta from 6 a.m. to 12 m.  was made up of  an increase of
insensible perspiration 68.86 grammes, and of renal excretion 496.78
grammes, and a decrease of  intestinal  excretion  13.4 grammes;  from
12 m. to 6 p.m.  the excess was derived  from increase of  insensible per-
spiration 109.38 grammes, a decrease of renal excretion 90.40 grammes,
and an increase of  intestinal excretion 39 grammes; from 6 p.m. to 6
a.m. the decrease was made up of an increase of insensensible perspira-
tion 13.36 grammes, and a decrease of renal excretion 144.75 grammes.
The urea excreted  on the  three  normal  days was 19.42, 20.91, and
16.07 grammes, the arithmetic mean of which is 18.80 grammes.  On
Adirondack days the urea amounted to 20.37,19.05, and 18.64 grammes,
the arithmetic mean of which is 19.35 grammes—thus showing a  daily
increase of urea .55  grammes.  On Adirondack days the daily average
increase of sulphuric acid was  1.11 grammes,  of phosphoric acid .04
grammes, of chloride  of sodium  1.64 grammes.   While there was a
daily decrease of uric acid .176  grammes, there was  also a relative
increase of weight on Adirondack-water days, which seemed, as in the
cases of Congress and Gettysburg water, to be most logically accounted
for by the retention of water, although  during the experiments with
the latter two the retention was in the afternoon, while during those
with  the Adirondack water it was mainly at  night.—Philad. Med.
Times, Jan. 15, 1872.
          ELECTRICITY  IN NERYOUS DEAFNESS.

  Dr. J.  W.  Holland  reports the  following case in the American
Practitioner for Jan. IS72 :—
  Mr. Robinson, aged forty-one, a medical student, was fifteen years ago, when convales-
cent from remittent fever, stricken with partial deafness in both ears, the loss of sense
in the right ear being more pronounced than that in the left.  During the period which
has elapsed since, there has been but little amelioration of his hearing.  The closest ex-
amination failed to  detect any organic trouble.  It was plainly a case of "nervous
deafness," probably due to a sudden but enduring apathy of the auditory nerve.
  The feeblest current from a volta-faradaic coil that was perceptible to the hand was 
THERAPEUTICS.
135
employed upon both ears successively.  The auditory canal was filled with water, and
the positive electrode, in the shape of a metallic conductor, insulated,—save at the end,
where it termmatedin a silver ball about the size of a barleycorn,—was inserted nearly
to the tympanum.  The circuit was completed by the negative sponge electrode being
placed upon the superior cervical ganglion of the same or opposite side.   A sitting of
five minutes' length resulted  in the  immediate and considerable improvement of both
ears.  On  reaching the street, the hearing was so much more acute than when the
patient entered the office as to impel him to remark that " it was the revelation of a new
world."  Where before the  tick of an uncommonly noisy watch could not be heard
even when pressed hard upon the ear and mastoid process, the renewed sensibility
enabled him to hear it nearly an inch away.  The revival of the auditory nerves gained
fresh force from each electrical sitting; and one may fairly presume that, as five appli-
cations have accomplished so much, by continued excitation the torpor may eventually
be entirely removed,
  HYPODERMIC INJECTION OF STRYCHNIA IN OPTIC
                            ATROPHY.
  In  a paper in the American Journal of Med.  Science of Jan. 1,
Prof. J. J. Chisholm confirms the results obtained by Prof. Nagel, of
Tubingen, by injecting strychnia  hypodermically in amaurosis.   (See
July number New Remedies, 1871.)  He has found in three cases (one
of which had  resisted all treatment for seven months) of hemeralopia
a few doses of the strychnia sufficient to effect a cure. A case of almost
total  blindness from atrophy,  following  choroido-iritis, which had
been  dismissed after  long treatment as incurable, was  subjected to
this  treatment.    One-fortieth of  a grain  of the sulphate of strych-
nia in ten minims of water was ordered to be injected under the skin
night and morning.  In four days the patient could see sufficiently to go
about the city alone ;  in six weeks he could read the large type head-
ing the daily newspaper.   In nearly every instance the patient experi-
enced  the brightening of the light in less than half a minute after the
injection.  In one instance in which the fortieth of a grain was acci
dentally thrown into a vein, the sensations of light and a feeling of mus-
cular twitchings were apparently  simultaneous with the emptying of
the syringe.
  Besides  this case Prof. Chisholm has tried the treatment in a num-
ber of cases, " doing harm to  none and  benefiting all more or less."
He commences usually with the one-sixtieth of  a grain, gradually in-
creased to one-thirtieth, twice a day.
                       EXTRACT  OF BEEF.
  M. Muller in continuing his observations upon prepared extracts of
meat, thus expresses himself:—" I have shown that the crystallizable 
136
THERAPEUTICS.
azotic principles have no nutritive value, either directly or indirectly.
They have none directly because they are  the products of disassimila-
tion which are eliminated from the economy; they have none indirectly
because they in no way arrest the progress of  denutrition."   He then
proceeds to inquire if those extracts have any pernicious influence, and
observes that such  an influence has,  by various  experiences,  been
shown to exist.  For example, M. Hepp, Principal Pharmacien of the
hospices, Strasburg, fed two dogs  exclusively upon extract  of meat,
giving them that prepared  by himself.  One of the dogs  perished at
the expiration of fifteen days, the other at the  end of twenty.  These
experiences, although seemingly conclusive, did not satisfy M. Muller.
He subjected two other dogs to  experiment, they  being aged respect-
ively  three and four  years.  The first weighed  6,520 grammes, and
received daily 200  grammes of  bread, 20 of, Liebig's extract, 200 of
water,  and 20 of fat.   On the sixth day of this regimen  the animal
suffered from  diarrhoea, but  in other respects remained well till the
eighth ; on the ninth it whined pitifully.
  The second dog weighed 6,910 grammes, received daily 200 gr. of
bread, 40 of extract, and 200 of water.  On  the third day, diarrhoea;
on the fourth, loss of appetite; on  the fifth he refused his  food; on
the seventh it vomited.   The experiences were not pushed beyond the
eighth day, but  six more elapsed before it was restored to its normal
state.
  These experiments differed from those of M. Hepp, inasmuch as he
had given  only  extract of meat to his dogs, whereas M. Muller had
given his animals 200 grammes of bread—that is, more than sufficient
for their support—whence he concludes that, if they presented morbid
phenomena, it is evident that they  were poisoned.  He next relates
the results of a series of  experiments performed upon six  different
cats.  Two of those  animals received daily,  besides  their  ordinary
food, 6 grammes of extract in a piece of veal "lights"—that small
quantity being given because in  a  previous series of  experiments it
had been found that a larger quantity produced  diarrhoea and death
in the cats  experimented upon.  At the expiration of a few days the
cats refused  the " lights"  containing the  extract, and  accordingly it
was put into all the food given to them.  At  the end of a month the
cats  had increased in weight, the one by 44 grammes, the  other 75,
but in other respects there were very marked differences in their con-
dition as compared  to that  of other two cats, to which extract had not
been given.   The former  wrere  dull, sleepy,  their hair soiled,  their
eyes bleared.  The experiments were  now reversed during the suc-
ceeding month.  At the end  of three weeks the sickly cats had become
active and  playful—those to which in their turn the extract  had beefl 
THERAPEUTICS.
137
given becoming  affected  with frequent  diarrhoea,  and, moreover,
showing signs of laziness, as well as being  easily fatigued.  All four
had, however, increased to  some extent in weight.  Once again the
experiment was reversed.  Fortunately for one of the cats, it effected
its escape; but the result, as regards the others, led M. Muller to
remark that on each occasion it is seen that the extract of  meat has -
exercised a baneful influence.
  But, before M. Muller's experiments, others had been performed by
M. Kemmerich, of Vienna.   According to  the last named author, an
exclusive regime  of extract of  meat kills more  rapidly than starva-
tion.  He experimented on two dogs of the same size; to one weigh-
ing 1,217 grammes, he only gave water; to the other, weighing 1,340,
he gave water, and five  grammes  of extract of meat (Liebig's).   At
the end of  ten days the latter, which had been the more  vigorous of
the two, was unable to walk—at the  end of twelve it perished.  The
first still lived;  at the end of the twelfth day normal food was given
to it—four days afterwards it was perfectly well.  During the time
that these experiments were in progress other dogs were feci  upon the
remains of  the meat  from which the extract had been prepared.  It
was seasoned with chloride of sodium, and under its use thejT continued
in perfect health.
  But M. Kemmerich  would assign  to extract of meat, to which he
alludes, a directly poisonous action.   He injected  into the stomach of
a rabbit, weighing one kilogramme, the amount of  extract obtained
from one kilogramme of  horse-flesh.   The animal succumbed.  Such
are the results obtained by M. Kemmerich, and now we ask ourselves
with M. Muller, Can we attribute that poisonous  action to the crystal-
lizable principles of organic origin?   With him we answer No !  MM.
Feltz and Ritter have  shown that the  introduction of  those principles
into the blood produces no injurious action.   They have experimented
upon rabbits with a solution  containing 1 gramme of creatinine in 60
centimetres of water;  they have injected into the jugular vein of a
rabbit 10 cubic  centimetres  of  that solution—that is  to  say, 0.17 of
creatine—with no other effect than a slight increase of temperature in
the animal, which had disappeared on the second day.   M.  Kemmerich
had made  a rabbit to swallow  one  gramme of creatinine, without
inducing in  it any  morbid phenomenon  whatever.  With him we
conclude the toxic action can only be attributed to the crystallizable
principles of  mineral  origin, and, in effect, M. Kemmerich has demon-
strated that the ashes  alone of the extract produce death—that toxic
action can  only arise from the salts of the extract, and these salts are
for the most part composed of potash.
  The conclusions arrived at by the authors quoted are the following:— 
138
THERAPEUTICS.
   The extracts of meat are not aliments directly, because they do not
 contain  albuminoid  materials; neither indirectly, because their nitro-
 genous principles do not arrest disassimilation.  In  a small  dose they
 may be useful by the stimulant action of the salts of potass; in stronger
 doses, instead of being useful they produce an injurious effect.  Given
 in the course of protracted illness, when the  economy is weakened bj
 prolonged abstinence, the salts of potassa have an injurious effect—the
 more so that the organism will have lost some of its chloride of sodium.
 So far from aiding nutrition they hinder it, by the direct action of the
 potassa salts upon the (blood) globules, retarding the absorption of
 oxygen by the predominance in the serum of salts, which absorb the
 carbonic acid; also, by not permitting the  exhalation of the normal
 amount of that gas they prevent the admission of the normal amount
 of  oxygen.—The Doctor, Jan., 1872.

  New  Method of Making Beef-tea.—By Dr. H.  C.  Wood.-
 In order  to  meet the daily felt want of concentrated fluid meat food,
 a want not supplied by beef essence as ordinarily made, I have invented
 the following process, and found in practice that it works well.  Take
 a thin rump-steak of beef, lay it upon a  board, and with a case-knife
 scrape it.  In this way a red pulp will be obtained, which contains pretty
 much everything in the steak, except the fibrous tissue.
  Mix this red pulp thoroughly with three times its bulk of cold water,
 stirring until the pulp is completely diffused.   Put the whole upon a
 moderate fire, and allow it to come slowly  to a boil, stirring all the time
 to prevent the " caking " of the pulp.  As soon as it has boiled, remove
 from the fire; season to taste.  In using this  do not  allow the patient
 to strain it,  but stir  the  settlings thoroughly into the fluid.   One to
 three fluid ounces of  this may be given at a time.

  A New Base  in Flesh Extract.—Dr.  H. Weidel states that he
 has found a new alkaloid in flesh extract for which he proposes the
 name of carnin.  For the method of preparing this we must  refer the
 reader to the original paper in Ann. de Chem. et Pharm. 158,353, and
 Neues Repertorium fur Pharmacie, Heft 10, 1871.   Carnin is with
 difficulty soluble  in  cold water, easily so in hot, out of which on cool-
 ing  it crystallizes in microscopic crystalline,  carbonate of  lime-like
 masses, which appear after drying as a lustreless, chalky (kreidig), loose
 mass.  It is  insoluble in ether and alchohol, decomposes  on heating,
burning on platinum foil, with a bluish flame and peculiar odor.  Its
 solution is at first tasteless, afterwards bitter.  It is not precipitated by
 neutral acetate of lead, but gives with the subacetate a precipitate solu-
ble in boiling water and in solution of the neutral acetate.  Its formula
is C, II8 N4 03  and HaO.  Its chlorohydrate separates from the warm 
THERAPEUTICS.
139
solution in muriatic  acid  in  glassy needles.   By treatment with chlo-
rine, bromine, or  nitric acid, it is converted into sarkin.  For further
chemical detail as to this base the reader  is referred to the original
papers.
  To Obtain Kreatinine out  of the  Urine.—Richard Maly has
found that kreatinine may be separated in the following way.  Take at
least a litre of urine, and evaporate to one-fourth; pour off the fluid from
the precipitated salts, precipitate with acetate of lead, and throw down
from the filtrate the excess of lead by carbonate of soda or sulphuretted
hydrogen.  The filtrate is now neutralized with  acetic acid or with
soda, as may be required, and precipitated with concentrated  solution
of corrosive sublimate.  This precipitate,  consisting mainly of a com-
bination of kreatinine with chloride of mercury, is decomposed  with sul-
phuric acid in water, the solution  decolorized with  animal charcoal and
evaporated. The  remaining crystals  are once or twice  crystallized
out of strong alcohol, and are finally obtained as a crystalline  crust or
in large, hard, shining prisms.— Ann.  de Chem.  et Pharm.  1591. S.
279, BiXchners Neues Repertoriumfar Pharmacie, Heft 10,  1871.
                TREATMENT OF SCARLATINA.
\   In the Northwestern  Medical and Surgical  Journal  Dr. E. II.
 Lewis states that he has obtained excellent results in severe scarlet f ever
 by the following treatment:—If called early,  and vomiting  has not
 occurred, a full dose of ipecacuanha, repeated until free emesis is pro-
 duced.   Then of calomel one or two grains every hour till it purges.
 If rash be tardy in appearance, hot  baths, followed by general dry
 friction, if necessary; and if these fail, linimentum terebinthinre. When
 the fever becomes intense, the rash being well out, cold effusions, suffi-
 ciently often repeated to lower the temperature, anointing with oil,
 free application of bacon fat to the neck;  if the throat be not ulcerated,
 strong gargle of capsicum and chlorate of potash; also, often inhalations
 of steam.  He says  further: cases of throat  complication were often
 cut short by the free use of ice, taken in the mouth and allowed to
 dissolve; or when the patient was small, I  used to pound it fine and en-
close it in a piece of gauze placed in the mouth of the little sufferer and
allowed to melt.
  The following prescription I used with considerable  advantage in
some cases:—
       #  Potas.  chlorat........................3 iss.
           Tr. ferri  chlor.......................f 3 ij.
           Syrupi simplicis.........................1 Jss.
           Aquse fontanse......................1 iiss. 
140
THERAPEUTICS.
M. ft. sol.   Dose, teaspoonful every two or three hours to a child from
three to eight years of age, adding  a  small quantity of quinine if a
tonic was needed.
   I have seen great benefit arise from the  use of  a weak solution of
chloride of sodium thrown up the nostrils by the posterior nasal syringe,
especially where the nostrils and posterior nares were covered with
viscid mucus, and where the only hope for young children was the
keeping the nostrils clear for breathing  purposes.  Where this remedy
is  properly applied its effects are excellent and well worthy of trial,  as
we can do this when the  jaws are so  swollen and stiff that the mouth
cannot be opened for the purpose of cleansing the posterior part of the
throat of its mucus.
   Throughout the  attack the bowels must be kept open with calomel
or magnesia.
   Dropsy following the fever the doctor treats with blood-letting, iron,
digitalis, calomel, and jalap.
      THE  ANTISEPTIC TREATMENT OF  SMALL-POX.

                  BY ARTHUR  ERNEST SANSON,  M.D.
   The  interesting  communication of  Dr. Hjaltelin on " Small-Pox
imported into Iceland  by French Fishing Vessels, stamped out by
Quarantine and Sulphurous  Fumigations " {British Medical Journal,
November 4th, 1871, p. 519), affords most valuable evidence in support
of the opinion I have often submitted—that the course of zymotic dis-
eases can be  modified in intensity and  in  duration by the internal
administration of antiseptic  agents.   The following case—though, of
course,  individual instances  can have but little value as evidence in
regard to the major proposition—may serve to illustrate the method of
putting in force the antiseptic treatment of the disease.
  I was called on October 13th, 1871, to visit Miss E. T., aged 18.
She  had high fever, subdelirium, and vertigo.  The  pulse was 128.
Temperature, 105 deg. Fahr.   The tongue  was red, dry, with brown
streak down the centre ;  the pupils were widely dilated.  A few spots
closely resembling those characteristic of  typhoid existed on the abdo-
men, but there was no abdominal tenderness, distention, nor diarrhoea,
The  diagnosis was complicated, for the  young lady had lately been
staying  in a locality wherein typhoid was prevalent.  There was no
lumbar  pain.  I gave a guarded diagnosis, but considered it most prob-
able  that the  case would prove to  be one of typhoid.  I ordered cool
sponging; milk and beef tea; half an ounce  of brandy every four
hours; a scruple of sulphite of sodium in solution  every four hours. 
THERAPEUTICS.
141
On October 14th the  pulse  was 121;  the temperature was reduced
to 102  deg.  Fahr.   Several papulae  were  present  upon  the  face.
The case now assumed the aspect of variola.  On October 15th, papulae
were abundant over the  face, arms, and legs.   On October Kith, the
sions of general discomfort had subsided ;  the patient only complained
of irritation of the papules, which began to become pustular.  On the
17th I touched the centre of each  pustule on her face (over sixty in
number) with a fine camel's-hair pencil, dipped in strong liquid carbo-
lic acid, taking care not to allow any to reach the sound skin, and or-
dered a solution of  one part of  carbolic acid in three of olive oil to be
applied over the individual pustules night  and morning.   On October
18th the patient was well, all irritation from  the pustules  having sub-
sided.   The carbolic liniment was continued ; the surface of the skin
was  sprinkled now and  then with  oatmeal water.  The temperature
■ from that date never rose above the normal;  there was  no discomfort
whatever;  the pustules  all dried up, and, on the eighth  day, a large
number had completely fallen off, leaving no cicatrices; the others were
quite dry and scaly.  On October 23d, the sulphite of sodium was dis-
continued,  and sulpho-carbolate of iron given in five-grain doses three
times a day.   The  surface  of the body was washed with coal-tar soap
to aid disinfection.
   The  double principle  of  the antiseptic  method of treatment is the
arrest of the disease-process  in the individual, and the  prevention of
spread  to the community.   The  same class of agents which common
experience declares to be disinfectants can be administered to the liv-
ing body with at least a fair hope of their accomplishing that destruc-
tion of  disease-germs which they accomplish externally to it.   Carbolic
acid has been administered by  many, especially by French physicians;
but I believe that, in many cases, carbolic  acid and its compounds can
be advantageously replaced  by other antiseptics,  especially in  those
 wherein head-symptoms  are prominent.  I think it very probable that
we shall find certain antiseptics are best suited to the treatment of cer-
tain diseases; in scarlatina, diphtheria, and all zymotic ailments in which
the throat is  involved I have found the sulpho-carbolates  specially
valuable.  In his  successful cases  of variola, Dr. Hjaltelin  employed
the ordinary sulphurous  acid in fluid-drachm doses every third hour.  I
have rather  inclined  to the use of  the  sulphites recommended  by
Polli—they are powerful  and direct  antiseptics, easily administered
and readily absorbed.  I believe that in this country the error has been
made of administering them in insufficient doses, or else of employing
the hyposulphites—purgative salts,  and far less efficient as antiseptics.
   The external treatment of the pustules is most important,  No agent
seems to me so  valuable as carbolic acid ; its application  in the pure 
142
THERAPEUTICS.
form to  the  summit of each  pustule is perfectly painless.  It is not
necessary to  touch  each individually at one  visit, but at subsequent
times to touch those which have been  omitted previously.   I have
found nothing  so  effectually disguise the  odor of the carbolic  acid,
without impairing  its  antiseptic efficacy, as oil of wild thyme (oleum
origani).   Thymic acid is itself a well-known antiseptic.   The effect of
the application of the carbolic acid is at once apparent; the pustule first
becomes white, and then dries up.  The carbolic oil, afterwards applied,
penetrates amongst the virulent crusts, and is far more efficient than
any watery application.  The general surface of the  body may like-
wise be sponged with  any soluble antiseptic.   I believe the coal-tar
soap to be very valuable for  washing the surface of the body.  By
the antiseptic method  of  treatment, external  as well as  internal, the
patient is really disinfected from the onset of his malady, and the be-
nefits are manifest  alike upon himself and upon those subject to the
contagion.—British Medical Journal, Nov. 25, 1871.
       VACCINATION WITH GLYCERIZED LYMPH.
  Dr. Weiss has contributed some important  statistics on  this subject
to the Vierteljahrschr. fur gerichtl. und ijffentl. Medizin.  His obser-
vations were made during an outbreak  of  small-pox among the war-
prisoners at Alt-Damm in December, 1870, and January and February,
1871.  He  first vaccinated  three children  with  lymph mixed with
glycerine, brought from Berlin.   The lymph taken from these children
was mixed  with glycerine ; and, from January 16th to March 6th, he
revaccinated with the diluted lymph 5,801 men, the operation being suc-
cessful in 1,586 cases.  All the subjects had been vaccinated in youth,
many two or three times; and in 4,023 there  were distinct cicatrices.
From November 21st to January 21st, among 2,687 men,  there were
72 cases  of small-pox, with  7 deaths.   After  the  revaccination, from
January 25th to April 15, among S,851 men, there were 195 cases, with
22 deaths;  viz., among the successfully revaccinated, 6 cases, no deaths;
among those in whom revaccination did not succeed, 25 cases, no deaths;
among the  unvaccinated, 164 cases, with 22  deaths.  Dr. Weiss mixes
the lymph  from the arm with five  parts of glycerine  and the same
quantity of distilled  water.  He  says that, placed  in bottles  covered
with bladder, it remains good for a long time.—British Med. Journal,
Dec. 23, 1871.
                          SANTONIN.
   The following  account by Dr.  R. Farquharson  of  the action of
santonin upon himself is extracted from the British  Med. Jour.:— 
                         THERAPEUTICS.                     143

  1.  Effect on Vision.—Twenty minutes  after swallowing five grains,
I observed flames to assume a decidedly yellow color, as though spirits
were being  burnt.  Ordinary white  gas  globes became deeply tinted
with yellowish-green, and writing-paper presented the same phenomena
in a somewhat less marked degree.  During three hours the tints gra-
dually  increased, after which they faded by slow stages, until vision
was restored to its normal standard.
  The  precise conditions under which these singular results take place,
and the exact alterations of color observed, have been snlnnited to most
exhaustive study by a German physiologist, whose name I cannot now
recall.  Post-mortem examination proves that a true staining of the
retina is rapidly  produced, but it is not probable that this can be de-
tected  during life by the ophthalmoscope.   This opinion I base on the
authority of an eminent oculist, and on the fact that, in the somewhat
parallel group of cases  where yellow vision attends jaundice, I have
been unable  to discover any unnatural appearance on careful inspec-
tion of the fundus of the eye.
  2. Effects on the  Urinary Organs.—Five grains were taken at bed-
time, and next morning an irresistible and almost uncontrollable desire
to micturate was felt, the act being attended with some irritation and
smarting.   The  urine was of a deep saffron yellow, staining the  pot
and  linen precisely as  bile.  It was of  specific gravity 1-028.  The
quantity was decidedly  increased, and the  urea was  somewhat in ex-
cess.   The  diuretic action continued during the day; and it was not
until eight o'clock p.m. that the secretion was quite free from foreign
pigment.
  3. Effects on the Digestive Organs, and General Symptoms.—Nausea
and dryness of tongue were generally present; and  on one occasion,
after a ten-grain dose, well-marked tenesmus was experienced both by
myself and by a  friend who shared the experiment.   After five grains,
sleep was generally disturbed, and I usually woke  unrefreshed, with
sickness, frontal headache, and deficient appetite.  But the best marked
symptom, and one which I have not hitherto seen described, was a feel-
ing of profound and most unusual depression, accompanied by so much
irresolution and  want of confidence  in my own  powers as to render
me quite unfit for work  of any kind.  This invariably followed even  a
single five-grain  dose; and, beginning with dulness and heaviness, ran
on into very much that sort of melancholia which I  imagine jaundice
sometimes produces.  This denotes an effect on the nervous  system
which ought not  to be  overlooked ; and,  should further  investigation
prove its occurrence to be constant, and not to depend on any peculiar
idiosyncrasy of my own, we may yet find in santonin an agent of some
value in the almost unexplored regions of mental therapeutics. 
144
THERAPEUTICS.
                       VERATRUM  VIRIDE.

   Dr. H. G. Landis reports {Northwestern Medical and Surgical Jour-
nal, December, 1871) two successful cases of peritonitis or cellulitis
following delivery  treated with veratrum viride; the first case had
relapsed from recovery, after a previous threatening. We  extract as fol-
lows :—
  May 25th—a.m.—Abdomen very  tender  in right iliac fossa  and considerable pain
independent of any pressure ; pulse frequent; face flushed. An examination, per vagi-
nam, did not reveal any pelvic tumor, but the vagina was very hot.  She was at first
placed on stimulants and a febrifuge, but vomited after taking it, copiously, a greenish
fluid.  Her condition was now truly alarming; the pulse so extremely rapid, the flushed
and anxious countenance, the alse nasi widely dilating,  and the hurried breathing, all
demanded prompt relief.  She was  then placed on the following treatment, which, for
convenience' sake, I have arranged in a tabular form, an idea suggested by Dr. Byford's
work on Diseases of Women :
TIME.			MEDICINE		GIVEN.	PULSE.	KEMARKS.
May 25, 4 p.m.	Tinct.	ver.	vir	gtt. X.		132	Vomited green-ish fluid.
5 "		u	u	(I		132	
6 "		u	u	(4	morph. gr. i	128	
7 "		u	u	u	44 44	130	
7:30 "						132	
8 "		((	l<	u	" gr. i . and whiskey f § j.		
9 "		u	u	gtt. vii,		122	
9:30 "						120	
10 "		(<	((	gtt. v.	<« <t		
12 "		u	u	gtt. ij.	morphia gr. J		
May 26, 2a.m.		CI	u	44 u			
4 "		(<	44	a <(	U (1		
8:30 "						106	Looks much bet-ter.
9:45 "					" gr.i	110	
12:30 "	<<	((	((	" viij.	" gr. i	112	
3:30 "	a	u	(I	" X.	U 44	116	Whiskey, f 3 j.
6:15 "	u	i<	u	a a	" gr.i	116	.. u
7:30 "						104	
8:30 "	((	u	((	" viij.	" gr.i	104	
10 "	u	u	14	" v.	gr- i		Vomited at 11 p.m. Slept well after 12 P.M.
May 27, 9 A.M.						94	Tot. verat. viride taken in 48 hra. —gtt. 120.
  This table shows that  50 gtt. of a good tincture were taken before
the pulse was affected, but that afterwards small doses sufficed to keep
it down ; with the fall in the pulse all the symptoms abated, and the
woman finally recovered.   In the second case ten drop-doses were first
employed, but failed to give relief; larger doses we then administered
as follows:— 
THERAPEUTICS.
145
			
TIME.	MEDICINE GIVEN.	PULSE.	KEMARKS.
Aucrust 4. 1870.			
12:30 a.m....	Tine. ver. vir. gtt. xv. morph. gr. i	120	In whiskey f r ss.
8:30 *•		122	T. 1043 vomiting.
9	U 41 44 44 44 44 gj. £		
0:30 "	'" '" " gtt. XX.	120	
11	" " gtt. x. " gr. i	112	Vomiting soon after.
12:30 p.m....	44 44 .. 44 44 44 .4 44	108	
0 4>	44 44 44 44 .4 44 u 44		(_ Vomiting soon af-l ter each dose.
4 6 "	" " " " " tine. opii. TTLxv. " " " gtt. v. " "		
8:30 "		88	Skin moist and pleas-
\ 9	(by enema.) " " gtt. 1.		ant. T. 103.
12 3agust 5. 18T0.	Tine. ver. vir. gtt. xv. morph. gr. £ ) chloral gr. xv. f	100	Slept pretty well.
			
8 A. M___	" " " gtt. x. morph. gr. f	114	T. 103'.
12 M......	" " " gtt. xx. " gr. i	120	
4 P.M___	(4 44 44 .. ..		
6	" " gtt. xv.		
9:30 •'	Tine, opii gtt. xxx. chloral gr. xx.	84	T. 104°.
  Here again we see the effect of stopping the remedy, in the sure
quickening of the pulse and the amelioration attendant on its resump-
tion, though larger doses were required to attain the same end as  in
the  first case.  The fever and alarming symptoms  subsided after the
6th, on which day the last dose of veratrum was given.   On the 7th,
the temperature was 102 degrees, and on the  8th, 100 degrees.
TETAXTS RECOVERY L'XDER THE USE  OF  CHLORAL
                   AXD OF  ELECTRICITY.
  De. Hamilton Geiffix reports in The American Practitioner,-p. 93,
1872. a case of tetanus in a woman.  The affection came on three weeks
after stepping upon a piece of glass, and was slow in development, but
when Dr. Griffin first saw her,  on the tenth day, the symptoms were
very severe.  The  reporter says: I ordered  fifteen grains of chloral,
combined with one-fourth grain muriate of morphine, every four hours;
chloroform inhalations to be used during spasm.
  July 20th, 6  p.m., pulse and temperature remain normal;  spasms
occur every six hours ; muscles slightly relaxed, but opisthotonus com-
plete during paroxysm.
  July 21stT called  in Prof. J. "W. Holland, who applied the continuous
galvanic current.   The current produced muse alar relaxation and re-
lief from pain in fifteen minutes.
  July 22d. pulse and temperature normal; no spasms since last visit;
pain as before;  mouth opened one-fourth inch with  great difficulty.
           10 
146
THERAPEUTICS.
The chloral, morphine, and galvanism were continued for several days,
when the patient was discharged cured.
   Dr. Holland's electrical report is here added in full:—
   On July 21st an active current from sixteen Stohrer's cups was pass-
ed directly through the muscles which close the jaw, with no advantage.
The positive electrode was then placed upon the  infraorbital nerves,
and the negative changed about among the masseters and temporals of
the two sides.  The only effect was to relieve some pain just anterior to
the ear.   The antagonist muscles were  next excited, in  the  hope thai
the experience of Dr.  Mendel""' in tetanus would be repeated; still the
jaw did not yield.  As the patient made great complaint of the epigas-
tric pain, the phrenic nerve was brought under the  electrical influence.
The negative electrode was pressed firmly upon the integument behind
the sterno-mastoid muscle, and the positive was directed to the top of
the ensiform cartilage.  Relief from the spasm of  the diaphragm was
immediate, the distress disappeared,  and the rigid sterno-mastoid be-
came relaxed.   When the positive pole was applied upon the neck
behind the angle of the jaw, the negative being retained in its position
several inches  below,  still more marked benefit was had.  The grin
vanished, and after an application in  this position, lasting six minutes,
the teeth could be separated nearly half an inch.
   July 22d, it was found  that the neck had retained its suppleness,
though there was some epigastric pain, and the jaw could be  depressed
only a quarter of an inch.  The general condition was much improved.
The same current was used in the manner suggested by the previous
day's experience, with fine effect.   The pain was dismissed completely,
and the jaw was unlocked  nearly an inch.   The rectus and internal
oblique of the abdomen were treated by the constant current for ten
minutes, and thereby were loosed from their tonic contractions.  A few
days' galvanization was resorted to, and  always with notable  softening
of the spasms, steadily progressing to a  complete restoration  to health.

   Tetanus.—Among other interesting papers lately read before the
Academy of Sciences in Paris, -was  one by M. Demarquay, in which
he showed that several cases of lock-jaw had been  cured by extremely
hot-air baths, followed by the  injection of morphia under the skin.—
The Lancet.
   In the Lyon Med., October 1, Dr.  Cartaz reports 4 cases of  tetanus
following gun-shot 'wounds,  treated with large doses of opium, and
iresulting in 2 deaths and 2 recoveries.
   In the Canada Lancet of Dec, 1871, is  reported a fatal case follow-
* Quoted in Althaus's Medical Electricity. 
THERAPEUTICS.
147
ing gun-shot wounds.  Treatment, opium in small quantities, cannabis
indica, chloroform, and support.

  Chloral in Tetanus.—M. Gamier {E Union Medicate, November
14, 1871)  refers to several  cases in which chloral  was used in the
treatment of  tetanus occurring in very young persons, and says  that
it  is  in such patients that it will  be found most useful.  In a child
thirteen years of age four grammes of chloral were given at a dose,
with the effect of producing a marked amelioration of all the symptoms.
A complete cure was effected on the thirty-fifth day, after one hundred
and  eighty grammes  had been taken.  In a child aged  seven days,
affected with trismus,  chloral was dissolved in the milk of  the mother,
and injected into the child's nose during the paroxysms.   Twenty-five
grammes were thus administered, and on  the ninth day the cure  was
complete.—Philad. Med. Times.
      OX THE FIRST IXSEXSIBILITY FROM ETHER.

  By John II. Packaed, M.D. (one of the Surgeons to the Episcopal
Hospital, Philadelphia).— When the vapor of sulphuric ether is inhaled,
there is, as is well known, an early stage of complete muscular relaxa-
tion, in most cases  soon succeeded by an  excitement,  which in turn
gives way to the  complete  unconsciousness which is so desirable for
protracted surgical procedures.  It is not, however, so generally known
that the muscular relaxation just mentioned  is attended with  entire
anaesthesia.  Advantage may be taken of this fact to  perform many
operations which, although intensely painful, occupy but a moment of
time,—such, for example, as the opening of whitlows or other abscesses.
In this way much time is saved to the surgeon, while the  patient is
spared not only the suffering of the knife, but the vomiting, headache,
and  tedious return  to consciousness  which are so apt to follow the
protracted administration of ether.
  Let the patient lie on a sofa or reclining-chair, and take in his own
hand a folded handkerchief or towel, with about f 3 ss of ether poured
over it.  He should  be instructed to  breathe out strongly, and then to
apply the inhaler at once firmly to his  face, and to hold it there.  He may
be told also to  raise up his other hand, and  his attention repeatedly
directed to keeping it up. As soon as the hands fall, the surgeon, having
everything previously in perfect  readiness,  promptly accomplishes his
object, and the patient is at once allowed to  " come to."—Philadelphia
Med. Times. 
143
THERAPEUTICS.
         TREATMENT OF HOSPITAL  GANGRENE.
  In the American Practitioner of Jan. 1,1872, Dr. Carl Proeglee in-
dorses the following treatment instituted by Prof. Koenig, of Rostock,
for the treatment of hospital gangrene during the late war :—
  A caustic for hospital gangrene should be, first, constant in its action;
second,  it should have the power  to reach the deeper structures, and
control the healing process of the same;  third, convenience of appli-
cation ;  fourth, it should  be  competent to reach all  the  folds and
pouches of the part.   According  to Koenig, chloride  of zinc combines
all these requisites.  It should be but little diluted, rather oily.   Bits
of cotton should be dipped in this solution, and afterward pressed out.
A sufficient number of these pieces are placed either flat on the sur-
face of the wound,  or partially  pressed, in variously-formed pellets,
into the folds of the tissues.  The advantage  of this  method consists
in this,  that the surgeon himself may prepare the solution and  press
these small tampons into the wound.  Zinc acts only as a caustic where
tissue without  epithelium is present.   The tampon accommodates itself
to the parts, while we can measure the depth and time that it should re-
main. The longer it remains the more will the caustic  reach the deeper
parts.  Before applying the caustic, chloroform to blunt the sensibility
should be used.  It is  sufficient for most cases to let the tampon remain
eight or ten minutes; very seldom are fifteen or twenty minutes neces-
sary.  The crust formed is whitish, and it is  always  five or six days
before it separates.  But we may see much sooner whether or not gan-
grene has stopped spreading.   The signs  are that the  inflammatory
redness  on the periphery of the wound begins to fade, and the general
appearance of the  patient improves, the fever subsiding.   In the mean
time the wound may be  moistened either with lime-water or carbolic-
acid compresses.   We  have in this way healed very many  deep
wounds, when they could be reached, with a single  use of the caustic,
so that  the high  fever  subsided in two days.  If  untouched  parts
should remain, the caustic ought  to be used again ;  but it is very sel
dom that we observe  them after  thoroughly removing the crust.   The
ugliest  wounds for healing are  compound fractures from gun-shot
wounds, in which there is an infected cavity between the fragments,
or in wounds which, on account of their being covered by bones, can-
not be  exposed; as wounds under the scapula.  Here one use of the
caustic will seldom be sufficient.
   Koenig points out the  treatment of the bleeding which occurs in the
cases already described.  After gangrenous destruction of the femora-
lis, after ligating the  vessel, hemorrhage  ensued, and  as ultimum re-
fugium the iliaca externa was tied, and bleeding controlled; but the 
THERAPEUTICS.                     149
result was gangrene of the foot, and  for that reason the tampon was
substituted afterwards in hemorrhage in gangrenous tissues.  In two
individuals very much bleeding occurred ; in one probably from the ul-
nar artery in, fracture of the ulna, in the other from a wound on the out-
side of the femoralis, below Poupart's ligament.  In the latter, by di-
viding the sartorius and the greater part of the rectus and tensor fascial,
between which  the gangrene extended, the bleeding was  at once ar-
rested by the zinc tampon.  In the former the zinc tampon alone was
sufficient.
  If the following mechanism of the process of bleeding be accepted,
it is self-evident why and how the arrest of hemorrhage occurs by usino-
the caustic.  We suppose that the sheath of a vessel, with the perivas-
cular tissue,  is first attacked by gangrene, but not  destroyed  entirely
down to the  border of the gangrene ; and that  the infected vascular
tube thus encircled with gangrenous tissue can neither form a throm-
bus nor the vessel itself retract.   Both  disadvantages  must, under
favorable  circumstances, be bettered;  for  by using the  caustic  both
the vessel  and perivascular tissue will be deeply destroyed, the forma-
tion of clots effected in the  now healthy tissue, and retraction of the
vessel will then be able to accomplish the closure.

  Local Application of Camphor in Hospital Gangrene.—At
the meeting  of  the French Academy, June 19, M. A. Netter offered a
memoir upon this subject.  He claimed to have obtained most excellent
results. The powder is placed thickly on the sloughing wound, and
should be followed  by almost  immediate  amelioration in 48 or 60
hours.— Gazette Medicate, July 8.
        SUBCUTANEOUS INJECTION OF  MORPHIA.

  Prof. Estlander, of Ilelsingfors, in No. 39 of  the Deutsche Klinik
for 1871 commends  most highly the treatment of erysipelas by hypo-
dermic  injections, as being  much superior to  all other methods;  the
erysipelas often yields at once.  An eighth to a  quarter of  a grain is
injected into the sound tissue, at from one to two inches from boundary
line, tincture of  iodine sometimes  applied locally, and  compression
when practicable.  An emetic is always given  first, and the injection
is rarely repeated more  than once in 24  hours.   Ipecacuanha and
sulphuric or phosphoric acid  are generally given internally;  the sesqui-
chloride of  iron is not considered of any value.

  Sulphate of Iron.—Mr.  Hulke, of the Middlesex Hospital, believes
in the great value of solution  of sulphate of iron (10 grs. to fl. 3 ) applied 
150
THERAPEUTICS.
warm by a rag in erysipelas.  In  circumscribed erysipelas he  applies
the usual coating: of collodion and  castor-oil.—British Medical.

  Sulphate of  Iron  in Poisoning by  Rhus  Toxicodendron
and in Erysipelas.—Dr. Webster saw  a young man the day after
exposure.   His face was so swollen that he could see with neither eye,
and there was some eruption  on the arms and scrotum.  Ordered
lotion of ferri sulph.  3 ss. to Oj., applied on one layer of cotton cloth.
In two ©r three hours he  could  open  one eye, and the next morning
was very much improved.   Recovered  rapidly.
  Dr. Breed spoke of the  use of sulph. ferri in erysipelas, 3 j. to 3 vj.,
applied in the same  way.  It relieves itching, redness, and swelling
very rapidly.—Lynn  Med. Soc. Trans., Boston Med. and Surg. Jour.,
Dec, 1871.
                    BROMIDE OF SODIUM.
                    BY MEEEDITH CLYMEE,  M.D.
  Whatevee may be the real  therapeutic value of the bromide of po-
tassium in the treatment of epilepsy and other disorders of the nervous
system, it has come to be  generally acknowledged that its prolonged
use is often attended  with serious inconveniences, and even dangers; as
dulness of the mental faculties, loss of memory, great muscular feeble-
ness of the lower extremities, etc.   I have heard many  epileptics
declare that  they would rather suffer from their fits than from the
condition brought on by the doses of bromide of potassium necessary
to suspend their attacks, or lessen the number  of them.   It is, there-
fore, a matter of some moment to those who treat nervous disorders to
find a remedy of  that  efficacy so largely claimed for  the bromide of
potassium in some affections.
  There is reason to believe that in the bromide of sodium a happy
substitute has  been found that  will  fully meet  every indication for
which  the  bromide  of  potassium has been  given, while it is much
better tolerated by the system, and free from the objections which are
justly urged against the latter.   For some time  past, I have habitually
used the bromide of sodium in all disorders of the nervous system
where  before I prescribed the bromide of potassium, and, so far as my
own experience goes, speak positively to this point.  I have given it
in a number of cases of epilepsy continuously for months without any
of the  unpleasant symptoms which so constantly follow the prolonged
administration of the potassium salt, excepting  the eruption, and with
the best results in mitigating or suspending  the paroxysms.  Dr. De-
caisne  has given the  bromide of sodium for a year without its produ-
cing the systemic  saturation so frequent during the long and continuous 
THERAPEUTICS.
151
exhibition of the bromide of potassium.  According  to  Nimias, of
Venice, this latter salt accumulates in the various  organs, the brain,
spinal cord, lungs, liver, etc., and is neither readily eliminated  nor as-
similated (see The Medical World, July,  1871, p. 31).  Soda is the
alkali found throughout the body, and in all the secretions, and would
naturally be more readily absorbed and appropriated than the potassic
salt.  Another point in favor of the use of the sodic rather than the
potassic salt, and which, so far as I know, has not yet been mentioned,
is the fact of the depressing influence of  the salts  of  potash  on the
heart when they are largely or long given.   No such effects are  alleged
to follow the continuous use of the salts of soda.
  The taste of  the  bromide  of sodium is much less unpleasant than
that of the bromide of potassium, being very like common salt, and it
may be used to replace the latter, mixed with the food, as with bread
and butter, eggs, in milk, etc.   Hence it is of more easy administration
than the bromide of potassium, to the taste of which some persons
have invincible repugnance, and increasing with its use.
   It is of the first importance that bromide of sodium should  be per-
fectly free of all impurities, particularly of iodine.  Larger doses of
the hydrated salt are required than of the anhydrous, for it crystallizes
with four  equivalents of water.   According to Dr. Morin {Comptes
Rendus of the Acadcmie des Sciences,  January and April, 1870),
anhydrous bromide of sodium contains 11 per cent, more bromide than
bromide of potassium.   Drs.  Morin and Balard, the discoverer of this
salt (1826), give the following table of the approximative amount of
bromine  in the corresponding quantities  of bromide of sodium  and
bromide of potassium:—
Bbomine.	Bbomide of Sodium.	Bromide of Potassium.
Grammes.	Grammes.	Grammes.
3 33	4-33	5 00
6 66	8<66	10-00
10 00	13-00	1500
13-63	17-33	20-00
16-06	21-66	25-00
1200	26 00	30-00
  The doses of bromide of sodium are about the same as those of bro-
mide  of potassium.    In epilepsy, I usually give  20 grains  three
times  daily, and  have rarely gone above  that amount.  It sometimes
seems to cause or encourage constipation.—New York Medical World,
Oct., 1871.

  Hypodermic Injection of Ergotin in Hemorrhage.—In the
London Practitioner of December, 1871, Dr. C. Currie Ritchie details
a number of cases in  wdiich sudden  arrest of hemorrhage  followed
the hypodermic injection of ergotin.  He found Langenbeck's formula 
152
THERAPEUTICS.
the best in practice.  The solvent used in this is equal parts of glycerine
and rectified spirits.  The  dose used was from  3 to  5 grains of the
ero-otin.   The following is  a condensed account of one of his cases:—
   Mrs. D., set. Go, had, during the two preceding days, been constantly
spitting blood, except during an intermission  of  6 hours.   Ergot had
been given by the stomach without benefit.   At the time of the injec-
tion (5 grs.) she was expectorating blood profusely.   The only physical
signs  were a  patch of dulness, about  the size of the palm, over the
left back, between  the angle  of the  scapula and the  spinal column,
with slightly increased vocal resonance, and accentuation of  the second
sound of  the heart.  There was absolutely no hemorrhage after the
injection.  [I have used the fluid extract of ergot hypodermically in
one case with immediate arrest of a  long-continued  hemorrhage, but
the production of so much local trouble as to forbid the practice save
in desperate cases.—Ed. N. R.]
   In the British Medical  Journal, June  3, 1871, Dr. Wm. Allan
Jamieson details a case in which repeated hemorrhage from the lungs
was at once arrested, each time of its  occurrence, by the injection of
five grains of  ergotin,  dissolved in ten minims of distilled water, into
the cellular tissue of the arm.

  Ergot  in  Chronic Diarrhoea.—In Schmidts  Jahrbucher  of
December, 1871, are detailed  three cases of severe chronic diarrhoea,
treated  with ergot successfully after  the failure of other remedies,
originally published by Dr. A.  Palmberg in the Finska lakaresalls-
kapets  handlingar, 2, p.  75, 1871.   Dr.  P. has obtained the best
results from the aqueous extract of ergot, and in anaemic cases combines
it with iron, thus :—
      Take of watery7 extract of ergot........3   grmm. (4:6 grs.)
              Lactate of iron..............1.2 grmm. (18 grs.)
               Sugar......................3   grmm. (46 grs.)
  Mix and  divide into ten powders.   One every two or three hours,
according as required.

  On the Influence of Quinia upon Oxidation of the Blood-
In  his  inaugural  dissertation A.  Schulte  investigates the action of
quinine upon  the post-mortem formation of acid in the blood, discov-
ered by Zuntz.  He finds,  in agreement with the later experiments of
Scharrenbroich and Zuntz, that both  the slow acidifying of the defi-
brinated blood,  as well as  the decided production of acid which
precedes the coagulation, are checked by it.  These experiments are
important, as indicating that the influence of quinine upon the tissue
changes are independent of the nervous system.— Centralblatt fur die
Medic. Wissensch., Nov. 12, 1871. 
THERAPEUTICS.
153
  Iodide  of Iron as a Remedy in Incontinence  of Urine.—
Dr. John  Barclay  says  that  he has  tried  most of  the approved
remedies in this  disease, and,  before he  stumbled upon the syrup
of the  iodide  of  iron, found atropia or  belladonna by far  the
most certain and  trustworthy'.  Tincture of  iron is much employed,
but after  frequent and persevering  trials  with  it  I  have been
always disappointed.  During the past two and a half years twenty
cases of incontinence of urine have been treated by me.   The medi-
cine invariably prescribed has been syrup of the iodide of iron alone,
and, so far as I know, there have been no  failures.  I have notes of
all the cases, but only7  eleven in the completed state, since the other
nine, who  came from a distance, did not return  to  say7 what was the
result.  The probability is that they7 were cured, otherwise they would
not have been got rid  of so easily.  At all events, the eleven who  did
report themselves, or who were continually under observation, were all
cured, the improvement in  several of  the  cases  following so  closely
upon the administration of  the remedy7 as  to  leave no doubt that  the
good  effect  was due  to the syrup.  Dr. Manson, of Banff, and Dr.
Smith, of  Ivinnairdy, have both found  the  medicine equally7 satisfac-
tory.  Dr. Smith says  that he tried it, only7  a  fortnight  ago, on a boy7,
who for a  long time had been a sad martyr -both to diurnal and noc-
turnal incontinence, and who had resisted all other remedies, but who,
upon giving him the iodide, was in two or three days almost well." The
doses given were from  fifteen minims to half a fluid drachm three times
a day7, according to age.—Med.  Times and  Gazette, Dec. 17.

  Injection of Strychnine in Amaurosis.—In the Boston Medi-
cal and Surgical Journal, April 27, is  recorded a case at  length
of functional  amaurosis of  left  eye,  without evident  anatomical
change, following  gunshot wound, treated   by hypodermic  injec-
tions  of strychnine, by Prof. Nugel, of Tubingen.  The first injec-
tion was made on the 5th of January, 1.002 grain strychnia in left
supraorbital region.   Fifteen minutes afterwards there was a slight
clearing up of visual field of the eye; in half an hour  the difference
between light and darkness  could be recognized when the  patient
stood  several feet  from the window.  The second and third injections
were made on the 6th and 7th-of January respectively.
  On the  8th he  could  read the largest  of  Jaeger's test types, and
with the aid of a convex 4 could make out words of Jaeger No. 15.
On the 10th of  January,  after the sixth  injection, he could read
without any glass, with the left eye, Jaeger  No. 1, at a distance of six
inches.  The next day there was some  abnormal sensitiveness  of  the
eve, and treatment was intermitted until the 12th.  After each of  the
ensuing injections there was a very marked increase  of the visual 
154
THERAPEUTICS.
 field until the 15th of January, when, after the ninth injection, the field
 had reached its normal size. " The patient  could read Jaeger No. 1 at
 a distance of seven inches, and Jaeger No. 17 at twelve feet distance,
 and was discharged as cured.

   On  the Influence of  Sulphate of Quinia and Sulphate of
 Potash upon  the  Temperature and Heart's  Action, by W.
 Block.  Dr. B. found in his experiments after small doses of quinine,
 slight  acceleration of pulse and depression  of temperature; after large
 doses, sinking both of the pulse frequency7, and temperature; and after
 fatal doses, rapid slowing of the pulse till the heart stood  still.  He
 thinks the idea that the sinking of temperature causes alteration of the
 heart's activity disproved  by7 his experiments,  in one of which the
 pulse rose, although the temperature fell  remarkably; nor does the
 idea that the alteration of temperature is owing to depression of heart's
 action meet with more favor, because doses  which enhanced the cardiac
 activity lessened the temperature.  The actions on the heart and tem-
 perature are, therefore, independent.   Lowering of arterial pressure
 only occurs in those  cases in which a large dose produces slowing
 and weakness of the contractions of the heart.
   Sulphate  of potash has a similar influence to quinine, in that small
 doses cause  increased frequency7 of pulse, with lowering of tempera-
 ture ; whilst large doses depress both the rapidity of pulse and tempera-
 ture.— Centralblattfar die Medicinischen  Wissenschaften, Feb. 1S71.

   Improvement of Mother's Milk.—Mr.  C. Meymont Liby, says
 the .London Lancet (April 15), was consulted by a lady7, who stated
 that her infant was becoming miserably smaller  every day.  On  ex-
 amination of the mother he found distinct consolidation of  one apex,
 and on an examination of her milk he  found  it very7 deficient in fat.
 He ordered  the milk to be  drawn off  at stated times  and mixed with
 a given quantity of mutton suet, and that  the child be fed  with this
 from a bottle.  No  medicine whatever was prescribed except an occa-
 sional powder to keep the bowels regular. The result was astonishing:
 at the end of a fortnight the mother stated " she could see it grow," and
 on a continuance of the plan  the child thrived amazingly.  The plan,
 Mr. Liby says, he has employed in  other similar cases with like result.

  Prurigo  Treated hy Ointment of Iodoform.—Prof.  Tanturri,
 of Naples, has used the ointment of iodoform in obstinate prurigo.
 This compound, first brought prominently  into notice by Boucharclat.
is  now employed extensively, not only for glandular enlargements,
but also, owing to  its  anaesthetic properties, in  skin diseases accom- 
THERAPEUTICS.                      155
panied with intense pruritus;  its odor is much more agreeable  than
that  of cliloroform, resembling that  of  saffron.  Moretin and Hum-
bert  recommend it  for internal use as possessing all the advantao-es
of iodine,  of  which  it  contains  90 per  cent., without  any of  its
inconveniences.  It exercises  upon the  sphincters a local anaesthetic
effect so powerful that defecation is sometimes performed unconsciously
after its use ; it therefore forms an  admirable suppository in cases of
tenesmus, hemorrhoids, etc.  Moutre's formula is—iodoform, powdered,
gr. xx.; cocoa butter, 3 j.;  melt and mix for six suppositories.  For
frictions the ointment is used in the strength of 3 j.  to the  ounce of
simple ointment.

  On the  Use of Santonine in Diseases of the Eye__Dr. D.
Dyce  Brown,  of the  Aberdeen  Dispensary,  having given  a blind
man, who suffered from worms, santonine, was surprised at the  sub-
sequent improvement of  sight.  When the patient  first  came to the
Dispensary he could barely distinguish light, and subsequently ophthal-
moscopic examination showed that the right optic tract was completely
atrophied, and the left not so completely7; with the latter eye only could
he perceive light. The sight improved so much that he could distinguish
a passer-by sufficiently to  say7 -whether it was a man or woman.   At
Dr. Brown's suggestion, Dr. Ogston made trial  of santonine,  with the
following; result:—
Nervous deficiency.
Cataract..........
Cases treated.
35
 4
Cured or
improved.
26
 1
Failures or un-
known results.
—British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Rev., April,  1871.

  Digitalis Externally Applied.—Dr. E. F.  Fanell describes  a
case of a gentleman suffering from renal dropsy, to whom he had ap-
plied in the  evening one ounce of the tincture of  digitalis sprinkled
over a  large piece of spongio-pileine wrung out of  hot water.  In the
night the patient was  seized with violent vomiting  and occasional
syncope, and early in the morning was pulseless and intensely prostrated.
Under the free use  of brandy he rapidly rallied.   The  kidneys were
not affected.— Brit.  Med. Journ., March 11, 1871.
  In a paper read before the London Clinical Society, April 14, Dr.
Koyston Fairbank commends the local application of digitalis to in-
flamed  parts, as  joints, mamma?, etc.  A decoction  of the digitalis
is first made, of the  strength of a teaspoonful of  the  dried leaves  tc
a half pint of water.  Then flannels, wrung out in this, are to be kept
constantly applied to the inflamed part. 
15G
THERAPEUTICS.
   Electrical Treatment of  Constipation.—Prof. Benedikt re-
 commends  the use of  primary induced electricity  in  constipation,
 one theophone to  be placed in  the  lumbar region, the other at
 numerous points  on  the  abdominal  wall.    The  abdominal  pole
 must be pushed  hard down upon the abdominal wall, and a very
 strong current be used.   Prof. B.  thinks the treatment is of especial
 value  in cases of obstinate chronic  constipation in which there is a
 tendency to  hypochondriasis.  He relates  the  case of an officer who
 had been severely wounded  eight months before coming under treat-
 ment, during which time he had  not had a stool save by the use of
 medicines; but in whom the electrical  excitation always produced a
 natural  evacuation.   Three weeks of daily treatment  served to cure
 the case.  Prof. Benedikt states that in numerous cases of constipa-
 tion occurring in spinal and cerebral  disease, he has derived great
 benefit from the method described.—Allgem. Wiener Mediz. Ztg.

   Punctures in  Anasarca.—In a paper read  before the Clinical
 Society of London, it was recommended to make a single puncture in
 the calves of both  legs  in anasarca with a fine trocar, and withdrawing
 the stiletto, to leave the canula  open for several hours, during which
 the patient must be kept in a sitting posture.  In this way there was
 drawn off, in two operations, from a man, one  hundred and ninety
 measured ounces of fluid, besides a great deal which  oozed out the
 opening  for several days afterwards.  Dr. Hilton Fagge, in the discus-
 sion following, stated  that  multiple  punctures were largely7 used at
 Guy's  Hospital with the same  object,  and that it is important to
 grease well the neighboring parts, so as to prevent contact between
 the exhalation and the skin.—London Lancet.

   Injection of Perchloride of Iron into Uterus.—In the Medical
 Times and Gazette of February 11, Dr. Matthews Duncan reports two
 cases in profuse menorrhagia, dependent  upon uterine fibrous tumor,
 were cured by the injection of perchloride of iron.  His methods of
 procedure are as follows : After the length and direction of the uterus
 have been ascertained  by7 the ordinary  sound,  a hollow one is passed
 into the organ.  A syringe,  composed of vulcanite, containing about a
 drachm of the liquor of ferri perchloridi, is fitted closely into the orifice
 at the proximal end of the probe, and its contents  are gently thrown
into the womb.  No pain is generally felt as a result of this injection,
but a feeling of burning is sometimes  complained of, which Dr. Dun-
can is  inclined to attribute to escape of some  of the fluid  into the
vagina.   Dr. D. has treated a large  number of  cases, some of them
most serious,  in this way7 w7ith great success. 
THERAPEUTICS.
157
   On  a  very Efficient  Method of  Disinfecting Wounds —
 At the meeting  of the Chemical  Society  of  Frankfort, December
 1870, Prof. Boettger suggested the dressing of foul wounds with gun-
 cotton which had previously been  soaked  in a strong  solution of per-
 manganate of potash.   Acting on this suggestion, a soldier in a very
 crowded  hospital, suffering from a wound in the chest which emitted
 a horrible stench, had such pieces of cotton placed as a dressing on
 the wound; in a very  little while the fetor had  entirely  subsided.
 Further trials confirmed the good  effects  of the treatment  Gun-cot-
 ton  is useful in  this connection because, like  cotton, it serves as a
 strainer to the  air,  taking out any  germs it may contain, and at  the
 same time, unlike most cotton and other organic materials, it does  not
 decompose the permanganate.  Dr. Fresenius  also recommends that
 in cases of tuberculosis  with foul breath, the impregnated gun-cotton
 be placed in an aspirateur and the air be drawn through this.—Buch-
 ner's Neues Repertorium fur Pharmacie, 1871, p.  110.


   Antiseptic Treatment of  Wounds.—Mr. C.  Macnamara, of
 Calcutta,  believes that  carbolic acid applied freely  to  wounds acts
 largely by being  absorbed.  When it is freely absorbed he thinks the
 wound suppurates very  slightly,  and generally heals rapidly, whereas
 in cases in which no absorption occurs, free  suppuration  and  surgical
 fever are apt to occur.   The test of absorption is its elimination by the
 urine.   To determine its presence in  that excretion,  twenty drops of
 nitric acid are added to four ounces of the urine, and the whole boiled
 or allowed to stand for some time.   In either case, if  carbolic acid or
 its derivatives be present, a deep brown color is produced, changeable
 generally  into a yellow by the  addition  of liquor ammonias.—The
 Practitioner, Feb. 1871.


   Chloralum.—Dr. Edward Ballard,  Medical  Officer of Health for
 Islington  {Chemical News,  January 20,  1871), protests against the
 assertion made by Professor Gamgee,  that carbolic acid, owing to  its
 smell, is less used than  it would be if without odor, and  recommends
 caution in accepting chloralum as a  disinfectant.   In  his own ex-
 perience he has found  carbolic  acid "a most efficient agent for de-
 stroying contagia,"  and  that its odor is not offensive  unless contami-
 nated with sulphide of ammonium.
  He objects to the inference that because  chloralum is antiseptic it is
 also  disinfectant,  and  to  Professor  Gamgee's assuming  its disin-
fecting power from  its chemical properties as an antiseptic.  A disin
fectant, he say7s, is an agent which will destroy the vitality—the power 
158
THERAPEUTICS.
of growth and reproduction—of most minute particles of matter which,
given off by the sick, are capable of  producing a like disease in the
healthy.   He thinks that to prove that any substance is a disinfectant,
it should be shown by experiment, by an accomplished microscopist, to
have the power of destroying the vital manifestations of those minute
aincebiform particles  of matter which constitute the simplest form of
living things, and, by repeated  experiment upon a large scale, that the
reputed use of the disinfectant has actually resulted in the arrest of
the spread of contagious disease.  He is of opinion that Prof. Gam-
gee has advanced nothing to satisfy any one that  chloralum, used in
any way, is capable  of  destroying the peculiar manifestations  of a
morbid contagion, and thinks that the reason for its  rapid strides into
the favor of medical men (who are apt to take up new disinfectants in
a " wild manner") may be  found in  that freedom  from odor which
Prof. Gamgee considers the basis on which  the reputation of Condy'a
fluids rests.
  Dr. Ballard gives as a reason for not having tried chloralum himself,
though small-pox and scarlet fever are raging in his district, that he
dare not assume the responsibility of  its use until prima facie proof at
least is afforded him that by using  it he will  be  using that which is
capable of destroying " disease-germs."
  In the same journal (January 27, 1871), Prof. Gamgee expresses his
high appreciation of the value of the suggestions made by Dr. Ballard
with regard to means for investigating and proving the mode of action
of substances offered as disinfectants, but thinks that little  would be
learned experimentally  about any of  them if all persons who, like Dr.
Ballard, have abundant opportunity  of  testing the matter, waited in-
stead of acting.
  He states that chloralum shrivels, arrests the movements of, and kills
the amcebiform bodies referred to,—and does more, it destroys many
of the lower forms of parasitic life, whether  animal or vegetable.  He
is convinced that every good antiseptic is really a destroyer of disease.
He adds that the properties of chloralum are almost identical with the
active antiseptic and disinfectant properties of hydrochloric acid.
  Cranial Neuralgia  Relieved  by Gelseminum— Dr. Philip
C. "Williams states,  that  in supra-orbital neuralgia, not malarial or
dependent upon organic disease, the yellow jessamine affords the utmost
relief.  He is himself subject to violent attacks, which are always con-
trolled by  this remedy,  all others  having failed, and he has confirmed
this experience on a great many others.  In neuralgia of the scalp it
has the same happy effects; in maxillary and spinal neuralgias it has
failed.  One dose of 30 to 40 drops of the tincture usually suffices.  Some-
times it is  repeated after an hour, and then  20  to 30 drop doses every 
THERAPEUTICS.
159
four hours, continued some days, will prevent recurrence.—Baltimore
Medical Journal.

  A Speedy Cure for Rheumatism—Dr. E. H. Boyd states that
he cures inflammatory rheumatism in from three to seven days bv the
following  method: He gives first a full emetic dose of ant. et potass.
tart., and  when this has operated, five drops of tinct. opii  and five
drops tinct. colchici every7 tliree  or four hours, and ateaspoonful of a
half-pint mixture, containing 3 iv. potass, acet. every hour.  When the
patient becomes very hungry, and is quite free from pain, having fasted
several days, he allows two tablespoonfuls of milk or one oyster three
times a day, increasing the quantity gradually each day.—Michigan
 University Medical Jour., May, 1S71.
  Darkness in Treatment  of Small-Pox.—Mr. J.  H.  Waters
states,  that if a patient, in the  beginning of  the attack, be put in a
room from which absolutely7 all light is  excluded save that of a candle,
the effect is to arrest the disease in the papular or vesicular stage ; it
never becomes purulent, and the skin between the vesicles  is never in-
flamed or swollen; the liquor sanguinis is prevented from becoming
pus ; the large scabs of matter never form over the face ;  there is no
intense pain, and only trifling itching, and the smell is  either  very
slight or altogether wanting.—London  Lancet.
   On  Drainage  Tube   in Purulent  Abdominal Effusion —
Dr. Jas.  Bisdon Bennett  details a case of peritonitis following a
kick, in which repeated tappings were employed for the evacuation of
pus, and finally a drainage-tube  was inserted into the abdomen and
allowed to remain.   The patient finally left the hospital " feeling in
all respects well, but still wearing the tube, as there was sufficient dis-
charge to make it imprudent to allow the opening to close."—Practi-
tioner, IS 71.
   Method of  Purifying Drinking Water.—Dissolve  in eight
quarts of  water a half-drachm  of crystallized soda, and in a pint of
water  a drachm of  crystallized alum ; then pour the latter into the
water  containing the organic matter,  mix the whole, and allow it to
stand until the water has become perfectly pure—from six to ten hours.
Then pour the clear water off carefully.  If in a hurry, the water can
be filtered at once through  charcoal, sand, or clay.— Oestr. Zeitschr.filr
pract. Heilkunde.
   Bloodletting.__In Richmond and Louisville Medical Journal for
1871  Dr.  Whitehead gives his experience in Sebast-mol  during the
Crimean war as very favorable to the use of venesection in severe chest
wounds with imminent suffocation. The latter was very often relieved 
160
THERAPEUTICS.
 at once, even when most  threatening; but  as  no opportunity was
 afforded of following the cases long, the ultimate effect  of  the  bleed-
 ing could not be traced.
   Prevention of Pitting in Small-Pox.—The MeliaAzidavaclita
 L. of India is used in that country by the natives to cover the
 bodies of  patients recovering from small-pox, it being believed  to
 prevent the marks becoming permanent.   Dr. Wight says  of it: The
 leaves beaten into a pulp and externally applied act like a charm in
 removing the most intractable form of psora and other pustules of an
 eruptive nature.
   Preservation of Vaccine Crusts.—Dr.  David Stewart  states
 that  vaccine  crusts may readily be  preserved  through the whole
 summer  by7 immersing  them in mercury, and  putting  them in a cool
 place like a cellar.   This is best done by attaching the crust to a piece
 of cork  by means  of beeswax, forcing this into the bottom of a test
 tube, and  then pouring on some three inches of mercury.—British
 Medical Jo urnal.
   Iodide  of Potassium in  Bright's  Disease.—Prof.  Cryni, of
 Brussels  {Brit. Med.  Jo urn., from Wiener   Med.  Wochenschrift),
 strongly recommends this salt, in  large doses, in the second stages of
 Bright's  disease.   Favorable results by this treatment are also said to
 have been obtained by Drs. Baudon and Semmala, of Naples, and Dr.
 Caspari, of Meiningen.
   Carbolic  Acid  in  Poisoned  Arrow Wounds.—In Medical
 Times and Gazette Dr.  P. O'Connell Doyle states that in experiments
 made with poisoned arrows in the Niger country upon  fowls, he has
 found the local free use  of carbolic acid to be of great service.
   Iodide  of Potassium in Asthma.—Dr.  G.  Urbee of  Kiel
 states that he has found  iodide of  potassium of great use, exhibited by
 itself in asthma, confirming the statements of Hy7de Salter, that about
 one-fifth of such cases are benefited by its use.—Deutsches Archiv.fur
 Klinische Medicin.
   Dilution  of Vaccine  Lymph.—Mr.   Stephen  Mackenzie  has
 found lymph diluted with  glycerine as effective  as the pure  article.
 Forty drops of pure  glycerine were added to contents of two capillary
 vaccine tubes on a piece of glass, and the whole thoroughly  mixed.
With this, eleven patients were vaccinated.—London Lancet.
   Gallic Acid in Albuminuria.—Dr. H.  C. Wood  reports a case of
supposed amyloid disease of the  kidney, in which, under free use of
gallic acid, the albumen disappeared entirely from urine.—Philadel-
 phia Medical Times. 
THERAPEUTICS.
161
  Purpuric  Spots produced by Iodide of  Ammonium and
Potassium, but not by Iodide of Sodium.—Dr. Sidney Ringer
details  in the Practitioner,  for March, 1872, a case in which the ad-
ministration of iodide of potassium or of  ammonium would cause an
eruption of numerous spots, varying from the size of a pin's head to
that of a pea.
  Official (Prussian) Method of Preparing Glycerine Lymph.
—First open the vesicle of a healthy and vigorous vaccine pock, so as to
allow the lymph to flow out freely.  This is best done by piercing the
vesicle to its very bottom with a sharp vaccinating needle.  After a
minute or two the escaped lymph is to be taken  up repeatedly on a
broad flat lancet, and its flow is to be encouraged by pressing the
vesicle with some force with the flat side  of the lancet.  The lymph
as taken  up is to be placed in a clean watch-glass, and at last chemi-
cally pure glycerine  and distilled water added, so that the proportion
shall be one part of lymph and two parts each of the glycerine and the
water.  If immediate vaccination is to be practised, the point of the
vaccinating: needle  or lancet is to be well coated  with  the  mixture.
If the lymph is to be preserved, it is to be placed in minute bottles
containing 30 to 50  grains, in which, instead of in the watch-glass, it
may be well sometimes to  place it first, and add the ingredients and
mix.—Journal far Hinder-Krankheiten, April, 1871.
  On the  Treatment  of  Pneumonia.—By Dr. L. v. Schrotter.
[ Centr.f d. Med. Wiss., 3, '71; from Allg. Wien. Med. Zeit, '71, No. 52.]
—The author studied the influence of various drugs upon the course of
pneumonia in a large number of patients.  For the purpose of com-
parison,  77 cases were  treated  expectant {"indifferent"); in  these
the author not unfrequently observed an intermittent type during the
period of defervescence.  The temperature was measured four to five
times in twenty-four hours.
  Digitalis (20-30 grains), in 22 cases so treated, had no perceptible
influence upon the  puration, acme, or decrease of the fever, or upon
the extent of the infiltration; only the frequency of the pulse dimin-
ished more rapidly than the temperature.
  American Tinct. veratri viridis was exhibited in a series  of cases,
2 drops  every hour;  the total amount taken varied  from 8 to 200
drops, on the  average from 30 to 40.  In these cases the temperature
showed remarkably frequent intermissions in its course, some  of which
must undoubtedly be ascribed to the drug.   The stage of acme seemed
a day shorter than  under  expectative treatment, lasting from two to 
102
THERAPEUTICS.
three instead of from three to four days.   The absolute height of tern-
•perature reached was not lower.  An influence upon the pulse was
manifested only by a somewhat resilient condition of  it.   The extent
of the infiltration, as well as the subjective  complaints, did not seem
to be diminished.
   Tartar-emetic was employed in 20  cases, from 3 to 9 grains in all;
commencing with  two grains at once, and then \ grain every quarter
of an hour.   Here also the stage of acme seemed  a little  shorter
(often only two days), and considerable intermissions  of temperature
of long duration occurred, especially after the vomiting. An influence
upon the local process could not be observed.
  Bisulphate of quinia was given in doses of  5 grains (100-120 per
day).   Here again the temperature only seemed to be influenced, the
absolute heights being commonly not  great, and the stage of acme ap-
pearing to be shorter.  The  number  of  cases so  treated, however, is
small.—St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal.

  Exhibition of Iodine.—The following account of a discussion at
the meeting of the St. Catharine's  Society for Mutual Improvement is
taken from The Canada Lancet for August,  1871:—
  Dr. Goodman spoke in favor of the use of  iodide of calcium as a
remarkably mild and efficient alterative; it appeared to  him to be
more easily assimilated in disordered states of the stomach than any
other iodide; he had used  it lately with marked effect in diseases  of
the stomach and bowels in the  strumous diathesis ; he  had not tried it
in secondary and  tertiary syphilis, but he would here allude to the
great benefit derived from very large  doses of the iodide of potassium
at the General and Marine Hospital in several rebellious cases of those
diseases.
  The exhibition of iodine  combined with  albumen, and  added  to
milk or to other compatible articles of food, proved useful in the treat-
ment of scrofula.
  In the same way impregnating plants, such as water-cress, with this
element, and eating it, had been found by a gentleman present an ex-
cellent mode of producing the physiological action of this  medicine,
as well as combining iodide of sodium  with the salt used as a condiment.
  Iodide of starch mixed with sugar will be readily used as a sweet-
meat by children.   Iodine  introduced in this  way with an aliment
acted more beneficially in the scrofulous diathesis where constitutional
influences of a profound nature wTere  sought to be brought about.

   Carbon Bisulphide, Rhigolene, and Oleum Menthse Piperi-
tae as Local Anaesthetics.—Dr. S. R.jSTisslet, of Ohio, says: I have
been in the habit of using the bisulphide of carbon as a local anses- 
                         THERAPEUTICS.                      IGo

tlietic for several years.  I have tested its efficacy and potency in facial
neuralgia, hemicrania, odontalgia, and lumbago, and the speedy relief it
afforded to the sufferer was almost instantaneous.  My mode of applica-
tion was this :—Place a pledget of cotton into a wide-mouthed bottle,
saturate it well with the bisulphide, and apply it to the painful part, and
as soon as the patient complains of smarting  sensation, change the bot-
tle, carefully following the course of the principal nerve that seems to
be involved in the difficulty.   I have used a combination of  rhigolene
and the  oil of peppermint as  a local anaesthetic in a number of neu-
ralgia cases that presented themselves at my office for relief, and thus
far my success in those cases has  been  far beyond my most sanguine
expectations.  After several applications they express themselves cured.
I have recently been in the habit of adding an ethereal collodion to the
compound, and I  am gratified  to say that  in the combination I have a
specific which will, under almost  any circumstance, when the  part is
accessible, relieve the patient  instantaneously;  its effects are magical.
—Journal of Materia Medica.
  [In my hands the bisulphide has failed in facial neuralgia as a local
anaesthetic, producing so much pain that patients refuse it a fair trial.
 —Ed. New Remedies.]

  A New Method of Treatment of Epididymitis.—The late Dr.
Thomas  F. "Whitney7, of  this city7, devised the following  plan for the
reduction of swelling in epididymitis by equable compression, but died
before he could communicate it to the profession :—
  A sheet of thin india-rubber one foot square.
  A piece of tape long enough to hold the testicle in position.
  A Davidson's syringe.
  Place the lower extremity7 of the testicle at a point in the rubber equi-
distant from the four corners; then, enveloping the testicle in the rub-
ber, tie above its  upper extremity, reflect the rubber, bringing its four
corners together.  The nozzle of  the syringe should then be inserted
within the folds of rubber and firmly tied.  By this means, a double
envelope will be  formed about the testicle,  similar to the manner in
which the pleura encloses the lung.   By exerting intermittent pressure
of the hand upon the bulb of the syringe, air will  be forced into the
sheet-sac, thereby producing a uniform pressure  over the whole surface
of the enlarged testicle, which pressure may be controlled at the will
of the operator and graduated to the condition of the organ.
  Medical Uses of Carbolic Acid.—Dr. K S. Davis, of Chicago,
111. {Chicago Med. Examiner), in his " Keport on the Medical Uses of
Carbolic Acid"  to  the Illinois State  Medical  Society, refers to two
cases of  cancerous disease and ulceration of the os and  neck of the 
164
THERAPEUTICS.
 uterus, which were  much relieved  by using the solution  of  carbolic
 acid internally, at each meal-time, and a stronger solution twice a day
 as a vaginal wash.  The patients were kept comparatively comfortable
 for many months, but the effects were only palliative.  A neighboring
 physician informed him that he had  a case of cancerous disease of
 well-marked character, that had been kept stationary and the patient
 comfortable more than  twelve months, under the constant  use of car-
 bolic acid.  Dr. Davis has also used it with temporary benefit in two
 cases of cancerous disease of the stomach.  He does not regard car-
 bolic acid as a specific for the cure of  any form of disease, but from
 its mildly sedative influence on the organic nervous system and mucous
 surfaces,  coupled with  strong antiseptic properties,  it is  admirably
 adapted to meet certain  indications that arise during the progress of a
 great variety of diseases.
  Treatment of Peritonitis.—Dr. Whitelaw commends the treat-
 ment of acute peritonitis by absolute quiet on the back, in a cool, well-
 ventilated room, 60° F., with a diet restricted to a little milk and lime-
 water, thin arrow-root, and tablespoonful doses of cold water, external
 applications,  and the  exhibition of  a  teaspoonful  of the following
 mixture every fifth hour, if pain be present:—
        fy  Tinct. belladonnse,
           Sol. mur. morphia?................... aa 3 ij.
           Aquae.............................. ad § ij.
 Sometimes for this he substitutes laudanum.   His external applica-
 tions are made in the following way:—A. pailful of hot water is placed
 by the bed, and out  of it a triple ply of flannel is wrung, laid on the
 abdomen, and entirely covered with  a piece of silk oil-cloth, a four-
 legged stool or hoop, or other contrivance keeping off the bed-clothes.
 As soon as the application becomes too cool to be agreeable to the pa-
 tient, a fresh one is applied.—Glasgow Medical Journal, May, 1871.
  Chloral in Delirium Tremens.—In the Centralblatt fur die Med.
 Wissen., Dr. Curschmann relates some experiments in the treatment of
 delirium tremens by chloral-hydrate.  There  were twenty-four males
 thus treated, from the age of twenty-four  to fifty.  Two cases were
 complicated by pneumonia, four with surgical diseases, and the rest
 without complication.   All were  treated by chloral-hydrate in wine,
 and  in two instances by subcutaneous injection, which is  not  to be
 recommended.   Clysters cannot be used in D. T.   The dose given was
 3 to  4 grammes—one drachm  at first, afterwards more.  The smallest
 quantity which caused sleep was 5 grammes, but one patient had as
much as 25 grammes in 22 hours.  The remedy was more  successful
in beer-drinkers than in spirit-drinkers.  The pulse and respiration! 
THERAPEUTICS.
165
frequently sank soon after the  administration of the  drug.   The
duration of the sleep was 8 to 21 hours, and the patients awoke cured,
He considers that the cure by chloral is much more rapid in D. T. than
when any other remedy is made use of.
  Copaiba in Psoriasis.—Dr. Purdon says {Dublin Quarterly Jour-
nal) : During the last eight months I have had under treatment, at the
Belfast Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, an  unusually large number
of cases of psoriasis.  The opportunity was thus afforded of  grouping
together a certain number of cases and studying the different effects of
certain remedies, as arsenic, carbolic acid, hypophosphite of soda, cod-
liver oil, quinine, balsam of copaiba, etc.  In some cases local treat-
ment was also employed.   Without going into details, I may be per-
mitted to say  that the treatment of psoriasis, when no acute symptoms
were present, by large  doses of copaiba balsam,  given with a  little
liquor potassa?, mucilage  and water, has  been highly gratifying,  espe-
cially in cases where it produced urticaria—indeed the dose should be
increased till  the latter is established.   I have been able to discharge
the patients sooner by the balsam treatment than by any other, nor has
any of them as yet had a relapse.
   Typhoid  Fever Treated with Strychnia.—John E. Owen,
M.D., Chicago, 111. {Chicago Med. Journal), observes that during the
last four years, both in hospital and  private practice, milk  and the
acid and strychnia mixture have  been administered to patients with
typhoid fever, with success.   The mixture  is prepared  as  follows:
 1} Acid sulph. arom., 3 ii j -; strychnine sulph., gr.  } ;  syrup, simpli.,
 I v. M.  Dose—a tablespoonful.  There is one noticeable feature in
cases treated by strychnia, viz., the dry  brown tongue soon  becomes
moist, and remains so  during the treatment; this is  effected, he be-
lieves,  mainly through  the agency of  strychnia,  by increasing the
nutritive and assimilative functions of the system.
  Pemphigus  produced  by  Iodide  of  Potassium.—In  the
American Journal of Medical Sciences, July,  1871, Dr. F. J. Bumstead
details a case in which the free use of  the iodide of potassium gave
rise to a severe eruption of bullse.  The drug was given a number of
times, and its administration for a few days was always  followed  by
the skin disease.  Dr. B. states that he  has searched in vain for any
account of  such eruption being produced by iodide of potassium, in
most of the works upon the subject within his reach.  The only allu-
sion he has seen is  by Boinet {lodotherapie), who states that  Cazenave
has seen  the iodide cause eruptions of bullse filled with sero-sanguino-
lent fluid, which are readily torn, and  which may be  followed  by
ulcers difficult to heal. 
166
THERAPEUTICS.
   Sciatica Cured by Hydropathic Treatment,—Dr. P. A. La-
 grelette details a case of  sciatica of two and a half months' duration,
 with wasting of the limb, which had resisted all sorts of treatment, but
 was cured by the following means:—On the 30th of December the man
 was placed in an empty bath-tub, and frictions with cold water were
 applied to his whole body7, and especially along the track of the sciatic
 nerve.  These frictions were repeated twice  daily.  The amelioration
 was immediate. By the 3d of January the pain had gone; by the 25th
 the frictions were left off as not necessary.   No relapse has followed
 this case.—Journal de Medecine et Chirurgie Pratique.

   Belladonna in Typhoid Fever.—Dr. Lewis S. Pilcher,  Passed
 Asst. Surgeon IT. S. X. {Mich.  Univ. Med. Journal), having been at-
 tracted by7 the positive and warm terms in which the effects of bella-
 donna, given in typhoid fever, are stated by Dr. B. Kelly, of Dublin,
 finds that under its influence, within from 24 to 48 hours after the first
 administration of the drug, delirium, coma, and subsultus  quickly
 vanish, and are succeeded  by calmness and clearness of the intel-
 lect, by natural sleep, and  complete control  of all the voluntary
 muscles;  diarrhoea is checked, and  healthy consistent evacuations
 are established.

   Idiosyncrasy to  Iodide of Potassium.—In the Medical Times
 of August 1, Dr. Jas. D. McGaughy details a case in which the exhi-
 bition of iodide of potassium produced profuse salivation, with swell-
 ing of the neck and loss of articulation, followed  by delirium.   The
 symptoms were produced several times, until the doctor, becoming  con-
 vinced that it was the iodide, stopped the further exhibition of it.  He
 states as his opinion that a dose of  30 or 40  grains  would be a fatal
 one to the patient.

  On the Use of Carbolic Acid to prevent Pitting of Small-
 Pox.—In the Edinburgh Medical Journal, Dr. W. Scott states he has
 been very successful in preventing disfigurement by small-pox by keep-
 ing the face, from the first  appearance of the eruption, constantly moist
 with a solution of carbolic  acid in oil (1 to 8).  The application is very
 grateful to the patient, allaying the itching,  and irritation, and  pre-
 venting the desire to scratch off the scabs.

   Suppurating Scrofulous Abscess  of the Neck Treated by
 Drainage.—In the Out-door Department of  the Middlesex Hospital,
London, Dr. Jno. Murray,  instead of making  an incision into suppu-
rating cervical glands, introduces a catgut ligature into the abscess  and
allows the contents to drain away.   Upon recovery no scar remains. 
THERAPEUTICS.
167
  Treatment  of Tic-Douloureux.—Prof. Benedikt  recommends
the galvanic treatment very highly in neuralgia of the trigeminus.  The
current must be directed partly longitudinally and partly diagonally
through the head, and also the sympathetic must be galvanized.   In
recent cases one or two sittings are sufficient, in other cases many are
required.— Oesterr. Zeitschrift flprakt. Ileilk., 10,1871.
  Influence of Alcohol on the Sight.—M. Galezowski recently, at
a sitting of the Paris Academy of Medicine, pointed out  how many
cases he had seen among the poorer classes recently, of loss of vision
from chronic use of alcohol.  The form of loss of sight is that of am-
blyopia.  He also mentions that intemperate persons do not do well
when operated on jor diseases of the eye.
  Ether Spray  to Spine in  Chorea.—Dr. John Kose  reports the
case of  an anaemic girl, aged thirteen y7ears, who  had chorea  fol-
lowing  rheumatism, who  was  successfully  treated  by  ether spray
applied along the spine for four or five minutes each time ; and after
fifteen sittings, a  very marked improvement took place, followed  by
complete recovery.—Medical News.
   Carbolated Cerate Dressing  in Varicose  Ulcer of Leg.
—Prof. xVndrews, of Chicago, 111. {Chicago Med. Examiner), recently
had an obstinate case of varicose  ulcer of the leg of  fifteen years'
standing, which was cured by the injection of tinct. ferri muriat. into
the varicose veins, and a dressing of an antiseptic ointment, composed
of carbolic  acid cryst.  18 grs., adipis 3 i.
   Sulphate of Nickel in Neuralgia.—A case of obstinate neu-
ralgia is related which was cured by sulphate of nickel, in doses of
half a grain three times a day.  At the end of  one week one grain
was given.   Its sedative action  was  speedily manifested in reducing
the pulse and procuring sleep ; all symptoms of the paroxysm disap-
peared.— Oregon Medical and Surgical Repertory.
   Remedies for  Chafing.—A mixture of powdered steatite (soap-
stone) two parts, and hyd. chlor. mitis one part, is the most elegant and
effective dry application to the chafed skin of infants.  Dry hyd. chlor.
mitis, applied once or twice a day to tumid  and tender  hemorrhoids
situated  about the anus, rarely fails to cure them in a few days.—Dr.
A. S. Hudson, in the  Pacific Med. and Surg. Journal.
  Ashantee Bark in Chronic Dysentery—Dr. C.  Handfield
Jones details a case {British Medical Journal) in which the ashantee
bark seemed of great service in a case of obstinate chronic dysentery,
in the dose of half  a fluid drachm of tincture three times a day.  He
states that although the bark contains a large amount of tannic acid,
its action is very different from that of that principle. 
168
THERAPEUTICS.
                        WASP-STINGS.
  De. Dkuky commends {British Med. Joum., Sept. 23,1871) the fob
lowmg treatment in cases of illness produced by the stings of wasps:—
  A careful examination of the wound should  be made with a good
pocket lens, and any remnant of the sting removed with a pair of fine-
pointed forceps.  Laudanum should be applied by means of a cotton-
wool swab for at least ten minutes, followed by warm water fomenta-
tions.  Internally, brandy and hot water should be given  at once, and
twenty minims  of aromatic spirit o£ ammonia every half  hour as long
as there is depression.  If the mouth or throat be stung, warm flannels
should be applied to the  neck, and warm inhalations with  ether em-
ployed.   There is sure to be spasm of the rima glottidis in these cases.
In no case that  I have seen yet would I have given opium internally; I
doubt anything but mischief from its use in any of these cases, but I am
aware it has been recommended by medical writers.  If local pain be
not subdued by7 the application of the laudanum,  then I think I would
try the effect of hyoscyamus poultice or tincture of belladonna sprinkled
over a w7arm damp flannel, and applied to the wound.
   Grlycerized Cotton for Dressing Wounds.—Professor Gubler,
 at a recent meeting of the Academie de Medecine, exhibited some
 specimens of wadding prepared by saturating it with a certain quan-
 tity of  glycerine, which  he had found to render  it permeable to all
 medicinal liquids, without causing it to lose any7 of its suppleness and
 lightness.  He suggested that in this state it might prove a useful sub-
 stitute for charpie, in the event of a scarcity of that article.  Dr. Dela-
 borde has already employed it with advantage.  In order to prepare
 this dressing it is only necessary to pour a small quantity of glycerine
 over the square sheet of wadding, and afterwards express it as strongly
 as possible.—Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie.
   Treatment of Malignant Small-Pox by Sulphur Fumigation
 and Sulphurous Acid.—In the Boston Medical  and Surgical Jour-
 nal of Nov. 2, Dr. F. Hjaltelin, of Iceland, details his successful efforts
 in stamping out a commencing epidemic of malignant small-pox and
 of curing those already sick by free fumigations of burning sulphur and
 the  sulphurous acid water internally7.
   Abortive Treatment of Felons.—A correspondent of the Boston
.Journal  of  Chemistry writes that it is well known by physicians that
 pressure causes absorption ; and in view of this fact, ten years ago he
 adopted the  plan of applying several coatings of collodion over the
 finger or  place where the pain is felt on its first appearance.   On dry- 
                         THERAPEUTICS.                      169

ing, the collodion contracts with an even pressure, and if  kept on for
twenty-four hours, the symptoms will usually entirely disappear.
  Of late he has been in the habit of soaking the affected part in quite
a strong solution of carbolic acid for a few minutes before applying the
collodion.  The pain for some hours will be quite severe, but an anodyne
will afford  relief.—Med. Record.

  Treatment of the  Last Stage of Cholera.—Professor Filippo
Pacini, of  Florence, in  a little pamphlet just published, Suit  ultimo
Siadio del  Cholera, is of the opinion that in the stage of apparent death
which closes the scene in that disease, the only available means at hand
for resuscitation is the injection of salt water into the  veins.  The
places  of election for  this  delicate operation he  lays down  as  the
cephalic, brachial, or external jugular  veins, and his mixture is 10
grammes of fine  salt to one kilogramme of water.   He uses at one time
200  grammes of this  solution at a temperature of 40° centigrade.
After one kilogramme has been injected without effect, he regards the
case  as hopeless.—Medical a/nd Swrgical Reporter.

  Chloral in Cholera.—During the epidemic which has recently pre-
vailed at Riga, Dr. von  Reichard has had recourse to chloral, adminis-
tering it according to  the following indications :   " 1. To relieve the
cramps at the  commencement.  2. To assuage the prsecordial suffering
which is so distressing during the latter stages.  3. To arrest vomiting.
4. To procure the sleep so urgently demanded by the patients.  Not
only were these indications fulfilled,  but the success obtained from the
medicine surpassed all expectation.   In one case in which the ordinary
treatment had been pursued, and the patient seemed as if he  had only
a few hours to live, a drachm of chloral was given him in four times
the quantity of water, so that a strong sense of burning was  felt while
swallowing it.   In two minutes sleep had commenced, and, troubled at
first, it  became  calm  and lasted three  hours.  Respiration became
easier,  the  warmth and tumescence of  the surface reappeared,  the
cholera facies disappeared, and  the  pulse diminished from 130 to 90.
The  vomiting and stools ceased,  and, in  fact, a true resurrection was
effected, the patient rapidly recovering.   M. Blumenthal, also of Riga,
has used it  in two bad cases successfully, in doses of a drachm repeated
two or three times in the hour.—Medical and Surgical Reporter.

  Bromide of Potassium in Urethral Fever.—Dr. I. T. Rothrock
details a case in which use of a catheter was followed by severe fever
several times,  and in which thirty  grains of the  bromide, given just
after the use of the instrument, sufficed to prevent the constitutional
disturbance.—Philadelphia Medical Times, Dec. 1, 1871. 
170
THERAPEUTICS.
  Strychnia in Albuminuria.—Brignoli, in Lo Sperimentale, be-
sides recommending nux vomica in various neuroses, gastralgia, dys-
pepsia,  cardiac palpitations,  periodic cough, &c, states that he has
observed it to have a marked  effect in retarding the progress of albumi-
nuria, especially the scarlatinal form with anasarca.   He cites twelve
cases of complete recovery.—British Med, Journ., Oct. 28, 1871.
  Calabar  Bean in  Tetanus— Dr. Franzolini  details {Gaz. Mid.
Ital. Pro. Ven.)  the case of a patient in his hospital with tetanus,
caused by the  penetration of a splinter  of wood into her left foot.
After removing the fragment from  the  foot on the 16th of July, Dr.
Franzolini made an injection of tincture of Calabar bean in the nape
of the neck.  The pulse was 84, temperature 38.8, and respirations 22.
On  the 18th July, pulse 96,  temperature 38.5, respirations  28.  The
injections were continued, thirty drops  being  injected—every twelve
drops containing five centigrammes  of  the bean.   In the first twenty-
four hours 130  drops of the simple tincture of  the  Calabar  bean were
injected.  The  patient  succumbed.—The Doctor, October 1st, 1871.
  In the Philadelphia Medical Times of Dec. 15, is reported a fatal
case of traumatic tetanus which was treated with Calabar bean.
  Cundurango.—According to the London  Lancet (Oct. 23,1871),
a trial of this drug in the Middlesex Hospital, London, has shown it to
be v\7orthless in  the treatment  of cancer.   A testimony which is abund-
antly confirmed on all sides.

  Chorea.—We find in the Aerztliches  Eiteraturbldt for July 7, M.
Wenz treated a girl of 17 years of age, who had not hitherto menstruated,
but who had been for several weeks affected with chorea of the right
side, by local ansesthetization  of the skin over the spinal column.  It
suspended consciousness,  giving rise to a kind of catalepsy7. It was
repeated for several days, with the result that the chorea was cured.
M. Wenz suggests a trial of this plan in tj^anus.—The Doctor.

  Treatment  of Chorea.—Dr. Wenz,  of  Dorzbach, reports {Wilr-
temb.  Corr. Bl., xlii., 1871) a case of chorea minor, with some manifes-
tations of movements of  chorea major,  in  which, on  the twelfth day,
treatment by the  ether spray  on the spine was commenced.   At first
30 grammes of  ether were used at a time, afterwards 16.  Six applica-
tions sufficed for the cure of the patient, except some slight indications
of choreic movements.—Schmidt\s Jahrbucher, Sept. 25, 1871.

  Pumpkin Seed  as  Anthelmintic—The anthelmintic value of
pumpkin seed appears to have long been known in the East, for, accord-
ing to the New York Druggists' Circular, of August, Dr. Smith used 
THERAPEUTICS.                     171
the following language before the New York Farmers' Club : " In my
travels in Syria I found pumpkin seeds almost universally eaten by the
people on account of their supposed medical qualities, not because they
are diuretic, but as an antidote  against animalculee which infest the
bowels.  They are sold in the streets, as apples and nuts are here.

  Chloral as an Antiseptic.—Mr. Stoddart, of Bristol, has recently
examined the stomach, lung, heart, kidney, and spleen of a patient who
died from an overdose of chloral  hydrate.  The first thing, he says, that
struck me was the very extraordinary way in which the several portions
were preserved.   Even now, although  more than a week has elapsed
since death, yet not the slightest sign of decomposition has taken place,
nor any unpleasant odor.  This,  doubtless, is the effect of chloroform
in the tissues.—Med. Press and  Circ.

   Remedy for Poisoning by Rhus Toxicodendron.—Dr.  J. D.
Stewart writes  to Boston Journal of Chemistry as follows: "I send
the following, which I have used for more than twenty-five years with
great satisfaction.   The  tormenting  burning pain is  relieved instan-
taneously, and  the worst cases are cured in one or two days: Bruise
 slightly a  handful of  white ash leaves {Fraxinus acuminata); add
, new milk enough to cover; simmer ten minutes, and apply, as hot  as
' can be borne, three times a day."  Mr. Harris, in the Scientific Amer-
 ican, states that he has used locally, with signal success, a wash made
 from a solution of belladonna, a teaspoonful to a tumblerful of water.

   Creasote in Typhoid Fever.—In the Revue de Therap. Medico-
 Chirurg.,  Sept. 17, is a paper by Dr. G. Morache, in which he strongly
 commends the use of creasote in typhoid fever.  He thinks it acts locally
 on the digestive  tract, modifying very favorably the character of the
 discharges, and at the same time  lessens the temperature of the patient
 He gives it in doses of 4 to 8 drops,  and at the same time an injection
 of 4 to 7 drops.   Dr. M. thinks  also that creasote acts specifically by
 arresting fermentation, but at the same time distinctly states that the
 use of phenic acid has not given as good results.
   Calabar Bean in Tetanus.—In the Indian Medical Gazette  oi
 June 1 Mr. C. Macnamara reports a case of traumatic tetanus, in which
 recovery took place under the administration of Calabar bean.

   Treatment  of Locomotor Ataxia by Electricity—In the
 Rwue de  Therap. Medico-Chirurg. for October, 1871, Dr. Paul Spill-
 mann details a case  of well-advanced locomotor  ataxia cured by the
 continued o-alvanic current.  The descending spinal current was used;
 that is the&positive electrode was always applied to the upper part of 
172
THERAPEUTICS.
the spine  and the negative  to the lower limbs.  The strength of the
current never exceeded that  of more than 20 to 30 elements of Remak.
  Aguomada (Plumeria Lancifolia).—This plant, a native of Bra-
zil, is much used in Rio Janeiro as an emmenagogue, in doses of one
and a half to two drachms of the dried leaves, taken in infusion one,
two, or three times a day.  Its properties are  said to reside in a resin
and  a bitter extractive.  An alcoholic extract is prepared, of which
the dose is  0.15  centigrammes.  It  is also used in leucorrhcea, and
when the lochia are irregular after confinement.—Journal de Med. de
Brussels.
  Phosphorus  as  a Remedy in  Cataract.—In the Revue de
Therap. Medico- Chirurg. (August and September) Dr. Tavignot has a
paper of some length upon  the above subject, in wdiich he concludes
that it is possible  to cure a certain number of cases of cataract, without
operation, by the  more or less prolonged internal exhibition of phos-
phorus, and  that all cataracts are influenced by it, the gray becoming
white, the white milky.

  AnsBSthetics.—For  a most elaborate article on recent  advance-
ments in anaesthesia, see a paper, too long for abstraction, in Schmidfs
Jahrb. of Sept. 25, 1871.

  The Origin of Enemata.—Frederigo Kernot,  of  Naples,  in a
newly published Storia delta Farmacia, describes, " with true Southern
liveliness," according to the Pharmaceutical Journal, the invention of
the enema-apparatus, which he looks upon as an epoch in pharmacy as
important as the discovery of America in the  history7 of human  civili-
zation.  The glory of the invention of this instrument, so beneficial to
suffering mankind, belongs to an Italian, Gatenaria, whose name ought
to find a modest  place together with Columbus, Galileo, Gioja, and
other eminent and illustrious Italians.  Lie was a compatriot of Colum-
bus, and professor at Pavia,  where he died in 1496, after having spent
several years in the perfection of his instrument.  The enema-appara-
tus may be justly named the queen of  the world,  as it has  reigned
without a rival for three hundred  years over  the w7hole Continent, be-
sides Brazil and America.  The enema came into use soon after the
invention of the apparatus itself.   Bouvard, physician to Louis XIII.,
applied two hundred and twenty enemata to this monarch in the course
of six months.  In the first years of Louis XIY. it became the fashion
of the day. Ladies took three or four a day to keep a fresh complexion,
and  the dandies  used as many7 for  a white  skin.  Enemata were per-
fumed with orange, angelica, bergamot, and roses;  and Mr. Kernot
exclaims,  enthusiastically7, " O! se tornasse questa  moda!"   (Oh that 
THERAPEUTICS.
173
this fashion would return I)  The medical profession at first hailed the
invention with delight, but soon found the application infra dig., and
handed it over to the pharmacist; but shameful invectives, sarcasms,
and epigrams, hurled at  those who exercised the humble duty of apply-
ing the apparatus, made  them at last resign it to barbers and hospital
attendants.  As a specimen of these  epigrams, the author gives the
epitaph on the tombstone of an ancient pharmacist:—
                    " Ci-git qui pour un quart d'ecu
                     S'agenouillait devant un cu."
                                    —British Medical Journal.

  Extract of Conium in Inflammation of the Breast.—M. Ald-
stadter, of Pesth, strongly7 recommends {Wiener Med. Presse, No. 12,
1S71) small  doses of extract of conium, repeated several times in the
course of the  day, for the resolution  of inflammation of the breast,
arising from stasis of the milk in puerperal women, and reports several
cases in which striking  advantage was obtained from its use.  In all
instances care  should be taken to obtain as pure and active a specimen
of the drug  as possible.—The Practitioner, Aug., 1S71.

  Purifying  of  Hospital Wards—M. Rabot states {E Union Medi-
cate, Aug. 20,  1871) that he has succeeded in purifying hospital wards,
without disturbing the patients, by the following means: An oxygen-
generating apparatus is  placed outside the building, and, by means of
a long india-rubber tube, a volume of oxygen is introduced, measuring
about the thousandth part of the cubic feet of the room, after the ward
had, as usual,  been  well ventilated.  To feed the patients' curiosity, a
few fumigations with cascarilla were made.  In both extremities of the
ward large basins containing one pound of peroxide of manganese and
ten pounds of the solution of  hyperchloride of lime were placed and
changed  every day.   The method has been conscientiously applied  by
M. Rabot in a hospital  at Versailles, with the  best results.—Medical
News and Library.

  Death from Bichloride of Methylene—A case of this  lately
occurred at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford.  The patient, a woman,
set. 44, was about to undergo an operation for cancer of the breast.  Bi-
chloride of methylene was administered on a flannel rag. After two
or three convulsive gasps the patient expired.   The quantity adminis-
tered was small.   Artificial respiration was practised, and other means
of restoration, but without success.—British Medical  Journal, Sept.
16, 1871. 
174
THERAPEUTICS.
  Frozen Beef-Essence—Dr. II. B. Hare states {Phila. Med, Times,
Oct, 16, 1871)  that in a case of scarlet-fever in a child, the patient
could not be induced to swallow the beef-tea which his condition re-
quired.   As he took ice with avidity, the father suggested that if the
beef-tea were frozen he might then be induced to take it in that form.
The suggestion was carried out, and the child took the frozen beef-tea
readily.  This expedient may in many cases be advantageously resort-
ed to.

  Rash Produced hy Quinine.—At a meeting of the Detroit Acad-
emy of Medicine {Detroit Review of Med. and Pharm.,  Sept., 1871)
Dr. Andrews reports several  cases in which quinine produced erup-
tions attended with such intense itching as to preclude its use.

  The Teaspoon as a Measure.—A writer in the Canadian Phar-
maceutical Journal, who has examined the subject critically, says that
teaspoons have  been gradually growing larger of late years,  the spoon
of the last century7 having been only about two-thirds of the size of that
now in common use.  He adds, however, that three sizes are made at
the present time—-large, medium, and small, containing 95, 85, and 60
minims respectively.  Table-spoons, also, have increased, and vary from
4.5 to 6 fluid drachms in capacity7. He infers that the dose of certain
articles may be unsafe if  a teaspoonful or a table-spoonful be ordered,
and proposes to abolish the dessert-spoon as a measure, substituting two
teaspoonfuls.
  Local Application of the Leaves of Datura Stramonium,
—In the  Revue de Therapeut. Medico-Chirurg. for Nov.  15,1871,
Felix Neucourt praises cataplasms made of  the leaves  of Datura
Stramonium as of  great service in various inflammations, detailing a
number of cases in which he found them very useful.  These cases
comprised acute intestinal inflammation, acute and  chronic  phlebitis,
phlegmonous, muscular rheumatism, arthritis of the great  toe, and in-
flammation of the vulva.   The cataplasm should  be  applied immedi-
ately over the affected part, and be changed about three times a day.
  In a case of cardiac dropsy the application of a cataplasm of stramo-
nium to the abdomen produced, after eight hours, diarrhoea  and pro-
fuse diuresis, with subsequent relief to the anasarca.   In inflammatory
cases the  relief was most marked when the cataplasms were applied
early.  In no case were symptoms of  mydriasis or narcotic intoxication
induced.
  Belladonna locally applied in Orchitis and  other Inflam-
mations.—Dr.  S. D. Turney7, in the American Practitioner, states
that he has for sixteen years used belladonna as a local application in 
THERAPEUTICS.
175
orchitis, and that in twenty-four hours there is usually entire relief.
and the patient may7 leave his room, after having applied a suspensory
bandage.   The same  remedy is  also  very efficacious  in  inflamed
breasts.  The formula is as follows :—
         Take of Extract of belladonna, one drachm.
                 Glycerole of starch, one ounce.
  Mix and  rub thoroughly over the entire  scrotum and along the
affected cord every three or four hours.

  Gelsemium.—In the American Practitioner, vol. iv., p. 267, Dr.
Theo. M. Rafferty recommends tincture of Gelsemium as a most valua-
ble febrifuge,  as being very  useful  in neuralgia, hysteria,  nervous
headache, and  as  near a specific for rigidity  of the os uteri in labor,
and as of great service in puerperal eclampsia.

  Acupuncture in  Muscular Paralysis  and  Pains.—Dr. Prid-
gin Teale  commends {Abeille  Medicate)  acupuncture in muscular
paralysis following luxations from want of use of the  part, and also
in persistent muscular pains which have  resisted other treatment, and
are probably7 due to rheumatic fibrous inflammation.  The acupunc-
ture is supposed to relieve by7 modifying the afflux  of blood, and  con-
sequently nutrition.  The needle must  be thrust  clear  through the
tissue to the bone beneath, and allowed to remain one minute.   Relief
is sometimes immediate.—Revue de  Therap. Medico-Chir.,  Nov. 1,
1871.

  Tetanus.—In IT. S. A. Circular  No.  3, August 17,  1871,  several
cases  of tetanus are  reported—one, following gun-shot wound  of
the hand, treated with opium and cliloroform  inhalations, terminating
fatally.  At the autopsy the  median  nerve was found  inflamed for
five or six inches.  One, very bad, following a  severe  burn  caused
by explosion of  a magazine.  Recovery.  Treatment:  attention  to
bowels and most supporting food, with free use of alcohol;  bromide
of potassium carried to the extent of half  an  ounce four times a day;
grain doses of morphia to procure sleep, and, later in the  disease, eight
grains of quinine daily.
  One case treated with large  doses of opium and inhalation of ether.
This was very severe.  The convulsions followed instantly upon a blow
on a very sore bubo, and occurred every five or ten  minutes, and were
very severe.  In ten hours two  and a half ounces of laudanum and
fourteen ounces of ether were used, and at the end of that period the
spasms yielded.  Recovery7. 
176
THERAPEUTICS.
   Chloral Hydrate  in  Cramps—In  the Wiener  Medizinische
 Presse, Nov. 26, 1871, Dr. W. Morgenstern details two cases of severe
 cramps in the legs, which yielded at once to moderate doses of chloral.
 One of these cases was in the person of a pregnant woman.
   Paralysis of Ocular Muscles Treated with Calabar Bean-
 Mr. T. Wharton Jones reports, in the December number of The Prac-
 titioner, two cases of paralysis of ocular muscles, successfully treated
 by7 dropping a solution of  the extract of calabar bean into the eye.

   The  Use of Calabar Bean in Diphtheritic  Paralysis of the
.Accommodation.—Prof. Manz, of Freiburg, notices that the pupil is
 generally but little affected in these cases, and finds that oft-repeated
 weak solutions of Calabar bean (Calabar bean  paper) effect more per-
 manently beneficial results than the use of strong ones, and that reco-
 very from the paralysis—which tends naturally7 to take place—is very
 much quickened by the use of this remedy7.—Monatsblatt fur Augen-
 heilk., September, 1S70.—N Y. Med. Record.
   Means of Preventing Scars in Variola.—Dr. Revillont {Presse
 Med. Beige, Sept. 25) says there exists a very7  certain  method of
 preventing the scars of variola, only it is tedious, and therefore is often
 neglected.   It consists in opening, one after  the other, with a needle
 dipped in a weak solution of nitrate of silver, all the vesicles which
 we desire to make abortive.—The Doctor.
   Ice  Poultices.—G-uaiacum  in Dysmenorrhoea.—Dr. Abbot
 details a case in which a woman took drachm doses of ammoniated
 tincture  of  guaiacum for dysmenorrhoea, as recommended by Dewees,
 and the flow became painless and alarmingly7 profuse.  Among other
 remedial measures ice poultices were used.  Of these he speaks as
 follows:—
   They are made  by covering with pieces of  ice of the size of an
 egg a  layer of meal upon a  cloth,  the whole being covered  with
 another layer of meal, and  a cloth over all.  The meal absorbs the
 water from the melting ice, and a moderate sensation of cold is  kept
 up for hours, without the necessity of changing the application.  The
 ice sometimes lasts  for  four or five hours when applied in this  way,
 and the cold is much less severe than when it is applied directly or
 enveloped in rubber.—Boston Med. and Surg.  Jour.
   Ice in Acute Rheumatism.—Prof. Esmarch, in a communication
 to the Berlin Medical Society, related instances of the great benefit
 which he had derived from the continuous application of ice to joints
 affected with acute rheumatism.   The general temperature becomes 
THERAPEUTICS.
177
lowered, the pain abated, and the course of the disease  abbreviated to
an extent  procurable by no other  means.  So far from fearing the
induction of cerebral affection by repelling the articular inflammation
—the plirenopathia rheumatica being here, as in typhus, dependent
upon the  increased temperature—ice is  especially  indicated for its
prevention or removal.—Medical Times and Gazette.

  Cabbage-Leaves as a  Local Application.—Dr. Blanc confirms
{Revue  de Therap. Med.-Chir., Jan. 15,  1S72) the  statement that
cabbage-leaves are a valuable local  application for rheumatic pain,
and also reports cases of foul and erysipelatous ulcers,  where the use
was attended with the happiest results.

  Injection of Alcohol into Serous Cysts.—M. Monod {E Union
Medicate, October 30, 1871) has called the attention  of the Societe
de Chirurgie to the use  of alcohol as an injection in hydrocele, and in
other forms of serous accumulation.—Philad.  Med, Times.

  Cod-Liver Oil in Whooping-Cough.—J. Prestwick states (London
lancet, Dec. 9, 1871) that he has obtained very good results by7  using
cod-liver oil  in whooping-cough.
  Lupus  Exedens of  Twenty  Years' Standing  Cured by
Large Doses of  Iodide of Potassium.—Mr. Gay (London Lancet,
Dec. 9,1871) details a case in which the disease had steadily progressed
for 20 years, eating away  the greater portion of  the  upper maxilla
and  the nasal bone and  cartilage  on the left side.   There was no
syphilitic basis whatever, but cicatrization commenced  in a very7 short
time after  the exhibition of half a drachm of the iodide of  potassium
three times a day7, and was nearly completed at time of  report.

  Atomized  Turpentine-Water  in  Chronic Bronchitis  and
Consumption.—Dr. S. Goodwin, of Victoria, Texas,  writes us that
he has lately been using turpentine-water,  inhaled by means of an
atomizer, with signal advantage in  cases of chronic bronchitis and
consumption, where there was copious expectoration  of either mucus
or pus, with hemorrhage and violent cough.  The turpentine-water is
prepared from spirits of turpentine by magnesia, in the same  way
that  aromatic waters are  commonly prepared  by druggists.—Medical
News.
  On the Use of  Setons in  Strumous  Diseases.—Mr. Edward
Crossman  has  a paper upon this subject  in  The British Medical
(Dec. 16 1872).  lie details some cases in which the setons had very
marked  effects, and states  that  he  has notes on the  use of setons in
35 cases of confirmed phthisis in various stages, in 32 of which very
          12 
178
THERAPEUTICS.
 great benefit was received from their use.   In no case were  any had
 results produced, or the weakness increased by the discharge of the
 wound, but the expectoration was lessened  and the emaciation part
 passa disappeared. The setons in these cases were inserted in the breast.
 In strumous ophthalmia Mr. Crossman found setons  placed in the arm
 of very great service.   He also states that he has obtained very good
 results from setons in  the neck in tubercular meningitis;  also from
 one in the arm, above the clavicle, in glandular swellings in the neck.

   Action of  Platinum, Palladium, and  Iridium Salts  In-
 jected into the Blood.—In the Journal  of Anatomy and Physio-
 logy for November last, Dr. Blake, of California, has a paper upon this
 subject.   He finds  that when small amounts of  the  substances named
 are injected in solution into the veins, there is a sudden fall of the
 arterial pressure, owing, he believes, to complete arrest of the pulmo-
 nary circulation, from contraction of the lung capillaries.  If in very
 small quantity they at last pass  through the  lungs and exert a similar
 influence on the systemic  capillaries, giving rise to increased arterial
 pressure.   If they be injected into an  artery, the blood pressure is at
 once almost doubled.  When injected in sufficient quantity into a vein
 to produce death, the lungs are found excessively anaemic.  The action
 is probably7 a local  one  exerted directly7 upon the capillaries, and  not
 through the intervention of the vaso-motor nerves.

   Intestinal  Occlusion Produced by  the  Accumulation of
 Faeces;  Cure by the Employment of Ice, Within and Without.
 —Dr. Prunac,  Interne of  the Hospital of Lyon, reports a cure in the
 EAbeille Medicate, Dec.  25,  1871, in which, after  the failure of
 senna, croton oil, etc.,  etc.,  and the  appearance' of  most  alarming
 syniptoms, the woman was  treated by the application  of  ice to the out-
 side and the use of  large enemata of ice-water every  four hours.  The
 water was retained, and during the following night large quantities of
 hardened faeces were passed, with great relief to the abdominal pain,
 distention, and soreness.  The  next day the pulse was less rapid, the
 sweats had ceased, there was some diarrhoea, and the abdominal symp-
 toms were better.   Through this  day  the  ice was used internally
 and externally, and seltzer-water was exhibited.  She had three diar-
 rhceic stools, one of them bloody.  The ice was stopped the next day,
 and the woman made a rapid recovery.

  Action  of  Nicotia   and   of  Atropia  on  the  Vagus-
 Schmiedeberg {Ludwig's Arbeiten) states that the vagus contains fila-
 ments which quicken the  heart's action as well  as those that slow it.
 Nicotia paralyzes the latter, atropia the former.—Journal of Ana-
riomy and Physiology, November, 1871. 
THERAPEUTICS.
179
  Action of Curare on Temperature.—Riegol states that when an
animal is poisoned with curare the temperature steadily falls, although
artificial respiration be carefully kept up, and the actions of the heart
and the functions of the sensory and vaso-motor nerves remain unaf-
fected by the poison.   When the animal has previously been rendered
feverish by the injection of pus into the veins the temperature  was not
only reduced to the normal, but even below it.—Ibid.

  Popliteal Aneurism  Cured by  Flexion in Three Days —
The Bulletin de VA cademie Royale de Medecine de Belgique {British
Medical Journal, December 23) contains an account by  Dr. Laron-
delle of the  cure of  a popliteal  aneurism of the size of  an  orange.
Dr. Larondelle adopted Mr. Ernest Hart's method of forced flexion of
the leg upon the thigh.   There was oedema of the foot and leg.  The
bandage employed was applied after the fashion recommended by Mr.
Hart in his first paper in the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions / and
the patient, as in his second published case, was  allowed to walk about
the room with the help of a  crutch.  The bandage was solidified by7
starch.  The flexion seems to have been forced a little in excess.  At
the end of the second day, as the patient was complaining much of the
pain, the bandage was removed. ' A second  bandage was applied, and
on the third  day the tumor was found to be  solidified.   The cure thus
effected was  permanent; and the tumor, at the end of five months, was
reduced to the dimensions of a small, hard kernel.—Phila. Medical
Times.

  Lead Poisoning as a Cause of  Optic Neuritis.—Mr. Jonathan
Hutchinson narrates five cases of defective vision occurring in  patients
affected with lead poisoning, in all of whom the presence or previous
existence of inflammation of the optic nerve was revealed on ophthal-
moscopic examination. Numerous cases of this kind have been recorded
in the German medical journals, but this  form of  amaurosis does not
appear to have attracted much attention elsewhere.—Royal London
Ophthalmic  Hosp>ital Reports.—N  Y. Med. Record.

  Phosphuretted Oil  in the  Treatment  of Cataract.—Prof.
Gioppi, of Padua, reports six cases of cataract in which he used phos-
phuretted  oil, two being cases of soft, the  others of senile cataract.
The oil was  employed for two weeks, four to six  times daily, in the
form of drops, in the eye and  as  an inunction to the circumorbital
region, and internally, and no local or general effects were observed to
take place, the lens remaining the same.— Giornale d' Oftalmologia
and Edinburgh Medical Journal—N.  Y. Med. Record. 
180
MATERIA MEDICA.
           flkrt  2.

MATERIA  MEDICA.
PREPARATION OF CHLORAL-HYDRATE, AND  TESTS AS
                       TO  ITS  PURITY.

                         BY DK. E. JACOBSEJST.

  All the methods that have been published at different times for the
preparation  of  this article can be divided into two classes:  those that
describe its  production directly from alcohol, and those by  which an-
hydrous chloral is obtained, which  only7 yields the  hydrate by the
addition of one equivalent of Avater.  O.  Liebreich, the discoverer of
the hypnotic properties of the hy7drate, mentions that Liebig's method
(passing chlorine gas into absolute alcohol) is greatly preferable to that
of Staedeler (action of muriatic acid and binoxide of manganese on
starch and  other carbo-hydrides).  Muller  and Paul  pass  well-dried
chlorine gas into a long, narrow cylinder filled with absolute alcohol,
heating gradually7, first to 30° C, then to 60°  C.  They raise the temper-
ature then for six days, until it reaches 100° C, where the cylinder is
kept, and the contents  solidify.  The mass of crystals is repeatedly
melted and  recrystallized, and finally distilled.  Should the distillate
still have an acid reaction, it is distilled once more over chalk.  If
crystallization fails to  set in on account of  too much water, the latter
distillation is effected over some chloride  of calcium, which had been
previously7 dried at 150° C.   The  passing  of chlorine into the mass
during the last two day7s, whereby much of it escapes as such, not only
finishes the substitution, but also drives off the hydrochloric acid pro-
duced in the process.
  J. Thompson passes chlorine  gas into absolute  alcohol in a similar
way7, but  interrupts, however, the current of gas as soon as the fluid
has turned yellow, and no chlorine is any  longer absorbed, and boils it
afterwards until the hydrochloric acid has  been volatilized;  chalk is
now added,  and the whole purified by fractional distillation  over chlo-
ride of calcium, taking care to obtain only that part of the fluid which
distils between 110° C. and 115° C.   The part boiling at  a lower tem-
perature is  once more  rectified.   A redistillation  over chloride of 
MATERIA MEDICA.
181
calcium will ahvays be found necessary.  The yield by this method, of
chloral-hydrate, is 135 to 140 per cent, of the alcohol employed, the
amount of chlorine used being four or five times that of the alcohol.
  Roussin cools the  alcohol, which has been saturated with chlorine,
down to 0° C, presses out the mass of crystals, which he distils over
chalk, obtaining thereby a product which boils at 115° C, and differs
greatly  in other statements from  other chemists.   Thompson obtained
a product boiling at 115° C.; Personne, one boiling between 96° and
98° C.; the latter also proved that Roussin's preparation consisted of
or contained chloral-alcoholate; and that he obtained  185 per cent, of
the chloral-hydrate by first separating the chloral from the crude pro-
duct by7 means of sulphuric acid.
   The different  results obtained by  different chemists in  producing
chloral-hy7drate originate mostly in the  different lengths of time they
allow chlorine gas to act on the alcohol; an intermediate product,
chloral-alcoholate, is formed, which is only7 converted into chloral by
longer-continued action  of chlorine gas.  The accurate regulation of
temperature  is, of course, very important as regards the quantity of
other products of  chloro-substitutions, while the action of the light in
the course of  the  process may seriously7  impair the quality of  the
article.  Very often has been found in  commerce a chloral-hydrate
containing: more or  less of the alcoholate :  and as  the latter is known
to possess its own peculiar action upon the system, the observations of
physicians, differing as they have done, find an easy explanation.  Both
the hydrate and alcoholate of chloral  are very similar to each  other
in taste, odor, and appearance;  they may be distinguished, however,
by the following reactions : If  in a test-tube a little of the hydrate be
heated  with twice its volume of  water, it will dissolve readily ;  while
the alcoholate, under similar conditions, fuses, and upon cooling soli-
difies again at the bottom of the tube.   If the alcoholate is  warmed
with  concentrated sulphuric acid, it turns brown, with  separation of
chloral, while no change takes  place with the latter.   The  alcoholate,
heated  with  nitric acid of the specific gravity 1.2, will cause  copious
red fumes to be given off, while there  is  almost no action upon  the
hydrate.  According to Hagar, small quantities of  alcohol may be de-
tected in chloral-hydrate by Lieben's iodoform test.
   Of special  importance may prove the manufacture of chloroform
from chloral-hydrate, as this alone is chemically pure, not being  de-
composed by sunlight, a reaction that will almost  always take  place
with  chloroform  that has been prepared  in the usual way, and seems
to demonstrate  that different products  of  substitution are  formed
thereby  Some chemical establishments, indeed, employ crude alcohol,
containing aldehvde, for the preparation of chloroform;  and as Krae 
182
MATERIA MEDICA.
mer and Pinner lately have obtained, by means of alkalies from croton-
chloral (prepared by the action of chlorine gas on aldehyde), a body
similar to  chloroform (allyle chloroform), and remarkable for the ease
with which it decomposes, setting free hydrochloric acid, this may he
a hardly ever absent impurity of many kinds of chloroform, causing
their ready  decomposition.    The importance of the  subject ought
certainly to make the chloroform makers careful.  An article of abso-
lute purity should be used for medical purposes.— Chemisch-technisch.
Repertor.
  [We will state here that a ready way for testing chloral-hydrate was
mentioned in a meeting of the  Lyceum of Natural History of New
York, by Dr. I. Waly.  In treating the hydrate that, by the action ef
light  or moisture, had deteriorated, with sulphide of ammonium, a
yellow precipitate was obtained, while the pure article formed under
similar  condition a  reddish-brown liquid.   The original articles re-
ferred to may be found in the following journals:—
  Liebig (discoverer)—Ann. Chem. Pharm., vol. i. p. 189.
  Dumas—Ann. Phys. Chem. [2], vol. 56, p. 123.
  Staedeler—Ann. Chem. Pharm., vol. 61, p. 101.
  Muller  and Paul—Pharmaceut.  Zeitung, 1869, No. 100.
  Personne—Comptes Rendues, vol. 69, p. 1363.
  Roussin—Comptes Rendues, vol.  69, p.  1144.]—New York Drug-
gists'  Circular.
         CHLORAL-HYDRATE, ALCOHOLATE, TESTS.
                       BY ALFRED H.  MASON.
  The alcoholate  of chloral, represented  by C2ClsHO + C2H60, also
the hydrated alcoholate, is met with in commerce, and  is not to be
trusted therapeutically.   The hydrate  of chloral is insoluble in cold
chloroform, tetrachloride of carbon, turpentine, and bisulphide of car-
bon ;  but on the application of heat, solution is effected.   The chloral
hydrate is, however, freely soluble in cold water, ether (.735), and abso-
lute alcohol (.805).  "When dissolved by means of heat, on cooling the
hydrate separates in  crystals generally acicular, but from  bisulphide of
carbon in prisms.  True hydrate of chloral is not acted on by nitrate
of silver or by acids.
  Alcoholate of chloral is perfectly soluble in chloroform, ether, tetra-
chloride of carbon, absolute alcohol, turpentine, and bisulphide of car-
bon, and upon  heating  does  not present any change.  In cold water
alcoholate  of chloral is nearly insoluble.   If twenty grains of the
chloral compound is soluble in thirty minims of cold chloroform, it is not 
MATERIA MEDICA.
183
a hydrate.  On the other hand, if the same quantity7 of chloral compound
is insoluble in cliloroform, it is  a hydrate.
  Mr. Mason  gives a table of analyses showing that the per cent, of
chloroform yielded upon distillation with caustic soda varies very much
in different makes, and that the chloral made under the  supervision
of Liebreich is the best of all.—Pharmaceutical Transactions.
  Mr. H. LI.  Paul has examined fourteen samples, said to represent
the chief varieties in commerce, with  different  results from those of
Mr. Mason.  Lie finds the per cent, of chloroform much more uniform,
the crystals yielding somewhat  more than the other forms.
  The Editor  thinks that chloral is so hygroscopic that its weight, and
consequently the per cent, of chloroform yielded, varies with exposure
to moist  air.—Ibid.
  By treatment with solution of ammonia, as showm by Mr. Umney,
the hydrate of chloral yields 70 per cent., the alcoholate 60 per cent.
—Prof.  Attfield,
  Dr. F. Versmann says:  A  concentrated aqueous solution  placed
under the air-pump gives rhomboid crystals; ether gives  small  hard
crystals ; acetone, fine needles;  warm benzole supersaturated, deposits
on  cooling,  also  fine needles;  whereas benzole evaporating sponta-
neously forms  long crystals, sometimes half an inch long.  Bisulphide of
carbon, in the same way, yields fine needles or large crystals. A saturated
alcoholic solution deposits long feathery crystals.   I obtained some one
and a half inches long, which proved to be alcoholate.  The alcoholate
and hydrates may7 be readily distinguished in the following way: Take a
pretty7 wide beaker glass, six or eight  inches high, full of water, drop
a few crystals  into it;  the Irydrate sinks down  at once, and  is almost
dissolved before it reaches the bottom.   "With the alcoholate the larger
crystals will only sink to the bottom and lie there for several minutes
before they gradually disappear;  but  small crystals or fragments of
crystals will float on the surface of the water, and  as soon as they are
attacked  by the water, the slight current of the saline solution sinking
down occasions sufficient disturbance to impart  life to the solid par-
ticles ; they begin to spin round and round, and dart from  one side of
the beaker to the other, until  the very last solid particle has disap-
peared.   This is not only a very pretty and amusing sight, but is really
a distinguishing mark between  the hydrate and alcoholate.
  Dr. Versmann  also proposes a new test, which he  thinks much
better than  the  ammonia  test.   He  says: I take  advantage of the
facility with which the chloral-hydrate and the  alcoholate  are decom-
posed by strong  sulphuric acid with separation of  chloral, which in a
graduated tube may be read off, and the percentage of hydrate calcu-
lated.   I take about  equal parts  by weight, i. e., ten grammes of the 
184                    MATERIA MEDICA.

hydrate and from five to six c. c. of S03.   Five parts of hydrate and
one part of acid do not  separate chloral, even when heated.  And
again, a great excess of acid does not give a satisfactory result.  About
equal weights  is the most satisfactory proportion.  In a graduated tube
provided with a well-ground  stopper, and graduated into 0.1 c. c. I in-
troduce from five to six c. c. of sulphuric acid, and heat it by water-
bath  to 140° F.  I then add ten grammes of  chloral-hydrate, shake
well, so as to cover the hydrate, and put the tube back into hot water.
Decomposition is instantaneous, and the two liquids separate very dis-
tinctly.   The  chloral floating at the top may7 be  read off  so soon as the
liquid has cooled.  After  an hour or  so the two liquids mix and the
chloral changes into meta-chloral, a substance having the same chemi-
cal composition as chloral, but solid, and absolutely7 incapable of dis-
solving in water or alcohol.  Determinations  with numerous samples,
both with the ammonia test and the sulphuric acid test, always gave a
somewhat higher result with the last, which  is  more accurate.  For
this reason, and because  the  process is completed in a few minutes, I
prefer it to the ammonia test.
  The boiling test Dr. Yersmann considers  of  no value.—Pharm.
Trans.
  Mr. C. LI. "Wood employs with success the following test: A hundred
grains of chloral-hydrate are introduced into a four-ounce flask and
dissolved in an ounce of water.   Thirty grains of dry hydrate of  lime
are then added, and a cork, furnished with a long piece of glass tube,
is fitted to the mouth of  the flask.  This tube is bent over just above
the cork, so as to slant down and form a condenser.  It is surrounded
with wet blotting paper during the experiment.   The extremity of the
tube is drawn out and enters a graduate tube, which acts as a receiver.
A gentle heat is then applied to the flask, and  the  chloroform slowly
distilled over.  After a few minutes the heat is increased, so as to keep
the mixture boiling, and  continued  until about one hundred grain
measures have been collected in the receiver.  By this means the steam
thoroughly displaces and sweeps over the last traces  of chloroform. It
is only necessary to read off the  volume of the  chloroform obtained.
Before taking the final reading, it is advisable to keep the tube in a ves-
sel of water exactly 60° F.  A few drops of liquor potassaa poured into
the  tube destroys  the meniscus of  the  chloroform and  facilitates
reading.
  Mr. Wood states, as far as his experience goes, the alcoholate of chloral
is not in commerce.—Pharmaceutical Trans.
  The editors of The Pharmaceutical Transactions state they do not
think there is  any alcoholate on the market, and that the chloral-hydrate
is generally of good  quality. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
185
ON THE DISTILLATION  AND BOILING-POINT  OF GLY-
                           CERINE.

                       BY ME. THOS. BOLAS.

  It is well known that when glycerine, subjected to the ordinary atmos-
pheric pressure, is  heated so  as  to  cause ebullition, it is more or less
rapidly  decomposed  by  repeated distillations.   This decomposition
may be, however, entirely prevented by a reduction of the  pressure in
the apparatus employed to 12.5 m. m.  The boiling point of glycerine
was determined by effecting  the distillation  in a  long-necked flask,
having a supplementary7 neck  attached at right angles to the principal
one.  In the principal neck the thermometer was fixed by the aid of a
caoutchouc cork, while the smaller neck was  connected in a similar
manner with a two-necked receiver.  The  glycerine, together with a
few fragments of tobacco pipe (to prevent bumping), being placed in
the retort flask, the receiver was connected with a Sprengel's mercurial
pump and manometer, the caoutchouc joints being made with glycerine
in the usual way.   Unless the glycerine distilled had been dehydrated
by previous distillation in a vacuum, the first portion of the distillate
consisted principally7 of water; afterwards, when the glycerine in a
pure  state came over, the temperature indicated by the  thermometer
was 179.5° C.  At this time the pressure on the liquid was  12.5 m. m.,
a pressure nearly corresponding to the tension of aqueous vapor at the
temperature of the  receiver.  A determination of  the carbon and
hydrogen in the glycerine distilled  as above was made; the oxidant
employed being oxide of copper, followed by oxy7gen gas  (O), 0.4281
gran. Co2 and 0.3439 grm. H20.
	Theory.		Found.
c3.. ............................	30 8 48	39.1 8.7 52.2	38.9
			0.9
os.........................................			
			
	92	100	
  Under a pressure  of 50 m. m. glycerine distills without change at
about 210° C.  Glycerine, dehydrated by distillation, absorbs  water
from the atmosphere to the extent of about 50 per cent, of its weight.
The amount absorbed is, as might be expected, very variable.— Chemical
News. 
186
MATERIA MEDICA.
                    TESTS FOR OLIYE OIL.
  M. Luigi Mosciiixi states that the method, suggested by some authors,
of distinguishing olive oil from other oils by means of sulphuric acid,
caustic soda and nitrate of mercury, can be depended upon only when
the oil  is in its  natural  state,  not altered by exposure to sunshine.—
Journal of the Chemical Society.
                                    ALOES.
         In a paper upon this subject in the Transactions of the British Phar-
       maceutical Conference, Mr. William A. Tilden says that the compound
       decoction of aloes (Br.  Ph.) loses its bitterness on keeping, and also its
       purgative power.   In discussing the reason of this, he first enumerates
       the reputed constituents  of aloes as four in number.  1. Aloetin or
       aloesin ; 2. Aloin ;  3. Resin ; 4. Aloesic acid.
         Aloetin is abundant in aloes, and is to be  regarded as the product
       of the alteration of aloin, partly by the action of heat, partly by oxida-
e      tion by the air.  Mr. Tilden believes  it to be a mixture of anhydrous
       aloin, which is capable,  in the presence of  water, of recovering its
       crystalline condition, and a brown oxidized substance hereafter spoken
       of.
         Aloin is most readily prepared by the following process.  A bright,
       odorous, not waxy-looking specimen of Barbadoes aloes is to be dissolv-
       ed in a quantity (1 lb. to the gallon) of boiling distilled water, to which
       a few drops of sulphuric, sulphurous, or hy7drochloric acid have been
       added.  Let the liquid stand over night to deposit its resin, then pour
       off and evaporate quickly, until, if 1 lb. of aloes have been used, about
       2 lbs. of liquid remain.   This left for twenty-four hours will deposit
       an abundant crop of  yellow crystalline matter.  This is to be well
       drained and pressed,  and purified  by  recrystallization from water
       mixed with a  little rectified  spirit.   The yield will be about twenty
       per   cent,  if  the aloes be well selected.  This aloin  will bear very
       well frequent heating in  aqueous solution, if the solution be neutral or
       slightly acid.  Mr. Tilden is  convinced that M. Kosman was in error
       in considering aloin a glucoside.  As a proof  of  this, some aloin was
       dissolved  in about an equal weight of pure S03; the  solution  was
       gently heated  for a few minutes, and then poured into some  water and
       kept boiling for four horn's.  This was saturated by an excess of pure
       carbonate  of  barium, filtered and  evaporated over a water-bath,  a
       minute quantity of  barium retained in solution  was precipitated by
       sulphuric  acid, and  the liquid further concentrated, when purea loin 
                        MATERIA MEDICA.                     187

crystallized out.  A part  of the solution left was tested by the fer-
mentation test, but gave  no evidence of the presence of sugar.  The
copper test is not applicable, because pure aloin reduces an alkaline
copper solution freely and rapidly.   With ferric  salts aloin strikes an
olive color.
  3.  Resin,—This can hardly be a resin, as it is readily soluble in hot
water.   Of its real nature little is known.
  4.  Aloesic  Acid.—This has no  existence; the acidity to  test-paper
presented by  infusion of aloes is owing to the half-oxidized substance
in aloesin.
  Aioin, exposed to the air, undergoes  a very slow change; but if in
alkaline solution, this change is very rapid, the solution in a few hours
becoming of  a deep brown color, and  in three or four days the aloin
entirely disappears, having been converted into a brown substance, or
mixture  of substances, without  bitterness, and at the same time the
purgative power of the solution is lost. Mr. Tilden has taken large doses
of this " oxidized extract" without any effect.  He further states that
" all existing  facts point to the conclusion that the various kinds of aloes
do not owe their purgative power  to aloin."   Also: " Until new facts
suggest a different conclusion, I hold that the soluble, brown, uncrys-
tallizable substance, which constitutes a  considerable proportion of
aloes, is the part to which the purgative power is due."
IMPROYED  METHODS FOR  PREPARING SOME OFFICI-
           NAL AND  NON-OFFICINAL SYRUPS.
                      SYKUP OF IPECACUANHA.
  According to the Pharmacopoeia, syrup of ipecacuanha is prepared
by mixing the fluid  extract with simple syrup; the fluid extract, hav-
ing been made  officinal  for that especial purpose, is obtained by an
impracticable, inconvenient, and tedious process, which consists in ex-
hausting the root in fine powder by percolation with three parts of offi-
cinal alcohol (sp. gr., 835-85 per cent.).  The percolate is evaporated to
a syrupy liquid, mixed with acetic acid and water and boiled down to a
certain limit, the residue filtered and added to an equal bulk of alco-
hol.  After taking all this pains, the pharmaceutist finds, to his utmost
chagrin, that this  syrup of  ipecac becomes nevertheless cloudy7.  To
remedy this  evil and the unnecessary expenditure of costly material
and ill-repaid effort, the following modification is offered as an undeni-
able improvement.
  A fluid extract of  ipecac, to conform in strength with the officinal,
is first prepared by repercolating any convenient  quantity of the root 
188
MATERIA MEDICA.
in moderately fine powder (passed through a sieve of 50 meshes to the
linear inch), and divided into three equal parts, with a mixture of three
parts of officinal alcohol (85 per cent.) and one of water; and to make
syrup of ipecacuanha—
              Take of  this fluid extract, 2 fluid ounces.
                      Sugar,  28 troy ounces.
                      Water, a sufficient quantity7.
  To the fluid extract add 2 fluid ounces of water and heat the mix-
ture to the boiling point; then add 12 fluid ounces of water, filter, and
pour sufficient water through the filter to  make the liquid measure one
pint; in this dissolve the sugar with the aid of heat, and strain through
muslin.  This syrup can also be prepared by mixing the same quantity
of officinal fluid extract with  sufficient water to make the measure of
a pint, letting the mixture  rest several hours, then filtering and pro-
ceeding as above.   Both preparations will be perfectly clear, beauti-
ful, and identical in  strength and appearance; but the former possesses
the natural odor and taste of ipecac in an eminent degree, which can-
not be claimed as strictly the same in case of the latter.

                      SYKUP  OF LACTUCARIUM.
  The officinal syrup is an unsightly affair,  and the process is particu-
larly weak, requiring that lactucarium, first rubbed with diluted alco-
hol to a syrupy liquid,  be exhausted  by percolation with that menstru-
um, that the percolate  be then evaporated to a small bulk, and mixed
with hot simple syrup.  The  performance of this percolation  entails
the greatest difficulty, and  is tedious beyond  measure, for which the
pharmaceutist's recompense is a preparation exceedingly ugly in its
outward appearance.
  But  all  these obstacles vanish before  the fact  that lactucarium is
completely exhausted  by boiling water, with the consequent coagula-
tion of its  albumen, and further, that  the aqueous extract is perfectly
clarified by magnesium carbonate.   From these data we derive tho
formula for syrup of lactucarium:—
              Take of  Lactucarium, 1 troy ounce.
                      Magnesium carbonate, 120 grains.
                      Sugar, 14 troy ounces.
                      Water, a sufficient quantity.
  Triturate the lactucarium to powder, and heat  it with eight fluid
ounces of water to the boiling-point; maintain that temperature a few
moments,  and then strain  the liquid off  by wringing the mixture
through muslin; add the  strained liquid  gradually to the magnesium
carbonate with constant trituration,  and filter through paper, pouring 
MATERIA MEDICA.
189
sufficient water through  the  filter to make the filtrate measure eight
fluid ounces, in which dissolve the sugar with heat, and strain through
muslin.   The product is, to say the least, elegant.

                        SYRUP OF RHUBARB.
  The officinal process for fluid extract of rhubarb is not of the  most
desirable nature.   It consists in  percolating rhubarb,  in moderately
fine powder, with officinal alcohol, until a certain measure is obtained,
setting this aside to evaporate spontaneously, and continuing the ex-
haustion  with diluted alcohol, evaporating this residuary7 percolate,
adding sugar, and  then the first part of  the percolate, and again
evaporating to a  certain measure.  This fluid extract  is mixed  with
simple syrup,  and produces  the  officinal syrup of rhubarb, which  is
rendered a very unsightly preparation by the  precipitation of objec-
tionable resin.
  In the modified process,  a fluid  extract of rhubarb  equal to the
officinal  in  strength is  first obtained by repercolating  rhubarb,  in
moderately fine powder, with  a  mixture of three parts of officinal
alcohol and one of  water.   This menstruum exhausts rhubarb  com-
pletely7 with the greatest facility, since the inert viscid matters are not
taken up by it.  To make the syrup—
              Take of this fluid extract, 3 fluid ounces.
                      Sugar, 28 troy ounces.
                      Water, a sufficient quantity.
  Add the fluid extract to 12  fluid ounces of  water,  filter, make
up  the filtrate to the measure of a  pint by adding water through the
filter, and dissolve in it the  sugar with the  aid of a gentle heat, and
strain through muslin.  The  result is splendid.   An equal product is
obtained by mixing the officinal  fluid extract with water, letting  it
repose some hours, filtering, and then completing as above.

                         SYRUP OF  SENEEA.
  Through the anomalous process the intended requirements of the
Pharmacopoeia for this officinal  are placed beyond the reach of the
pharmaceutist. The root, in moderately fine powder, is exhausted by
percolation with diluted  alcohol, the resulting percolate evaporated  to
a given measure, and the sugar dissolved in the residual liquid after
filtration. Firstly, diluted alcohol is not a proper menstruum, owing
to the laro-e amount of a viscid constituent of the root, as  in case of its
presence complete  exhaustion  is  effected  but  slowly and with  diffi-
culty.  Secondly, evaporation and boiling of the  percolate does not
entirely remove the viscid matters, and therefore renders  the filtration 
100
MATERIA MEDICA.
of  the final liquid very  troublesome; moreover,  after  the  solution
of  the sugar in the perfectly clear filtrate, the syrup again assumes a
very turbid appearance.
   The improved method  comprises, first, the  formation of  a fluid ex
tract of seneka, and its production rests upon the circumstance thai
seneka root, in moderately fine powder, is completely exhausted with
less than three parts of officinal alcohol (85 per cent.), to the exclusion
of  pectin, mucilage, and albuminous matter.  This fact is ascertained
by percolating seneka,  after its  treatment, with diluted alcohol, to
which neither color nor taste is imparted, and that the  percolate with
officinal alcohol  yields, on evaporation, a perfectly7 clear and transpa-
rent brown extract.  The  fluid extract of  seneka, of which every fluid
ounce represents  one troy ounce  of the root, is prepared by reperco-
lating any7 convenient quantity of seneka in moderately fine powder,
and divided into  three equal parts, with  officinal alcohol  (85 per
cent.).  To make sy7rup of seneka :—
             Take of this fluid extract, 4  fluid ounces.
                      Magnesium carbonate, 240 grains.
                      Sugar, 16 troy ounces.
                      Water, sufficient.
  Evaporate the fluid extract, by means of a  sand or water  bath, to a
syrupy7 liquid;  mix this with the magnesium carbonate, by trituration,
and gradually add  8  fluid ounces of  water, constantly  stirring;
filter, and add  sufficient water, through the filter, to make the liquid
measure 8 fluid ounces, then dissolve  in it the sugar, with the aid
of heat, and strain through muslin while hot.  The product, for its
permanence and elegant appearance, cannot be surpassed.
  To prepare this  sy7rup directly from a fluid extract, by merely mix-
ing that with simple syrup, would render the preparation uncommonly
thin, and  introduce an excessively large proportion of  alcohol, which
would be  an unquestionable and serious objection.

                    COMPOUND SYRUP OF SQUILL,
which, in consideration  of the superior claims attached to seneka, its
most important component, rightly should be entitled compound syrup
of seneka, if there is anything in a name.
  We are forced to acknowledge, w7ith feelings of regret, that by cause
of a defective  formula and  the  consequent instability of  its product,
pharmaceutists have but too good  a pretext for disregarding  the offici-
nal injunctions relating to this important and popular preparation; and
in view of the present recognized formula, the fact becomes  painfully
apparent that the  extensive literature centered about this  nucleus has
been of no  avail. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
191
  The syrup, as made according to  the pharmacopoeia, is too much
contaminated with pectin and mucilaginous matter, and too weak in
sugar to be permanent.   The process  is  too  tedious in its  execution,
and docs not always yield a clear syrup.
  The proposed process consists in the employment of fluid extract of
seneka and fluid extract of squill; but the production of the latter by
a practical and easy7 method, so  as to completely represent the crude
material volume  for weight,  yet remains a pharmaceutical enigma.
Owing to the very gummy nature of  squill, percolation with whatever
strength of alcoholic menstruum cannot be successfully7 applied.  But
even  if this fluid extract, otherwise carefully prepared, does not com-
pletely represent  the total activity of the crude material, that cannot
be claimed as  a vital objection, in consequence of the natural varia-
tions in the activity of  all crude medicinal substances  of  vegetable
origin, which constitute the basis of similar preparations.
  Now, a very  good fluid extract of squill, which will compare favora-
bly with others made  by more indirect  methods, can be produced by
repercolation of squill in the finest dusted powder, with stronger alco-
hol (95  per cent.), so that with squill of the proper fineness and alcohol
of the requisite strength, an excellent product results with the greatest
case, leaving a  residue possessing very little bitterness, and which, in a
practical point  of view, can be fairly  considered as exhausted.
  This  process  has advantages far exceeding, in  every point of utility,
the  one advocated by Mr. Diehl, whose process was  subjected  to  a
most critical test.
  Repeating his  experiments with different samples of  squill, and in
quantities  of  upwards  of  80  troy  ounces,  identical  results were
obtained, but eminently dissimilar to his, and vastly conflicting with
his statements.
  These differences may, however, be entirely  attributed  to the variety
of squill he operated with ;  and granting that it must have been a very
scarce variety, it does not seem strictly just that he should base his con-
 clusions upon that one experiment alone.
  The squill twice treated with water as he directs, the liquid evapo-
rated, and the  light yellow syrupy  residue  mixed with  abundance of
stronger alcohol, produced a perfect  white doughy magma, equal to at
least one-third  of the original bulk of the squill, and which was mani-
festly impervious to alcohol, and  therefore could not be washed with
that solvent; consequently the  absorbed liquid was a total loss, which
could not act otherwise than deeply injurious to  the  strength of the
final product.  The liquid, separated from this immense  doughy mass,
was pale yellow,  and nearly as mobile  as alcohol itself, but possessed
an exceedingly bitter taste.  Mr. Diehl  asserts that, in  his experiment, 
192
MATERIA MEDICA.
the precipitate separated by the alcohol was brown, and very diminu-
tive in  its weight, being only 3}  per cent, of  the  squill employed
and that  the liquid separated from this precipitate  by washing wa<
syrupy  and very  dark-colored, which  produced a milky vinegar  of
squill, but a clear syrup.  These various results, with  exception of that
pertaining to the vinegar of squill, were, however, not corroborated by
the repetition of that operator's experiments.
   From the foregoing deductions we derive the following formula for
compound syrup of squill:—
     Take of Fluid extract of seneka,
            Fluid extract of squill, of  each......4 ounces.
            Magnesium carbonate.............1 troy ounce.
            Sugar..........................4.2
            Antimony and potassium tartrate.. 48 grains.
             Water, a sufficiency.
   Mix the fluid extracts, and  evaporate  the mixture by means of a
sand or water bath  to  a syrupy consistence.  Triturate this residue
with the  magnesium carbonate, and gradually  add 20 fluid ounces
of water, stirring constantly ; filter, and pour sufficient water through
the filter to make the liquid measure 22 fluid ounces.   In this dissolve
the antimonial tartrate and the sugar with the aid of heat, and  strain
the syrup through muslin while hot.  The result leaves nothing to be
desired.
   Of the numerous German officinal preparations that are in frequent
demand with us, for reason of their importance in this respect, and for
the want  of convenient  and accurate  processes, two of them will be
noticed here, namely, the syrup of  rhubarb of the Prussian Pharma-
copoeia, and the  aqueous tincture of rhubarb of the same.   The officinal
methods for these  preparations are very unscientific indeed, and admit
of improvement, which, without requiring any further commendations,
is applied by converting, for this purpose, the fiuid  extract of rhubarb
above proposed, into an alkaline fluid extract  of rhubarb, which is
effected by triturating 80 grains of dipotassium carbonate with one
fluid ounce of fluid extract of rhubarb, then straining through muslin
at once, or after a repose of some hours.  The  strained liquid is per-
fectly clear, and does not require filtration through paper.  The alka.-
line fluid extract of rhubarb can be mixed with  water in  any propor-
tion, affording a perfectly clear and transparent liquid of  a deep red
color.
   The following formulae for syrup of rhubarb, and aqueous tincture
rhubarb of the Prussian Pharmacopoeia, are in  officinal proportions,
and yield a strictly officinal result:- - 
MATERIA  MEDICA.                    "J 93
                       SYRUP OF RHUBARB.
    Take of Alkaline fluid extract of rhubarb.... 3 fluid ounces.
            Oil of cinnamon...................3 minims.
            Sugar...........................36 troy ounces.
            Water, sufficient.
  Mix the oil of cinnamon with the fluid  extract, then add sufficient
water to make the whole mixture  weigh  20  troy  ounces; in  this
dissolve the sugar with the aid of heat, and strain.

     TINCTURA RHEI AQUOSA,  OR AQUEOUS TINCTURE OF RHUBARB.
    Take of Alkaline fluid extract of rhubarb...  1£ fluid ounces.
            Dipotassium carbonate............240 grains.
            Cinnamon water..................  4 troy ounces.
            Water, sufficient.
  Dissolve the dipotassium carbonate in the cinnamon water; with
this then mix the fluid extract, and add  sufficient water to make the
whole weigh 14 troy ounces.  Both  the above formulae produce per-
manent and beautiful preparations.—R. Rother, Pharmacist.
 EMULSIO HYDROCYANATA vs. ACID.  HYDROCYANIC.
                            DILUT.
  In a paper with the above caption, Prof. Oscar Oldberg first dwells
upon the liability of hydrocyanic acid, whether concentrated or in dilute
solution, to undergo chemical decomposition, and states that very little
of the officinal acid kept in the shops is of standard strength.   He
then objects to  the second process of the U. S. P., on the ground of
the general impurity of the commercial cyanide of silver, and the time
required in preparing a fresh article.  After this he says :—
  The only  way to remedy the evil is  for physicians to prescribe some
preparation  which can  conveniently  be  made ex tempore, and  for
which no substitute is possible.  Such a preparation is the emulsio
hydroajanata, officinal in the Swedish Pharmacopoeia, to the exclusion
of dilute hydrocyanic acid.   It is not new; it was officinally intro-
duced in 1845, and has  stood the test.   Liebig and Wohler demon-
strated  that when 17 grains of amygdalin were decomposed  by the
presence of emulsin, it gave rise  to exactly one grain of anhydrous
hydrocyanic acid.
  This is the formula for the preparation of emulsio hydrocyanata :—
  An emulsion  is first made from 3  parts of sweet almonds, 2 parts
of sugar, and 24  parts of water,  secundum artem.  To  80 parts oi 
194
MATERIA MEDICA.
this emulsion is added one part of amygdalin, and  the mixture is al-
lowed  to  macerate one hour.  Each ounce of this emulsion contains
one-third of a grain of anhydrous hydrocyanic acid, corresponding to
about 32 grains of the dilute acid of the U. S. P.   Dose, one to twc
teaspoonfuls.
  The preparation is reliable uniform, elegant, and readily prepared
whenever wanted for use.—National Med. Jour., July, 1871.
           SEEDS OF  STRYCHNOS POTATORUM.

  Dr. Fluckiger showed to the Natural History Society at Berne the
seeds of S. potatorum, which are highly valued in India as  a means
of purify7ing water.  The seeds are broken up into a coarse powder and
are then mixed with the  impure jungle-water, which shortly after this
becomes clear.   Dr. Fluckiger explains this by the fact that the cold
infusion of the seeds yield a copious precipitate with the least particle
of tannic acid.   The jungle-water he believes to be largely7 charged with
the latter principle from the  roots of plants, and the various impuri-
ties are carried down by  the precipitate formed.   A careful chemical
analysis  failed to detect a trace  of any alkaloid  in  the seeds, which
rarely contain more than one per cent, of nitrogen and yield no nitro-
genous substance to water.—Schmidt's Jahrbucher, Nov. 5, 1871.
  A paper in the American Journal of Pharmacy, by Prof. Maisch,
shows that these seeds occasionally find their way to this  country under
the name of Indian Gum Nuts.
  Speaking of the same seeds, Mr. Cooke says {Pharm. Journ. and
Trans), it is not so much the seed as the pericarp that commends
itself to our  notice.   The former is not employed medicinally, whilst
the latter is in common use amongst the natives as an  emetic.
  The use of the fruit as  an  emetic seems to have been wholly con-
fined to the native practitioners.  It has been supposed that the reason
why it has never  acquired  repute is the improper way in which it is
administered.  The whole  fruit is generally powdered  and given in
about half-teaspoonful  doses.  It is not  surprising, therefore, that
failure should take place, since the large seeds are not emetic, the dry
pulp of the fruit and the pericarp alone possessing that property. If
these are used separately, the result is said to be very  satisfactory.
  When sold separately the emetic portion  of the fruit is found in the
bazaars in  two  conditions.  In one condition it is in thin, scaly, and
shell-like pieces, which are shining externally, and of  a greenish or
yellowish-brown color.   This is the pericarp removed when the fruit it 
MATERIA MEDICA.
195
dry.   In the other condition it is formed together with the mucus into
large balls or masses weighing about one pound.   In this condition it
contains a large quantity of dry mucus, and is much superior in action
to the other  form.  Mr. Moodeen Sheriff states  that the dry mucus
appears to be more efficacious in dysentery than ipecacuanha.
  The dose of the simple powder of the pericarp, prepared in the usual
way, and kept in a stoppered bottle, is from 40 to 50 grains as an emetic,
and from 15 to 30 in dysentery.
                CHINESE  BLISTERING-FLIES.
              BY  F. PORTER  SMITH, M.B.  LOND., M.R.A.S.
   In no country is so much wealth gathered from the labors of insects
 as in China.   The Coccus lacca, which produces the gum-lac; the Coc-
 cus pehlah, which secretes the spermaceti-like wax  of  Chinese  phar-
 macy ;  the Coccus manniparus, which prepares honey-sugar; the silk-
 worm;  the diplolepis-gall produced upon  the  oak tree; and the nut-
 galls (Wu-pei-tsze) produced upon the Rhus semilata and Rhus suc-
 cedanea, are instances, amongst others, of that ingenious turning  to
 account of things which is a  strong habit of the utilitarian Chinese.
   Insects, a large  class, called in  Chinese  classifications, Cheung, and
 including frogs, mollusks, etc., are consumed by the Chinese as inter-
 nal remedies.
   Centipedes, scorpions, pediculi, and many other  larval or imaginal
 forms of insects, are  swallowed in wine as antidotal, derivative, and
 revulsive remedies.  An  anomalous  creature,  called the Hia-tiau-
 tung-ch'ung ("in summer a  plant, in winter an insect"), is a capital
 sample of a Chinese pet medicine.  It is the Hepialus moth, with the
 Cordyceps Sinensis (fungus)  growing parasitically upon  it.
  Blistering-flies are  largely used in China.  They are employed as
 diuretics, and to produce criminal abortion, so that their sale to ordi-
 nary persons is scarcely legal, and their use for such a purpose heavily
 punished by the Manchu Code of China.  The Mylabris cichorii {Pan-
 r/iau), the Telini fly of India, is largely used in the country, as in the
 composition  of an  eye-powder  {Ye-ming-sha) commonly believed to
 be the dung of the bat.  This insect is an excellent substitute for the
 Cantharis of European pharmacy.  The  Cantharis erythocephala, a
 common European species, is met with in North China, but the Can-
 tharis vesicatoria has not been met with.
  Species of so-called Epicauta are met with in China,  and are appa-
rently called Tsdu-mau, or zizyphus bug, from their resemblance to
the fruit of that genus of so-called "dates."   The genus Epicauta, 
196
MATERIA MEDICA.
 known by their running more to legs  and horns, is now generally put
 with Lytta and Cantharis.
   Another kind of blistering-fly, new to European pharmacy, is the
 Chii-ki, or ailanthus bug.   It is  called, literally, the "fowl of the Ail
 anthus fcetida," from  the noise which it makes in common with other
 cicadaceous insects  of the  class Homoptera.   It is also called Hung'
 liang-tsze, or " red lady7-bug," a curious coincidence with the name of
 a common English insect, the lady-bird.   Several species or varieties
 of  this insect are described or alluded to in the Pun-tiau-kang-mvk,
 or Chinese pharmacopoeia.  The genus called Huechys, from the Chi-
 nese name for blood, is met with in Java, as well as in North and South
 China and other places.  The head, thorax, and legs  are black; the
 prothorax is red; the eyes are very prominent;  a large  red bright spot
 on  each side of the  thorax above; the front pair of wings  are dark-
 brown, appearing nearly black when closed on the back of the in-
 sect; the hind pair of wings are pale, with  brown veins; and the
 belly7 of the  creature is of a bright vermilion-red color.  Mr. Fred-
 erick  Smith,  of  the British  Museum, informs  me  that  Burmeister
 places this insect, which I have called  the  red cicada on page 237 of
 my work on Chinese materia medica,  in the order Cicadina, family
 Stridulantia.  This same gentleman  also  informs me that Olivier
 {Encycl. Method., v. 756) calls it the  Cicada  sanguinolenta, whilst
 Amyot and Serville describe  it as the Huechys sanguinea.  This lat-
 ter name is redundant, as both the genus and species mean bloody.  It
 would be better to call the Chinese species Huechys vesicatoria.  One
 Chinese variety is called the " ash-colored moth."  The chu-ki is met
 with in  Sechiien, Shansi, Honan, and  Hupeh,  and frequents the Ail-
 anthus, Broussonetia  {Morns) papyrifera  and several  other trees.
 They are met with in great  quantities  in  autumn, when they make a
 grinding noise, and are collected by the country7 people, who sell them
 fresh to the druggists at a few pence per pound.  They are capable of
 raising a blister, but are much less powerful than the Mylabris cichorii,
 with which they are combined in the treatment of hydrophobia.  The
 legs and wings are removed, and the bodies only used for medicinal
 purposes.  They  are recommended in  the Pun-ti an as a remedy in
 barrenness, impotency, menstrual disorders, deficient lochia, lumbago,
 diseases of the eye, etc.   The drug is curiously directed to be used as
 a vaginal suppository in female disorders.   It is combined with oliba-
num, arsenic, sal-ammoniac, and rice-paste, as an application to struma
of the neck.  Their use in hydrophobia, along with the Mylabris, to
produce strangury, is in accordance with Chinese theory that the bite of
a mad dog impregnates the person, who  is not safe until the delivery of
a foetal dog  by way  of the urinary passages.   Hydrophobia is with 
MATERIA MEDICA.
197
them the climax of the period of gestation, and they promote parturi-
tion by giving the Huechys and the Mylabris internally;  or, rather,
they endeavor to induce abortion, as the drug is administered in wine
at once in such  quantities as to cause violent strangury.  Along with
the blood and other substances passed by the patient, they profess to
find a little doo-.   The Chinese doctors reason well enough that dog-
bitten people die, and may be fairly treated after any extreme fashion.
From this it may be gathered that the people die after the remedy even
more promptly than after the bite alone.   The drug can  therefore be
scarcely recommended for trial in such cases.  It is  creditable that
few remedies are highly7 vaunted in Chinese medical works for a mal-
ady which is common in China,  where dogs  are as plentiful  and
plaguy as in Constantinople.  These blistering cicadas keep very7 badly,
and therefore often  disappoint  the purchaser in China, where drugs
are badly treated, like the patients.—Medical Times and Gazette.
 DETECTION OF  TURMERIC IN POWDERED RHUBARB
                 AND  YELLOW MUSTARD.
  To detect turmeric in powdered rhubarb, Prof. Maisch gives the
following process:—
  A small quantity of the suspected rhubarb, is agitated for a minute
or two with strong alcohol, and then filtered.  Chrysophanic acid being
sparingly soluble in this menstruum, the brown-yellow color of the fil-
trate is due to the resinous principles of rhubarb mainly; if adulterated
with turmeric, the tincture  will be of a  brighter yellow shade.  A
strong solution of borax produces in both tinctures a deep brown-red
color.   If now pure  muriatic acid be added in large excess, the tinc-
ture of pure rhubarb will  instantly assume a light yellow color, while
the tincture of the adulterated powder will change merely to a lighter
shade of brown-red.   The test is a very delicate  one, and  is based on
the liberation of boracic acid, which imparts  to curcumin a color simi-
lar to that produced by alkalies, while all  the  soluble principles of
rhubarb yield pale yellow solutions in acid liquids.
  The  same test, applied in the same manner, is also useful to detect
turmeric in mustard flour.
                   NOTES  ON BIRD-OILS.
                        BY P. L. SIMMONDS.
  The Peno-uin {Diomedia chilensis) in the Falkland Islands is chief-
ly souo-ht after for its  oil, deriving its name  from its  pinguidity or
excessive fatness.   On the islands of the  Falkland group these birds 
198
MATERIA MEDICA.
are found in millions, and schooners, with a gang of  twelve or fifteen
men, go there solely for boiling down the oil of the birds.  The fat of
eleven birds skimmed gives about one gallon of oil, and each schooner
or gang of men will return to Stanley, after a month  or six  weeks'
campaign, with from 25,000 to 30,000 gallons of  oil.  This oil, whicli
comes  chiefly to London, is  used, I believe, for currying leather only.
I have sent Mr.  Stanford and the museum of the  Society specimens of
this oil.  It varies in color according to the time it has been boiled.
  Another bird-oil largely sought for in  the  islands  of  Bass's  Straits
and New Zealand, is from what is called locally the mutton-bird {Pro-
cellaria obscura).  Large quantities of oil are obtained from the yoim *
birds.  The body is pressed and the oil runs from the mouth, each bird
yielding about half a gill.   The oil is reputed to possess considerable
virtue  as a liniment in cases of rheumatism.   The fat, when clean, is
pure white and looks like goose-fat, but the taste  is rather oily; how-
ever, it may be used for a good many purposes other than for food.  It
burns very well in small, shallow tin lamps, which get warmed by the
light and melt the fat.
  Father Labat {Nouv. Voy., tome vi. p. 395) speaks  of  the virtues of
the grease or fat of the frigate-bird.  Applied hot  and  mixed with
alcohol, it is said to be an admirable  specific in sciatica, and in numb-
ness of the limbs and other ailments arising from a want  of circulation.
A piece  of blotting-paper  steeped in the mixture may  be laid on the
part, with compresses and a bandage  to keep it in its  place.
  Mother Carey's chickens {Procellaria pelagica) are killed in quan-
tities at the Western Islands for their oil.  They are so plump that the
islanders merely draw a candle-wick  through the body, and it becomes
so saturated with the liquid fat as to form a lamp without further process.
  Ostrich fat has much local repute.   The first'care of  the sportsman
after securing his bird is to remove the skin, so as to preserve the
feathers uninjured; the next is to melt down the fat  and pour it into
bags formed out of the skin of the thigh and leg, strongly tied  at the
lower end.  The grease of an ostrich in good condition fills both  its
legs; and as it brings three times the price of common butter, it is con-
sidered no despicable part  of  the  game.  It is not only eaten with
bread and used in the preparation of kooskoos and  other articles of
food, but the Arabs  reckon it a valuable remedy  in various maladies.
In rheumatic attacks, for instance, they rub it on the part  affected till
it penetrates thoroughly, then lay the patient in the burning sand,
with his head  carefully protected; a profuse perspiration comes on,
and the cure is complete.   In bilious disorders, the grease is slightly
warmed, mixed with salt and administered as a potion.   It acts thus
as a powerful aperient, and causes great emaciation for the time ; but, 
I
                         MATERIA MEDICA.                     199

 according to the Arabs, the patient, having thus been relieved from all
 the bad humors in his body, afterwards acquires robust health and his
 sight becomes singularly good.
   The grease of the emu or Australian ostrich {Dromaius Novm-Hol-
 landios) is held in great esteem by both colonists and natives, as a cure
 of bruises and rheumatism.  The skin of the bird produces  six or
 seven quarts of a clear, beautiful, bright  yellow  inodorous  oil.  The
 method of obtaining the oil is to pluck the feathers, cut  the  skin  into
 pieces and boil it.
   At one of the Madras Industrial exhibitions, oil from peacocks' fat
 made in Tinnevelly was shown, but it was not stated to what  use it was
 applied.
   In South America,  in the immense cavern of Gaucharo, in the gov-
 ernment of Cumana, Humboldt describes an extensive pursuit carried
 on of a bird, for its fat, by the Indians.  This cave is peopled by  mil-
 lions of nocturnal birds {Steatornis caripensis), a new species of the
  Caprimulgis  of Linnaeus.  About midsummer the young  birds are
 slaughtered by thousands.  The peritonaeum is found loaded with fat,
 and a lay7er of the same substance reaches from  the  abdomen to the
 vent, forming a kind of cushion between the hind legs.   Humboldt re-
 marks that this quantity of fat in frugivorous animals not exposed to
 the light, and exerting but little muscular motion, brings to mind what
 has been long observed in the fattening of geese and oxen.   It is well
 known, he adds, how favorable darkness and repose are to this process.
 The fat of the young birds is melted  in clay pots, over  a brushwood
 fire.  It is half-liquid, transparent, inodorous, and so pure that  it  will
 keep above a year without turning rancid.
   The passenger pigeons {Columba migratoria) of North America are
 another source of oil.  They migrate at certain  seasons in  millions,
 and the Indians, watching their  roosting-places in the forests, knock
 them on the head in the  night and bring them away by thousands.
 The Indians preserve  the oil or fat, which they use instead of butter.
 There was formerly scarcely any little Indian village in the interior
 where a hundred gallons of this oil might not at any time be purchased.
 The squabs, or young  pigeons, when taken in quantity, are also melted
 down by the settlers as a substitute for butter or lard.—Pharmaceuti-
 cal Journal and Transactions, June 17.
  Amygdalin in Leguminosse— According to U.  Kreussler and
II. Ritthausen, the powdered seeds of vicia sativa, when moistened, give
off the odor  of oil of bitter almonds, and a distillate from them yields
prussic acid.  Amygdalin (crystalline or amorphous) has not, however,
as yet been separated from the seeds.—Journ fipr. Chemie. 
200
MATERIA MEDICA.
                   CARBONATE OF SODA.
  A new process for  the  production  of carbonate of soda has been
invented by M. Swager.  By the joint aid of highly superheated steam
and red  heat, he decomposes the double chloride of aluminum and
sodium, previously fused, thus forming  aluminate of soda and hydro-
chloric acid.  The latter is condensed; the  former, treated with car-
bonic acid,  yields carbonate of soda and alumina.—New York Medi-
cal Record.
PRESERVATION OF TINCT. KINO FROM GELATINIZING.

                    BY J. W. WOOD, ROKEBY, DEL.

  Among all our tinctures perhaps there is not one so liable to deteri-
orate by exposure or by7  long  keeping as tincture of kino, made in
accordance with  the  U. S. Pharmacopoeia.  Its  well-known property
of gelatinizing in a short time—a property which yet remains to be
investigated, it being thereby rendered inert—precludes it from being as
extensively used as its virtues would  seem to warrant.  This property
renders it inadmissible when we desire a reliable tincture to prepare
it in large quantities.
  The pharmacopoeia formerly directed it to be prepared with dilute
alcohol as the menstruum ; but later  it was thought to be of advantage
to increase the proportion  of alcohol to two-thirds, yet it is doubtful if
there was much gained by this change.
  I would therefore submit the following mode of preparation, which
I consider, from the experience I have had, will meet  with the desired
end, and up to the present time results do not seem to disprove it.  It
is as follows:—
             Take of Kino, in fine powder, oz. \\.
                     Alcohol, .835,  fl. oz. 8.
                     Aquae, fl. oz. 4.
                     Gly7cerinae, fl.  oz. 4.
  Mix the alcohol, water,  and glycerine  together, and having mixed
the  kino with an equal bulk of clean sand, place the mixture in a perco
lator and pour on the  menstruum.
  This menstruum seems to thoroughly exhaust the drug of its astrin-
gent principle, and also makes a nice-looking preparation.
  Some which I made on the sixteenth day of July7, 1870, was exposed
to the influence of the atmosphere, the stopper of the bottle containing
it having been removed for several months, so that it had evaporated
to at least two-thirds; yet it remains  as good as when freshly made,
without any apparent tendency to gelatinize. 
MATERIA MEDICA.                    201
  The menstruum might be somewhat modified, perhaps, with advan-
tage ; as, for instance, by using proportionally less alcohol and more
glycerine and water, or vice versa.  At any rate, I will give it for what
it is worth, adding  at  the same time the suggestion—and it is only7 a
suggestion—that the same menstruum be employed in preparing tinct.
catechu, which, though not so liable to gelatinize as tinct. kino, yet -
sometimes does so.—American Journal of Pharmacy, August, 1871.
    ADULTERATIONS OF BROMIDE OF POTASSIUM.
                         BY M. ADRIAN.
  Ten samples of bromide of  potassium, obtained from  the principal
French manufacturers, were analyzed, and only one of them was found
sufficiently pure for medicinal purposes;  the others contained from 10
to 15, one sample even 35 per cent., of impurities. The similarity in form
of crystallization of bromide, iodide, and chloride of  potassium makes
a superficial inspection of no  use;  and  one  sample, remarkable for
the whiteness, thickness, and regularity of its crystals, was found to be
extremely impure.
  The impurities are best recognized by dissolving ten grammes of the
salt in 100 c. c. of solution ; effervescence on addition of hydrochloric
acid proves the presence of  carbonates;  one drop of benzole and
a few drops of bromine  water  produce a rosy color if iodides are
present;  sulphate is detected by nitrate of  baryta, and bromate by
sulphuric acid producing a yellow coloration.  After these prelimi-
nary tests, and after complete separation of  the carbonate, sulphate,
and iodide, the chloride may be determined by a standard  solution of
silver.—Journ. de Pharm. et  de Chim., and  Pharmac.  Journal and
Trans., Sept. 30, 1871.
GELATINE  AS  A VEHICLE FOR POWERFUL MEDICINES.
  Dr. T. IIuseman gives an account {Centralblatt f Med. Wiss., No.
157) of the method of Prof. A. Almen, of Upsala, for the administra-
tion of medicines by means of the gelatinoe, medicataein lamellis.  This
method,  which has been extensively used in Sweden, renders the ad-
ministration of powerful medicines easy  and  exact.   Gelatin  (6
grammes) is dissolved in warm  water, and then the medicine added.
The solution is poured upon a plate of glass to solidify and dry.  The
stiffened mass, of  the thickness of paper, is divided  into squares, each
of which contains  a certain dose.  A slight addition of glycerine serves 
202                     MATERIA MEDICA.
to make the otherwise brittle gelatinae tough and flexible as paper.  Too
much glycerine makes the gelatinae soft and too readily moist.  With
insoluble drugs it is necessary that the medicine be added to the solu-
tion of glue in a thick emulsion ; gum acacia is to be preferred to gum
tragacanth.  The gelatinae must not  be placed  dry upon the tongue,
but moistened  and swallowed with a gulp of water.  The  chief drugs
thus used by Prof. Almen are gelatinae morphii acetici, tartarized anti-
mony, acetate of lead, sulphate of  copper, extract, opii, opii levantici,
extract, belladonnae, extract,  colocynth comp., hydrarg. chlorat. mitis,
pulv. rad. ipecac, infusion ipecac, pulv. fol. digitalis, infusion digitalis,
camphorae.   The gelatinae atropiae and physostigmatis, for local appli-
cation to the eye, have proved useful; but the gelatinae sinapis and can-
tharidum, for external application  to the skin, have not yet been thor-
oughly tried.—Medical Press and Circular,  Aug. 23, 1871.
COMPOSITION OF  CUBEBS.

        BY E. A. SCHMIDT.
The analysis of fresh cubebs gave the following result
                                            Per cent.
   Water...........................................  4.75
   Essential oil.....................................14.22
   Brown coloring matter............................  6.94 "\
   Gum............................................  8.19 '
   Starch..........................................1.78 J.
   Albumen........................................  2.71
   Extractive matter and salts.......................4.22
   Oxalate of lime..................................  0.40
   Cubebine........................................  2.48
   Acid resin (cubebic acid)..........................  0.96
   Indifferent resin.................................  2.56
   Green fatty oil..................................  1.18
   Greenish-yellow soft fat..........................0.51
   Vegetable  skeleton...............................43.07
   Loss............................................  6.03
23.84 soluble
 in water.
100.00
  The essential oil is colorless or pale green, tasting and smelling in-
tensely of  cubebs ; it consists of two oils, the one being  lighter, of sp.
gr. 0.915, boiling-point 220° C, the other being less than one-half, has
a sp. gr.  of 0.937, and boiling-point 250° C.   They both contain 88.26
C and 11.74 II, corresponding to C30II24.
  It is neutral, soluble  in 17 parts of absolute alcohol;  it fulminates
with iodine, is decomposed by sulphuric acid, and gives with  hydro-
chloric acid vapor a solid and  a liquid compound.  The oil  of fresh 
MATERIA MEDICA.
203
cubebs does not contain any stearoptene, like  that made from old
cubebs.
  Cubebine  forms fine white needles.  By itself it is tasteless, but it
imparts a bitter taste to an alcoholic solution.  It is insoluble in cold,
and slightly  soluble in hot water, soluble in 30 parts of ether, and in 75
parts of alcohol; also in chloroform, bisulphide of  carbon, acetic acid,
and in fatty and  essential  oils;   it melts at 125°-126°  C, boils  at
190° C, but  does not volatilize.   It is  neutral; concentrated sulphuric
acid colors it red, nitric acid brown.—Archiv. der Pharm., cxli. 1, and
Pharm. Journal.
  SACCHAKATED TAR, OR SOLUBLE YEGETABLE TAR.

                        BY M.  A.  EOUSSIN.

  The value  of  vegetable  tar as a therapeutic agent is generally re-
cognized, but hitherto,  in consequence of the small extent to which it
is soluble in water, its use has been  limited.  Many attempts have
been made to secure a greater solubility, but this has  only been  ob-
tained by7 the employment of alkalies—that is to say, by saponification.
But saponification undoubtedly modifies the elements  of the tar, and
partly destroys its curative properties.
  According to M. Adrian, " these preparations do not correspond by
their chemical composition to the therapeutic properties that  are  ex-
pected in them," and  he states  that he has found alkalies, as well as
acids, to modify the resinous qualities that are the  basis of the medi-
cament.
  Dr. Jeannel has expressed a similar opinion.   He say7s it is necessary
that the tar should be emulsed by7 a neutral substance, since  by so  do-
ing all the natural properties of the tar would be preserved.
  Impressed with the  correctness of this idea, M. Roussin sought to
adapt  to vegetable  tar the same process by which he was able, on a
former occasion, to form an emulsion with balm of copaiba.  At that
time he proposed to use sugar for facilitating the emulsion of  copaiba
in water, and as a corrective of  the repulsive taste of that substance—
sugar being a neutral substance, without any chemical action capable of
modifying the composition or curative properties of medicinal substances,
and daily associated without hesitation with all kinds  of remedies.
  After several  attempts this problem was resolved, and a complete
solution of the vegetable tar in water obtained.  The emulsion of tar
was effected  by triturating in  a porcelain mortar, so  as to obtain a 
204
MATERIA MEDICA.
homogeneous paste, purified  tar, powdered sugar, and powder of gum
arabic.  A small quantity of water was added to obtain an  emulsion:
it was then left to stand, and afterwards  decanted.   This saccharated
emulsion had not the repulsive odor of the emulsion prepared with an
alkali;  it possessed the odor of tar, and a taste neither sharp  nor bit-
ter.   It was miscible with water in all proportions,  so that, by estima-
ting the quantity of tar present, a solution might be prepared instan-
taneously, containing any required quantity7 of the active principle.
  But the liquid form of the medicament presenting many and serious
inconveniencies, it appeared to M. Roussin that the pulverulent  form,
with  all its practical  advantages, would be very desirable.  He there-
fore pursued his researches until he succeeded in obtaining a saccha-
rate as a yellow powder, only7  differing from sugar in appearance by
its color, and exhaling the balsamic odor  of tar.  This preparation con-
stitutes a remedy  essentially new in form, and appears to be the real
and complete solution of the problem of  Dr. Jeannel.
  The saccharate of tar is constant in its composition.  It contains 4
per cent, of purified vegetable tar.  A teaspoonful  (5  grammes) thus
represents 20 centigrammes of tar, and will suffice for the preparation
of a litre of wTater.
  According to M. Bouchardat, 30 grammes of tar-water contain nearly
1 centigramme of the principles of the  tar  in solution.  This would
be nearly 30 centigrammes to  the litre.   Soubeiran says that the pro-
portion of matter dissolved in  tar-water is so small  that 100 grammes
do not contain 4 centigrammes (less than 40  centigrammes  the  litre),
and  that patients can scarcely support  the tar-water unless  it  be
diluted.
   The irritation of the stomach often provoked by the tar-water of the
Codex is prevented  by the saccharate ; the proportion being but 4 per
cent., the acridity of the tar is covered.   Another advantage, not less
important, due  to its pulverulent form, is that it avoids  the  necessity
of swallowing a large quantity7 of liquid, since a glass of water is suffi-
cient to dissolve  several teaspoonfuls. The physician can  thus aug-
ment the quantity of tar according to the necessities of the patient.
  The  pulverulent  form has  another valuable advantage.   Patients
who are unable to overcome the repugnance the odor and taste of tar
often provoke,  may enjoy  the benefits of this therapeutic  agent by
making up the saccharate into a pill with unleavened bread.
  Gay, speaking of  the acridity and repulsive taste of oil of tar, re-
commended that it should be sweetened,  " in order  to mask  its  flavor
and its odor."  Sugar, as  I have said,  does not alter the therapeutic
properties, but modifies its organic properties and facilitates its absorp-
tion.  While retaining the odor and taste  of the remedy, the saccharate 
MATERIA MEDICA.
205
bo disguises them that the most delicate stomachs can bear it without
repugnance.
  The saccharate of  tar is not the result of a chemical reaction ;  it is
a simple mixture, each element of which retains intact its composition
and its properties.   Constant in  its composition, it will furnish solu-
tions really7 and mathematically entitled to  the name, being able to
fulfil all the conditions necessary  for mixtures, gargles,, injections, etc.,
and enabling the physician to give his patient such quantity of tar as
he may deem necessary.—Journal  de  Pharmacie  et de Chimie, and
Pharmaceut. Jo urn. and Trans.
              ON  CRYSTALLINE  ACONITINE.
  The substance to which I propose to give the name of Crystalline
Aconitine, sayrs M. Duquesnel, to distinguish it from what has hitherto
been  called aconitine, is  really the  active   principle  of   aconitus
napellus.  In order to prepare it, macerate in very concentrated al-
cohol, with the  one-hundredth of tartaric  acid added, selected  and
powdered roots  of  aconitus napellus.   Then  distil  the  tincture,
protected from  the air,  at a temperature not exceeding 60° (C. ?),
until  all the alcohol  is driven off;  then make a watery infusion of
the extract left.  This contains all  the  aconitine,  in  the condition
of an  acid tartrate.  It is to be agitated with ether, which takes away
the coloring matter, and an alkaline bicarbonate added until  efferves-
cence ceases.  Ether  now being added, dissolves the alkaloid, which
crystallizes  when the ethereal solution is allowed to evaporate.
  Crystalline aconite is in colorless rhombic or hexagonal tables, with
angles of different acuteness.  Its formula is CMH40NO2.  Up to 100°
C, it and its salts are permanent even in  solution.  At 100° C, in
solution, it  rapidly  disappears, sometimes partially, sometimes com-
pletely.   It is insoluble in simple water, freely so in acidulated water.
It is not volatile  even at  600°C.   At  130° it  appears to  be  partially
decomposed and partially volatilized.  Precipitated by means of an
alkali from the solution of one of its salts, it is amorphous, pulverulent,
whitish, and contains water of hydratation, which it loses at 100° C.
without change of aspect.  It is soluble in ether, alcohol, benzine, and
especially in chloroform;  insoluble in glycerine.  It polarizes to the
left.  Its reaction is feebly alkaline, and  forms salts with the acids.
Phosphoric acid, tannin, iodurated iodide of potassium, and iodo-hy7-
drargyrate  of  potassium are the best reagents; but it  can only be
certainly recognized by its physiological effects, the  least trace  of it,
in alcoholic solution, producing on the tongue marked pricking and
tingling.—Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie, August, 1871. 
Table of Reaction of Digitalis and Allied Substances, from Dr. G. Draggendorf }s Untersuchungen aus dem
    pharmaceutischen Institut in Dorpat, copied into Zeitschrift des Allqemeinen 0ester Apoth, Verein, July
    20, 1871.
NAME.	PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION.	ACTION OF SO3.	ACTION OF SO3 AND A LIT-TLE WATEB.	ACTION OF SOs AND ACTION OV FROHDES' BROMINE. REAGENT.		RELATION TO MU-RIATIC ACID.	REMARKS.
Digital in.	Showing an irregularity of the heart's action. Arrest mostly in systole. No para-lysis of extremities.	Green solution.	Green.	Reddish brown, with water again green.	Dark orange, then red, then greenish brown.	Yellow green, then emerald green solution.	
Digitaleir.	The same.	Red solution.	Pale green.	Beautiful purple red, becoming green with water.	Same as digitalin.	Greenish brown solution.	
Convalluma-rin.	The same. Over muscu lar contractility and respi-ration.	Yellow solution, brown red, at last becoming violet from the border.	A violet color follows quickly the putting a little water in the sulphuric acid solution.	Does not become red, or only through the water of the bro-mine solution.	As towards SOs.	Green reddish so-lution by heating.	
Helleborein.	Arrest during diastole. No weakness of reflex ac-tions or muscular contrac-tility.	An almost immediate splendid red solution, grad-ually becoming violet.	Remains, if not too much water be used, red.	The color of SOs solution : removed by the bromine.	As with SOs, but color pales sooner.	Dissolves with-out color.	
Active prin-ciple of the Sa-ponaria Quil-Baya.	Arrest in the diastole. Paralysis of extremities. Rerlex motions weak, or not perceptible.	A brown solution, becom-ing, on standing in the air, blue, violet, or red from the border.	Remains red, even with 2 vols, of water.	"Becomes colorless with bromine, or red-dish sometimes.	As with SOs, but later pure violet.		
Senegin.	Weaker, but similar to the former.	Dissolves yellow, then reddish yellow, uraduully from the border violet to red.	One time red or violet: so remains if only 1 vol. of water.	ltemains brown.	Colors brown, and here and there violet.		
 
Smilacin.	Still weaker.	Dissolves brown, becom-ing later red.	The brown SOs solution with a little water becomes red.	Remains brown.	As with SOs.		Almost to-tally insoluble in benzine.
Veratrin.	Causes a red subcutane-ously. Tetanus in frogs.	Dissolves yellow, then be-comes brown, soon a per-manent red.	A small amount of water causes red quick to appear.	Bromine causes the red quickly to appear.	The red color less pure than with SOs. otherwise the same.	Becomes by boil-ing beautiful red.	Alkaloidal reaction.
Delphinin.	Arrest in diastole.	Dissolves reddish brown.	With 4 vols, of water, dirty reddish rose.	As digitalin, only bleaches more quick-ly-	Red brown, then brown.	Colorless.	
Antiarin.	Arrests in frogs both heart and respiration.	Remains colorless.	Remains colorless.	CO	(?)	Remains color-less.	
Cascarillin.	Without influence.	Reddish brown solution.		The reddish solu-tion, sometimes with violet streaks.	Brown solution.	Remains color-less.	
Principle of Dulcamara.	Without influence.	Dissolves yellow, later reddish.			Yellow solution, af-terwards reddish.		
Principle of Jalap-stem and 1 OOlS.	Without influence.	Brown solution, becoming violet red or pure red.			As towards SOs.		
Principle of Pimenta.	Without influence.	Brown solution; later beautiful red.			As towards SO3, still color lost sooner.		
 
208
MATERIA MEDICA.
               A NEW EXCIPIENT FOE PILLS.
                           BY J. B. BARNES.
   Soluble cream of  tartar is a solution of  bitartrate of potash in bi-
 borate of soda,  boracic  acid, or biborate  of soda and tartaric  acid;
 either of these compounds, when evaporated  to the consistence of mu-
 cilage, is heavy and adhesive.
   Having  had my attention directed in  an especial  manner to the
 medicinal properties of sulphur, I was naturally led to reflect upon the
 inelegant mode of its administration.  It is true the sulphur electuary
 of the Pharmacopoeia is an improvement upon the horrible mixture of
 sulphur and treacle in common use, but still there is the grittiness and
 the mess.   Sulphur  is generally taken in  combination with bitartrate
 of potash;  and  the  soluble  modification  of this salt possessing the
 above-mentioned properties, it suggested to my mind the employment
 of so appropriate an  excipient for the conversion of this substance into
 pills; and I venture to suggest that pills so  prepared might be employ-
 ed when this substance is required to be taken in  doses  of  between
 four and twenty  grains.
   The samples of sulphur pills on the table, prepared respectively with
 the sublimed  and precipitated varieties, contain in  each four or five
 grains, together with one grain in twelve pills of gum tragacanth and
 a sufficient quantity of soluble cream of tartar.  The pills containing
 four grains of precipitated sulphur are  smaller than it is possible to
 prepare them with any7 of the ordinary excipients, being not quite so
 large as a five-grain compound  rhubarb pill, and as hard as a lozenge.
 When placed in tepid water, the soluble cream of tartar speedily dis-
 solves and the sulphur is set free.
  I propose to call them "sulphur and cream of tartar pills."
  I have also prepared five-grain pills of  hydrate of chloral, Dover's
 powder, nitrate of potash, chlorate of potash,  citrate of potash and gal-
 lic acid.
  In the conversion of Dover's powder into pills, soluble cream of tar-
tar only was used; for those of nitrate of potash and chlorate of potash,
one grain to the drachm of gum tragacanth was employed, in addition
to the soluble cream of tartar; for those of  citrate of potash and gallic
acid took two grains  of  the gum to each dozen.  With the exception
of the gallic  acid, all  these  pills are smaller than an ordinary five-
grain pill.  All are firm, dissolve quickly in tepid water, and, what is
of considerable importance, present a good  appearance.—Pharmaceu-
tical Journal and Trans., Nov. 4, 1871. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
209
     OX THE EMULSION OF TAR WITH SAPONINE.
  M. Lucien Lebeuf recommends strongly {Journal de Pharmacie et
de Chimie, October, 1S71) a preparation of tar emulsified  in  water
with saponine.   The emulsion is so prepared that a tablespoonf ul (206
grs.) contains about 6 grs. of the tar.  It should be freely diluted when
giyen.  The saponine is only in the proportion of one part in five hun-
dred, has no chemical effect whatever  on the  tar, and in the small
quantity given is  certainly free from action of the economy.  The
emulsion affords a ready means of administering tar by the atomizer.
  (This  preparation  does not seem to the editor of New Remedies as
good for internal use as the preceding.)
         HOW CRUDE  RUBBER  IS COLLECTED.
  Geettowx, Nicaragua, is the principal port for the export of india-
rubber on the coast.  It is collected by parties of Indians,  Caribs, or
half-caste Creoles—seldom by Europeans—to whom the dealers, who are
also storekeepers, advance the necessary outfit of food, clothing, and
apparatus for collecting rubber, on condition of receiving the whole of
the rubber collected at  a certain rate.  The rubber-hunters are termed
JJleros {Lie being  the  Creole term for  rubber).   A party of Uleros,
after a final debauch at Greytown, having expended all their remain-
ing cash, generally make a start in a canoe for one of the rivers or
streams which abound on the coast, and having fixed on a convenient
spot  for a camp,  commence operations.  The  experienced  rubber-
hunter marks out all the trees  in the neighborhood.  The rubber-tree
is the Castilloa elastica, which  grows to a great size, being on an aver-
age about four feet in diameter, and from twenty to thirty feet to  the
first spring of the branches.  From all the trees in the almost impene-
trable jungle hang numerous trailing parasites, lianes, etc.; from these,
and especially7 the tough vines, are made rude ladders, which are sus-
pended close to the trunks of the trees selected, which are now slashed
by machetes in diagonal cuts from right to left, so as to meet in the mid-
dle and central channels, which lead into iron gutters driven in below,
and these again into the wooden pails.   The pails are soon full of  the
white milk,  and are emptied into  larger tin pans.  The milk is next
pressed through a sieve, and  subsequently coagulated by a judicious
application of  the  juice of a Bejuca (an Apocyna) vine.  The coagu-
lated mass is then pressed  by hand,  and finally rolled  out on a board
with a wooden roller.  The rubber has now assumed the form of  a
large pancake, nearly two feet  in diameter, and about a quarter of an
          11 
210                    MATERIA MEDICA.
inch thick, on account of which they are termed tortillas by the  Ule-
ros; those cakes are hung over the  side poles and framework which
supports  the rancho, which is erected  in the woods, and allowed to
dry for about a fortnight, when they are ready to be packed for de-
livery to the dealer.—Scientific American.
                       SUPPOSITORIES.
  Me. Frank R. Pabtridge  {Druggists'  Circular, Sept. 1871) be-
lieves suppositories can be best prepared without the use  of moulds,
and writes as follows:—
  Take cocoa-butter, which has been kept in a cool place, and powder
it in  a Wedgewood mortar.  This can be  done with proper care and
sufficient trituration.  Having reduced the butter to a uniform powder,
mix with  it the medicament prescribed.  If an extract is directed,
enough finely powdered slippery elm-bark  (this is the best article for
the purpose, as it is  the least irritating)  should be  rubbed with  it, to
make the extract a damp pow der.  In all cases the medicament should
be thoroughly powdered before mixing with the butter.  After com-
pletely incorporating the medicament and  excipient, make the whole
into a mass by the aid of very little heat;  the breath is  sufficient in
hot weather.  Then, by putting the mass  into a soft cotton cloth, it
may be worked in the hands with as much ease  as  a good pill  mass.
After  dividing it into the required number of parts, which can be
more  accurately done on a pill tile, mould  them into the shape of a
Minie rifle ball with the fingers, keeping the cloth between  the sup-
pository and the skin, thus rendering the moulding easy and  prevent-
ing the mass from melting.
  The quantity of cocoa-butter I generally use for a vaginal supposi-
tory is one drachm.  A suppository made in this way7 will be ready for
use almost as soon as it is moulded, will remain hard and not crumble.
I have made them in this manner when the thermometer ranged  from
90° to 98°, and have  found no trouble.   They soon harden, and remain
in that condition till used.
METHOD  OF DETERMINING THE  VALUE  OF CASTOR
  M. Hagen gives the following:—
  1. The castor of Siberia is much more valuable than that of Canada,
because it is richer in castorine, containing 4.6 per cent., whilst the
Canadian has only 1.98.
  The  castorine, mixed with a little volatile oil, is easily obtained by
using pure benzine as an extractor. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
211
  2.  Treated with chloroform, castor yields a brown resin, which is dry
and of a free (franche) odor, as obtained from the Canadian variety7—■
more viscous and with a stronger odor when procured from the Sibe-
rian.
  3.  When the powdered castor is treated with alcohol, then with di-
lute  hydrochloric acid, there is  obtained, in  from 10 to 20 hours, a
liquid, which is yellowish or clear brown from the Canadian variety,
deep brown with the Siberian.
  4.  The Canadian  variety, powdered and macerated for some hours
in an  ammoniacal solution, gives  a liquid more deep-colored than  the
Siberian.
  5.  The alcoholic tincture added to water gives a milky fluid; will on
the addition of ammonia become clear, if the tincture was made with
Siberian  castor; on the contrary, not.—E Union  Pharmaceutique,
August, 1871.
                        ERGOT OF RYE.
                         BY T. C. HERRMANN.
   The following abstract of a paper by Dr. T. C. Herrmann, original-
 ly published in Bhchners Repertorium fur Pharmacie, 1871, p. 283,
 is taken from the London Pharmaceutical Journal:—
   Although ergot  of  rye has been repeatedly subjected  to chemical
 analysis, there are several  questions  touching its component  parts
 which have not been fully explained,  and  for this reason Dr. Herr-
 mann has chosen the subject for his inaugural dissertation.
   One of the constituents of ergot which required further investiga-
 tion is the fatty oil, which,  though not  differing  from other  oils in
 general characteristics, is peculiar so far, as,  according to Manassewitz,
 it readily saponifies with caustic soda, but not at all with caustic pot-
 ash; this statement Dr. Herrmann was enabled by his investigation to
 distinctly contradict.
   Twenty ounces of powdered ergot  were exhausted with  ether the
 last separated by distillation, and the oil, which amounted to 6 ounces
 subjected to analysis.   It was of a brownish yellow color, of aromatic
 flavor, and acrid taste, viscid, and its sp. gr. was .9249 ; it was not dry-
 ing.                                                             •'
  It consisted chiefly of palmitic acid, oleic  acid, and glycerine in the
 proportion of 22.703 per cent, palmitic acid, 69.205 oleic acid,  and
 0.UJ1 glycerine; it also contains traces of acetic and butyric acid of
 trimethylamin, ammonia, and ergotine as coloring matter
  Manassewitz doubted the  existence of ecboline, the alkaloid first
separated by Wendell, and Dr. Herrmann also settled this point. 
212
MATERIA MEDICA.
  Thirty ounces of powdered  ergot  were for several  days digested
with warm water, the aqueous extract mixed with acetate of  lead, and
the precipitate separated by filtration; excess of  lead  in the  filtrate
was separated by carbonate of soda, which, however, did not precipi-
tate all the lead, the liquid remaining turbid even  after  filtration; it
was  therefore slightly acidified  with muriatic acid and then dilute
sulphuric acid added, which gave a clear solution ; to  this an excess
of chloride of mercury was added, the dirty white precipitate was col-
lected on a  filter, and the alkaloid  ecboline  separated in the usual
manner.   It  is soluble in water and alcohol, has a bitter taste and an
alkaline reaction, and is precipitated in the following manner, viz., by
chloride of mercury white, phosphoric molybdic acid yellow,  tannin
dirty white, biniodide  of potassium reddish brown, chloride of gold
brownish, chloride  of platinum  orange, only after some time,  and
cyanide of potassium white.
  The inorganic constituents of  ergot were  also  determined afresh,
and the following table gives a comparison of former analyses with
Dr. Herrmann's results, viz.:—
	Engel-mann.	Manas-sewitz.	Thelan.	Herr-mann.
	38.97 14.39 1.43 4.58 2.00 1&24 0.02 2.03 9.13 12.66	38.00 14.75 1.50 4.70 1.80* 13.25 2.10 3.30 12.10	17.92 11.42 1.24 2.00 0.29 0.70 3.95 0.53 58.56 2.54 6.66 99.91	30.06
Soda..............................................				0.65
Lime..............................................				1.38
				4.87
				0.58
				0.86
				0.26
Oxide of copper....................................				
				45.12
				
				
				14.67
Carbon............................................				
Chloride of sodium.................................				1.50
				__
Total.......................................	98.45	96.50		99.95
				
   CHEMICAL STUDY OF THE ALKALOIDS OF OPIUM.
  Dr. O. Hesse, having at his disposal a large amount of mother-liquor
of opium, out of which the morphia, codeia, and pseudo-morphia had
been  separated, tried  the methods  for obtaining the  new alkaloids
kryptopia, laudania  codamia, lanthopia, and meconidia.  The black
mother-liquor was diluted with an equal volume of water, treated with
ammonia  in  excess,  etc.,  as  described in Annal. Chem. et Pharm.,
cliii. 47.   It was found that the alkaloids could  be separated inte two
groups by using natron, the one set dissolving, the other remaining. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
213
   The alkaline  solution of the alkaloids contained a little lanthopia,
 no codeia (it having  been previously separated), no mekonidia, very7
 :little codamia. but a quantity of laudania.  The last was easily obtained
 :if the solution was precipitated by excess of ammonia and the precipi-
 tate dissolved in hot alcohol, out of which, on cooling, crystallized white
 crystals, from which  the  laudania could  be  separated by  means of
 hydriodic acid.   Dr. Hesse, from his new experiments, considers the
 melting-point of  laudania 166° (C.?), its formula C.;oH26N04.  Codamia
 has a melting-point of 126° ; its formula was  not made out with cer-
 tainty.
   The residue, insoluble in natron, was dissolved in acetic acid, the so-
 lution with the addition of alcohol sufficiently neutralized, and  papa-
 ;verin and narcotine crystallized out.  They were separated by means of
 oxalic acid.  The formula obtained for  narcotia was  C22H23NO,;  the
 : melting-point 176= C.
 :  The papaverin had  the formula C„,HaiN04.   Small  quantities  of
 it,  perfectly pure, dissolved without color in  concentrated sulphuric
 ■acid.  Iu larger quantities a blue  solution  resulted, whilst the rise  in
 temperature indicated destruction of the  base by the  acid.  When
 water is added the sulphate of  papaverin separates  as a resinous mass
 ■out of its sulphuric acid solution, a behavior which distinguishes it from
 all other opium alkaloids ;  for  although pseudo-morphia affords a pre-
 cipitate under like circumstances, it is in the form of a crystalline
 powder.
  Even dilute nitric acid acts on papaverin, forming nitro-papaverin (Cai
 Hs;NOjN04\ which crystallizes in colorless, very  thin prisms, which
 exposed to light  rapidly becomes yellow, and melts at  163° C.   This
 nitro-derivative forms beautiful crystalline salts with acids.
  The neutralized acetic solution left after deposition of papaverin and
 narcotia contains thebaia, which, on addition of powdered tartaric acid,
 separates as a bitartrate, which is soluble in  concentrated sulphuric
 acid.
  Hesse was also successful in obtaining from the dark solution pro-
 topia, laudanosia, and hydrocotarma.
  CrypUpia.  CaiHMXO„ melts at 217c C,  is readily soluble in  chlo-
 roform, with difficulty  in alcohol,  insoluble in ether.   It has a strong
 alkaline reaction, makes salts which are at first gelatinous, afterwards
 crystalline.  Out  of cold neutral solutions it is thrown by concentrate
 hydrochloric acid as a gelatinous mass, not as fine prisms.
  Protepia, CS0H19NO6.   Is very  similar to the last; its salts do not
gelatinize;  its melting-point is  '202° C.
  Laudanosia, C^H^NO,.  Alkaline;   melting-point  89°  C.    In
prisms; soluble with difficulty in cold benzine; easily in hot.  Alcohol 
214
MATERIA MEDICA.
dissolves it when pure very readily, and deposits it in crystals.  Out of
ether, which also dissolves it easily, it is obtained in white cauliflower-
like masses.
  Hydrocotamia, C, ,H1BN03,  crystallizes in colorless prisms, with \
part water of crystallization; at  100° C. it undergoes partial decomposi-
tion, and at a higher heat gives off fumes with a penetrating smell of
raw  carbolic acid.   Alcohol and  ether dissolve it  easily.   It makes
salts soluble  in spirits  of  wine and water.—Zeitschrift  des Oester.
-Apotheker Vereims, Sept., 1871.  Berichte der Dcutsch. Chem. Gesett.
zu Berlin, Bd. iv. s. 693.
METHOD  OF DETERMINING  THE MORPHIA  VALUE  OF
                  A SPECIMEN OF OPIUM.
                         BY JNO.  T. MILLER.
  Apparatus.—Three strong tubes of colorless glass, like ordinary test-
tubes in form, about eight  inches in length and of exactly equal bore,
which should be about half an inch.   At first I used graduated tubes,
but afterwards found it better to employ separate measures of smaller
calibre, viz., a pipette to deliver 100 grain-measures;  a  tube-measure
for 50 and 100 grain-measures; and a smaller one for 5, 7.5, and 10
grain-measures.
  Standard Solution of Morphia.—Weigh off accurately one grain of
pure and well-dried  morphia, and dissolve it in 50 grain-measures of
diluted sulphuric acid, B. P., and sufficient distilled water to  make the
volume exactly71,000 grain-measures.  This solution will keep without
appreciable change for some weeks.
  Solution of Iodic Acid.—FX&ee in a flask 100 grains of iodine, 100
grains of potassium chlorate, 1 fluid  drachm of strong  nitric  acid, and
2 ounces of water.  Heat the mixture until the iodine  is  perfectly oxi-
dized ; nearly neutralize with sodium carbonate, then add an  excess of
solution of barium chloride.  Wash the barium iodate by decantation,
and boil it for half an  hour with a  fluid  drachm of strong  sulphuric
acid and 3 ounces of water.  When  cold, filter, and add water to make
the bulk 6 fluid ounces.
  Sample Solution.—If the opium is in the moist state, dry 100 grains
on the water-bath, and after noting the loss in weight,  reduce it to fine
powder.   Put 20  grains of the powder into a two-ounce flask, with 1
grain of oxalic acid and half a fluid ounce of alcohol sp.  gr. 0.838,
and having attached a  condensing  tube to the  flask,  place the lower
part of the latter in water hot enough to cause the spirit to boil gently,
and continue the boiling for half an hour.   Filter into  a porcelain dish,
and wash the residue with half a fluid ounce of hot spirit.  Add to the
filtrate half an ounce of water, and evaporate down to about  a  quarter
of an ounce, stirring frequently;  then add  an  ounce of cold water 
MATERIA MEDICA.                    215
 After the mixture has stood for ten minutes or so, remove the precipi-
 tated resinoid matter by the filter, and wash it with a little cold water,
 adding the washings to the filtrate.   Boil the latter with 10  grains of
 6laked lime for two  or three minutes, filter, and wash the calcium com-
 pounds with hot water.  Slightly acidulate the filtrate with solution of
 oxalic acid, and evaporate it down to about a fluid ounce.  After cool-
 ing, add 12 grains of caustic potash, and  set aside for a quarter of an
 hour; then filter, and wash the precipitate with a drachm of liquor
 potassse, diluted with two or three times  as much water.   Divide the
 filtrate into two exactly equal portions ; pour one of these into a 1,000
 grain-measure, add 100 grain-measures of  diluted sulphuric acid, B. P.,
 and water up  to  the mark, and mix well.  Finally, shake the small
 quantity of solution required for experiment—about half an ounce—
 with a fourth of its bulk of carbon disulphide, and pass it through a
 filter.
   The Experiment.—Measure off with the pipette 100 grain-measures
 of the sample solution, and transfer it to one of the trial-tubes, add 100
 grain-measures of carbon disulphide, and lastly,  50-grain measures of
 iodic acid solution; then immediately close the tube with a sound cork
 and shake briskly for half a  minute.  The rose-colored solution of
 iodine quickly subsides, but its brightness is sometimes rather obscured
 by a slight filmy deposit on the glass.   In this case pour the contents
 of the tube into a clean one.  Take next 'ioO grain-measures of the
 standard solution of morphia, and using a fresh tube, repeat the opera-
 tion just  described.  Compare now the  two  rose-tinted  liquids by
 holding the tubes side by side between the eye and a white cloud, or
 placing them against thin white paper attached to a window-pane.   If
 the colors are equal in intensity, the powdered  sample contains 10 per
 cent, of morphia.   If unequal, add to the deeper one carbon disulphide
 in small successive measured quantities,—say of 5 or 10 grain-measures
 at a time, as may.seem necessary,—gently mixing it in with a glass rod.
 When by this means  the tints have been rendered equal in depth  the
 calculation is simple.
  Let v — volume in grain-measures of standard  color •
  Let v' = volume in grain-measures of sample color •
 rb   v' x 10
 men-----= x — percentage of morphia in powdered sample.
  And if w — percentage loss of weight in drying,
 100 — w  x x
     TQy-----=  percentage of morphia in moist sample.
  Precaution.—The  carbon disulphide used must remain colorless
when shaken with solution of iodic acid.
  In order to test the ability of  the eye to discern slight inequalities of 
216                    MATERIA MEDICA.

tint, the relative quantities of iodine in the standard and sample colors
were sometimes estimated at the end of an  experiment by Dupre's
method.   This was done by removing the supernatant aqueous liquid
with  a pipette, washing the  solution of iodine with distilled water,
transferring it to a stoppered bottle, and adding, with vigorous shaking,
weak chlorine water from a burette until the color just disappeared;
The results are given in the subjoined table, and show, I think, that the
eye  has  a fair  claim  to be trusted.  When a number of morphia
determinations have to be made the use of this iodimetric process  is
convenient, as only a  single  daily reference  to  the standard  is then
needed.
  The time required for determining the morphia value of opium on
the above plan is about two hours and a half.  As regards accuracy
and reliability, I may state, that so far as  my experiments have gone
—and they have not been few—the results have appeared, after careful
scrutiny, to be nearer approximations to the truth than those obtained
by the ordinary methods by  precipitation.  I have, therefore, much
confidence in the process.   Nevertheless, I am ready to admit that an
analytical method  which deals, as this does, with a substance so com-
plex and variable  in  composition as  opium, must have an extended
trial before its reliability can be placed altogether beyond doubt.
Table of Results
Sample.	Percentage of crude morphia ob-tained by B. P. process.	.A 60 . •1:1 g £ m O HI be a ,d	Amount of real morphia in preci-pitate estimated by reduction process.		Percentage of real morphia in sample as deter-mined by re-duction process.	
			Colori-metric.	Iodi-metric	Colori-metric.	Iodi-metric.
1	13.8 12.0 11.2 10.2 5.8 16.2 6.4 10.0 13.8 11.3 14.2 6.1 10.4 12.6 11.4 9.5 9.4 17.4	12.8 10.8 10.0 9.3 5.6 15.0 6.1 9.4 12.6 10.6 13.0 5.7 9.8 12.4 10.1 8.7 9.2 15.8	11.0 9.4 8.8 7.7 5.0 13.6 5.5 9.0 11.0 9.6 11.6 5.0 8.7 12.0 8.8 7.6 8.8 13.8		11.3 10.0 9.2 8.0 5.4 14.0 6.4 10.0 11.5 10.0 12.0 5.1 9.0 12.5 9.6 8.3 9.5 14.5	
2						
3						
4 5				7.81		8.1
6						
7 8				5.76		6.43
9 10				11.2		11.8
11						
12 13				5.13		5.28
14						
15 16 17				8.6 7.4		9.5 8.48
18				14.0		14.2
—London Pharm. Jour., Dec. 9, 1872. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
217
         EXPERIMENTS ON LIVING CINCHONA.
  In the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London,
Part 1, 1871, is a very interesting paper with the above caption  by
J. Broughton, Chemist to the Madras Cinchona Plantations. Lie states
that quinic acid is as much the acid of the cinchonas as  tartaric acid-
is that of the grape, and is found in the free state in most of the juices.
Cinchona red does not exist in the living plant, but is formed by oxida-
tion of the tannin during drying of the bark.   The leaves are acid from
quinic acid,  bitter from  quinorin,  and contain merely traces of the
alkaloids.  The root-bark, and next to it the trunk-bark, are richest in
alkaloids, which are  also  found in  small amount in  the  wood.  Six-
sevenths of the alkaloids  exist in the cells of the bark as insoluble tan-
nates, the remaining seventh exist in solution as quinates.
  When cinchona bark, not exposed to the direct rays of the sun, is
carefully removed, new  bark is rapidly formed.   The alkaloid first
found in the freshly forming  tissues  is quinine, although th ^ species
examined was of the kind that mainly produces cinchonidine.   As first
formed, however, the quinine refuses to form crystalline sulphate, it is
uncry&tallizable quinine.   After two months of more growth a third part
of this has obtained the ability to form crystallizable salts, and a small
amount  of cinchonidine  and  cinchonine have been  formed.  These
latter continue to increase, and the increase seems to  be made at  the
expense of the crystallizable quinine, which simultaneously diminishes.
All the evidence seems to show that the alkaloids are formed in situ in
the  very cells that contain them.   The quinine in the leaves is  the
crystallizable kind, that of the freshly forming bark is un crystallizable;
a thing incredible if  the  alkaloid in the  bark had  simply been trans-
ported from the leaves. More than this, for seventeen months, the new
bark differs from that on other parts of  the tree in containing much
quinine and little cinchonidine, the proportion being therefore precisely
the  reverse to what it is in the older portions.
  Mr. Broughton, in concluding the paper, deduces evidence unfavor-
able to Liebig's theory that the alkaloids are the substitutes in  the
plants for the inorganic bases.
      SOLUTION  OF PEPSINE  AND  PANCREATINE.
                          BY ME. LONG.
  I have been making experiments on pancreatine obtained directly
from the fresh pancreas of the calf.  The result has been quite what
might have been expected from d priori reasoning, as you will see
from the subjoined statements. 
218
MATERIA MEDICA.
  " Some difficulty was experienced in obtaining the solution of pan-
creatine in an eligible form for administration ; but at last I succeeded
in producing what as closely as possible represents the digestive fluids
found in man.   It is composed of pepsine and pancreatine in suitable
proportions, using for the former a solution of pepsine introduced by
me  some time ago, and adding the solution of pancreatine as now
prepared.
  " In the experiments  made to  test its effects a very  curious result
was  observed.   Meat—beef and mutton—digested  in pepsine alone
was found to be entirely dissolved with the exception of the fat, which
floated as a film on the  surface, and the film was entirely emulsified
when a proper quantity7 of pancreatine was added, and the usual con-
ditions as to temperature,  etc., attended to.  This is exactly what we
might expect, reasoning from  known physiological principles.
  " Pepsine in an effectual form has been a great boon; but, as I have
shown above, it  will not  digest the oily or fatty aliments;  failing thus
to supply the system with the  substances vitally necessary in strumous
diseases.   It is obvious how  desirable the action of this fluid will be
as an addendum to the use of cod-liver oil.
  " The  pancreatic  emulsion has never seemed  to me the nicest or
most eligible mode of effecting what is desired.   It  is nauseous to the
taste  of  many7, and  often  keeps badly; the quantity of mutton suet
employed, which may be supposed to be all the fatty matter the pan-
creatine  present is capable of  emulsifying, is not  as much as might
be desirable in many cases. In some,  suet at all may not be the most
suitable form of fat.  The fluid I now describe is very palatable, and
will keep almost any time. It may be given with  any kind of food.
My experiments  were made  with fat mutton-chops and rich beef-
steaks, as typical aliments, with most satisfactory results.
  " The  first experiments, thrice  repeated, were made with muriatic
acid, wrater, and the combined solution, to represent the gastric juice
and pancreatic secretion.   The second with solution of pepsine  alone,
with acid and water, followed by the addition of the plain pancreatic
solution  after an interval  of  two hours.  Both were entirely satisfac-
tory; but the latter were peculiarly  interesting in a physiological
point of view, as stated above, and tended to show the exact part
played by each fluid in the animal economy.  But as the administra-
tion of two fluids in succession would be  troublesome in practice and
be scarcely7 attended to by patients (at all times averse to trouble), 1
have thought it  desirable  to mix  the two in one  fluid.   This has the
advantage of being  quite  agreeable, as liquor of pepsine always  is;
while the  taste of the liquor  of pancreatine is  entirely concealed by
the former.  Some medical friends  of  mine reported most favorably
of it, after trial  in practice. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
219
  " The experiments in the laboratory were as follows:—
  " No.  1.—Mutton (fat and lean about equal parts), one ounce; water,
one ounce and a half; muriatic acid, fifteen minims;  solution of pan-
creatine and pepsine, one drachm.   Digested at 100° for four hours ;
this was converted into a  homogeneous pulp, and then, diluted with a
little water, presented quite a chylous appearance.
  " No.  2.—Beef (fat and lean), an ounce and a half.  Treated in the
same way, with same result, the pulp being much deeper in color.
  " Nos. 3 and 4.—I then operated  on  the same quantities of each,
first digesting with pepsine solution alone, as intimated above, and
then adding the liquor pancreatine—keeping up the heat.   In these
latter experiments the  result seemed more perfect, but, as I have said,
the same procedure would be rather  inconvenient in practice.
  " The results were found to  be identical  in three successive experi-
ments, at intervals  of  several weeks."—Pharm. Jour., London, Nov.
19,1870.
          CATHARTIN A  COMPLEX SUBSTANCE.
   In a paper in the Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie, Jan., 1872,
 M. E. Bourgoin states that he has resolved cathartin, obtained after the
t, manner of Lassaigne and Feneulle, into  chrysophanic  acid, glucose,
 and chrysophanine.
   Chrysophanic acid is separated from the cathartin by repeated wash-
 ings with ether, in which it is soluble.
   The presence of glucose is proven by the facts that the 'substance left
 by the ether when dissolved in water is capable of vinous  fermentation,
 answers to Trommer's test, and, when chrysophanine is separated from
 it, and it is decolorized, deviates polarized light to the right.
   Chrysophanine may  be obtained, but  not pure, by evaporating the
 solution spoken of after fermentation.   A better plan is to precipitate
 the solution with sub-acetate of lead, and set free the  chrysophanine in
 the precipitate by sulphuretted hydrogen.  M. Bourgoin states that the
 cathartin  only contains a small  portion of the chrysophanine in the
 plant, and gives a process for obtaining it directly from the latter.  He
 also states that he failed to find any of  the cathartic acid of Drao-o-en-
 dorff and Kubly in the cathartin.
                     NITRITE  OF AMYL.
  In the London Pharmaceutical Journal of November 25 Mr. A.
B. Tanner describes the following process as available for the manu-
facture of this drug on a small scale:— 
220
MATERIA MEDICA.
  The pr-x-ess by which I have been in the habit of preparing nitrite
of amyl. and -f which I now intend  giving  you a description, is one
which I think will be found convenient for its  preparation on a small
scale, and of sufficient  purity  for  medicinal u~e.   The pr-oess for
spirit of  nitrous ether consists in distilling, at a certain temperature, a
mixture of reetirted spirit, sulphuric and nitric acid- in certain propor-
tion, and  copper wire :  the  distillate  con si s-s mainly of  a mixture of
nitrite of  ethyl and ethylic aleohoL  Now. by substituting amyl alco-
hol for the rectified spirit in this process, you get nitrite of amyl am :._•
other products : but Mr. Maiseh {Journal of Phar.. April.  1871_i appears
to have overlooked one fact, viz.. that rectided spirit contains 16 per cart.
of water, and that the amylic alcohol he used was nearly anhydrous. He
states that the amylic alcohol, i. e. the purified substance, was mixed with
sulphuric acid, the mixture introduced into a retort. together with - >me
copper wire, and, after cooling.  UNO, was added.  In a  very few m-
ments the evolution of gas was observed, the liquid became hot without
the external apphcation of heat, and the reaction very rapidly increased
to such a violence that the entire  charge was lost, it being impossible
to condense any of the valors in a Liebig's  condenser, or tj  retain
much of the Liquid forced  over into the receiver.   I may add, tha* I
have repeated this  experiment with  exactly the same results:  nearly
the whole charge was forced  over into the receiver, and. while there,
the action again commenced, and increased to  such violence that  I have
no doubt it would have forced itself back into the ret<ort  again if their
mutual positions had been favorable.   As it was. I was obliged to in-
troduce it to the  open air, for the whole house became filled with the
vapor, and every one who respired it became suddenly red in the face.
Upon one of my assistants it had  a very remarkable effect: it seemed
to affect the muscles at  the  back part of the neck, and drew the Lead
backwards, but this soon passed off.   I should quite expect that  the re-
action would be just as  violent in  making spirit of nitrous ether, ii we
used anhydrous alcohol instead of v4 per cent., as ordered.  In prepar-
ing the nitrite of amyl by the process I employ, it is of the utmost im-
portance that the amylic alcohol be as pure a- possible.   Amylic alco-
hol, as you all know, is  formed during  the fermentation of potatoes,
rye. barley, and the marc of grapes ; and  when these are distilled it.
communicates a very pun gen*, and to many repulsive, odor and taste to
the spirits.  Ir is considerably less volatile than either ordinary alcohol
or water, having a boiling-point, when pure, of 13:_'= C.; in consequence
of this property,  it  accumulates in the last portions of the liquids that
are distilled.  Its name is derived from amylmn. starch.—this beirg
the most abundant constituent of  potau.es.  Liebig states that  amylic
alcohol is formed principally in the fermentation of alkaline or neutral 
MATERIA MEDICA.
221
liquids, and its  production in the potato mash may be prevented in
great measure by adding  crude tartar to the fermenting liquid.   Its
formation never occurs in acidulous fermenting liquors which contain
tartaric, racemic, or citric acids.   The addition of hops to the  liquid
has a similar effect in  checking the development of amylic alcohol, or
fusel oil, as it is generally termed.  It is, when pure, a colorless limpid
liquid, of a penetrating and disagreeable odor, exciting headache and
coughing when its vapor is inhaled.  It is sparingly soluble in  water,
though it mixes in all proportions with alcohol, ether, and essential oils.
It is not easily inflammable, but burns with difficulty, giving a  bluish
flame.   Its specific gravity, when  pure, is .818, and boiling-point 132°
C.  Amyl alcohol is not acted upon by the atmosphere, except it be in
a verv thin layer, or under the influence of spongy platinum, when it is
oxidized into valeric acid, C6H10O2, which acid bears the same relation
to amylic alcohol  that acetic acid, C2H402, does to ordinary alcohol.
Fusel oil, as met with in  commerce, is usually a clear yellowish liquid,
with a peculiar penetrating odor, varying, of course, with the substance
from which it has been  produced.  It has a specific gravity of from
.840 to .850, and is largely contaminated with the lower alcohols  of this
series;  so far as my experience goes, it is only about half pure amyl
alcohol. As I  have before stated, it is of the utmost importance, in the
preparation  of nitrite of amyl, that the amylic alcohol be as pure as
possible, for it is much easier to purify this than to purify the  nitrite
produced from it in its impure state.  For this purpose, the best pro-
cess is first to agitate the fusel oil with about an equal bulk  of a strong
 solution of chloride of sodium; this  usually reduces its bulk about 16
 or 20  per cent., and also considerably lowers the specific gravity.
 This washed product is separated and introduced into a retort furnish-
 ed with a thermometer;  that portion of the distillate which passes over
before  the temperature  reaches 125° C. consists mainly of the lower
 alcohols of this series, and whose boiling-points are below that of amy-
 lic alcohol, for the boiling-point rises in proportion as the compound is
 richer in carbon.  The distillate collected between 125° C. and 140° C.
 is collected apart, and redistilled  until it has  a boiling-point near 132°
 C.; this may then be considered pure enough for our purpose.   This is
 then introduced into a glass  retort containing some copper wire, and
 furnished with a safety-tube,  and one-tenth its bulk of H2S04 added.
 The same quantity of IIN03, diluted with an equal volume of water, is
 next  put in, and a very  gentle heat applied until the temperature   '
 reaches about 65° C, when the reaction  will commence and proceed in
 a perfectly manageable manner, until a bulk about equal to double the
 quantity of  HN03 added collects in the receiver; the temperature in
 the mean time rises to about 98° C.  The reaction ceases very quickly, 
222
MATERIA MEDICA.
as in the case of spirit of nitrous ether.  The temperature having fallen
somewhat,  another  portion of HN03, equal  in  bulk to^ the first, is
added, and  this process of successive additions of the acid continued
until nearly the whole of  the amylic alcohol is exhausted, which  may
be known by the dense red  fumes evolved from the retort.  The dis-
tilled product exceeds  in bulk the amylic alcohol used, and is the im-
pure nitrite of  amyl.   This  is washed with solution of   NallO to
remove the HCN and other free acids present, and rectified over fused
K2C03 to get rid of moisture.   The portion which distils between 95°
and 100° C. is collected as nitrite of amyl, sufficiently pure for medi-
cinal use.
  It has several times been stated that nitrite of amyd produces violent
headache, and also coughing and irritation of the larynx; this, I think,
must be  due to its insufficient purification.   The presence of HCN
and undecomposed amylic alcohol would, I think, account for this ; no
such effect  was produced on myself with the purified nitrite.   Mr.
Umney has  shown, in an  article in the Pharmaceutical Journal of
November, 1870, that the  samples then met with were very impure.
 ON THE PREPARATION OF NEUTRAL SULPHATE OF
                           ESERINE.

                          BY M.  A. PETIT.

  M. Petit having had  numerous calls from oculists for this salt, and
having had great difficulty in procuring it, devised after considerable
experimentation the following method of preparing it:—
  A hydro-alcoholic  extract is  first prepared.  This is then dissolved
in a sufficient  quantity (about 4 parts)  of  distilled water and the
solution filtered.  The little matter left on the filter contains no alka-
loid.  One gramme of bicarbonate of potash for every 20 grammes of
extract is then  added to the liquid, which is afterwards shaken with
ether in excess.  This ether takes up  nearly  all the alkaloid, and is
of course readily removed after a few moments' repose,  by pouring or
the pipette.  A little distilled water is then added, and  afterwards
sulphuric acid, drop by drop; the liquid being agitated after each
drop and tested with litmus paper until it is exactly neutral.  After
standing the aqueous solution is readily separated from the ether, which
no longer contains eserine.   This ether is then again agitated with the
first solution and takes away more of the eserine.  It is then separated
and added  to the neutral aqueous  solution of  the sulphate, and more
sulphuric acid dropped in as before until the neutral point  is reached,
when the ether is removed as before.  This treatment with ether should 
MATERIA MEDICA.
223
be repeated three or four times, to exhaust the solution.   The aqueous
solution obtained  contains a moderately pure  alkaloidal salt, but  to
obtain the latter pure the  aqueous solution  should be  put through the
Bame  process  as the  original solution of the extract.  A sulphate  of
eserine  may be obtained by  evaporation in the form of  prismatic
crystals, but usually  the evaporation  is only practised sufficiently  to
expel from the solution the little remaining ether.  If enough water be
added to the solution to make as many grammes as drops of sulphuric
acid (str. 40 grs. monohydrated acid (SOaHO) to a litre) each gramme
represents one centigramme of eserine.  A drop or two of a collyrium
of this  (1 part  to 9 of water) acts  very promptly on the pupil.—
R Union Pharmaceutique, Nov., 1871.
          ON THE  PREPARATIONS  OF ACONITE.

                         BY M.  DUQUESNEL.

  In this paper the author gives the following table as the result of his
chemical examination of preparations made in accordance with  the
French codex:—
Preparations Analyzed.
Crude Aconitia.
Purified but not
absolutely pure
   Aconitia.
Aqueous extract of the leaves (depurated juice), 15 gram
  mes...............................................
Same extract as it occurs in commerce (prepared in vacuo),
  15 grammes.........................................
Hydro-alcoholic extract of the leaves (prepared in vacuo),
  15 grammes.........................................
Alcoholic extract of  leaves of alcoolature, 15 grammes
  representing  300 grammes of alcoolature............,
Extract of the  tincture of the leaves, 15 grammes, repre-
  senting 200 grammes of tincture..................,
Alcoholic extract of selected roots (prepared without access
  of the air), 15 grammes..........................,
Same as it occurs in commerce, 15 grammes (without access
  of air) ..........................................
Same as in commerce (not prepared in vacuo), 15 grammes
  0.004

  0.073

  0.115

  0.112

  0.124

  0.45

  0.135
Traces only.
Traces only.

   0.045

   0.055

   0.052

   0.055

   0.42

   0.085
Traces only.
  From this  table it is evident that the most powerful preparation is
the carefully-prepared extract of the root, and that  when this is care-
lessly prepared and  not in vacuo it is nearly inert.
  M. Duquesnel conceives, and  the Editor of N. R. agrees with him,
that all preparations of aconite should be abandoned except a tincture
and extract of the root.   The tincture  he proposes the following  for-
mula for:— 
224
MATERIA MEDICA.
         Take of Selected roots of aconitus napellus, 1 part.
                 Alcohol of  90 degrees, 5 parts.
   Pulverize the root finely in a covered mortar  and macerate 8 days,
with frequent agitation.
   The following formula he proposes for the extract:—
              Take of Powdered selected roots, q. v.
                      Alcohol of  90 degrees, q.  s.
   After  exhaustion of the aconite by three successive macerations of
three days each, with expression of the  residue after each maceration,
the tinctures are to be put together and  evaporated in vacuo to the
consistence of a hard extract, at a temperature  not exceeding 60° C.
The drug yields from 15 to 20 parts  of  this extract for the 100 parts.
1 to 2 centigrammes,  and even 3 centigrammes of  the  extract may
be given during the 24 hours.   1 centigramme equals 2 milligrammes
of the crystallized aconitia.—Bulletin General de Therap., Dec. 15
1871.
                     VARNISH FOR PILLS.

                         BY A. F. HASELDEN.

   In the Conference " Year-Book of Pharmacy " for 1870, at page 53,
may be found the following form for  a pill-varnish, viz.:—Ether, 100
parts;  balsam  of tolu,  10 parts;  colophonium,  1 part; absolute
alcohol, 10  parts: macerate until the resin is  dissolved.   The tolu
balsam must be previously digested four hours in hot water, and then
dried and added to the rest.   The mode of  coating is by putting the
granules with sufficient of the varnish, which is found out by practice,
into a shallow circular porcelain evaporating-dish, and quickly shaking
them round.  The process of  drying  may be quickened  by throwing
them into a sieve, and keeping  up the rotatory motion.  Pills in large
quantities in the  same way; in small quantities, in pots having an
egg-shaped  bottom.   I have employed a similar varnish for  several
years, but I simplify the form for preparing the solution.   In the first
place, I omit the  colophony, or resin, as being neither necessary nor
agreeable; and, instead of digesting/m?^ balsam of tolu in hot water,
I take the resin of tolu, the waste product after preparing the syrup.
I use  less ether and  more alcohol, thereby obtaining  a less costly
result, and one equally good,—the only advantage of a large quantity
of ether being the drying of  the varnish in a shorter time; but, for
general purposes, I find it dries quickly enough.  If very rapid drying
be necessary, methylated  chloroform is the  best solvent.  My propor-
tions are the following:—Resin  of tolu, 3 parts; rectified spirit, ft parts; 
MATERIA MEDICA.
225
methylic ether, 2  parts: well shaken until  all that will is dissolved.
Use the clear solution.  Iodide  of  h-on  pills  are  well  preserved  by
this coating, and also granules of  secale cornutum, as suggested by Dr.
Skinner, of Liverpool.  For preserving secale in a portable state the
plan is good;  for, if there should be any difficulty in swallowing the
crannies, they can be readily crushed into a coarse  powder and taken
with water.  I have also employed this solution as a liquid-stopping for
the teeth, applied by means of cotton-wool, and have found it more
manageable  and  less disagreeable than the  various  solutions  of
mastic.  H it could be deprived of color and odor without destroying
its adhesive quality, it would be better still.  1 have tried for this, but,
at present, without success.—London Pharm. Journ.
 METHODS  FOR  PREPARING   PURE  CARBOLATE  OF
                           POTASH.
                          BY M. EA3IEL.
  Carbolate of p'">tash may be prepared by mixing together alcoholic
 Solutions containing 94 parts of carbolic acid and 56 parts of  caustic
 potash, and evaporating.  Upon cooling, a crystalline mass, composed
 of small, very thin, transparent, micaceous  plates, is deposited.  Dried
 over sulphuric acid, the product consists of  carbolate of potash in  a
 very pure state.
  This salt may also be prepared by fusing together 37.4 parts  of
 caustic y ,rash and 62.6 parts of carbolic acid, the caustic potash being
 added gradually.
  In whatever way prepared, carbolate of potash absorbs humidity
 from the air, turning first yellow  and afterwards brown.   It  is very
 s< 'luble in water and alcohol, less so in ether.   It contains no water of
 crystallization, but it retains the water of composition of its respective
 constituents, which cannot be  separated without decomposition  of the
 ?alt.
  The author states that this compound is being increasingly used in
French medicine, and that as a disinfectant it advantageously replaces
rarbolic acid itself.—London Pharm. Journ.
                      ANTHEMIC ACID.
  M. Camboulise?  advises the following plan of  isolating the acid of
anthemis nobilis:—
  Treat dried chamomile flowers in a displacement apparatus with ether
free from alcohol, evaporate the tincture in a water-bath  to the con
           15 
226
MATERIA MEDICA.
sistence of an extract;  treat with boiling distilled water, filter warm,
let it stand for twenty-four hours, filter afresh to separate the insoluble
part, evaporate the filtrate to dryness, redissolve the residue in ether,
and leave it to evaporate spontaneously.—London Pharm Journ., Jan.
13, 1872.
  GrUin-Arabic of Soudan.—According to an article in the Bull
de la Soc. de geographic, p. 33, 1871, the Soudan gum exudes spon-
taneously from natural  cracks and fissures  in the  bark, and is  most
abundant and of best quality in long dry seasons. It is well known that
when the Nile inundations have been very full and long  it is very
difficult  to  obtain  the  finest gum—the reason being  that great in-
undations are caused by abnormally wet  seasons in the Soudan gum
country.

  Preparation of Crystalline Indigotine by Means of  Car-
bolic Acid.—M. C. Mehu states that carbolic acid will dissolve the
blue coloring matter of indigo freely  when hot, depositing it in the
form of  beautiful crystals on cooling.   To keep the acid liquid when
cool a little alcohol may be  added, which precipitates nearly all the
coloring  matter.  Camphor may be emphryed for the same purpose,
as it liquefies carbolic acid just as it does crystallized acetic acid and
benzoic acid.  One part  of  the camphor to  15  by  weight  of the
carbolic  acid is the proper proportion.—Journal de Pharmacie  et de
Chimie, December, 1871.

  Vanilla  Crystals.—Carles has made  some new experiments upon
the vanilla  crystals and finds that they contain  a new acid.  The
crystals were repeatedly dissolved and  recrystallized until  they were
obtained as colorless, transparent prisms, of  a sharp taste  and  light
odor, which became stronger on heating.   Their  melting point is
between 80° and 81° C, and  they can be sublimed at 280°.  They are
readily soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, sulphide of carbon, fixed
and  volatile oils, and also in hot water; cold water scarcely affects
them.  They have a marked.acid reaction and  decompose the alkaline
carbonates.   On treatment  with concentrated sulphuric  acid they
become yellow.   If the  sulphuric acid  contains  any nitric  acid  a
beautiful red is  developed.   Concentrated sulphuric acid changes
them into oxalic acid.   Bromine and  chlorine develop a brown color.
Oxysalts of iron color them  blue, acetate of lead  precipitates them,
and nitrate of silver when warm  is reduced by them.   Their formula
is£!1(1Ii606.—Zeitschrift des Allgem. Apot.-Vereines, Dec, 1871. 
MATERIA MEDICA.                      227
 Losses  Sustained by Different  Substances in Drying.
                                        HEATED TO REDNESS.
                                29 grs. oxide of silver leave 27 grs. me-
                                  tallic silver.
                                10 grs. oxal. of cerium leave 4.8 grs. oxide
                                  with peroxide.
                                100  grs.  ferri oxal.  leave 27  grs.  per-
                                  oxide of iron, Fe60>.
                                50 grs. ferrum tart, leave 15 grs., after
                                  washing, of Fea03.
                                20 grs. lithise carb. leave 10.6 grs.
                                50 grs. magnes. carb. leave 22  grs. mag-
                                  nesia, MgO.
                                            Michael J. Ctjmmings.
Philadelphia, March, 1871.                       —Druggists' Circular.
To the Druggists' Circular:
100 grains of—         Dried at  Lose grains,
Acid Gallic........  212°     9.5
Quinia? Sulph.......  212°    14.4
Soda; Arsenias.......  300°    40.38
Alum........  .....  400°    47.
Sodre Carbonas... (Dull redness) 63.
    Phosphas......    "     63.
    Sulphas.......    "     56.
Potassa?Carbonas....    "     16. ab't
  DUTIES  OF AN  APOTHECARY IN THE OLDEN  TIME.

  As indicating how defined the duties of an apothecary were even in
the sixteenth century, the following quaint rules for an apothecary's
life and conduct deserve quotation:—
  1. Must fyrst serve God,  forsee the end, be clenly, pity the poor.
  2. Must not be suborned for money to hurt mankynde.
  3. His place of dwelling and shop to be clenly, to please the sences
withal.
  4. His garden must be at hand, with plenty of herbes, seedes, and
rootes;
  5. To sow, set, plant, gather, preserve, and keep them in due tyme.
  6. To read Dioscorides to know ye nature of plantes and herbes.
  7. To invent medicines, to choose by coloar, taste, odoar, figure, &c.
  8. To have  his mortars, stilles, poltes,  filters,  glasses, boxes, clene
and sweette.
  9. To have charcole at hand to make decoctions, syrups, &c.
  10. To keep his cleane ware close and cast away the baggage.
  11. To have two places in his shop, one most cleane for the physic,
and a barer place for  the chirurgerie stuff.
  12. That he  neither increase or  diminish the  physician's file {i. e.
prescription), and keep it for his own discharge.
  13. That he neither buy nor sell rotten drugges.
  14. That he peruse often his waares, that they corrupt not.
  15. That he put not in quid pro que {i. e., use one ingredient in place
of another when dispensing a physician's  prescription) without ad-
vysement. 
228
MATERIA MEDICA.
  16. That he may open well a vein for to help pleurisy.
  17. That he meddle not in his vocation.
  18. That he delight to reade Nicolaus Myrepsus, Valerius Cordus, &c.
  19. That he do remember his office is only to be physician's cooke.
  20. That he use true weight and measure.
  21. To remember his end and the judgement of God ; and thus do
I commend him to God, if he be not covetous and crafty, setting his
own lucre before other men's help, succour, comfort, &c.
  Dr. D. Campbell Black : An Address on the Relations of Prescriber
to Dispenser, before the Glasgow Chemists' Association.—Pharma-
ceutical Journal, April, 1871.
   ERYTHROCENTAURLN IN AMERICAN  CENTAURY.

                       BY JOHN F. HUNEKEE.
  This  principle was  discovered  in  European centaury {Erythrm
 Centaurium), a few years ago, by Mehu, a French chemist, who ob-
tained it in the minute quantity of one grain in three thousand grains
of the herb.  The  question very  naturally arose, whether American
centaury {Sabbatia angularis) also contained this principle ; the experi-
menter will prove that it may be obtained.
  The flowers and leaves of Sabbatia angularis to the amount of two
pounds were exhausted with one  gallon of water, a portion of which
was evaporated by a water bath, and  allowed to  stand to deposit the
apotheme.   This was separated by filtration, and strong alcohol added
to the filtrate, which precipitated gum.  On again  filtering, the infu-
sion  was evaporated to the consistence of a  syrup, and, on cooling,
washed  with strong ether, which  took up erythrocentaurin and depos-
ited it on spontaneous evaporation.  Erythrocentaurin, as thus obtained,
is a  non-nitrogenous principle, in  small  acicular crystals,  which are
transparent, but in  this case were contaminated with yellow coloring
matter, and, being in such a small quantity, the experimenter feared
losing them in decolorizing.
  The crystals have a sharp acrid taste, reminding one of tobacco, and
are soluble in alcohol,  ether, water, alkalies in solution and acids, but
insoluble in fixed and volatile oils, being also slightly volatilized by heat.
  The only proofs that they are similar to  erythrocentaurin of the
European centaury are:—First, that they  exist in  the  same minute
quantity; second, that they are reddened by solar light, but if dissolved
and recrystallized, regain their original color.   Therefore there is not a
doubt but that these principles are similar in composition and character. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
229
  Solvent Powers of Glycerine.—The following table marks the
quantity soluble in one hundred parts of glycerine :—
                                   Acetate of morphia...............   20
                                   Muriate of morphia..............   ~°
                                   Phosphorus.....................  0.20
                                   Acetate of lead---..............   ~°
                                   Arseniate of potash..............   50
                                   Chlorate of potash...............  3.50
                                   Bromide of potassium............   25
                                   Cyanide of potassium............   32
                                   Iodide of potassium..............   40
                                   Quinia..........................  0.50
                                   Tannate of quinia................  0.25
                                   Arseniate of soda................   50
                                   Bicarbonate of soda..............    8
                                   Borate of soda..................   60
                                   Carbonate of soda...............   98
                                   Chlorate of soda.................   20
                                   Sulphur........................  0.10
                                   Strychnia.......................  0.25
                                   Nitrate of strychnia..............  4.
                                   Sulphate of strychnia.............22.50
                                   Urea............................50.
                                   Veratria........................    1
                                   Chloride of zinc..................   50
                                   Iodide of zinc...................   40
                                   Sulphate of zinc..................   35
Arscnious acid...................   20
Arsenic........................   20
Benzoic acid....................   10
Boracic acid....................   10_
Oxalic acid.....................   lo
Tannic acid....................   50
Alum...........................   40
Carbonate  of ammonia...........   20
Muriate of ammonia..............   20
Tartarated antimony.............  5.50
                     .........     3
                      ........   33
Atropia....................
Sulphate of atropia..........
Chloride of barium..............   10
Brucia
2.25
Sulphide of calcium.............    5
Cinchona........................  0.50
Sulphate of cinchona..............  6.70
Acetate of copper................   10
Sulphate of copper..............   30
Tartarated iron..................    8
Lactate of iron..................   16
Sulphate of iron................   25
Perchloride of mercury...........  7.50
Cyanide of mercury..............   27
Iodine..........................  1.90
Morphia........................  0.45
  Mr. Ivlever, in Pharm.
Transactions.
Zeits. fur Russ.,  quoted in  Pharmaceut.
  Theine.—Mr. Lewis Thompson  asserts that in the ordinary process
of roasting coffee all the theine is driven off, and states that about 140
tons of  theine  is thus lost every year in England by ignorance.  He
proposes to collect the impure theine by having the cylinder axis at one
end of the tubular roaster pass off  for three feet as a tube, in which, if
kept cool, the  theine will be deposited.   In  regard  to purification  of
theine, he says:  '' Theine is absolutely insoluble in a  concentrated so-
lution of carbonate of potash, and  thus we may precipitate it from its
admixture with  sugar, mucilage, and vegetable  extract.   If, then, by
means of the subacetate of lead, the tannin, malic acid, etc., have been
removed from a vegetable infusion, and the filtered solution be evapo-
rated  to a small bulk and its weight of carbonate of potash be added,
the theine falls.  This must be boiled in spirits of wine until dissolved,
and then on evaporation the crystals fit for immediate use separate."
As  a  distinct! ve test, sufficient to  detect a thousandth of  a grain, dis- 
230
MATERIA MEDICA.
solve the theine in  a small quantity of  water, and pass through this a
stream of  euchlorine, then  allow  the fluid to evaporate  at  a steam
heat; a blood-red substance  will remain, which, on the application of
a few drops of cold water, forms  a  beautiful scarlet solution.  Eu-
chlorine  is  formed by action of hydrochloric acid  upon chlorate of
potash.   In a dose  of one to five grains, Mr. Thompson states he has
found theine very useful in typhoid states of the system. As made by
himself from coffee waste,  purified theine has cost only threepence
per ounce, troy.—Medical Times and Gazette, Feb. 27, 1871.

  On the Resin of Tampico Jalap.—Prof.  A.  Spirgalis,  of
Konigsberg, read a paper on  the resin of Tampico jalap (the pro-
duct  of Ipomcea  simulans, Hanbury, Linn.  Soc.  Trans.,  vol. xi.)
before the  Munich Academy  of  Sciences, from which the follow-
ing facts are taken: He gives the name  of  Tampicin to the  resin,
which he  obtained  by  making  a tincture,  evaporating, washing,
and  boiling the residuum  in  water,  redissolving  in alcohol, and
decolorizing by charcoal.  Its physical  properties are similar to those
of the resin of ordinary jalap (convolvulin).  In section it is colorless
or yellowish,  brittle, tasteless,  and without odor,  soluble in  ether
and alcohol, and its solutions have a feeble acid reaction.  By strong
alkalies it is changed into an  acid soluble in water, Tampicic acid. By
dilute sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric  acid, it is slowly  changed
(rapidly by aid of heat) into a fat-like acid, Tampicolic acid, and sugar.
In concentrated sulphuric acid Tampicin becomes first yellow, then dis-
solves with a beautiful red color, passing at last into yellow ; if water
be added to this concentrated solution, sugar  and Tampicolic acid are
formed.   Towards  concentrated nitric acid the  behavior of the resin
is that of convolvulin.  Its alcoholic  solution is not affected by ordi-
nary7 metallic salts.  If kept a  long time melted, it finally gives off a
peculiar  odor, turns yTellow, then brown, and even at a temperature
of 100°  C, if  long-continued, undergoes  a  peculiar decomposition.
By quick heat it can be dried at 100° C.  Its melting point is  130° C.
Its  formula C34H64014.
  Tampicic acid is best made by dissolving the  pure resin in baryta
water, precipitating the baryta by sulphuric acid, separating the latter
by  sugar  of lead,  precipitating the  dissolved lead  by sulphuretted
hydrogen, evaporating and purifying by re-solution.  It is a yellowish,
translucent, brittle, amorphous substance, without odor, and of a sour,
bitter taste; freely  soluble in water and alcohol, but  only  yielding a
trace  to ether.   Salts of  the alkalies—sulphate of copper, silver, cad-
mium, and zinc, or  chloride of platinum—alter its solution.   Acetato
of  lead  makes a  whitish  cloudiness,  a  dense flaky  precipitate. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
231
Its formula is Cl4HMOm so that it is formed out of resin by addition
of 3 IIsO.  The formula of Tampicolic acid is C16H„03.  It can be
made  by simply digesting Tampicin some days with sulphuric acid.
The acid is left as yellowish flakes and granules, the sugar remaining in
solution.  It is odorless, of  a sharp acid taste, soluble readily in alco-
hol, with difficulty in water.  By warmth it becomes an oily, slightly yel-
lowish fluid, hardening on cooling into a white, hard, radiatingly crys-
talline mass.  At a  higher temperature it gives off whitish, irritating
fumes.—Sitzunysberichte der konigl. bayer. Akad. der Wissenschaften
2U Munchen, 1870.

  Discovery of Carbolic Acid.—In the Journal of Applied Chem-
istry for April, 1871, Prof. Chas. A. Joy writes as follows:—
  On  the Sthof Tebruary, 1795. there was born a child near the city
of Hamburg, to whom was given the name of Friedlieb Ferdinand
Runge.   He was a  youth of promise, and in  course of  time passed
through his University studies, was a tutor at the University of Berlin,
then resided for a  long time  in Paris, afterwards  was Professor of
Technology at the University of Breslau, and finally returned to Berlin
to receive a pension and to give some services to the naval department
of Prussia.  This man was an industrious chemist, and among other
important researches he published in PoggendorfFs Annals for 1834,
an admirable paper on the products of the distillation of  coal, in which
he gives an account  of the properties of certain acid compounds, par-
ticularly of one which he called carbolic acid or carbon oil acid.  In
this original publication Eunge describes some  of the leading proper-
ties of carbolic acid, and suggests many of the uses to which, after the
lapse of nearly forty years, it is now applied.  Other chemists took the
subject in hand, especially Laurent, and it was then that new names
began to be suggested for the acid.  We will mention  some of these
names, and our readers can then understand why so  much confusion
has obtained in reference to  what is, in fact, a very simple and easily
understood body.  The various names are : Carbolic acid (1834), phe-
nylic acid (1S40), phenylous acid, hydrated oxide of  phenyl, phenylic
alcohol, phenol, phenous acid,phenic acid, phenolic acid, spirol, salycon,
coal tar creosote, carbon oil acid, etc.  Each one of  these names sug-
gests a laborious research, running over a term of years,  and published
in the leading English, French, and German journals since 1834.

  Saccharate of Lime.—Dr. Schwan has proposed  this salt as a
portable substitute for lime-water.  It is prepared by adding alcohol
to a strong solution  of slaked lime in syrup.   The precipitate is fairly
soluble in water, and the solution has a less nauseous taste than 3me-
water.—Prof. Attfidd, Chemical and Druggists' Almanac. 
232                    MATERIA MEDICA.
  The Leech  Trade.-One of the trades carried on in the Landes,
south of Bordeaux, in France, is that of propagating leeches^ in  the
meres  near the bay.  Formerly  the custom was  to  use  miserable
worn-out horses;  but  these poor animals  were found  by the pro-
pagator to  wear out too soon-the veins opened by the leeches  did
not heal;  and  so the life's blood  could  not be renewed.  Now, the
cow has  to do duty as nurse to the young annelides.  Frightened,
haggard, but resigned,  the  animal submits, with  a stupid  kind of
astonishment, to the attacks  of clusters of  leeches hanging on  her
legs; and  when the moment  of  utter exhaustion  comes she is sent
off  to her pastures to renew life,  and furnish a fresh repast.  Two
weeks suffice for each process, alternately carried on, until  death puts
an  end to this  being eaten in detail.  The owner of about eight acres
of marsh supplies yearly two  hundred cows for the nourishment of
eight hundred  thousand leeches:  he buys the animal for  about  two
pounds, and sells  the carcass for  sixteen shillings.   The ass  is some-
times employed, but it proves to be less resigned than the more patient
cow; it kicks, prances, and tries to bite ; and when at length it falls
into the water  under the storm of its numerous enemies,  it becomes
mad with terror.  That  this  culture  of  leeches forms  an  important
branch of trade to the inhabitants of the Bay of Arcachon, may be be-
lieved when it is known that a million and a half of  leeches are annu-
ally exported to Bordeaux.— Ch. and Druggist.

   California Castor-Oil.—The Marysville Appeal has the follow-
ing account  of a recent visit  to  the castor-oil manufactory of  Dr.
McHaniel, situated  in  Marysville:  "Being a  novice in  the prepa-
ration and pressing of  the castor-bean, and  the  process employed
to  produce the pure  oil, we  were  surprised  at  the  simplicity of
the machinery and everything connected with the  modus operandi.
The beans are first  subjected  to  a  dry heat  of an hour or  so m
a furnace.  This  softens them  and brings them  to  that  peculiar
state required in expeditious pressing.  They are then taken out  and
placed in  a screw-press, run by  horse-power,  and  capable of press-
ing between 80 and  100 gallons of oil per day.  From the press the
oil is conveyed into a  vessel, and  from thence into a  large  iron
tank or  boiler.  In this is placed 60 gallons  of  oil and the same
amount of water, the latter serving to cleanse the oil of  all  impurities.
The oil is then  boiled about an hour, and kept standing until the  next
morning, when the water is drawn off and the oil transf erred to the clari-
fiers which are composed of zinc, and are capable of holding from 60
 to  100 gallons  each.   After standing about eight hours in the sun, it is
 taken out and put into cans, and is ready for the market.  Beans of a 
MATERIA MEDICA.
233
superior quality are worth about $90 per ton, and 100 pounds are sup-
posed to produce 5 gallons of oil."

  Magnificent Fluorescence of Peppermint Oil.—Prof. Pfliick-
io-er, in the Pharmaceutical Journal  and Transactions, say7s, fifty
to seventy drops of peppermint oil shaken with one drop  of  nitric
acid (1.2 sp. gr.), turn faintly yellowish brownish," and after an hour
or two exhibit a most beautiful blue, violet,  or  greenish blue  color,
when  examined in (transmitted) light.  When observed  in  reflected
light the liquid is of a copper color, and not transparent.  The coloration
may be made immediate by warming  or  using  a larger quantity of
nitric acid (gtt. 10-19). All specimens of the oil which the professor has
tried responded perfectly7 to the reaction, except  a very old sample of
English manufacture. The color is very persistent, lasting a week or two
in the cold.  Five per cent, of turpentine in the oil does  not  interfere
with the reaction.  The  only other oil,  which behaves at all  similarly
is carbol, the lighter portion of oil of caraway, but its coloration is very-
much less pure and intense.

  The Size of the Drop of Different Fluids.—Dr. Cotting recently
presented to the Obstetrical Society of Boston the subjoined results of
experiments  made for him by a reliable apothecary7, the object  being
to ascertain  the size of  the drop of different fluids; the experiment
consisted simply in letting  thirty drops  fall into  a  minim glass, and
measuring the number of minims.
		Shop-bottle.		1-OZ.	wu lxoiu a,-vial.	4-03. vial.
30 gtt. tinct. opii,	=	15	min.	20	min.	15 min.
(2d trial),	=	15	a	15	u	15 "
30 gtt. tr. aconit. rad.,	=	15	a	17	u	17 "
(2d trial),	=	14	ii	12	ii	15 "
30 gtt. vin. colch. rad.,	=	20	ii	20	ii	20 "
(2d trial),	=	20	ii	20	ii	17 "
30 gtt. filt. rain-water,	=	30	ii	30	ii	30 "
                             —Boston Med. and Surg. Journal.

  Tuba Boot.—The roots of a plant known in Borneo by the name
of tuba  or  tooba are  much valued  in  that country for destroying
vermin on  plants  and  animals.  They are thrown into water and
allowed  to stand a short time, after  which the animals or plants are
washed with the water.  It is said that the infusion is very deadly to
the vermin, but innocuous to the plant and animals.  The roots are
used whilst  fresh, and  are believed to lose their properties in drying. 
234
MATERIA MEDICA.
They are also used constantly for poisoning fish and pools.  The plant
is one of the Leguminosse.—The Gardeners Chronicle.

  On the  Estimation of Acetic Acid in Acetate of  Lead.-
Two  kinds of acetate are offered  by manufacturers:  the one com-
pact and very heavy, the  other loose and crystalline; occasionally a
mixture of the two appears.  The former is  more basic and cheaper.
In estimating the amount of acetic acid, the following process has been
found satisfactory:—
  In a flask of about 12 ozs. capacity 100 grains of sample are dis-
solved in 4 ozs. of distilled water, by the aid of  gentle  heat; litmus
solution is then  added,  and a standard  carbonate  of  soda solution
added very gradually.  It  might be supposed that the  presence of a
precipitate would obscure the reaction, but it does  not; one drop of
the carbonate of soda solution  in excess  changes the color from the
purplish neutral tint of litmus to a pale blue.— Chemical JVews.

  Artificial India Rubber.—Pro. Sonnenschein has  discovered
that an  elastic  mass resembling  caoutchouc may7 be  obtained  by
combining tungstate  of soda with  certain  organic  substances.  If
tungstic acid or tungstate of soda  be added to glue, and  afterwards
muriatic acid, a  compound  of  tungstic acid glue is  precipitated,
which is  so  elastic  at 85° to 105° F.  that it  can be drawn out
into very thin fibres.  On cooling  the mass becomes very solid and
brittle.  It is proposed to employ this  substance  in  place of the
costly albumen for mordanting cotton, especially for aniline colors.
The same substance has been used for tanning leather, which it makes
as hard  as stone.  By adding tungstate of soda and muriatic acid to a
solution of gelatine, and heating the precipitate, a substance is formed
which may be used as a cement or putty.—Manufacturers'  Review.

  Synthesis  of Conia.—According to  the Journal of Applied
Chemistry, H. Schiff  has produced  this alkaloid  artificially hj allow-
ing alcoholic ammonia to act at 212° F. on butyric  aldehyde, combining
the substance thus formed with platinum, and distilling.   The alkaloid
obtained exactly corresponds physically, chemically, and physiologically
with the native drug.

  Preservation of Meat,  Vegetables,  etc.—In the  Moniteur
Scientifique for  March,  1871,  Dr.  G. Declat describes a  process of
preserving both vegetable and animal food material,  wmich is said to
have  been  used  successfully  in Paris.   It consists  in  soaking the
substances in aqueous solutions of various strengths  of pure  carbohc
acid, and then drying them. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
235
  Fulmar Oil.—By Edward C. C. Stanford, F.C.S.—This oil is ob-
tained in the following way on the Island of St. Kilda.   The bird-
catcher swings over the precipice by a  rope, armed  with a sort  of
fishing-rod having a noose attached to it.   This he dexterously throws
over the head of  the bird  as it sits on the rock, and hauls it to him.
lie then dips the bird's beak into a small  leather bag attached to his
waist, and there the oil is vomited.  The bird itself is afterward eaten,
its feathers and oil being exported.  The bird lives on fish, and the oil
is certainly a fish-oil, and possesses nearly all the properties of cod-liver
oil.  It is of a clear, dark,  slightly reddish sherry color, and has a pow-
erful, peculiar odor.  Its sp. gr. is .902.   It is  soluble in ether.   Cold
alcohol dissolves 1 per cent, of it, hot alcohol 3 per cent.  SO, causes
the ordinary biliary reaction with  it.  It saponifies with soda and con-
tains a trace of iodine.   Heated with oil of vitriol and excess of potash,
it gives off a  strong odor  of rose.—Proceedings of British Pharma-
ceutical Confer ence for 1870.

  Researches on the Formation of Gallic Acid.—In a paper in
Comptes Rendus of June 19, M. Sacc points out that if  the theory
usually accepted  for the mode of formation of gallic acid (which, ac-
cording to Pelouze's experiments, has the formula C7H30B and  is de-
rived from tannic acid simply by its splitting up into sugar and  gallic
acid in the presence of water) be correct, there ought to be obtained a
smaller quantity by weight of gallic acid from a given quantity7 of tan-
nic acid used.  That this does not so happen has been proved already
by Dr. Stenhouse, who found that tannic acid, while being convert-
ed into gallic acid, yields its own weight of the latter.   The author  of
this paper having made a series of experiments on this subject, found
that tannic acid, while being converted into gallic acid, increases con-
siderably in  weight, and  concludes that  hydration then takes place,
and that accordingly tannic acid is the anhydride of gallic acid.—Chem-
ical News, July 14, 1871.
  Quantitative  Determination  of  Iodine.—William  Eeinige
proposes a new method for the quantitative determination of iodine,
founded upon the decomposition  of  the  permanganate of potash by
iodide of potassium.   As  neither chlorine nor bromine exhibits the
same reaction, this method would appear to be  the best for the quanti-
tative analysis of iodine compounds. Take a solution of an iodine salt,
add a little sulphuric acid to neutralize the excess of alkali, or render
slightly akaline by means of carbonate of potash or soda; then heat to
gentle boiling in a beaker-glass, and gradually add a solution composed
of 2.5  grammes of permanganate of potash dissolved in 497.5 grammes
of distilled water, until all of the iodide of potassium is decomposed.  The 
 236                    MATERIA MEDICA.
                                                ____________________________■■
 quantity of permanganate consumed will give the amount of iodine,
 for every gramme  of it represents 2 milligrammes of iodine.   The
 accuracy of the analysis is not destroyed by the presence of bromine or
 chlorine in the solution.—Druggist^ Circular.
   On the so-called Ozone-ether.—By Dr. E. Bottger.—The prepa-
 ration commended by Dr. Eichardson, under the name of ozone-ether, as
 a disinfectant, contains  according to my observation no ozone, but is
 only an ethereal solution of peroxide of nitrogen.  Ether saturated
 with this gas can very  readily be prepared  by shaking up hydrated
 peroxide of barium with ether in  a glass vessel;  then adding, little
 by little, pure, very dilute muriatic acid, the vessel being shaken from
 time to time and cooled, and finally allowing the whole to stand quiet
 so that the ether may separate from the concentrated solution of chlo-
 ride of barium which  has been formed; the  upper ethereal layer
 may then be separated by carefully decanting,  or hj the  use of  the
 pipette.— Vierteljahrsch. fur Praktisch. Pharm., July, 1871.
  Method of Distinguishing Chloroform made from Chloral
 from that made  by Alcohol and Chlorine.—By Dr. Hager.—
 According to Dr. Hager the chloral-chloroform has a specific gravity
 of only 1.485, and  contains  0.75 to 0.8 per cent, of strong alcohol.
 When  to the alcohol-chloroform strong sulphuric acid is added, it
 always becomes  more or less colored, which does not happen with  the
 other variety ; and when a few drops of each kind is allowed to evapo-
 rate from a watch-glass, the alcohol-chloroform gives off, after a while,
 a peculiar disagreeable odor, whilst the  chloral-chloroform  retains its
 fruity smell  until the last.— Chemical News, from Polytechnisches
 Journal von Dingier.
  Bromal.—In a paper on the chemistry of bromal and its prepara-
 tion, by Dr. L. Schaeffer,  in  the  Berichte der  Deutschen  Chem.
 Gesellsc. zu Berlin, the  following facts are brought forward.  Bromal
 boils, without decomposition, at 173°, and is  not congealed at — 20°.
 The hydrate  of  bromal fuses at 53.5°, cannot be distilled without  de-
 composition, being converted into water and  bromal.   When absolute
 alcohol is added  to bromal, bromal-alcoholate results.   This is a crys-
 talline  solid, fusing  at 44°, soluble with difficulty in water, readily in
ether and alcohol. On distillation it breaks up into alcohol and bromal.
 The formula of the  alcoholate is C2Br3OH + C2H60.
  Tincture  of  Andol Andol—A New Vesicant.—Dr. I  Rox-
burgh Wylie  states  that during a residence of three and a half years
in Java he found the tincture  of andol andol very largely used  as a
vesicant.  He has used  it himself constantly, and never  knew it to
fail. It is simply  painted on the  part, which  has  been previously 
MATERIA MEDICA.
237
 washed—first with soap and water, and then with vinegar,—and, dry-
 in* in a few seconds, vesicates most effectually in two or three hours.
 It is prepared from a fly found in China in great abundance.   The fly
 is imported from China, and is of a dull leaden color, about twice the
 size of the Spanish fly, and in general appearance not unlike the large
 Australian blow-fly.—Australian Medical Journal, March, 1871.
   Purification of  Alcohol—Test of its Purity.—In  order  to
 separate volatile odorous principles from  alcohol, wThich has been re-
 covered after use in making vegetable extracts, it is recommended to
 add, before distilling, permanganate of potash.
   It is sometimes important to know whether alcohol is pure  or not,
 especially for use with the aniline colors.  The point can be determined
 by adding to the  alcohol a piece of caustic  potash.  H any foreign
 matter be present, the alcohol will become more or less  yellow; if it
 remain colorless, it is pure.—Eisner's Chemisch-technische Mittheil.
   Test  for Purity of Olive Oil.—Dr. E. C. Lauglies has found the
 following test very useful to prove the absence of  seed-oil, especially
 cotton seed: The reagent is first made by adding three  parts of pure
 nitric acid  at 40° to one part of distilled water; then three grammes
 of the oil to be tested is put with three grammes of reagent in a test-
 tube, and heated  in  a  water-bath.   If  the  oil be pure it becomes
 clearer  and  more yellow ;  if seed-oil be present it takes on the  same
 transparency, but  a  reddish color.   From 15 to 20  minutes suffice for
 the reaction.—Journal de Pharmacie et de  Chimie.
  Hydrocyanate of Morphia.—In a paper in the American Jour-
 nal of Pharmacy Prof. Maiseh shows that when a salt of morphia
 and a cyanide are put together in a neutral solution, a  hydrocyanate
 of morphia crystallizes out; the presence, however, of even  a small
 amount of a mineral acid, or of  acetic acid, serves to hold the morphia
 Salt in solution.
  English  Rhubarb.—Prof.  I.   Eadius,  of   Leipzig {Apotheker
 Zeitung, vi.  18, 1871), strongly recommends English rhubarb as not
 inferior in its therapeutic action to Chinese,  and much cheaper and of
 more uniform quality7.  He states that it is largely used in England,
 and is even exported in considerable quantities to Eussia.—Schmidt's
 Jahrbucher.
  Paper Sinapism.—Dr. J. Jeannel states that the paper sold under
 this name in England, and made by coating paper several times with
strong tincture of euphorbium,  and putting over this a  coat  of tolu
by means of the ethereal tincture, is a very uncertain and  worthless
preparation, occasioning at first excessive pain and irritation, but losing
m a few  minutes its revulsive power.—Bulletin General de Therap. 
238                    MATERIA MEDICA.
  Bromide of Quinine.—Bromide of quinine is formed by subject-
ing the alkaloid quinia to hydrobromic acid, or by acting on a salt of
the alkaloid with bromide of potassium.   The bromide of quinine is
soluble, and mixed with a simple syrup, is ready for administration as
a medicine.  I prefer  to  employ it as a syrup containing one grain of
it in every fluid drachm.  The  dose  of this syrup is from one to four
fluid drachms.
                                                Dr. Eichardson.
  Reaction  to Distinguish German and  English Atropine.
—By7 II. Bcllot.—If to an  aqueous solution of atropine acidulated
with sulphuric acid an aqueous solution of picric acid be added, a pre-
cipitate will not form if the preparation be good  English atropine; if
the alkaloid has been obtained by7 the method of Simon, there will be
a very slight precipitate;  if a German alkaloid has been used, an abun-
dant yellow precipitate will fall.  This looks as though the German
alkaloid was really composed of two alkaloids; but the fact that it acts
upon the pupil precisely as the English does, and, unlike the belladonine
of Huebschmann, does not cause a painful feeling in the eye, makes
any  such supposition doubtful.—Revue de  Therapeutique Medico-
Chirurg., August, 1871.

  New  Test for Alcohol.—Dr.  Berthelot says that when benzoic
chloride is put in contact with water it only very slowly decomposes;
but if  any alcohol be present  (even 1 in 1000) benzoic ether is formed
at once; this ether is set free  by a drop of aqueous solution of  caustic
potassa, and is at once manifested by its  peculiar odor.—Journal de
Pharmacie et de Chimie, No. 3, Sept., 1871.

  Tanisic  Acid as a  Substitute  for  Santonin.—M. Frosini
Merletta proposes tanisic acid as a substitute for santonin, given as a
vermifuge, in the same doses as the latter.  It and its salts are all crys-
tallizable.  Its taste is bitter  and  acrid.  It is insoluble in  water, but
soluble in alcohol and ether.   M. Merletta prepares it by distilling the
tops  of tanacetum vulgare, evaporating the filtered residue to consist-
ence of honey.  Treated with chalk and animal charcoal, it is first dried,
and  then dissolved in water  at first acidulated with muriatic  acid,
then with acetic acid.  The tanisic acid is  afterwards deposited  in
colorless crystals.—Bulletin General de Therapeut., Nov. 15 1871. 
MATERIA MEDICA.                     239
   Carlo Paresi's  Method of  Concealing  the  Taste of Cod-
 Liver Oil.—Cod-liver treated in the following manner becomes am-
 ber-colored, and  has the  odor and taste of coffee.  The fishy taste is
 almost entirely masked.
            Take 100 parts of cod-liver,
                   10  "      animal charcoal,
                   20  "      roasted coffee (ground).
 Mix them thoroughly in a glass matrass, and heat in a water-bath for
 quarter of an  hour, to temperature of  50° to 60° C, taking  care to
 stop the mouth of the matrass.   Then take the mixture off the fire  and
 allow it to stand  for three days, shaking it occasionally7.  Then filter,
 and the oil is ready for use.  It must be kept in well-stopped bottles.—
 Bulletin General de Therap., Nov. 15, 1871.

   Bromohydrates of Quinine  and Cinchonine— M. Latour has
 prepared neutral salts by the action of  a  solution of bromide of po-
 tassium upon a slightly acidulated solution of sulphate of the alkaloid.
 To prepare basic salts, the neutral sulphates are dissolved in a men-
 struum composed of equal parts of water and alcohol, and this solu-
 tion is treated first with a very dilute water of ammonia, and afterwards
 with a solution of the neutral bromohydrate.—Revue de  Therapeut.
 Medico-Chirurg., Nov. 1, 1871.

   Sugar of Milk in a Vegetable Juice—M. M. G. Bouchardat has
 discovered in the juice of the fruit of the sapota tree {Achras Sapota)
 a  crystalline saccharine  substance perfectly identical with the sugar
 obtained from the lacteal secretion of the mammifera.—La Revue Sci-
 entifique, Aug.  26, 1871.

   Quantitative Determination of Iodine.—William Eeinage pro-
 poses a new method for the quantitative determination of iodine, founded
 upon the decomposition of the permanganate of potash by iodide of po-
 tassium.  As neither chlorine nor bromine  exhibits the same  reaction,
 this method would  appear to be the best for the quantitative analysis
 of iodine compounds.  Take  a  solution of an iodine salt, add a little
 sulphuric acid to neutralize the excess of alkali, or render slightly alka-
 line by means of carbonate of potash or soda; then heat to gentle boil-
 ing m a beaker-glass, and gradually add a solution composed  of  2.5
 grammes permanganate of potash dissolved  in 497.5 grammes distilled
 water until all of the iodide of potassium is decomposed.   The quan-
 tity of permanganate consumed will give  the amount of iodine,  for
 every gramme of it represents two milligrammes of iodine.   The accu-
racy of the analysis  is not destroyed  by the presence of bromine or
cnlorme in the solutions.—Scientific American. 
240
MATERIA MEDICA.
  Acetic Ether—Alcohol in acetic  ether is detected,  according to
Frederking, by agitating the ether with an equal volume  of glycerine,
which dissolves the alcohol only.  For obtaining absolute acetic ether,
the crude  distillate  containing water and alcohol  may  be treated to
glycerine previous to rectification.—Pharm. Zeitschr.f. Russl.

  Sulphur in the  United States.—On the  shores of the Missis-
sippi, below New Orleans, two miles from the sea, in making an arte-
sian boring, a stratum of pure sulphur, 100 feet  thick, was discovered
at the depth of 543  feet.—Zeitschrift des  Oesterr.  Apothek.  Vereins,
October 1,  1871.

  Adulteration of Coffee.—Mr.  Armand  Muller received some
green Eio  coffee, which, when prepared in the usual way, yielded  a
decoction of such peculiar taste as to cause him to believe  that it was
adulterated.  Close examination showred that it contained some 27 per
cent, of  beans, whose  outward appearance was  precisely that of the
coffee bean, but which, when moistened, swelled up into soft irregular
masses.   Chemical examination showed they were imitation beans
made out of bread,  probably fresh,  pressed into form and colored.—
Chem.  Central-Blatt, iii. Folge, ii. Jahrg. No. 37, s. 389.

  Determination and Characteristics of Citric Acid.—By II.
Kammerer.—Soluble citrates mixed with acetate of bary7ta, either hot or
cold, produce a white amorphous precipitate, being 3 BaO, 2 C12H6Ou,
3 Ho, +14 aq.
  If, after  precipitation, an excess of acetate of  baryta be added, and
the mixture heated in a water-bath, the precipitate becomes heavy and
granular, it loses one-half  of its water of crystallization,  and has now
the composition 3 BaO, 2 CiaHBOn, 3 Ho +7 aq.
  The presence of other organic acids does not interfere; the granular
salt is absolutely insoluble in water, and citric acid may7 thus be easily
determined.  If the  solutions are very7 dilute they7 must be concentrated
by7 evaporation, after additions of acetate of baryta, or the precipitate
will consist of crystalline needles containing only 5  aq.—Zeitschr.fur
Analyt. Chemie, viii. p. 298.  Pharmaceutical  Journal and Tram-
actions.

  Oil of Andromeda Leschenaultii.—According to Mr. Broughton,
the herb Andromeda Leschenaultii grows in great profusion on the Neil-
gherry hills of  India, and its oil can  be produced at small cost and in
inexhaustible quantity.  The oil is almost identical with that of Gaul-
theria  prooumbens, but is finer.  Carbolic acid of absolute purity is
readily prepared from it.—Pharmaceutical Journal, October 7,1871. 
MATERIA MEDICA.                     241
  Freezing-Point  of  Mixtures  of  Glycerin  and  Water.—
The freezing-point of mixtures of glycerin and water has been exam-
ined by C. Budock.  The glycerin used was the common commercial
article, of a specific gravity=1.250:—
   One gallon of water with \ a pint glycerin freezes at.................30° F.
   One gallon of water with 1 pint glycerin freezes at.................. 24°
   One gallon of water with \\ pint glycerin freezes at.................. 18°
   One gallon of water with 2 pints glycerin freezes at.................. 10°
   One gallon of water with 3 pints glycerin remains fluid at............  3°
—Journal of Applied Chemistry, November, 1871.

  Newton's (English) Process of Extracting Hops.—The pro-
cess is based upon his discovery that the light products of petroleum,
naphtha, etc., are rapid and complete solvents of the essential oils and
of the bitter principle of hops, while at  the  same time they have no
solvent action on the other constituents of the plant, which are either
useless or hurtful. The hops are  simply steeped in the naphtha, under
a moderate heat.   The apparatus employed is similar to that used for
bisulphide of carbon when employed for similar purposes.   The lighter
hydro-carbons, which boil at 100° Fahr., are preferable for this pur-
pose.—Boston Journ. of Chemistry, Dec, 1871.

  Yellow Glass for Bottles.—In  the Zeitschrift des Allgem.
Oesterr. Apoth.  Vereins of Nov. 1, yellow glass is commended for con-
taining mixtures, etc., liable to be acted  on by light.  The absolute
want of chemical power of yellow rays has long been known, and bot-
tles made of such colored glass are much handsomer and show any dirt
or sediment much more plainly  than when black  or  very dark blue
glass is employed.

  Method of Detecting Fat Acids in Oils.—By M. Jacobsen.—
The oil suspected is to have rosaniline  dissolved in by aid of the heat
of a salt-water bath.
  If a neutral oil be pure its color remains unchanged;  if it be rancid"
it changes  to a pale  red; if it contain oleic or other  fatty acid  the
color becomes very deep.
  This reaction is chiefly valuable in  testing the purity of olive oil and
almond oil.—E Union Pharmaceutique, Nov., 1871.

  Incompatibles with the Perchloride of Iron—The following
list is given {E Union Pharmaceutique) by M. Bouilhon :—
 ^ Salts of silver ; protosalts of mercury ; alkalies, their carbonates and
bicarbonates;  the arsenites  and  arseniates; borate of soda;  tannin
and vegetable astringents; gums; vegetable  extracts  and vegetable
infusions;  albumen; casein.
          16 
242
MATERIA MEDICA.
  Purgative Principles of Senna.—In E Union IViarmaceutique,
Nov., 1871, is a paper of some length on the Chemistry of Senna, by
Bourgoies and Bouchut, in which they arrive at the conclusion that
there is in it at least two  purgative principles besides chrysophanic
acid.  One of these  is cathartic acid; the other a matter, probably
complex, obtained first by Lassaigne and Feneulle, and improperly
called cathartine.
  Benzol to Distinguish from Benzine.—Mr. J. Brandberg states
that benzol may be distinguished from benzine by the fact that it dis-
solves pitch with great readiness, whilst benzine only does so with great
difficulty.—Pharmaceut. Zeitschrift fur Russland, Nov. 6, 1871.

                      Strength of "Wines.
                      ME. BEANDE's TABLE.
          Rectified Spirit (.825 density) by volume in 100.
	...54.32	Mean............	..20.35	Burgundy—	
	...53.90		..18.40		.16.60
	53.68 ...53.39	Constantia, white.. Lachryma Christi..	..19.75 ..19.70	Mean............	.14 57
					.11.95
	...51.60	Sherry—		Tincture...........	. .14.22
Life Wine—			..19.89		.13.86
	...36.47		..19.17	Champagne, still....	.13.80
	...25.41		. .18.25	" sparkling. 12.80	
	24.45		. .19.25	Tent..............	.13.30
Marsala Wine—			. .18.94		12 7!)
	...26.03		..18.49	Vin de Grave—	
	...25.09		..18.92		13 94
	...24.05	Calcavada—			.13.37
Raisin Wine—			..19.20		.12.80
	.. .26.40	Mean............	..18.05	Cote Rctie.........	.12.32
	...25.12		..18.10		.12.72
	...23.20	Cape Muscat.......	. .18.25		11 84
Port—		Roussillon—		Hock-	
	. 25 89	Strongest........	19 00		.14.37
	...22 98		..18.13		11 93
	...21.40		..17.26		.11.70
		Malaga—	..18.11	Orange Wine.......	1126
	...24.43			Tokay.............	. 9.88
• Mean...........	...24.17		18.04 18.10 ..17.26	Cydis—	. 8.76
					
	.. .20.55				9 87
Cape Madeira—		White Hermitage...	. 17.43		. 7.56
	22.94 ...20.51	Alba Flora.........	..17.26	Weakest.........	. 5.21
			..17.05		.. 7.26
	18.11 21.40 .. .22.30		16.40		8 88
					. 6.22
			..15.52		. 5.56
	...20.34		..15.28		.. 6.87
	,19.24 19.79 ...19.75	Claret— Mean............ Weakest.........	17.11 15.10 ..12.ill		.. 6.80
					. 4.20
					.. 1.28
Red Madeira—					
	.. .22.30	Nice..............	..14.03		
—Journal of Mat.  Medico,. 
MATERIA MEDICA.
243
  Chinese Peppermint  Oil.—Some  of this oil  as sold in  San
Francisco, and used by the Chinese as  a local anaesthetic, came into
the hands of Professor Fluckiger, who  says of it, inter alia {London
Pharm. Journ. and Trans., Oct., 1871):—
  I was  suspicious enough to suppose the oil to be  common pepper-
mint  oil  of American or English  origin, procured  perhaps  by the
Chinese  in San Francisco, although the said merchant firmly be-
lieved, for  good reasons, as he thought,  it was directly imported from
China.
  Having pointed out the magnificent  fluorescence which nitric acid
imparts to peppermint oil, I found that the  above Chinese oil partakes
not at all of this reaction; it is not colored by nitric acid (1.20 sp. gr.),
even  when gently warmed with it.
  A  few drops of the oil exposed for some hours only on a glass slide
yielded abundantly crystals of a camphor, reminding me in every
respect of the solid Japanese peptpermint oil, which during the  past
few years has been met with in European trade.
  In both the above respects  the  Chinese peppermint oil is  conse-
quently different,  at least from most of the specimens of European and
American  oil at  my  command, although it  has the same agreeable
flavor.  Does it,  that  is to say, its solid part, which  appears to be
prevailing, agree with the Japanese drug?  I have  ascertained that
the latter  is not  altered by7 the treatment with  nitric acid; it mayT,
therefore,  very  likely be identical  with  the crystallizable part of
Chinese  oil.   I have also been informed by the said Swiss gentleman
that the  " Chinese medicine " in cold weather solidifies even in Cali-
fornia.
  The solid Japanese oil has been shown by Oppenheim and by Gorup-
Besanez  to agree with the formula C,0II18 + Il2O, and to possess the
nature of an alcohol.   This so-called Menthol appears to be identical
with  peppermint-camphor, which sometimes  in cold  separates from
peppermint oil; their identity, however, is not  quite satisfactorily
proved.  Camphor obtained from peppermint oil has  been analyzed
by Dumas, by Blanchet and Sell, and also by Walter.   Its percentage
composition is the same as that of menthol.

  On the Distribution of Atropia in the Leaves and Root of
Belladonna.—The following  conclusions have been arrived at by M.
Jules Lefort:—
  1.  The leaves of the belladonna contain most atropia between the
time  of flowering and fruiting.
  2.  The leaves should always be gathered between  flowering  and
fruiting. 
241
MATERIA MEDICA.
   3. The wild and cultivated  plants yield the  same  proportion of
alkaloid.
   4. The richness of the root varies very greatly with the age of the plant.
   5. The young roots yield more atropia  than those aged two or three
years,  because they contain a larger proportion of bark.—E Union
Medicate, November 23, 1871.

   The Importation  of Opinm—The  money value of opium im-
ported through the Custom House of New York City, in the year 1871,
was $1,299,091.—Hew York Medical Record.

   Chlorometry.—A convenient method for the determination of the
available  chlorine  in  chlorinated lime is based  upon  the  fact that
chlorine in solution converts arsenious acid into  arsenic acid, thus:
               H3 AsOs + CI, + HaO=H3 As04 + 2HC1.
   The arsenious solution is made by dissolving  a weighed quantity of
arsenious anhydride in a  definite quantity of sodium carbonate solu-
tion, in  such a manner  that each  c.c.  of the  solution  shall contain
a  known weight  of arsenious  acid.   A weighed  quantity  of  the
chlorinated  lime to be tested is dissolved  in  water, and  into this
solution the standard arsenious solution is poured from a burette, until
a  drop of the mixture ceases to impart a blue  color to test paper
prepared  with starch  and  potassium iodide.   When this point is
reached,  all  the  available chlorine  has  been  converted into  hydro-
chloric acid, and from  the quantity of the arsenious solution required
the percentage of chlorine may be  readily calculated.—Medical and
Surgical Reporter, January 15, IS72.

  Fluid  Extract  of Chestnut Leaves.—Prof. Maiseh states that
he has settled upon the following, after a good deal of experimentation,
as the best method of making fluid extract of chestnut leaves :—
   One difficulty in the management  of chestnut  leaves in the prepara-
tion of fluid extract is their bulkiness and flexibility ; dried in the air,
they cannot with any degree of facility be reduced to a powder, either
in the mortar or hand-mill, so that their exhaustion cannot be effected
by percolation.  After cutting  and bruising them, they are covered
with hot  water in an enamelled kettle, and digested over-night, when
they are  expressed; the digestion and expression  are repeated twice
with fresh  portions of  water, and the three infusions, each one mixed
with glycerine or a portion of the sugar, evaporated to a small bulk,
when they are mixed, and the evaporation continued until the  proper
measure is obtained; it is then set aside for several days and decanted
from the small quantity of sediment.
   The proportions used are as follows:—Chestnut leaves, dried, cut, and 
MATERIA MEDICA.
245
bruised, 10  troy ounces; glycerine, 5 troy ounces (f  f iv.); sugar, 8
troy ounces;  hot water a sufficient quantity; the fluid extract to meas-
ure 16 fluid ounces.—American Journal of Pharmacy.

  Iodide of Potassium.—The following analyses of  this salt, taken
from the London Practitioner for January, 1872, are satisfactory as
showing the purity of the salt:—
  No. I.  White, very large opaque crystals, dry.
  No. II. White, large opaque crystals, slightly moist.
  No. III. White, large opaque crystals, slightly moist.
  No. IY. White, very large opaque crystals, dry.  Contains a minute
trace of iodate.
  No. Y.  White, small opaque crystals, slightly moist.  Contains 1.24
per cent, of carbonate of potassium.
  No. YI. White, large opaque crystals, dry.  Contains traces of iodate.
No.	Moisture.	Iodine.	Chlorine.	Iodate.
I.	1.16	74.15	0.40	None
II.	l.fi9	73.75	0 35	None
III.	1.90	74.10	0.25	None
IV.	0.66	76.88	0.25	Minute trace
V.	2.20	72.76	0.12	None
VI.	0.83	74.15	0.80	Trace
Pure dry potassium iodide contains 76.50 per cent, of iodine.
 METHOD  OF EXTRACTING  QUININE  FKOM  THE  QUI-
                 NOIDINE OF  COMMERCE.
                      BY DE.  I. E. DE VKY.
  One hundred parts of the  quinoidine are dissolved by the aid of a
 gentle heat, with stirring, in a solution of 50 parts of tartaric acid in 200
 parts of water, and the whole is then set aside.  If the quinoidine
 contains any quinine, as it generally does, the liquor forms after some
 days a crystalline paste more or less thick, which is to  be put  on a
 cloth.  The brown syrupy liquid is allowed to drain as much as it will
 and then more fluid  is expressed from it, without the use of  too much
 force, after which the residue is dissolved in 4 times its weio-ht of boil-
 ing water and filtered whilst hot.  As the bitartrate of quinine is soluble
 in hot and not in cold water, on cooling it  is  deposited in crystals,
 which may be  decolorized by repeated solution and recrystallization.
 In this manner Dr. De  Yry has obtained from 2 to 3 grammes of the
 brown crystals from 12 grammes of Howard's quinoidine.—Bulletin
de la Soc. royale de pharm. de Bruxelles. 
246
TOXICOLOGY.
                           fltort 3.


                     TOXICOLOGY.


           POISONING BY NITRATE OF SILYER.

                    BY THOS.  SCATTERGOOD,  ESQ.

  A medical  pupil, whilst touching an ulcer in  a child's mouth,
allowed a piece of a solid stick three-quarters inch long to slip down
the throat.  The child almost immediately vomited  some oily matters
supposed to be cod-liver oil and milk.   After the vomiting had ceased,
and within a few minutes after the swallowing of  the  caustic, large
quantities of common  salt were  administered, after  which the child
was slightly convulsed.  Again vomiting occurred, and curdy, whitish
chloride of silver was rejected.  The  administration of salt was fre-
quently repeated.  Yomiting and  convulsions occurred at short inter-
vals for two hours, till 11:30 a.m. A copious liquid stool was then
passed containing a quantity  of  white, curdy substance.  At 1 p.m.
the child fell into a composed sleep, which lasted  for half an hour,
after-which the convulsions returned with increased violence, and con-
tinued until 3.  The extremities  then  became cold, the face pinched,
the skin clammy, the  pulse  almost imperceptible;  at 3:30 p.m. the
child died in violent convulsions.
  Autopsy.—The cadaveric rigidity was well marked ; the oesophagus
showed two or three small patches of corrosion.  The stomach contained
two and a half ounces of inodorous liquid.  Its mucous membrane was
pale in color, with a single small  ecchymosis, and exhibited a large
patch of  corrosion, interrupted transversely7  in several places, but ex-
tending from the  cardiac opening  along the greater curvature for four
inches.  It was half an inch wide at the cardiac end, and one and a half
inches at the end nearest the pylorus, and was of a brilliant white color.
In  the  duodenum and  the  first  twelve inches of the jejunum, the
valvules conniventes  presented a  similar corrosion  over nearly their
whole surface, but of a grayer color.  Washing with water, and even
rubbing with the fingers failed to remove this, but little white particles
were detached, which analysis showed to be chloride of silver.  No other
abnormalities were found in the alimentary canal or viscera.
  In his remarks, Mr.  Scattergood states, the only good  references to 
TOXICOLOGY.
247
case known to him were two contained in Beck's Medical Jurispru-
dence, and one mentioned by Devergie in Medecine Legale, vol. iii.
  In the British Med. Journal of May 27, Mr. Ernest Hart details a
case in which a large piece of lunar caustic was swallowed by a child 4
years old.  Yomiting was immediately induced by forcing the fingers
down the gullet, and several pints of milk were at once pumped into
the stomach and out again.  The child was kept on milk diet and recov-
ered, after showing symptoms of gastro-intestinal inflammation  for
three days.
  CASE  OF  STRYCHNIA  POISONING  SUCCESSFULLY
        TREATED  BY BROMIDE OF  POTASSIUM.

  In this case, detailed by Dr. Cephus L. Bard, of California, a robust
 man, aged 35, partook of cakes poisoned by some  enemy.  Dr. Bard
 believed that more than three grains of the alkaloid were taken, and
 describes the case substantially as follows:—
  A few moments after eating the man's attention was called to the fact
 that something was wrong, by the powerful contractions of the muscles
 of the neck, especially the sterno-cleido-mastoids.  Fully realizing his
 position, he at once determined to go to a neighbor's house, in reaching
 which he had, however, the greatest difficulty, the  muscles of his  legs
 frequently contracting with so much force that he was thrown to the
 ground.   Sweet oil  and the  whites of eggs were freely given.  No
 emetics were given and no vomiting whatever occurred.  The patient
 presented the following symptoms when I saw him some hours later:
 muscles  of  legs  and arms rigidly flexed; slight opisthotonos; great
 dyspnoea; skin livid, and complete coldness of entire surface of body7;
 jaws fixed, lips retracted, the  teeth covered with frothy saliva, degluti-
 tion almost  impossible;  mind clear.   The  contractions were clonic
 in character, but  the relaxations of  short duration.  The mouth  was
 only opened with the greatest difficulty, and when medicine was forced
 into it the spoon was seized by the teeth.  Dissolving an ounce of the
 bromide of  potassium in a cup of water, I gave the patient half of it
 at once, and continued its use in smaller doses for an hour or so after-
 wards.  Its  good  effects were shown in a diminution of  the reflex ex-
 citability, and in the relief of  the spasmodic action of the muscles of the
 pharynx, the difficulty of deglutition  being consequently very much
 lessened.  In less than thirty minutes  after the administration of the
first dose, complete  relaxation of the whole body, accompanied by
a return of  warmth and  by  profuse  perspiration, Occurred; and on
the following day (less than twenty-four hours from the-time of takino- 
248
TOXICOLOGY.
the poison) he arose from his bed, perfectly free from any unpleasant
effects of either  the  poison or its antidote, with the exception of para-
lysis of  the intestines, which finally yielded to the use of the bromide.
—Philadelphia Medical Times.
ON SOME IMPROYEMENTS IN THE SPECTRUM METHOD
                   OF DETECTING BLOOD.

                      BY H. C. SORBY, F.R.S., &C.

   In the following  paper I shall give a condensed account of what I
have been able to learn in connection with this subject, and omit every-
thing that does not bear  directly on determining whether any stain is,
or is not, due to blood.  There  does not appear to be any probability
of our being able  to decide by this means whether it is, or is not,
human.
   The spectrum-microscope  used in these  inquiries should have a
compound prism, with enough, but not  too great, dispersive power, or
else the bands would be  as it were diluted and made less distinct.  A
combination of two rectangular prisms of crown glass, with a  rect
angular of very dense flint, and another of less dense, of such an angle
as to give  direct vision,  turned  towards the slit, appears  to be the
proper medium, and has  other important advantages.  The cells used
for the experiments should be made from barometer tubing, and  be
about one-eighth of an inch in internal diameter, and half an  inch
long, one end being fastened to a piece of  plate glass with purified
gutta-percha, like an ordinary cell for  mounting objects in liquids.
It is, however, a very great advantage to insert between the plate and
the cell a diaphragm of  platinum foil, having a circular hole about
two-thirds of the internal diameter of the tube, fixed so that its centre
corresponds with that of the cell.   This  prevents  any light passing
upwards that has not penetrated  through the whole length of the  solu-
tion, which is very important when using direct concentrated sunlight
to penetrate through turbid or very opaque liquids.  A small spatula
made of  stout platinum wire, flattened at the end, is very convenient
for adding small quantities of the reagents; and they should be stirred
up in the cells with a platinum wire, flattened, and turned  up square
at the end, like a small hoe.   The reagents commonly employed are a
somewhat diluted solution of ammonia, citric acid, the double tartrate
of potash and soda, used to prevent the precipitation of oxide of iron,
and  the double sulphate of the  protoxide of iron and ammonia, em- 
TOXICOLOGY.                      249
ployed to deoxidize;  but in some  special cases  diluted hydrochloric
acid, carefully purified  boric acid, and sulphite  of soda, are re-
quired.
  The character of a stain varies  much with its age, and  with the
nature of the substance  on which it occurs.   If  quite recent, and if
the substance has no immediate influence on blood, the stain would
contain  little or no coloring matter but haemoglobin.   This is easily
dissolved by water, and when properly diluted—neither too strong nor
too weak—it gives the well-known spectrum, with two dark absorption-
bands in the green.   The  addition of a very little ammonia and  a
small quantity of the double  tartrate  produces no change; but on
adding  a small piece of  the  ferrous  salt, about ^  of  an inch in
diameter, and carefully stirring, so as to mix without much exposure
to the air, these bands gradually fade, and are replaced by the single
broad and fainter band of deoxidized haemoglobin.  When stirred up
so as to  expose well to  the air,  the two original bands  of oxidized
haemoglobin can  be seen again.  On gradually adding a little  citric
acid until the  color begins to change, these  bands slowly fade away;
and, if the amount of blood was considerable, a faint  band would make
its appearance  in the red.   When previously deoxidized, this solution
may be  turbid, but not so as to interfere with the result.  The addition
of excess of  ammonia makes all  clear again, but does not restore the
original bands, or only to a slight degree, thus showing that a permanent
change  is produced by citric acid—the haemoglobin is changed into
haematin.  This  alone  serves  to  distinguish blood from  by far the
greater  number of colored substances, which, after being changed by
acid, are restored by alkalies to the original state.  On deoxidizing with
the ferrous  salt, we  obtain the well-marked spectrum of deoxidized
haematin, with  one very dark and another much  fainter band in the
green, almost or  quite invisible when the quantity  is small.  If too
much citric acid or double tartrate had  been added, this solution might
be turbid; but if all had been properly managed, it  would be quite
clear.   Since the deoxidization takes place rather slowly, especially in
cold weather, it is well to slightly stir up the ferrous salt at the bottom,
completely fill  up the cell, cover it with a piece of thin glass, remove
the excess of liquid with blotting-paper, and mix the solution by turning
the tube upside down, over and over again.  On  reoxidizing the  solu-
tion by  stirring, the bands of deoxidized haematin disappear, and the
two bands of haemoglobin will probably be recognized, owing to citric
acid not changing the original merely  into haematin, but also giving
rise to some methaemoglobin.   The whole of these facts may be seen
with a single cell, containing about ^ of a grain  of blood.   Very
faint bands are best seen by lamplight—Bowdoin Scientific Review. 
250                      TOXICOLOGY.
                 COPPER AND IRON  TESTS.
   According to Felix Bellany, alcoholic solution of logwood is an ex-
ceedingly sensitive test for salts of iron and copper, especially adapted
for their detection in drinking-water.   A suitable tincture is prepared
by digesting 12 to 15 grammes of logwood in 100 grammes of alcohol
which had previously stood on quick-lime  some days, and was after
distilled off to free it from every trace of  iron.   If 20 drops of this
tincture be  shaken with 200  c.c. of water containing either iron or
copper, the  liquid becomes yellow through excess  of carbonic acid,
rose-violet if the bicarbonates of the alkalies or alkaline earth be pre-
dominant.   If an iron or copper wire  be  now dipped into the liquid,
the haematoxyline combines with the metal, and the color changes to
blue—a blue streak  is seen descending from the metal to the bottom
of the vessel.  According to Bellany, either iron or copper in such a
state of dilution as 1 in 20,000,000 can be recognized by change of
color, whilst 1 in 5,000,000 gives a blue precipitate.   The blue colora-
tion of ordinary white paper by logwood tincture is owing to the iron
in it.—Year-Book of Pharmacy.
            A CASE OF SELF-STRANGULATION.

  Mr. C. R. Francis was called to decide whether the case was one of
murder or suicide.  Two lunatics had been left  together in a  room,
and one was found as below detailed.   "When Mr. Francis arrived, one
was  a corpse;  the other was quietly seated on his charpoy, swinging
his legs backwards and forwards, grinning at the scene.
  The decision was that the case was one of self-strangulation, for the
following reasons:—
  1.  The great disproportion of strength between the two lunatics—
the  dead one  being  a Hercules—and the  absence of evidences of a
struggle.
  2. The placid expression of the survivor, his  tranquil respiration
and pulse.
  3. No previous hostility had existed between the two;  but the self-
slayer had been very moody for some  time.
  4. Position  of the  corpse:  both wrists  were firmly bound with a
cord,  which was also wound several times around the neck, making
deep indentations into it.   With  the  hands extended outwards, pres- 
TOXICOLOGY.
251
sure on  the neck would ensue, and the cord was just long enough to
make this most effective.
  A remarkable physiological feature in the case was the rigid con-
traction  of the arms, whose hands nearly touched the shoulders.  In
life they had been  most forcibly and fully extended to accomplish
the strangulation.  At the moment of death they must have contracted
most fully, and almost immediately the rigor mortis followed.—The
Indian Medical Gazette, May 1, 1871.
              A NEW TEST  FOR STRYCHNIA.
                     BY F. L.  SONNENSCHEESr.
  If strychnia be dissolved in a concentrated solution of sulphate of
sesquioxide of cerium, there is  formed a beautiful blue color, closely
resembling that produced by the bichromate of potash under similar
circumstances.  The color is, however, much more intense, and lasts a
much longer  time.   It  generally passes over into a cherry-red, and
then persists  unchanged for many days.  In this way one-millionth
part of a gramme of strychnia  can be  recognized.   The following
table shows the color produced by various other alkaloids, when treated
in the same way:—
	Oranjje, and finally yellow.
Morphia...............	Brown, olive-green, and finally brown.
Narcotin..............	Brown, cherry-red, and finally cherry-red.
Codeia................	Olive-green, and finally brown.
	Pale yellow.
	No color developed.
Thein.................	No color developed.
Veratria...............	Reddish brown.
	Yellowish brown.
	Yellow, and finally brown.
	Brown.
	Green, and finally dirty brown.
	Clear yellow.
	Colors the sulphuric acid blood-red, and is changed by
	the ceriumoxide into dark brown, almost black.
— Vierteljahrschrift furprak. Pharm.
  POISONING BY  "KURWA  THUMREE"—CUCURBITA
                         LAGENARIA.
  A medicae pupil took nearly a pint of the infusion, in milk, of the
fruit (strength 8 oz. to O) of Cucurbita lagenaria.  Assistant Surgeon 
252
TOXICOLOGY.
A. M. Paterson one hour afterwards found him semi-collapsed, pulse-
less, and complaining of great pain in the  stomach, with occasiona,
spasms of the abdominal muscles.   He  vomited very freely, chiefly
milk, and also purged; the stools at first were watery and of a yellow
tinge, but afterwards were small and mucous.  The vomiting, purging,
and pain abated under treatment, but there was no attempt at reaction,
and he died in collapse four hours after taking the poison.
  Baboo Kannyloll Dey, F.U.C., states that the juice of the pulp of
Cucurbita lagenaria is a violent acrid  poison, chiefly affecting the ali-
mentary canal, and resembling in its  action elaterium.  He describes
the following case:—
  Bodha,'a man aged 40, took an overdose early  one morning.  In
half an hour he had nausea and pain in the abdomen, and shortly
began to vomit, at first only bilious fluid, but  afterwards  also blood.
At the same time he had violent bloody purging.  At 3 p.m. next day
Mr. Dey saw him first.  There had been  no  secretion  of urine; body
cold ; no perceptible pulse ;  great restlessness, severe abdominal pains
without cramps, hiccup, were all present.  He was ordered a grain of
opium every hour, and ice ad libitum.   He  first began to rally at 4
a.m. the next day.  His pulse was then perceptible, but very weak; but
it was not until the morning of the  fourth day that he passed water,
which he did copiously.—The Indian Medical Gazette, May 1, 1871.
ON THE INFLUENCE OF  THE  SO-CALLED POISONOUS
                          SHADOWS.
                         BY H. KARSTENS.
   In a paper w7ith the above title, H. Karstens states that during a long
residence in Tropical America he became well acquainted with the eu-
phorbiaceous tree Hippomane manzanilla L., and with the fact that the
natives considered it so poisonous as to avoid going near it, asserting
that merely resting under  its thick shade will  produce serious sick-
ness, and in very susceptible  persons  even death.   This poisonous
power having been denied by various  naturalists, especially Jacquin,
our author gathered some of the juice, on the sea-coast of  Venezuela,
near La Guayra.  In a very short time he was seized with  a burning
feeling all over the body, followed by swelling, especially of the face
and eyes.  The next morning he was unable to  open the  latter, and
their irritation was so great as to force him to  pass  several days of
great pain in a dark room.   On  the third day the swelling beo-an to
go down and the epidermis to desquamate.  The hippomane has then
a juice which in a dry atmosphere evaporates from the moist bark and 
TOXICOLOGY.
253
acts as an irritant poison to the skin and mucous membrane. The reason
Jacquin remained a number of hours in close proximity to a tree with-
out injury, was a prevailing thunder-gust, the torrents of water wash-
ing out, as it were, the volatile principle from the air.  Herr Karstens
thinks the organic base in trimethylamin is an analogue of the poison-
ous principle, and that the latter is  probably nitrogenous, a substitu-
tion product  of ammonia.— Vierteljahrschrift fur prakt. Pharm.,
July 1,1871.
     CASE  OF POISONING BY  SEEDS OF  RICINUS.
                          BY DR. RAPP.
  A soldier  had taken seventeen seeds of ricinus as a  purgative.
After three or four hours diarrhoea set in, with burning and cramps in
the stomach, and soon vomiting.  The matters vomited contained oil-
drops and fragments of the seeds.  The diarrhoea increased, became
very watery,  almost incessant.  Finally the man became very  cold,
and eleven hours and a half after taking the poison came into hospital.
His face at that time was pale and anxious, the forehead bedewed with
cold sweat, the eyTes distorted, pupils somewhat dilated.  The surface
was very cold to the hand, the limbs full of cramps, and the pulse of
normal frequency, but very small, the radial being scarcely percepti-
ble.   Consciousness was perfect, but the man complained of headache,
giddiness, roaring in  the ears, great  thirst, precordial anguish, severe
pain radiating from the navel throughout the abdomen, and a strong
feeling of constriction in  the  intestines.  Anuria had  existed some
five hours.  The vomit was watery, slightly yellowish, with masses re-
sembling white of egg.  The  stools closely counterfeited those of
cholera.  Clysters  were given  to remove  any portion of the seeds
which might  be remaining in the intestines, external heat was used,
hot drinks internally, and  large doses of antispasmodics.   Under this
treatment the man slowly grew better, although the vomiting persisted
all night, and the anuria through the next day.  There was  a slight
febrile reaction, but in ten days the patient had recovered.—Schmidfs
Jahrbucher, June 19, 1871.
      SUDDEN  DEATH  AFTER-TAKING CHLORAL.
  The following case is related by Dr. W. H. Lathrop, but occurred
in the practice of another physician:—
  The patient, eet. 30, of the best general health, but suffering from an 
254
TOXICOLOGY.
attack  of delirium tremens, had not slept apparently for about six
day7s.   He was not in any respect delirious,  nor had he  been so.
The patient was perfectly sensible in his conversation, and urged an
increase in the quantity of his medicine to obtain a little sleep.  The
first dose of 20 grains was given at noon;  successive doses of the
same quantity were given at 12.30 and at 1 p.m.   The patient having
then taken 60 grains without any apparent effect, a consulting physi-
cian was  called, by whose advice, at 2.30 p.m., another  dose of 20
grains  was  administered, without effect, followed at 3  p.m. by 20
grains more. About ten minutes after this the two physicians left the
house, having noticed no change in the condition of their  patient, ex-
cept that he complained of a slight paralysis in the right lower extrem-
ity.  They had hardly  left the house, however, when they  were called
back to find the patient dead.
  A post-mortem examination revealed nothing, except that the heart
was slightly shrivelled.  The brain and spinal cord were carefully ex-
amined, as well as the  thoracic and abdominal organs.
  [Death in this case was probably due to sudden failure of the heart's
action.   It is a matter of great probability that, as with  chloroform,
chloral will, in a certain per cent., cause sudden  unexpected  death in
this way.—Ed.]—Detroit Review of Med. and Pharmacy.
TOXICAL  EFFECTS OF  HYDRATE  OF CHLORAL WHEN
  PERSISTENTLY USED  AS A HYPNOTIC, AND FATAL
  RESULTS  OF LARGE  DOSES.
                 BY N. R. SMITH, M.D., BALTIMORE,
      LATE PROFESSOR OF SURGERY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
  In February last a medical friend, long retired from practice, called
on me for advice in regard to a singular affection of the fingers of both
hands, attended with desquamation of the cuticle and superficial ulcer-
ation, especially about the  borders of the nails.  It was attended with
pain and  much morbid sensibility  to touch.  It  was also associated
with some acceleration of  pulse and general malaise.  He visited me
daily  for  some ten dayrs, when, by  the use of astringent lotions and
mild digestive ointment, the local affection was overcome.  He informed
me that he had been taking chloral in liberal doses,  as a hypnotic, for
four months.  He expressed to me his conviction  that the disease of
his fingers had resulted from the use of that medicine.
  Having never observed the agent to produce such a result, I was
reluctant to  believe that it was the case.
  Some three weeks  after  the cure of  the local  affection, I was called 
TOXICOLOGY.                       255
to attend my friend in consultation with his family physician.  We
found him laboring under  acute  bronchitis in severe degree.  His
respiration was exceedingly embarrassed, and there was a high degree
of hoarse mucous  rale.  The  bronchial tubes were filling; the pulse
was about 140, and the action  of the heart extremely feeble.   By the
treatment adopted, our object was to sustain the powers of life, which
were rapidly failing, and to relieve the bronchial tubes of mucus.  Our
efforts, however, were unavailing.  He died on the third day after I
first saw him.
  I scarcely, at the moment, entertained a suspicion  that the use of
chloral was concerned in producing the fatal malady of my friend, it
being not at all uncommon for persons of  his age  (70) to succumb
suddenly to  such malady from ordinary causes.
  Some three weeks later I accidentally met  a medical friend,  who
expressed pleasure at the meeting, as he wished to consult me in rela-
tion  to  a singular affection  under which his daughter, a young lady
twenty-two years of age, was  suffering.  He described precisely the
affections of the integuments of the fingers which had occurred in the
case described above—erythematous inflammation, desquamation, and
ulceration around the border of the nails.
   Struck with  the resemblance which her malady bore to that of
my friend, Dr. C----, I inquired if she had been taking chloral.  He
replied  that she had  taken it as a hypnotic for a month, every night,
and that he  had suspected that article to be the cause of her disease.
  The young lady was not suffering constitutionally at that time; but
about ten days after I was called to see  her.  I found her extremely
ill.  There was universal anasarca.  The action of the heart was ex-
ceedingly feeble, the pulse 140, and extremely weak.  Her respiration
was  much  embarrassed, and the recumbent posture  was impossible.
Procuring some of the urinary secretion, I tested  it with  nitric acid,
and discovered  a notable quantity of albumen.
   I  was very apprehensive of a  fatal result, but immediately  pre-
scribed stimulants and diuretics, digitalis being the constituent most
relied upon.
  On visiting the patient, after an interval of a day, I was much  sur-
prised and gratified to find her greatly improved.  Her pulse had been
reduced to 90, and was greatly improved in tone.   The kidneys  had
acted freely, and the anasarca  had much abated.
  Having been myself confined by illness, I did not again see her. On
meeting her father some three weeks later, I was gratified to learn that
she had entirely7 recovered.
  I have knowledo-e of  two other cases in which the same affection of
the fingers resulted from the use of chloral. 
256
TOXICOLOGY.
  Within the last ten days two deaths have occurred in Baltimore,
manifestly from the toxaemia caused by an overdose of chloral.  The
subject of one of  these accidents had been under the care of an irre-
gular physician, and by his advice had taken chloral in ordinary doses
for the relief of a painful neuralgic affection of the neck.
  After the medical attendant had discontinued his visits, the patient
persisted in the use of the hydrate, taking it, as I was informed by his
brother, in doses of not less than half a drachm.  On the day of his
death he was known to have purchased three drachms of the article.
How much he took during the day is unknown.  In  the evening he
retired to his chamber, and in  about twenty minutes after was found
dead beside  his bed.  He was undressed, and the bed-clothes were
turned down, but the bed was undisturbed, and it was manifest that
death had arrested him at the  moment that he was prepared to step
into  bed.  The coal-oil lamp which he used was extinguished, but the
glass chimney was still hot.  The glass from which he had taken.the
chloral stood on a small table near the head of the bed, and in it were
a few drops of the medicine,  recognized  by his brother by taste and
smell.   There can be no doubt, therefore, that he fell almost instantly
dead from the effects of the poison.
  Another instance of almost equally sudden death has recently occurred
in this community.  The fact is generally known, but I am not author-
ized to name the individual.  He had been laboring under a painful
affection of  the head, and was attended by a Homoeopathic physician.
On the evening of the night of his death he had a hypodermic injec-
tion  of morphine practiced upon  him, probably in ordinary quantity.
This not  relieving his pain, chloral was  administered.   He  went  to
bed, soon became quiet, and for some hours was left undisturbed. His
perfect  stillness at length attracting  attention, he was  found  to be
dead, and probably had  died soon after the administration of the
chloral.  I have no reason to believe that the  medicine was given  in
larger dose than has been recommended as safe by high authority, nor
do I know whether he had taken it for any length of time.
  Another case of which  I have knowledge was that of a lady, who
had  undergone a severe surgical operation.  As she suffered pain, and
was  restless, it was determined, in consultation, to give chloral by in-
jection, so as to avoid irritating the stomach.  A drachm and a half
was  thrown into the rectum.  She at once sunk into a state of insen-
sibility, and died in some three  hours.   An  eminent  physician  of
Washington, who was in immediate attendance on the case, Dr. N. S
Lincoln, gave it as his opinion that she  died from  the effects of the
chloral.
   These cases are, it appears to me, amply sufficient  to  establish the 
TOXICOLOGY.
257
toxical effects of this powerful agent.   It is probable that its poisonous
effects are exerted in two ways:—
  1st. When given in  a  large  dose, and especially where the system
may have been charged with  it by its previous administration, it at
once overwhelms the powers of  life, and causes immediate death.
  Upon what organ or organs does it exert its deadly effects'(  It must
be either upon the heart or the brain, perhaps on both.   It is believed
that chloral, entering into the  blood, develops cliloroform in that fluid,
the amount developed  being  determined not merely by the quantity
taken, but by the condition of that fluid.  Chloroform, we know, when
respired, exerts its influence upon both brain and heart.  In  the nu-
merous cases in which it has caused  death, this result  has been pro-
duced by its interrupting the circulation.
  2d. It appears, when given in  small doses and continuously for some
time,  to induce a form of toxaemia similar to that caused by  the con-
tinued administration of ergot.   Its effects on the fingers  of  both
hands, in the two cases  related above, would justify such a belief.  It
is well known that animals fed  on spurred rye suffer gangrene of the
extremities.
  In  one case  in which I tested the  urine, albumen in notable quan-
tity was detected.   This case alone, however, establishes nothing.
  Another very interesting and important  inquiry is  certainly sug-
gested by the foregoing observations,  crude as they are.
  If chloroform, developed in the blood from chloral, is productive of
such  disastrous effects,  primary and secondary7, can the direct inspira-
tion of chloroform be as innocuous as it is thought to be ?
  The profession are sufficiently aware of the fatal primary effects of
cliloroform in numerous instances.  It has undoubtedly caused  death
in many cases in which it has been given, with every caution in regard
to quantity and mode of administration—in cases, too, where there ex-
isted no malady of brain or heart to forbid its use.   In some instances
it has been administered fatally, in  which it has been  previously
treated with good result.
  But I would more especially call the attention of the  profession to
the chronic poisoning of the blood, which I believe results from its
free and  repeated use.
  The writer of this article has administered cliloroform perhaps as
often  as any other surgeon in  America, both in hospital and  private
practice, commencing its  use  from the time of its discovery, and its
first application as an anaesthetic.  Indeed, I have been  constrained to
use it  in many cases in which  my judgment was adverse to its  use, for
such is the overweening confidence in its effects, that  many patients
refuse operations  except under its influence.  But the more I have 
258
TOXICOLOGY.
used cliloroform the less has my confidence become in its innocuous-
ness.   When I compare the results of my operations performed before
anaesthetics were  employed, with  those performed during  the last
twenty years by the aid of chloroform, I am satisfied that unpleasant
secondary results were less frequent during the past period than they
have been under the use of that  agent.   I  allude  to secondary hem-
orrhage, pyaemia, erysipelas, and hospital gangrene.
  Whoever will take the trouble to look  over the medical journals and
retrospects of the last two years, will discover that pyaemia or septi-
caemia occupies far more space in surgical records  than  it did before
anaesthetics were so generally employed.
  When cliloroform is administered during the period of an hour or
more, as it frequently is,  it undoubtedly enters  copiously into the
circulation, not only powerfully impressing the brain and heart, but
modifying  the constitution of the blood  and functions of the capilla-
ries.  If the effect of chloroform, developed from chloral in the blood,
be such as I have shown on the functions of the minute vessels, caus-
ing erythema and ulceration in the extreme parts, may we not suppose
that the introduction of chloroform more directly into the circulation
may promote the occurrence of those results not uncommon before its
use?
  These suggestions, 1  trust, will  not be regarded as impertinent from
one who has practised  surgery for more than half a century, without
and with the anaesthetic agents.
  I doubt not that, if these remarks are deemed worthy of any notice
at all,  they will be rejected by the  majority of the profession, but I
have an abiding confidence that their truth will  be ultimately acknowl-
edged.—Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.
         ON THE TREATMENT  OF SNAKE-BITE.
                          BY DR. FAYRER.
  According to Dr. Fayrer, the  chief hope in the treatment of the
bite of the Indian snakes is the prevention of the entrance of the poi-
son into the circulation.  To do this a ligature must be placed around
the injured part, when possible, so tightly as absolutely to arrest circu-
lation.  As constitutional symptoms sometimes manifest themselves in
a few seconds, promptness is  of the utmost importance, and no mercy
should be shown in the application of the ligature.  A piece of the
dress  twisted, a bit of  string, a strap, &c, should be immediately ap-
plied, and should be strained to the uttermost by twisting with a piece
of stick; nor should the tension cease until the circulation is entirely 
                          TOXICOLOGY.                       259

arrested, and the part livid with the retained blood.  Dr. F. has found
it all but impossible, with the strength of a pair of hands, so to tighten
the ligature as to effect complete strangulation of a dog's hind leo-, and
nothing less than  complete strangulation  is of avail.  If a finger be
bitten, it is best to apply three ligatures as tightly as possible; one on
the finger  itself, another on the forearm  or wrist,  and a third still
higher up.   No time should be  lost in scarifying the punctures so as
to allow the blood  to flow freely, and then in applying some caustic of
sufficient strength  to induce complete disorganization of the  strangu-
lated  part, else enough  of  the  poison will  remain to induce death
when the ligatures are  removed.  When a finger or toe is bitten,  the
best  treatment is  to seize a knife or  hatchet and instantly lop it  off.
As a caustic the natives apply a live coal or explode gunpowder in  the
wound,  and  no  doubt  these methods are most effectual.  When a
wound is in such  position that a  ligature cannot be applied, instant
dee]) scarification and the relentless use of the fire or caustic must be
resorted to.   Suction of  the wound byT cupping-glasses, etc., is useful,
and should  be applied after the  ligature or scarification, before  the
cautery.  Suction  by7 the month is dangerous, as there is no doubt  but
that the mucous membrane will  absorb  sufficient of  the cobra poison
to induce death.   Liq. ammonias  or liq. potassse the Doctor entirely
condemns as a local application, stating that he has mixed  them in
equal parts with the poison without impairing its  efficiency7.  For con-
stitutional treatment, the only remedies as yet known of any value  are
whisky7, rum, or brandy7—best diluted with equal parts of hot water.
Ammonia is also useful as a stimulant, but has no specific action. The
practice of walking a patient to arouse him, Dr. Fayrrer believes of di-
rect influence in accelerating death.  Absolute rest and quiet, in order
to save nerve-power, he strongly recommends. External stimulants, as
dry heat, mustard  plasters; galvanism may also be used.  Dr. Fayrer
states that in his experiments on animals he has  not found the injec-
tion of ammonia into the veins, as recommended by Halford, of any
use.   The importance of the subject  of  snake-bite in India is shown
by the fact that in the  Burdwan Division alone,  with a population of
less than six millions, there were, in a period  of nine  years (from I860
to 18G8 inclusive), 9,232 deaths from this cause.—T/ie Indian An-
nals of Medical Science.
              POISONING BY OXALIC ACID.
  Dr. Finnell exhibited to the New York  Pathological Society por-
tions of the intestinal tract removed from a female  aged thirty-seven,
who had accidentally poisoned he sc'f by taking oxalic acid instead of 
260
TOXICOLOGY.
Epsom salts.   An ounce of the poison was probably swallowed.  The
mistake was discovered at once, Dr. Finnell was sent for, and in the
course of ten minutes he was by her side.  Rancid lamp-oil and chalk
were  at  once  administered, but  very x^ttle, if any,  of  either was
retained.  The symptoms progressed, however, and at the end of ten
hours she died.  At first  she complained of  a  great  deal of burning
pain at the pit of her stomach, also in the genital organs.  She passed
no water during the whole ten hours.  Two  hours after the accident
the pulsation of the radials disappeared.  She w7as for the greater part
of the time able to walk about the room until towards the middle of
the day, when she complained of  numbness from the shoulders to the
tips of the fingers.  She was conscious to within a few moments of her
death, occupying herself  in pulling from her throat strings of ropy
mucus.  The  autopsy was  made  six hours after  death.  The whole
intestinal tract was very  much reddened, more so than the stomach
itself.—N~.  Y. Medical Record.

  Warning against  the Use of  Petroleum Casks  for Con-
taining  Food.—Under  the above caption  the Vierteljahrschr. fur
prakt. Pharm. notices the death  of two men, and the serious  illness
of others, near Aschaffenburgh, produced by drinking perry which had
been kept in an old petroleum cask.

  Test for Blood-Stains.—The following test will show the smallest
quantities of blood, even after a long time, and where attempts have
been made  to remove them, notwithstanding the  destruction  of the
blood-globules.  If the smallest quantity of  coloring matter remains,
the test is sure.  The  crystals which are obtained in this test are so
characteristic in form  under some peculiar  circumstances, that it is
impossible to be deceived.   The following is the modus operandi:—
  Some of  the fluid obtained by the usual means of washing the spot
with distilled water is put in a watch-crystal;  add a little of the solu-
tion of common salt, and let it dry under the bell-glass of an air-pump,
near a glass containing sulphuric acid.   Now wash the deposit  on the
crystal with acid acetic, glac.; evaporate to drymess at a temperature of
100° C. on the water-bath;  then add a few drops of wTater, and watch
the crystallization under the microscope.  Any one who has once seen
and watched the crystallization can never be mistaken.—Medical Ga-
zette. 
TOXICOLOGY.
261
  Test for Blood-Stains.—J. W. Gunning {Jour, of Applied Chem-
istry) has  discovered that acetate of zinc will completely precipitate
the coloring matter of blood from solutions.  The flocculent precipi-
tate must be washed by decantation, left to evaporate and  dry on a
watch-glass, and if blood is present the microscope will reveal delicate
and beautiful haemin crystals.
TUTU  PLANT  OF  NEW  ZEALAND—CORIARIA  NESCI
                             FOLIA.

  Mr. II. G. Hughes has a not very clear paper in London Pharma-
ceutical Journal of October  7, on this plant.   He made a  number
of attempts, but failed, to separate with certainty the active principle,
One of  the most satisfactory analyses and results are given as fol
lows:—
  " To an alcoholic extract of the seeds a little powdered lime was added
and mixed, and the whole well waslied with alcohol, ether, and chloro-
form in succession.  Neither of the latter  two yielded anything upon
spontaneous evaporation.  The alcoholic solution was evaporated; the
residue  treated with acid sulph. dih, filtered, and pot. carb. added in
excess, causing a flocculent precipitate.  The  solution separated, the
precipitate was treated with alcohol and filtered.   As the solution be-
came more concentrated, a heavy olive-colored oily fluid separated.
Some shoots of the tree, gathered 3d December, 1869, also yielded this
oily fluid.  It is of a most poisonous nature, half a drop administered to a
terrier exciting most  severe  symptoms (vomiting and convulsions).
After further concentration, ether was added, when a yellowish pre-
cipitate  formed, the oily fluid separating of a clear olive-green color.
As the ether volatilized, the precipitate was redissolved by the alcohol;
the oily fluid remained.  Chloroform added caused a pure snow-white
precipitate, which floated, the oil still  remaining unaffected.   It was
then separated from the precipitate, dissolved in alcohol, and  filtered.
Upon evaporating spontaneously,  it  deposited  feathery crystals  of  a
dingy color (impure or contaminated  with the oily fluid).  Before all
the alcohol had evaporated, chloroform always gave a pure snow-white
precipitate.  The crystals were extremely deliquescent.  I thought this
oily-looking fluid was a liquid alkaloid similar to conia. It was  soluble
in alcohol,"but insoluble in both ether and chloroform.   The alcoholic
solution of this oily substance and white alkaloid possessed very ener-
getic properties, an all but inappreciable quantity bringing on, almost
immediately, a very distressing suffocating sensation, and an unpleasant
feelino- of rouo-hness and insensibility of the palate.  Not any of the
fragrant oil was found 
262
TOXICOLOGY.
  ';It is very remarkable that this oily fluid is perfectly insoluble both
in ether and chloroform, and soluble in alcohol and a mixture of alco-
hol and water ;  and whatever the poisonous principle or principles may
be.  that slaked  lime made into a  thin cream with water  instantly de-
stroys it or them, with or accompanied by the evolution of ammoniacal
vapor."
  The poisonous extract was  found to be very unstable, undergoing
almost complete spontaneous decomposition in four days, it becoming
more fluid and physiologically inert.
  "Acetic acid fixes or preserves the poisonous property (for a time, at
least), arresting  its decomposition.  "When lime is added to good ex-
tract (poisonous), strong ammoniacal vapor is evolved; but on the fourth
day, in  the lime mixed with it, although  possessing  the odor of the
essential oil, not the slightest trace of  ammonia can be detected; the
oil also, when destroyed by the lime, not giving any ammoniacal vapor,
indicates it to be of a different composition, and anon-nitrogenous oil.
The decomposition of the poisonous principle, resulting in  the evolu-
tion of ammonia, shows nitrogen to be present in it.   The fragrant oil
comes over at 212° F.,  the poisonous  principle at between 3503 and
400° F."
  Dr. Acheson made a number of experiments  upon animals, and re-
ports the general symptoms to be those of strychnine poisoning, with
the addition of  severe vomiting.   Lime he found to be a complete an-
tidote.
  We quote a single experiment:—
  u I administered about a drachm of fresh extract to two  dogs.  To
one of the dogs the extract was given in a mixture of lime and water.
It remained in the stomach for several minutes  before vomiting com-
menced.  After the expiration of half an hour from the cessation of
vomiting, we determined to administer a drachm of  the extract alone,
being merely dissolved in a little water.   This he  retained for twenty
minutes without any vomiting taking place.  We then administered to
him a quantity of lime mixture.   He never showed the slightest symp-
tom of  poisoning.   To the other  dog the extract was given in a quan-
tity of water merely.   A few minutes after administration symptoms
of poisoning commenced, and in twenty minutes he had a regular attack
of pure tetanic convulsions.  Immediately after the first paroxysm we
emptied into the stomach a quantity of the lime mixture, after which he
had one severe fit, from which he recovered rapidly, and  in the course
of a very short  period he was perfectly free from  all symptoms of poi-
soning." 
TOXICOLOGY.
263
POISONING  BY WATER  HEMLOCK—CICUTA  VIROSA.

                    BY HENRY WILSON,  M.R.C.S.
  T. G., aet. 48, a farm laborer, dined, on January 8, off boiled meats
and parsnips.   The frost being very severe, he had extracted the roots
from the ground with a pickaxe, and among them one which he thought
at first was horse-radish, but, finding it had a sweetish taste, cooked it
with the rest and ate it.  He described it as  being four or five inches
in length and  little larger  in circumference than his thumb. I was
shown two small pieces of rootlet; their taste was a peculiar sweet some-
what  resembling that of liquorice;  they were of the exact color  of
parsnips.  At 12.30 he dined.  At 1 went to his work, which he had
no sooner commenced than he felt giddiness  and dryness  of throat.
Suspecting poisoning, he started  immediately for home.  He walked
the distance (about a quarter of a mile) with  great difficulty,  his legs
being very unsteady in their  movements, and  all surrounding objects
appearing as if they were alternately receding and advancing.  He sat
down in a chair, where I found him at 2  p. m. ; the  lower extremities
were  numbed—not insensitive, but completely paralyzed.   His arms
felt numbed, and their movements were weak.   He had an  anxious
expression and flushed countenance, and declared he should die. Skin
warm and dry; pulse 90.  Ten grains of sulphate of copper vomited
him at once.   At 4 p.m. he was able to stand, and with difficulty walked
across the room.  Between this time and 6 p.m. he passed large quan-
tities of urine, and had hallucinations, at times feeling very cold.   At
8 p.m. in bed ;  extremities cold ;  pupils  dilated ;  pulse  90; skin and
throat very dry; no  actions;  delirious  at times during the night.—
london Lancet, Sept. 16, 1871.
.   POISONING BY LABURNUM (CYTISUS  LABURNUM.)

                          BY H. WILSON.

  At 11 p.m., August 4, 1871, I was called to see  H. S., 4 years old.
His father stated he was suffering from eating laburnum seeds 3 hours
before ; number not certainly known.  About half an hour after eat-
ing the seeds he began to vomit, first food, afterwards mucus, and con-
tinued to do so occasionally till my arrival.  At 10 p.m. he became very
drowsy, and was  seized with convulsions.  His mother stated that every
few minutes he shook violently and drew up his legs.  At 11 p.m. con-
vulsions had ceased;  he was very drowsy,  but readily roused for a
moment; both pupils were widely dilated; pulse small—85;  surface 
264                      TOXICOLOGY.

cold, especially extremities.   He got no treatment excepting warm
milk and water, both by stomach and bowels, and at midnight was in
calm sleep: the next day well.—London Lancet, Sept. 16, 1871.
POISONING BY THE  LOCAL APPLICATION OF  BICHLO-
                     RIDE OF MERCURY.
  Dr. Muns reports the following case more in detail in the Lancet of
Sept. 16.
  Miss Harriet F----, aged 9, was brought to  Dr. Muns, August 21,
suffering from tinea  tonsurans.  On August  28 the note is:  The
disease seemed spreading, and  I proposed as a speedy cure the appli-
cation of bichloride of mercury, as recommended  by Dr. Tilbury Fox.
With a  small camel's-hair brush I applied the solution to each of  the
patches.  A little of the solution was accidentally allowed to escape
in the sulcus behind the left ear.  No pain was felt  before the child
left the room.
  Mondays evening.—There had been considerable pain, sharp diarrhoea,
and sickness.   The painted surfaces were blistered.
  Tuesday morning.—Child had passed a bad night;  the  bowels were
relaxed, and everything, except cold water, induced sickness.
  Tuesday  evening.—There was  marked salivation  and  a  general
puffiness of the  face.  The salivation and  prostration  grew worse
steadily7 until Thursday evening, when it was thought  that the swelling
of the glands was rather lessening; but in the night the patient got out
of bed unassisted, went to the night-stool, fainted, and  could not be
rallied.  The treatment consisted throughout of  exhibition of morphia,
stimulants and beef tea, milk and similar articles of food.—London
Lancet, Sept. 16, 1871.
ON  THE  RECOGNITION OF  CONIA AFTER  POISONING
                 BY CONIUM MACULATUM.
  The entrails of a man poisoned with conium maculatum were given by
the magistrate to some apothecaries in G----for conia to be sought for.
After careful experiment, the apothecaries stated that not all the re-
actions of the alkaloid were perceivable, and therefore it must remain
doubtful whether it was present or not.  The intestines were then sent
to Prof. N.,  of N----, who affirmed the presence of the alkaloid.   The
magistrate  then asked for an opinion from the provincial medical
society7 and  that of Berlin.   The report  of these two authorities was 
TOXICOLOGY.
265
substantially as follows:—The  experts E. and M. on the one side, and
N. on the other side, have used different methods in looking for the
conia.  The two first have practised the method of Duflos, the last
that  of Stas.  Both methods aim at obtaining the  pure conia, that  it
may be recognized by7 its own properties.
  According to the first method the contents of the gut are decomposed
by baryta water, and the  liberated alkaloid taken up by concentrated
alcohol and formed into  an oxalate by the  addition of oxalic  acid.
Out  of the oxalate  evaporated almost to dryness the conium is set free
by an excess of magnesia, and distilled at a temperature of 130°-140° C,
into  a retort.
  In the second method  the bowels'  contents are treated with water
and  sulphuric acid, and the solution of the sulphate of  conia obtained
is evaporated to a syrupy consistency7.
  Out of the residue the sulphate is dissolved in absolute alcohol, and
the solution evaporated in vacuo.  The acid residue is treated  with
ether until the ether, in which the sulphate is almost insoluble, will take
up nothing  more.   The purified sulphate is then decomposed with an
alkali, and the liberated conia dissolved with ether.
  The  liquid remaining on the evaporation of  the ether can then be
examined with reagents.
  When Herren E. and M. treated the remains in the first way, they ob-
tained an alkaline  fluid, in which  they sought for  chemical evidence
of the presence of  conia;  but this search yielded them no definite re-
sult.
  Proceeding in accordance with the second method, HerrN. obtained
an alkaline fluid, in which he  believed that he recognized conia for
the following reasons :—
  1.  The smell was disagreeable, resembling that of mice and of conia,
and  the taste sharp and tobacco-like.
  2.  A glass rod, moistened with muriatic acid, surrounded  itself with
white heavy cloud  when brought near to the fluid.
  3.  A drop of the solution placed upon a slide  gave, with solution of
silver, a white precipitate, out of which, on standing,  metallic silver
separated.
  4.  Solution  of iodine produced a brownish red precipitate, which
afterwards became clear.
  5.  The solution  in muriatic  acid, allowed to evaporate  on  a slide,
gave a crystalline mass, which, under the microscope, showed with the
polarizing apparatus a beautiful play of  colors.
  6.  The" same solution  gave with chloride of platinum oily drops,
which, after standing, formed red pillars, which were free from regu-
lar crystals. 
266
TOXICOLOGY.
   7. Tannin produced a whitish turbidity.
   8. Chloride of palladium produced a brownish-red precipitate.
   9. Treated with chlorate of potash and sulphuric acid, the odor of
 butyric acid was evolved.
   The reactions here given certainly all belong to conia, but the majori-
 ty7 of them are in no sense peculiar to it. As to the odor and taste, even
 if no other  alkaloid possessed such, yet the perception of such  taste
 and smell, especially the latter, is so liable to error as to make it em-
 phatically untrustworthy.  This remark also applies  to  the  asserted
 production of butyric acid (No. 9).   Butyric acid is not to be dis-
 tinguished by smell  from (Capron-Saure), and,  if in small quantity,
 might very readily be confounded with impure acetic acid.
   The formation (2) of the cloud on the approach of  hydrochloric
 acid happens wherever any volatile base is present.
   The action with the silver solution (3) is common to very many al-
 kaloids, as is also reaction No. 4.
   Nor is  the evidence of the polariscope  (No. 5) more trustworthy, as
 the appearances are presented by numerous crystalline bodies; the sul-
 phates of trimethylamin or triathylamin might, for instance, have been
 present and caused the appearances.
   The precipitates  in 6, 7,  and 8 might  be  yielded by numerous
 alkaloids.
   In order to recognize with certainty conia, it is necessary  to have
 recourse to the physiological test, which none of the experts applied.
  In conclusion, the answer of  the  apothecaries first applied to seems
the more  correct.— Vierteljahrschrift fur Prakt.  Pharmacie, Oct.
1st, 1871.
           AN EXCESSIVE  DOSE OF  CHLORAL.

  Dr. James  Rodman, of Hopkinsville,  Ky., relates  the  following
case in the American Practitioner:—
  Owing to a  mistake of the nurse, the patient, an insane gentleman,
had taken 270 grains  in  less than two hours.  Deep sleep followed,
which was not regarded with concern by the attendants until seven or
eight hours had elapsed.  Dr. R. then found him sleeping heavily, but
quietly, his skin rather warmer  than natural, pulse less frequent than
in health,  but  full and strong; his pupils were sluggish and contracted,
conjunctiva injected, respiration normal in character and fifteen in a
minute, and he could with difficulty be aroused to any sense of his sur-
roundings.  Sleep continued eighteen hours, during which  time the 
TOXICOLOGY.
267
patient was aroused only occasionally by considerable effort, and swal-
lowed a little water.
  The treatment consisted of cold effusions to the head, not frequently
repeated, and he was walked at short intervals between two assistants,
and vapor  of  ammonia applied to his  nostrils.  When  the  patient
awakened, he presented the appearance of a man recovering from pro-
found alcohohc intoxication.  There was no headache nor nausea.  He
had a keen  appetite, healthy pulse, warm  extremities, but a constant
sense of chilliness, that passed away in a few hours.
                         SNAKE-BITES.

  We need not wonder at the eagerness  with  which physicians and
authorities in India  examine every new remedy put forth as an anti-
dote to the poison of a snake-bite, when we learn that in British India,
including British Burmah, the deaths from snake-bite during the past
three years amount  to 25,664.  This statement appears in an official
report published in the Gazette of India.  From that report we also
learn that during the same period the deaths resulting from the attacks
of all kinds of wild beasts  in the same area numbered 12,554.   The
snakes killed more than twice  as many as were slain by the tigers and
all the other fierce forest rangers put together.  Truly the serpent is still
" more subtle than all the beasts of the field."—Chemist and Druggist.
  According to the Indian Medical Gazette,  the Inspector of Police
reported that of 939 cases  of  snake-bites  in  which ammonia was  ad-
ministered by7 the police, 702 are reported  to  have recovered, and the
average length of the time between the bite and the application of the
ammonia is  said to  have been, in  fatal cases,  4h. 12m. 13s., and  in
cases of recovery 3h. 28m. 14s.—Nature, Nov. 30, '71.
POISONING WITH OUNCE EACH  OF CHLOROFORM AND
ETHER AND EIGHT GRAINS OF MORPHIA.—RECOVERY.

  In the Nashville Journal of Medicine and Surgery for December,
1871, Dr. E. L. McTyrc, of Capivany, Brazil, says :—
  A short time since, I was called to attend a man, aged 30 years, who,
for the purpose of self-destruction, had taken, at a dose, and without
dilution, an ounce each of chloroform and  sulphuric ether, and eight
grains of  morphine.   For two days previous to the occurrence he had
refused all food, and, consequently, the stomach was in a proper con-
dition to be readily impressed with the medicines. 
268
TOXICOLOGY
   He swallowed  the  potion at seven o'clock  in the morning.   His
 family were attracted to the room at once from hearing him coughing
 spasmodically, and on being asked what was the matter, he pointed to
 the empty vials, labelled with the names of the medicines, standing on
 a table near him.  An hour passed before an  attempt was made to
 give him anything, when some person present suggested  the idea of
 giving him vinegar and water, of which he swallowed a few spoonfuls.
 His condition appeared so hopeless to the family that they thought he
 could not survive until a  messenger  could reach a physician, bem»
 distant eighteen miles to the nearest.
   At  noon, finding  he did not die, I was sent  for, and reached the
 house of the patient at five o'clock in the evening, ten hours after he
 had taken the mixture.  Found him covered with a profuse perspira-
 tion ;  pulse quick and full;  eyes insensible to light, and  pupils very
 contracted;  stertorous respiration, with mucous rattle;  in short, hav-
 ing all the symptoms of profound narcotism.
   I attempted to give him some water, for the purpose of seeing if he
 could  be made to swallow an emetic, but, on trial, I found  I could not
 do anything in this way.  I  proceeded then to apply mustard to the
 spine,  extremities, and chest, and although the mustard plasters caused
 vivid redness of the  skin wherever applied, the patient showed no dis-
 position to merge from the comatose sleep.
   At seven o'clock, finding no improvement, it occurred to me to try
 the effects of dressing him in clothing saturated with a strong infusion
 of  coffee, after the same manner that we use iodide of potassium, sul-
 phur, etc.
   A strong infusion of coffee was prepared, and a linen shirt and pair
 of drawers Avere allowed to remain in this for half an hour, and behi"
 partially dried, were  put on him, and then covered with two blankets!
 In about thirty minutes the patient  moved uneasily about  in the bed,
 and again became quiet,  Ten minutes after this he turned suddenly tc
 one side,  and vomited profusely, and asked for water.  During the
 next hour he vomited frequently and freely.
  ^ For  the purpose of combating the effects of the morphine, I gave
 him, during the night, one drachm of bromide of potassium in divided
 doses.
  When once aroused from the comatose  state, he evinced no disposi-
 tion to return to it, but conversed naturally, and during the rest of the
 night slept very  little.   I feared he would suffer from the  irritant
 effects  of the undiluted chloroform,  on the  coats of  the  stomach, but
up  to  nine  o'clock next day  he made no complaint.   I  have since
heard he recovered without an untoward symptom. 
TOXICOLOGY.
269
                    LIGHTNING  STROKE.
  Dr. C. II. Alden, U.S.A., reports  (Circular  No.  3) a case, of
which the  following contains the essential  outlines.   E.  W.,  aged
60,  was struck whilst  on horseback, and very  shortly afterwards
brought  in.  The horse was killed.  The man was totally insensible
but very restless, tossing, and resisting efforts to remove his wet clothing.
His surface and extremities were cold, his pulse very small and feeble.
There was a superficial, nearly vertical wound of the  right scalp, look-
ing as though made with a sharp point; a  chain of large, irregular vesi-
cated spots extended down the  right ear over the neck, chest, and abdo-
men to the penis.   There was also a similar spot on the right thigh and
superficial abrasions on both thighs.  His felt hat wTas much torn and
burnt of the right side, his pantaloons burnt corresponding to the thigh
wounds ; his shirt somewhat torn in front.  He was wrapt in blankets,
and whiskey administered, which he swallowed without difficulty. In the
afternoon slight vomiting occurred,  and his pulse grew stronger and f ull-
ler. During the evening and much of the night, he was restless, muttering
incoherently, and  having involuntary passages.  The next day his condi-
tion was much the same, but he was quiet a good deal of the time, and
his pulse fuller, surface  warmer; a little  fluid trickled from the  right
ear. Weak milk punch and beef-tea were  ordered.   In the afternoon he
opened his eyes, looked  round  intelligently, but did not  speak, and in
a few minutes became again unconscious; at 7.30 p.m. pulse, 72 ; respi-
rations  30; temperature,  97°.  He died at midnight.   Post  mortem
rigidity came on in five hours.  At the autopsy slight bloody7 infiltration
of the muscles, below the scalp wound, was found. A very slight fissure
was found inside calvarium corresponding to the external wound.  Be-
tween the bone and the  dura mater was a firm, black, circular clot, one-
fourth of an inch in thickness, and two  inches in diameter; opposite
the centre of the clot wras a minute opening in the dura mater.   The
brain beneath the  clot was disorganized for about two inches in diameter,
and extending into the ventricle. Nothing else abnormal w7as anywhere
discovered.
             POISONING  BY MURIATIC ACID.
  Maria G., aged 21, took December 5, 9 a.m., about a quarter of an
ordinary tumblerful  of commercial muriatic acid.  The draught was
followed by immediate burning  pains in the throat, and was partially
vomited after a few moments.   Shortly  afterwards she drank very
freely of milk, which was immediately rejected, and in about fifteen 
270
TOXICOLOGY.
minutes magnesia was very freely exhibited.   About midday she was
taken to the hospital.  At 6 p.m. the pulse was calm, rather full, the
temperature  normal.   There was a constant burning  pain  of lips,
mouth and throat, with inability to swallow, and constant nausea and
yomiting.   The next day the lips, mouth, and tongue were found to
be nearly deprived of their epithelium, red, and inflamed, with a coat-
ing on the  dorsum of the tongue looking like coagulated albumen.
The teeth were very white.  The fauces and  throat were cedematous,
with diffuse tumefaction and redness, and upon the velum, the pharynx,
etc., was an exudation exactly resembling the false  membrane of
diphtheria.  There was also  profuse  salivation, difficult deglutition,
and persisting vomiting, w7ith severe  epigastric pain and  tenderness,
but the abdomen generally was  soft  and indolent,  and  there had
been  a normal stool free from blood.   There was no fever, and an
analysis of  the  urine  did not result in the  detection of anything
abnormal.  The respiration was peculiar, with a difficult noisy inspira-
tion, and an easy expiration.  The voice was perfect, showing that the
acid had not penetrated to  the vocal chords, but had only affected the
superior part of the larynx, to whose swelling the disturbance of res-
piration was due.  The  treatment consisted in  the exhibition of
alkalies and milk.  There was  gradual amelioration, and on the fifth
day the inflammation of the mouth was very much lessened.  By the
tenth day all respiratory trouble had gradually7 died out.  Her gastric
symptoms had very much subsided, but not entirely disappeared.   The
report of the case was made on  the tenth day, matters having pro-
gressed  sufficiently to  insure  final recovery7.—Bulletin  General de
Therapeutique, October 30, 1871.

  Death from Syrup of Poppies.—In the London Pharmaceutical
Journal of October 3d  are detailed two cases in  which death was
caused by syrup of poppies.  In one case a teaspoonful was given to a
child  eighteen weeks old, at 6 p.m., death  occurring about 8 a.m. the
next day.   The other victim was a child five weeks old, to whom three
parts of a teaspoonful were given.

  Cotton-Wool  as a Means of Filtering the Air.—Mr. Brown
has found that if air  be  drawn  through  cotton-wool the latter will
retain all the ammonia.  He found that at a temperature of 15.9° C,
and a pressure of  755.7° mm., the cotton-wool will retain 115 times its
own weight of ammonia.—Zeitschrift des Allgem. Oester. ApolL-
Vereins, November, 1871. 
TOXICOLOGY.
271
  Death  from Hypodermic  Injection of  Morphia.—I"  the
British Mvd. Jour, of March 30, is recorded the case of Mary P----,
aged 50, who received  with fatal  result  a hypodermic injection of
£ grain of morphia for the relief of sciatica.
      ON THE TESTING FOR HYDROCYANIC ACID.
  In a recent work  upon this subject, Almen, of Upsala, ranks the
recognition of  the prussic acid odor in suspected poisoning as of little
value as a means of recognition; whilst the guaiac test he states to be
of very great importance, and that if it fail to give any tokens of prus-
sic acid there is no use of looking further.  For the  separation of the
prussic acid  from the organic matter, he thinks the  " streams of gas "
only useful when a ferrocyanide compound is being dealt with.  In the
same way he  speaks  about the distillation with  a water-bath, which
moreover consumes a great deal of time.  He prefers a distillation with a
bath of chloride of calcium, saltpetre, or, still better, paraffin.   In this
way the distillate comes over more rapidly7, and whenever three cubic
cm. are obtained the receiver must be emptied.  Where the hydrocya-
nic acid only amounted to a fraction of a grain, Almen found the fifth
and even the ninth distillate contained  traces of the acid. ' The distil-
lation must therefore not be interrupted too early.  Amongst the vari-
ous reactions he found the " sulpho-cyanide reaction " the most sensi-
tive.  As our best toxicologists agree, he states that the evaporation of
the liquid in which  hydrocyanic acid is sought for,  and to which pre-
viously some drops of sulphuret of ammonia have been added, must
be carefully conducted by a slow fire, and is best performed in a porce-
lain dish, with a water-bath;  and  on  account of  the volatility of the
sulpho-cyanide of ammonia, the fluid should not be evaporated to dry-
11GSS
  There  is also another difficulty: during the evaporation, the sulphu-
ret of ammonium being in contact with the air suffers decomposition,
with the  formation  of sulphuric acid,  sulphurous acid,  sulphuretted
hydrogen, etc.  Now, if a drop of the chloride of iron be added, instead
of the&beautiful red and permanent sulpho-cyanide reaction a violet or
brown is produced, which rapidly disappears ; whilst the perchloride of
iron is reduced  to the protochloride, which  has not the power of pro-
ducing the  sulpho-cyanide reaction.  This, however can be obviated
by ushio- more of the chloride of iron;  but the liquid may become so
deeply colored as to  obscure the sulpho-cyanide reaction.
  All these troubles may be avoided by the following method of Al- 
272
TOXICOLOGY.
men.  To the distillate to be  examined a drop of  dilute soda  lye is
added,  then sulphuret of ammonium, and the whole evaporated to
dryness over a water bath.  If prussic acid were present in the  distil-
late it  is  represented in the  residue by sulpho-cyanide  of  sodium,
which is not volatile at the temperature of the water-bath.   If the re-
sidue be dissolved in a little water, acidified with S03, an intense red
color is  produced by  the addition of the perchloride of iron.   The
liquid should be allowed  to stand a few minutes after the addition of
the sulphuric acid, before adding the iron.
   To produce the Prussian-blue reaction, Almen puts two cubic cm. of
the distillate in a test-tube, and adds one or two drops of an oxide con-
taining  solution of copperas (somewhat oxidized by exposure to air, or a
solution of copperas containing a little of  chloride of iron), then two or
three drops of a solution  of soda ; agitating this, he after five minutes
adds so much sulphuric acid as is necessary to dissolve the precipitated
iron oxides. The mixture will then be, if no prussic acid have been in the
distillate, reddish yellow  and clear;  if prussic acid be present it will
be green or more or less blue, and after one or two davs Prussian-blue
will separate as  a  flocculent  precipitate.  In this reaction  it makes
little difference whether the copperas  solution or soda lye be added
first, excepting that according to Almen if the sulphate of iron precede
the soda, the oxides are more readily  dissolved by the sulphuric acid.
Care must be taken not to add too much of the soda, as it interferes
greatlyT  with the reaction.  Heating  the mixture to boiling,  Almen
states to have little influence on the reaction.   This test  is delicate,
but  not so  delicate  as  the  preceding  one.  In a comparative ex-
periment with a very dilute water of  bitter almonds containing only
toVo" grain of the acid in  1 c. ctm. the first test showed very distinctly
with 1 c. ctm.; the second only so far as to produce a  greenish  color
with 2 c. ctm. Almen  also tried the test of Draggendorf,—a blood-red
color developed by means  of an alkali and picric acid,—and found that
the test was not only far behind the other two in sensitiveness, but that
various other reducing agents, such as sugar, sulphuric acid, etc., would
under like circumstances develop the  same color; and that even with
distilled water, picric acid, and an alkali  alone, the color could be de-
veloped after a  time.   The  test  dependent upon the production of
cyanide of copper was found more reliable, but less delicate than the
Prussian-blue reaction.  It needs for its best  performance the avoid-
ance of high temperature,  and the use of but little soda.   Almen details
a case in which the stomach and brains of  a person poisoned by the acid
were given him for examination.  The brain exhaled a  strong, the
stomach a very weak odor of prussic  acid; and the same difference
was found on testing. 
TOXICOLOGY.                       273
  Almen describes the  experiments made by Eckmann and himself
for testing with Schonbein's sulphate of copper  papers and the forcing
in of air, and states y^-q grain of hydrocyanic acid in seven ounces of
diluted  urine is readily detected thereby.  According to their expe-
rience the copper solution used should  not be stronger than •£• per cent.
and should be colorless.   Non-volatile substances cannot interfere with
the trustworthiness of the test, and of volatile ones only such are found
in the stomach as are easily, set  to one side.   Yet Almen considers the
test not to be relied on as the main one, but only as corroborative.
  In  endeavors to  isolate prussic  acid from the  contents of  the
stomach Almen thinks it a matter of indifference which acid be used
to neutralize the alkalinity7.
  Almen also tried instead of distillation the use of streams of air to
separate the prussic acid from organic mixtures and carry it into a weak
soda solution, and found  that  at ordinary temperature very minute
quantities only were carried over.  But if no ferro or ferricy^anide were
present the mixture could be brought to a boiling point, and then the
streams of air, although it takes  a very long time absolutely7 to exhaust
the organic mixtures by them, were even more  satisfactory than distil-
lation.  By this means the presence of 1 milligr. of the acid in 200 c. cm.
of urine could be distinctly proven.
  Dr. Br. (the author of the notice) then states that he has recently
had occasion to go over the subject experimentally, and that his results
confirm those of Almen, and that with the sulpho-cy7anide reaction he
was enabled to recognize y^-g- milligr. of prussic acid.—Zeitsch. Oester.
Apothek.- Vereins, Dec. 10,1871.

  On the Adulteration of Beer.—In Schmidfs Jahrbucher for Dec,
1871, is an elaborate review of  the recent literature of this subject,
It is too long to be translated, and being composed of a series of ab-
stracts chiefly7, cannot itself  be  profitably abstracted.  We  therefore
simply give the reference for those interested in the subject.

   On the Violet Sediment of Urine.—In the Journal de Pharmacie
et de Chemie, Dec, 1871, C. Mehu has an interesting paper upon this
curious principle, but we must content ourselves with mere reference,
as the subject is scarcely within the scope of the Journal.
                   TESTS FOR NARCEINE.
                           BY M. STEIN.
  A long time since M. Pelletier and M. Wenkler proposed iodine as
a test for narceine, as it strikes with it a blue color, similar to that of
           18 
274
TOXICOLOGY.
iodide of starch.  But there are difficulties in  the  application of this
test.  If too much iodine be added a brown color results, and the blue
is not developed until the excess of  iodine  is neutralized by ammonia.
Then, again, if the ammonia is sufficiently in excess, it destroys the color
by  dissolving the narceine.  All the solvents of narceine act in the
same way7.
  M. Draggendorff has announced that the solutions of narceine give,
with the double iodide of zinc and potassium, a crystalline precipitate.
It is proposed to make  a simultaneous use  of these two reactions.  It
suffices to add to the solution of the double iodide a small quantity  of
watery solution of iodine;  afterwards the whole is shaken with ether to
remove the excess of iodine.   Treated with this a liquid containing
only a small quantity of narceine acquires a distinct blue color.
  No other alkaloid of opium gives such a reaction.—Journal de Phar-
macie et de Chemie, January7,1872.
             POISONING BY CARBOLIC  ACID.
  Jos. M., aet. 32, drank, on the 20th of July at 10 a.m., an unknown
quantity of a solution of phenic acid, which he mistook for wine.  Im-
mediately afterwards he was seized with nausea, cold sweat, stupor, and
unconsciousness.  Some magnesia was given, and at 12.30 a.m. he was
brought to the hospital in a state of profound insensibility7, with noisy
tracheal  rales  in breathing,  and  apparently death was imminent.
Mustard poultices were applied to the whole surface.
  At 5 p.m. the temperature had risen nearly to normal, the coma and
complete relaxation of the limbs persisted.   There was anaesthesia of
the skin and mucous membrane of mouth, nose, pharynx, and bladder,
and complete loss of  reflex excitability.   The cornea and conjunctiva
were insensible, the pupil contracted.  Respiration 48, stertorous, with
tracheal rales;  pulse  128, small.   The  heart beat convulsively, with
considerable force.  He had passed no urine, but a small quantity was
obtained by the catheter.   It was yellow, with a violet tint by reflected
light, and smelt strongly  of carbolic acid. On its  surface were some
oily drops.  Some drawn blood was of a singular brown  color, and
smelt strongly of the  acid.  The clot was soft,  diffluent, and did not
contract.  He died about 7.30 p.m. by gradual asphyxia.
   Autopsy 36 hours after death.
   In spite of a temperature of 30° C. the cadaver was w7ell preserved,
and in all its parts smelt strongly of carbolic acid.   No distinct lesion of
the mucous membrane was found above the stomach, the mucous mem-
brane of which was thickened; with black, cauterized spots,  and else-
where deeply congested, and in one or two places there were submucous 
                          TOXICOLOGY.                       275

hemorrhages. It was not ulcerated. The kidneys were deeply cono-ested.
Under the fibrous capsule, and in the cortical portion, were some spots
of effused blood. The renal tubuli  were perfect, excepting that their epi-
thelium had become fatty, and completely degenerated, as in  phosphor-
us poisoning.  No other  abnormalities of moment were  found.   The
author thinks that the carbolic acid acted as a " hypothenisant."   The
preceding report is by M. Rendu, interne; the following by M. Pa-
trouillard, pharmacien en chef:—
  Examination of the Urine.—The urine was agitated with some cubic
centimetres of pure ether, and allowed to stand ; the ethereal layer was
then removed with a pipette, and  evaporated  in  a glass vessel.  A
minute oily residue was left, having the physical properties of phenol.
A little of it dissolved in water gave a deep violet color with perchloride
of iron, a bluish tint with ammonia and hypochlorite of lime.   The
remainder was treated with fuming nitric acid and heat, and after a
vivid reaction was converted into a yellow solid, capable of imparting
its color to water and to  silk.  Lastly, the yellow solution gave, when
heated, after the addition of cyanide of potassium, a red tint.  All these
reactions  are characteristic of carbolic acid.
  An attempt to separate phenol by shaking some of the water contain-
ing it with animal charcoal  failed.
  Albumen was also found in the  urine.
  Examination of the contents of the Stomach.—There were 350 gram-
mes of liquid and finely divided solid matters, of a brown color, repulsive
odor, and decidedly acid reaction.   On the surface were  some reddish
oily drops.   The acid  reaction was  of double  interest,  because  the
solution ingested was  a phenate of soda.  The liquid contents were
distilled to dryness by means of an oil-bath, and an aqueous liquid was
obtained,  which  gave a blue color, with ammonia and hypochlorite
of lime.—Journal de Pharmacie etde Chemie, Dec, 1871.
ON THE BLACK URINE OBSERVED  AFTER THE USE OF
                       CARBOLIC ACID.
  P. IIauxman examined the urine  of  a woman, who  had been long
treated with a watery solution of carbolic acid.   In mass the urine was
black;  in a test-tube  it had  a blackish-brown  color.  Its sp. gr. was
1.027 ;  its reaction neutral.  By the addition of chlorine  water it be-
came brownish-yellow ; sulphuric acid, nitric acid, and acetic reddened
it.   On heating, a deposit was precipitated which was  redissolved on
the addition of  an  acid: yellow prnssiate of potash did not affect the
urine: after having been shaken with the urine, cliloroform separated
colorless, and did not afford any biliary reaction with sulphuric acid. 
276
TOXICOLOGY.
There was no albumen, nor any blood-corpuscles in it.   By boiling with
an alkali the color was rendered paler, and did not return when the alkali
was saturated with an acid.  Hauxman believed for a time that soluble
haemic globulin, which can produce this black coloring, was the caust
of the color in the carbolic acid urine; although on account of the full
clearing up on heating after the previous acidifying he abandoned this
view, especially as the  odor of carbolic  acid was given off during the
heating.
  Later Almen and Waldenstrom, from  a similar dark urine, obtained,
by distillation with sulphuric acid, a product which smelt  strongly of
carbolic acid, and gave, with chloride of lime, a blue color.   When a
portion of the distillate was shaken with ether, the latter left, on evapo-
ration, oily drops of carbolic acid.—Zeitschrift des Allgemei/n. Apothek-
Vereins, January 10, 1872.
  POISONING BY OIL OF WHITE  CEDAR—BY NITRATE
                             OF POTASH.

   Dr. F. K. Badly reports the case of a girl, aet. 15, who took 16 drops
of the oil of white cedar, and directly afterwards fell unconscious.  He
found her shortly afterwards in clonic spasms, and forcing open her jaws,
poured in some castor oil, which vomited her. The clonic spasms then
yielded to epileptiform convulsions lasting at intervals for several hours.
Long-continued irritation of  the stomach  resulted, and it was  a year
before health was fully recovered.
   Dr. Baily also reports the following:—
  G. B., ast. 24, very robust, weight 150 lbs., sanguine temperament, Irish,  took by
mistake about § iv. of saltpetre in solution.   Soon afterwards vomiting occurred, and
was continued.  When the doctor first saw him he was suffering intense burning pain
in the stomach and abdominal region.  The pulse was small and wiry, feet and hands
ice-cold, but the head exceedingly  hot.  Nausea, but without vomiting, continued.
The stomach appeared to be empty, or nearly so, and the salt, which had not  been re-
jected, probably had passed to the duodenum.  I at once gave demulcent drinks, and
applied sinapisms to the extremities and the pit of  the stomach.  Reaction came on in
a few hours, when it  seemed as if the sufferer was in a furnace.   The pulse became
full and bounding, the eyes congested, the face red and  burning hot, and a raving
delirium set in before  dark.
  At this juncture a vein was opened at the bend of the arm, and the blood allowed to
flow from a large orifice, till the pulse yielded.  In a few hours collapse succeeded, and
the pulse was scarcely perceptible.
  For some time it was  thought he  must die, but, by giving diffusible stimulants, re-
action came on gradually, and a second exacerbation of excitement occurred, nearly
equal to the first.  A second bleeding was  not resorted to, but opiates were freely
given, together with castor oil.  On  Tuesday the bowels began to move freely, and at
night collapse recurred to a more fearful degree than before.
  He became insensible to surrounding objects, and for some hours nearly pulseless.
  Stimulants were given carefully, and the case closely "watched.   All hopes of his 
TOXICOLOGY.                      277
recovery were  abandoned till some  time on Wednesday, when reaction returned.
From this, convalescence commenced, but it was two or three months before there wa»
a complete restoration to health.—Medical and Surgical Reporter.
  Hydrate of Chloral.—In the Pharmaceut. Journal and Trans.
of Nov. 25 is reported a case of death from chloral hydrate.
  Dr. I. A. Watson reports {Med. and Surg. Reporter, Jan. 27) the
case of a lady suffering from facial neuralgia, to whom  he  gave, Jan.
1, in the morning, two doses of chloral (all  the doses 10 grs.);  in the
afternoon, one dose ; in the night, two doses ; on Jan. 2, in the morning,
as she was still suffering, two  doses were administered; about 2 p.m.
one more dose, so that on Jan. 1,50 grs. were taken, and on Jan. 2, 30 grs.
After the last  dose she commenced to feel numb, and passed into a
state  of unconsciousness and  profound  prostration lasting over two
hours, during which the doctor believes her life was only preserved by
the most assiduous and constant treatment.
  Dr. J. Butts reports a case {Philadelpdiia Medical and Surgical Re-
porter, February 1) in which a hysterical woman took 3 j. daily for six
consecutive  days, and  then took 5 j. in the course of a  night, without
fatal result.
  Governmental Interference  to  prevent Alcoholic Poison-
ing.—The Swedish national drink is now beer, although it used to be
spirits; and the Swedish nation may be congratulated as having become
one of the most sober people instead of the most drunken.  This happy
change arises partly  from the fact  that brandies have  become much
dearer since an excise duty of Is. 4e/. per gallon has been levied, and in
addition to this check, a tax imposed on the retail trade, and a Permis-
sive Bill passed, by which any parish or town can prohibit the licensing
of  brandy shops or restrict their number.   In the manufacturing dis-
trict of Gothenburg a society has been formed for promoting sobriety,
and one of their modes of action is to farm  the brandy licenses.   The
result of this has been that new drinking shops, pure and simple, are
seldom opened, and most of the old ones are turned into eating houses.
Moreover, no brandy is sold on credit, or to any persons who are not
of  adult  age,  while  strict laws  punish those  who  allow drinkers to
become intoxicated.   Whatever may be  the advisability of  a Permis-
sive Bill, the methods  here  adopted to check  drunkenness are very
successful, and  might  be  imitated in our future legislation.  ^ The
profits arising from these shops are handed over to  the  municipal
authorities, and are spent in diminishing the municipal taxation, some-
times to the amount of 10,0002. a year.—Food Journal.
  Animal Charcoal as an Antidote for Phosphorus.-M• Eulen-
ber.r and Vohl have demonstrated that animal charcoal will absorb phos-
phorus as  it does alkaloids, and that  it  may be  successfully used for 
278
TOXICOLOGY.
 this purpose in cases of poisoning.   They give it in the form of pills,
 because in this way it can  be given in least liquid, and also because
 when the pills are made from the animal black by means of mucilage
 of tragacanth, they preserve their properties for many years.—E Union
 Pharmaceutique.
  New Test  for Muriatic Acid.—M. Bouis states that he has found
 that when muriatic acid is  heated with nitrate of potash, nitro-muriatic
 acid is formed, but not  when chloride of  sodium and no free muriatic
 acid is present.  If the nitrate of potash be replaced by the chlorate the
 reaction is much more sensible.   Taking advantage of  this, he has de-
 vised the  following process, and found it to work well.
  The suspected liquid is filtered  through muslin,  and afterwards
 through paper moistened with acetic acid.   To it are then added some
 crystals of chlorate of  potash, and in it are suspended  some strips of
 gold leaf.   The mixture is then heated for some hours by the water-
 bath ; if any7 hydrochloric acid be present the gold will be chloridized.
  In this  way, M. Bouis states that he has been able to recognize some
 centigrammes of hydrochloric acid in a large  quantity of liquid.—
 E Union Pharmaceutique, December, 1871.
  Wound of  the Innominate Artery.—In the American Journ.
 Med. Sc,  January 1, Dr. R. W. Erwin details  the case  of a man who
 walked fifty-nine yTards after receiving a stab with a knife, which divided
 the  arteria innominata in two-thirds its diameter, close to its bifurcation
 into the right subclavian and carotid arteries,  and penetrated  through
 the  oesophagus and trachea into the vertebra.   Immediately after the
 reception of the wound the blood gushed from the nose and mouth of
the  man.
  Method  of  Discovering   Quinia  in  the  Urine.—After
stating that the ordinary tests are  not applicable for the finding of
quinine in the  urine, and the method proposed  by Folwarezuy requires
at least a  litre of the urine, and is very difficult and laborious, Dr. D.
Vitali proposes the following as a very practicable plan.
  Add to  eight to ten cubic centimetres of the urine five to six c. c. of
ether, and afterwards eight  to ten drops of ammonia, or, better, a solu-
tion of a  sixtieth of caustic soda.  Agitate the whole for some time.
When the ether has separated from the quiescent liquid as a superior
layer it is  to be removed by a pipette, placed in a small  capsule with a
drop of dilute  pure hydrochloric acid, and evaporated at a very gentle
heat.  After cooling, one or two drops of saturated chlorine water are
put  in the capsule, and rubbed with  a  glass rod over  the bottom and
sides to dissolve the  scarcely visible residue, and a drop of ammonia
added.  If  the urine contain five centigrammes of the alkaloid to the 
                          TOXICOLOGY.                       279

litre the characteristic green will be developed;  or, to the residue may
be added a drop of the yellow prussiate, followed by one or two drops
of chlorine water, and then a trace of  ammonia, when a reddish purple
will be produced.— Giornale delta Societa di Farmacia di  Torino.

  Amount of Phosphorus in the Human Stomach.—Dr. C. T.
Jackson gives the following analysis of  the stomach of a woman dead
of phthisis, made to determine the amount of phosphorus therein:—
  The  stomach in  its natural  state of moisture weighed 2,000 grains,
and when dried, 380  grains; 200 grains of the dry stomach, burned in
a platinum capsule, gave 4-5 ashes, which on analysis yielded—
           Phosphate of lime 0'90 grs. =  P05 0503 = P = 0233
           Phosphate of soda 3-01 grs. =  POs 1599 = P = 0 702
           Chloride of soda ) A ~A                    0935
            and other salts. \
           Insol.  silicious / A AO
            matter.       f ° 08

                         4-49
  Then  380 grains of dried stomach contain 1-3015 grains of phos-
phorus, and, of course, the 2,000 grains  of  moist stomach the same
amount.—Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.
  INFLUENCE  OF INSUFFICIENT FOOD ON  WOMEN'S
                             MILK.

  M. Decaisne, taking advantage of the siege of Paris, instituted a
series of carefully conducted experiments on forty-three women to
determine this point.
  The following are his conclusions:—
  " 1. That the effect of insufficient  food on the composition of wo-
man's milk presents great analogy with that observed  in the case of
animals.
  " 2. That these effects vary according to  constitution, age, hygienic
conditions, etc.
  " 3. That insufficient food always gives rise, within varying propor-
tions, to a diminution in the amount of the  butter, caseine, sugar, and
salts, whilst it augments generally that of the albumen.
  " 4. That in  three-fourths of the cases observed the proportion of
the  albumen is in an inverse ratio to that of the caseine under an insuf-
ficient diet.
  " 5. That the modifications in the composition of the milk due to a
reparative diet always manifest themselves in a striking manner by the
end of four or five days."—Med. Times and Gaz,, November 25,1871. 
280                       TOXICOLOGY.
   Fatal Cerebral Congestion Caused by Chloral.—Dr. George
 G. Needham reports the case of a woman, set. 50, suffering from men-
 tal unquietness amounting to insanity, who took chloral in 30-grain
 doses, as follows:—
   On the 21st, at 5:30 p.m.  and at 11 p.m. ; on the  22d, at 10 a.m.
 and  3 p.m. (each a half-dose); on the  23d, at 1 a.m., at 8:10 a.m., and
 at 1:30 p.m.   On the  evening of the  22d,  before taking the fourth
 dose, she was out of  bed and moving about.  On the morning of the
 23d  she seemed to be awake.  " On the 23d, at 7 a.m., I found  her,"
 say7s the doctor, " sleeping, and with a somewhat  rapid  pulse, and at 6
 p.m.  she was still  sleeping.   On the  morning of the 24th I began ef-
 forts to waken her;  pulse, 108; respirations, 27; pupils moderately
 contracted.  These  efforts were continued through the day and fol-
 lowing night without avail.  The most that could be done was to cause
 groaning, momentary opening of the ey7es, and futile efforts at articu-
 lation.  During the night y1^ gr. of strychnia was given hypodermic-
 ally  in three doses.  Up to 4 p.m. of the 25th her condition remained
 stationary;  breathing, 28 to 30, sometimes stertorous, but mostly quiet;
 nostrils faintly sensitive to  ammonia; pupils contracted; conjunctiva
 sensitive; feet warm;  voluntary motions of  limbs hardly perceptible
 during the day, but much more so during the night.   From 4 a.m. her
 condition rapidly grew worse; her pulse rose and weakened, her coma
 became more absolute, and her respiration more  stertorous and rapid.
 She  died at 3:55 p.m."
  At the autopsy, the brain alone was examined.  It was found every-
 where deeply  congested, but otherwise apparently normal, save  only
in the presence of a sero-gelatinous  exudation in the  meshes of the
pia mater.—Psychological Journal.

  Colchicum Poisoning.—Case  of  two men who had swallowed
about a half pint each of " tr.  colchici," and Were first seen by Dr. Jno.
II. Garner about twelve hours afterwards.  One, Robert, was exhausted,
pale; cold sweat  on his forehead, occasional  hectic flush in cheek;
pulse 160 ; severe intermittent pains in abdomen, with great tender-
ness  ; eye red, watery, pupils dilated ;  tongue dry,  brown in centre,
red  along edges; intense headache ;  anxious, haggard  countenance ;
 complained of fulness of chest; had  bloody sputa.   The other case
offered similar symptoms, but milder.   They were treated with opium
and  bicarbonate of soda, both given freely.   The first gradually sank,
 and  died exhausted, coma preceding  death some  three  hours; the
other gradually recovered, but  never  regained  his former physical
vigor, and was troubled with nocturnal emissions.  The autopsy of
Robert was made thirty-six hours after death.    Bloody  exudation 
TOXICOLOGY.
281
from nose and mouth.  There had been an emission of semen.   " Ves-
sels " (veins V) of brain and its  membranes everywhere gorged with
blood.  Lungs " much engorged,"  dark, about four ounces of liquid in
each pleura.  No clot in the heart.  Abdomen: whole  length  of  ali-
mentary canal, from pylorus to anus, intensely inflamed, especially the
jejunum.  Liver very pale, gall bladder filled to excess.   Spleen filled
with dark blood.  Venae portse  full, but not engorged.   Kidneys and
bladder about normal.  In discussing the case Dr. Garner states as a
result of his chemical observation, that when colchicum is given with
acid, it is much  more apt to purge than when united with an alkali.—
Canada Lancet, April, 1871.

  Poisoning by Carbolic Acid.—Messrs. Jeffries and Hainsworth
were called to a man, aged 65, who had taken carbolic acid, estimated to
be from one-half to an ounce in quantity. He was seen probably within
half an hour after the taking of the poison—certainly7 within that period
after the first symptoms of its action.   Fie wTas found insensible, with
contracted  pupils; his pulse labored,  forty to fifty per minute.  The
mouth and  throat were full of a thick  viscid mucus.   Respiration was
irregular, stopping at times and starting again, although the  heart's
pulsations were  inaudible.   He  died  about  fifty minutes after  the
taking of the poison.
  Post-mortem, twentyT-eight hours after death.   The general aspect
was that  of a person dead of suffocation.  Much fluid blood flowed
from  every divided vein, and no  clotted blood was found anywhere,
save in the lungs, where were small, fine black  nodules of coagula.
The epithelium  from lips to pylorus  was white, that of the stomach
also shrivelled into little granular masses.  The rugae of  the stomach
were very prominent and hard.   The contents of the stomach smelt
strongly of the   acid, and answered the British  Pharmacopeia test.
The larynx, bronchi, and trachea  were literally filled with transparent
mucus streaked with blood.  All the viscera were congested, and of a
darkened color.—Med. Times and Gazette, April, 1871.

  Poisoning by Carbolic Acid locally applied for Necrosis, by
W. H. White, M. D.—The case was one of compound fracture of  the
thigh, in which carbolic acid injections had been used to lessen suppu-
ration. " After the bandages and splints were removed,  the amount of
discharge was much less profuse, I suppose on account of  pressure being
removed, admitting of greater  freedom of circulation,  and of some
of it  bein- absorbed.  Be that as it may, I was  called that evening,
an hour or  two  after he had used the carbolic acid.  Upon reaching
his bedside I found him with a very feeble and flickering pulse, and
breathing with  much difficulty; countenance pale and  anxious; feel 
282
TOXICOLOGY.
and hands cold.   Brandy was given internally, with external frictions
and free washing out of the sinuses. In three or four hours the patient
was comfortable.  The next day his  urine smelt strongly of carbolic
acid."—New York Medical Gazette, April 15.

  Chloral-Hydrate.—Dr. H. W. Fuller describes a number of cases
in which  alarming effects  followed the exhibition of  30 grains  of
chloral, besides one fatal one.  The latter occurred in a young woman,
previously in  good health, to  whom  the remedy was prescribed for
hysterical symptoms occurring at the menstrual period.  The dose was
taken at 10  a.m.   She  immediately became  much excited, and com-
plained of pain in the chest.  In an hour she fell asleep, slept heavily
all night, and continued so doing all the next morning, although every
effort was  made by the medical attendant to rouse her.  When first
seen by the latter the respiration was deep and  sighing, the pulse im-
perceptible  at the wrist.  Under  the use  of  external  and  internal
stimulants the pulse became slightly apparent.   At 2 p.m., when Dr.
Fuller saw her, she was very pale and cold, with widely-dilated, very-
sluggish pupils,  and heavy7,  distinctly sighing  breathing;  the pulse
was barely  perceptible, the  heart beating  120 a minute, with clear
sounds and  normal rhythm, although its action was manifestly very
weak.  The  abdomen was flat and soft, the  limbs moderately relaxed.
In spite of active stimulation she died the next morning, without ever
having moved a muscle or shown the slightest  sign of  consciousness
after having fallen asleep.—London Lancet, March 25,1871.

  Note on  the Physiological  Effects of Carbonic Oxide.—By
Prof. A. R. Leeds.—I accidentally respired, some time ago, a quantity
of pure carbonic oxide.  The gas was contained in a quart bottle, from
which  I inhaled  certainly less than a pint—probably a quantity not
exceeding a  gill—into my lungs, previously exhausted  through expira-
tion of atmospheric air.   For  a moment no change of mental impres-
sions or bodily feelings  was noticeable.   The next, without any inter-
mediate condition, I was struck senseless to the floor.  Fortunately,
the bystanders rushed  immediately forward, tore open  my  clothing,
poured water upon my wrists and head, and applied  violent friction
to my limbs.  The pulse had stopped beating, or beat so feebly that in
the agitation  of  the moment  it  was imperceptible ;  the chest had
ceased to expand and contract, the  complexion had assumed the livid
hue of death, and the  temperature of the  body was  rapidly falling.
The operation of the carbonic oxide was so  immediate  as to prevent
the lungs from throwing off the single charge they had  received, and
the shock arising from the remedies employed probably enabled them to 
TOXICOLOGY.                      283
do so.  A slight nausea which passed off in the course of a few hours, and
a dulness and oppression in the crown of the head, lasting some time
longer, were the only effects which remained after restoration to con-
sciousness.—Philadelphia Med. Times.

  Transfusion of Blood in Poisoning by Carbonic  Oxide-
Prof. Hiiter, of Greifswald {British  Medical Journal), related at a
meeting of the  Medical Society of that place, a  case of poisoning by
carbonic  oxide, in  which  he successfully7  employed  transfusion of
blood.  The patient, a man 26 years old, was found insensible after
four or five hours' exposure to the gas.  Artificial respiration had failed
of success.  When Dr. Hiiter arrived, half an hour after he was found,
the respiration  was very superficial and  intermittent, the pulse small
and frequent, the pupils did not act, and  the cornea was quite insensi-
ble. A pound of defibrinized arterial blood was injected into a vein
of the patient's left arm, and,  respiration having by this  time ceased,
artificial respiration was kept up while the injection was being given.
After about half the blood had been injected, the blood  flowed more
freely from the cut vein.   At the end of the injection the  pulse had
become fuller  and  slower, and natural respiration had returned.   In
half an hour the pupils  were  sensitive to  light, and the patient moved
his  arm a little.  For four hours the tongue had to be held  forward,
when its  tendency to fall back ceased,  and  consciousness returned.
The recovery was complete on the fifth day.

  Acute Atrophy of the Liver, and  Phosphorus Poisoning —
Dr. Bollinger describes {Centralblatt fur die Med. Wiss., April, 1869,
and Brit, and For. Med.-Chir. Review,  October, 1870) two cases of
phosphorus poisoning, and two others of acute yellow atrophy of the
liver, as determined by both macro- and microscopical study, and gives,
thereupon, a summary of these diseases, and especially of the opinions
hitherto brought forward as to the origin of the  so generally concomi-
tant icterus.  Contrary to numerous assertions, the author notes the ab-
sence  of  the  overgrowth  of small  cells of the interstitial  tissue of
the liver.  In  regard  to  the icterus,  the author declares for himself
that it is in both diseases a resorption-icterus, and certainly not, as Vir-
chow has  in most  cases made it, set  up by swelling of the  mucous
membrane at the outlet of the ductus choledochus, but by parenchy-
matous inflammatory fatty degeneration of  the liver-cells, and the
throwing off of the fattily-degenerated epithelium of  the fine biliary
canaliculi.   The  theory of  the hamiatogenous  icterus appears' very
doubtful, as in the liver the effect was always sufficient to demonstrate
the orijriii of the icterus. 
281                      TOXICOLOGY.
  Sudden Death  after Chloral.—Mr. II. Norris reports the case
of a woman, violent, hysterical, dipsomaniac, who took 712 grains in
nine days, 260 grains of this being taken in the last 35 hours.   In the
evening of the day preceding her death she had been out to tea; between
10 and*il p.m. she took 40 grains, and 1 and 2 a.m. 36 grains, and at day-
light another 36 grains.  Between 10 and 11 a.m. awoke and went down-
stairs to breakfast; about 12 was found in bed, vomiting; was left five
minutes, and was then found dead  on the floor.  At  the autopsy no
smell of chloroform' could be detected.  The heart was found some-
what pallid; the ventricles empty; the auricles partially distended by
dark semi-coagulated blood.   The stomach, liver, heart, kidney, and
spleen were chemically examined  one hundred and thirty hours after
death.   They were  remarkably well  preserved.  On  distillation with
caustic soda, chloroform was obtained from the contents of the stomach
and from the liver, but not from the tissues.—London Lancet.

  A New Test for  Arsenic.—According to the Pharmaceutical
Journal and Transactions, Bethendorff has discovered a  new test for
arsenic, whose delicacy is such that one part  of the metal in a million
of the solution can be detected by it, and the presence of antimony does
not affect it.  The suspected liquid is mixed with  hydrochloric  acid
until fumes are apparent, when chloride of  tin is  added, which  pro-
duces a basic precipitate containing the greater part of  the  arsenic as
a metal mixed with oxide of tin.
  Dose of Chloral.—Dr. Richardson {Pharmaceutical  Trans) be-
lieves that it  is not prudent to administer  more  than 120 grains of
chloral-hydrate in 24  hours, and that 180 grains is  a fatal dose, 120 a
dangerous one.  [50 grains is a dangerous  dose under ordinary cir-
cumstances.—Ed. ]
  Turpentine  and  Phosphorus.—MM. Hohler and Schimpf have
reported in the Berliner Med. Wochenschrift that they have repeated
the experiments of  Personne with the following results:  Commercial
oil of turpentine is a good antidote to poisoning by phosphorus.  There
is no fatty degeneration of the tissues, nor is there any free phosphorus
found in the system of the animals experimented on.  Phosphorus and
turpentine oil form in the stomach a compound resembling spermaceti,
wThich is readily excreted.—Med. and Surg. Journal.
  A Delicate Test  for Iron and Copper.—The  alcoholic  tinc-
ture of logwood will produce  a  blue  or bluish-black tint in water
which has been run through iron or copper pipes, when neither  tinc-
ture of galls,  sulphocyanide,  nor the  ferrid and ferrocyanides of
potassium show any reaction.—Richmond Journal. 
TOXICOLOGY.
285
   Arsenious  Acid Poisoning.—In  the  Chicago  Pharmacist of
 February, 1872, Dr. Bartlett reports five cases of poisoning by arsenious
 acid, which, however, offer nothing very novel.

   Poisoning by Eating of Cicuta Maculata— In the Journal of
 Materia Medica, May, 1871, Dr. Charles A. Lee describes the cases of
 two boys who had eaten the  roots by mistake, about 2 o'clock in  the
 afternoon.   In the course of about an hour both began to complain of
 sickness of the stomach and  dizziness.   They then started for  their
 homes.   Both fell on the way, and were picked up unconscious and in
 violent  spasms.   In this state  they were observed to vomit a frothy
 glairy fluid; but none of the roots were noticed in the matters ejected.
 The Perry boy was less  violently affected than Powell, and soon recov-
 ered.  I saw Powell soon after 5 o'clock, and found him in severe
 spasms.  Every muscle  in the body was affected with powerful clonic
 Bpasms;  contracting, and then  partially relaxing  with wonderful
 rapidity7.  His movements required four strong men  to control;  his
 face was very livid, and even purple from congestion;  head hot; the
 eyes wild and  staring, with the pupils dilated  to  the utmost extent;
 there was no cessation to the spasms; there was scarcely any pulse to
 be perceived; a bloody froth issued from the mouth and nose, while
 the body was covered with sweat.
   One drachm of powdered ipecac was given as soon as it could be got
 down by feeding with a spoon;  he was wholly speechless and evidently
 unconscious.  In the course of half an hour 3 ij. sulph. zinc were given
 in solution,  and about two pints of blood taken from the arm, which
 was black and tar-like in appearance.
   As there were still no attempts at vomiting, I poured several quarts
 of ice water over his head, which with the bleeding relieved the heart
 and congestion of the face and head; still there was no diminution in
 the size of the pupils ; the eyes glazed, while the  expression was staring
 and wild. In spite of the means employed the convulsions continued,
 though less  strong, for several hours, with  scarcely any intermission;
 with occasional convulsive efforts to vomit; during which nothing was
 ejected but a little water, the medicines administered, and a few small
 pieces of the poisonous root  that had been swallowed.   About 8 p.m.
 the pulse became fuller and distinct, and 80 per minute; the patient
 unconscious; pupils much dilated; with only occasional spasms, not
 6evere.   Gradually, the limbs  and body became comparatively cool;
the pulse 130,  almost imperceptible; brandy was given freely, and
warmth applied to the feet and  surface generally.  The pulse at times
grew stronger, very frequent, then weak, but the breathing was mostly 
286
TOXICOLOGY.
 laborious and stertorous, while the heart beat tumultuously.  The face
 became pale, and the extremities cold.  Some beef-tea was got down,
 and this with the brandy and some chloroform were the only remedies
 given from this time, till death took place at 9 a.m. on the 12th.
   Autopsy 24 hours after death.
   Rigor Mortis, considerable—a few crimson patches, and discolora-
 tions on the sides of the body;  the stomach and small intestines com-
 pletely empty; mucous membrane healthy  and natural in appearance
 except slight softening; no pieces of the root were found.
   Brain and Membranes intensely congested;  all the sinuses and
 veins full of blood.   There wras no effusion within the ventricles.

   The Detection  of Alum in Bread.—At the seventeenth  session
 of the Glasgow Chemists' and Druggists' Association, R. Carter Moffat,
 Esq., Ph.D., F.R.S.A. (hon. member),  delivered a short but highly
 interesting^ lecture on " The Detection of Alum in Bread."
   He explained some of the many processes recommended by chemists
 for this purpose, stating that for many years it had been one  of the
 most difficult problems to solve.  He (the lecturer) had been engaged
 some months ago,  professionally, to report as to whether alum was
 really present in some breads, as alleged.  His attention was thus
 drawn to the untrustworthiness of some of the tests and the awkward-
 ness of others ; and after peforming about two hundred experiments,
 the matter seemed to him to be as far from solution as ever.  He had,
 however, come upon the process known  as  Mr. Horsely7's, of Chelten-
 ham, which  recommends the bread to be placed in vinegar for a short
 time, the vinegar to be strained off, and a little ammonia to be added
 to the clear  liquor,  to neutralize the acid.   An  alcoholic solution of
 logwood was then added, which, it was stated, gave the solution a blue
 color when alum was present.  Fourteen loaves had been given him
 to test, and with Mr. Horsely's process every one of them contained
 alum; but in experimenting further, he found that the blue color was
 produced when no alum was present, and that  the most reliable test
 for detecting the presence of alum in bread or flour, was the  simple
 alcoholic solution of logwood, without any of the  burning, boiling, oi
 other processes.   One hundred and twenty grains of chip logwood,
 digested in eight ounces of methylated spirits for eighteen hours, then
filtered, yielded a solution which, when brought in contact with bread
or flour free from aluminium, produced a  pale-yellow or straw color,
but  a dark-red when aluminium  is present.  With this test he had
found that only one  of  the fourteen loaves contained alum—showing
that alum is not  used  so extensively for the purpose of whitening
 bread as has been supposed by many7.— Chemist and Druggist. 
                          TOXICOLOGY.                       287

  Test  for  Nitric Acid.—About a cubic centimetre of pure con-
centrated sulphuric acid is placed in a watch-glass; half a cubic cen-
timetre of sulphate of aniline (formed by adding 10 drops of commer-
cial aniline io 50 c.c. of diluted  SO„ in the proportion of 1 to 6) is
poured on drop by drop; a glass tube is moistened with the liquid to
be tested, and moved circularly in the watch-glass.   By blowing on
the mixture during the gentle agitation, when a trace of nitric acid ia
present, circular striae are developed of a very intense red color, tinting
the liquid rose.   With  more than a trace of nitric acid, the  coloi
becomes carmine, passing to a brownish red.  The test is surpassingly
delicate.— Year-Book of Pharmacy.

  New Test-Paper.—M. Bdttger proposes  a new test-paper  made
from a coloring matter obtained from the leaves  of an exotic  plant
[Coleus Verse hafftit ii)  by digesting  for twenty-four hours with ab-
solute alcohol, to which a few  drops of  sulphuric acid  have  been
added.  The paper, prepared in  the  usual way, is of a splendid red,
passing into  a  fine shade of green  by the action of the alkalies or
alkaline earth.  It is far more sensitive than either litmus or turmeric,
is unaffected  by carbonic acid, and will indicate  the presence of the
merest traces of  the  carbonates  of the  alkaline earths in water.  A
moistened strip of paper, when held  at  the opening of a gas-jet, will
turn green if any ammonia be present.— Cosmos.

  Strychnine Poisoning  from  the Eating  of Sweetmeats.—
In the London Pharmac. Journal and Trans, of July 1 is the report
of a case  in which  a child  died in convulsions  shortly after eating
some chocolate drops.  It was proven  by analysis that these contained
strychnia, and sufficient of the alkaloid was recovered from the con-
tents of the stomach to have caused the death of the child.  At the
inquest  it was  rendered very  evident that the  strychnia had  acci-
dentally got into the chocolate  during manufacture from being used
in the establishment to kill rats.
  Adulteration of  Bread with  Alum—At the City Police Court,
Manchester, charges were recently brought against two bakers, of hav-
ing adulterated bread by the admixture of alum.  Loaves of bread,
which had been purchased at the shops of defendants, were submitted
to analysis by Professor Roscoe, who deposed that he had found in the
different samples 13, 12, and 4 grains of alum to the  pound respect-
ively.    In one case it was submitted that  in order to convict  it  must
be proved that the defendant was cognizant of the presence of  alum
in the flour.  The magistrate, however, decided that it was the  duty
of the baker to take  care that the flour had no alum in it.   A fine of
£5 was inflicted in each case.—Pharmaceut. Jour, and Trans. 
288
TOXICOLOGY.
  Poisoning by Atropia treated with Opium.—M. Van Pete-
ghem reports a case in which a young lady took an unknown quantity
of atropia, which she vomited shortly afterwards.   Thirty-five drops of
laudanum were exhibited by the mouth, but were mostly vomited, and
fifteen were given by enema.   The delirium immediately  subsided.
The doctor left for  half an hour and the delirium came back.  It
yielded again to twenty drops of laudanum.  Later in the day the de-
lirium returned and was successfully combated by the same remedy.—
Bulletin Med. de la Norddela France—EAbeille MedicaUj October
2, 1871.

  Harmlessness of Coralline.—M. Sabourin reported to the French
Academy7, December 27,1871, some investigations he  had been making
on coralline.  The conclusion he reached was that this substance was
entirely devoid of poisonous properties.—E Union Medicate.

  Opium Poisoning.  Belladonna.—Dr. Newhall  reported the case.
A yToung child, of two years, drank part  of a bottle of cough mix-
ture, containing one-eighth of a grain of morphine in one drachm.  He
saw the patient an hour later, when she was fully narcotized, so fully that
an emetic would not act.  The  treatment was strong coffee freely, and
keeping awake for seven hours, when sleep was allowed.   Recovered.
  Dr. Breed spoke of the  use of belladonna in opium  poisoning.  Had
seen four cases in which  it was used, of which three recovered.  He
considered its beneficial effect unquestionable in all the cases.  In the
fatal case, seven or eight ounces of laudanum having been taken, life
was preserved for thirteen hours, when the patient succumbed, perhaps
partly in consequence of the severity of the means that had been used
in keeping him awake.—Trans. Lynn Med. Society.—Boston Med.
and Surg. Journal.
  Dr. H. Walker details, in the American Journal of Medical Sciences
for January 2, 1872, a case in which the young lady7, aged fifteen, took
between six and eight grains of  opium in alcoholic solution.  He found
her profoundly comatose, with insensible  conjunctiva, a slow, full
pulse, and stertorous difficult respiration;  and administered  mustard,
ipecac, and hot water with effect.  He  then gave a grain and a ha^lf
of the alcoholic  extract  of belladonna hypodermically7.   The pupils
shortly afterwards expanded, and copious emesis followed. The patient
afterwards received strong coffee and stimulants, both hypodermically
and by the mouth, and in two hours from the ingestion of the poison
had sufficiently recovered  to recognize and speak to her friends.

  Strychnine not  Poisonous to Monkey.—Strychnine, so fatal
to most animals, may be eaten by certain species of monkeys with per 
TOXICOLOGY.
289
feet safety.   In the case of an East India monkey, known as the Lun-
goor {Presbytis entellus), one grain was first concealed in  a piece of
cucumber, which was eaten by the animal with no apparent effect.
Three grains were afterward given, and with the same result.  To test
the strychnine  used, three  grains were administered to a  dog, which
proved almost immediately fatal.  Another Indian monkey, known as
the pouch-cheek monkey, has  been found to be more susceptible  than
the Lungoor, but not so much so as the dog.—Boston Medical and Sur-
gical Journal.

  How the Bites of Snakes, Supposed to be Poisonous, may
be Cured.—In the Lndian Medical Gazette of November 1 is a paper
with the above caption by Dr.  J. Ewart, in which he details cases in
which the subjects were almost moribund, with thready, irregular pulse,
and so utterly prostrated as not to be  able to speak, although it was
afterwards shown that either the snake was not a poisonous one or else
there  had been no bite at  all.   The symptoms were simply the result
of intense fear and nervous shock.  Dr. Ewart states that  he  has wit-
nessed numerous experiments, and is convinced that after actual en-
trance of the poison of the cobra, and other really  venomous Indian
serpents, no known remedy7 is  of any  use, that the  cases of reported
cure have all been simple illusions.

   Ether as a Beverage.—The Chloralum Review says  that  ether
is very largely and increasingly used as an intoxicating drink in the
north of Ireland.—Medical Times and Gazette.

   Ozone.—H. H. Croft  states (Canada Pharmaceutical Journal, Jan-
uary, 1872) that when iodic acid is crystallizing out  of its solution, the
air in the jar containing it becomes highly charged with ozone.

   Antidote  for Carbolic Acid.—Dr. T. Husemann recommends
{Neues Jahrbuch fur Pharmacie, September, 1871) a saturated solu-
tion of saccharate of lime as an antidote in carbolic  acid poisoning.

   Poisonous Effects from Belladonna Applied Externally—In
the Revue Medicate de Totdouse M. Giscaro records two cases in which
persons had suffered from the poisonous effects of belladonna applied
externally.   In one case, where a small patch of belladonna, the size of
a two-franc piece, had been applied to the temple for a neuralgic pain,
the patient, eight hours afterwards, showed decided  symptoms of  atro-
pia poisoning, which lasted two hours.  In the other case, where an
excessive quantity of ointment had been used for a uterine affection
similar symptoms came  on in one hour, but quickly disappeared with
the removal of the dressing.—London Pharmaceutical Journal.
           19 
290            PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
                    Part  4.

PRESCRIPTIONS  AND  FORMULAS.
HYPODERMIC  USE OF  ERGOT  IN  UTERINE DISEASE.

  De. Von Swidees, Ky., strongly recommends subcutaneous injection
of ergot, in uterine affections, especially chronic metritis and metror-
rhagia.  Severe bearing-down pains are said  to be often  produced,
coming on in from half to one hour.
  His formulae are, where a rapid effect is desired : Aqueous extract
of ergot 2.5 parts;  rectified spirits and glycerine, each 7.5 parts;
aqueous extract of ergot, 2  parts; rectified spirits, 5,  glycerine, 10
parts.  Where a slower and slighter action is desired, aqueous extract
of ergot, rectified spirits, each 2.5 parts; glycerine, 12.5 parts; aque-
ous extract of ergot, 1 part; rectified spirits, 1.5 ; distilled wrater,  4.5;
glycerine, 3 parts.— WienerMedizinische Wochenschrift, January, 1871.
ON  THE  BEST METHODS OF  PREPARING COMPOUND
  SYRUP  OF SQUILLS, SYRUP OF SENEGA, AND  SYRUP
  OF IPECACUANHA.

  Me. Whaeton believes that the officinal method of preparing these
syrups is imperfect, and so tedious as to tend to promote fermentation,
and has found that by the use of magnesia or its carbonate the process
can be very much facilitated.  The formulae for the various  syrups
mentioned are given by Mr. Wharton in full.   The chief  modification
of the officinal consists in the rubbing up with  the carbonate of mag-
nesia the turbid liquid first obtained before filtering;  in the compound
squill syrup sixty grains of the magnesia, and in sy7rup of senega thirty
grains to three pints of the preparation ; in the syrup of ipecac forty-five
grains to two pints.—American Journal of Pharmacy, March, 1871. 
PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
291
CHLOROFORM AS A MEANS OF IMPROVING TASTE OF
                      COD-LIVER OIL.

  De. Hagee states that the addition of 10 drops of chloroform to 100
grms. of cod-liver  oil  render that  fluid  perfectly  agreeable and
palatable to take, without in the least impairing its good qualities or
interfering with its therapeutical value.— Chemical News, from Ncues
Jahrbuchfur Pharmacie, January, 1871.
          SYRUP OF PHOSPHATE OF IRON,  &o.

  Michael Caeteighe, in the Pharmaceutical Transactions, strongly
recommends the following formulae:—

          Syrup of the Phosphate of Iron,  &c.
      Take of Phosphate of iron.................96 grs.
              Water...........................9 fl. drms.
              Syrupy phosphoric acid (Sp. gr. 1.5). .7 fl. drm.
              Syrup...........................10 fl. oz.
  Rub the phosphate of iron with the water in a glass mortar, add the
phosphoric acid, and filter the mixture into the syrup.
  The phosphate of iron is made by Br. P. process, and should be fresh,
only a few days  old.  Syrupy phosphoric  acid sp. gr. 1.5 may be ob-
tained of any manufacturing chemist, and according to Dr. Watts' table
contains about 50 per cent. P„05.
         Syrup of Phosphate of  Iron  and  Lime.

      Take of Phosphate of iron.................96 grs.
              Phosphate of lime.................192 grs.
              Water ..........................8 fl. drms.
              Syrupy phosphoric acid............8 fl. drms.
              Syrup...........................lOfl. oz.
  Mix the powders with the water in a glass mortar, add the acid, and
filter into the syrup.
  Each fluid drachm contains 1 grain iron, 2 gr. lime, and equivalent
to 30 minims dilute phosphoric acid.
  The phosphate of lime is made  by precipitation from solutions of
chloride of calcium and phosphate of soda, dried at 100° F., and used
whilst fresh.   That made from bone-ash is much less soluble. 
292             PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
  Syrup of  Phosphates  of Iron,  Quinia,  and Strychnia.
                        Easton's Syrup.

      Take of Phosphate of iron................192 grs.
              Fresh quinia or its phosphate.......96 gr.
              Strychnia (in crystals).............3 grs.
              Water..........................7 fl. drms.
              Syrupy phosphoric acid............9 fl. drms.
              Syrup...........................10 fl. oz.
  Rub the phosphate of  iron with 5 fluid drachms of the water in a
glass mortar;  dissolve the strychnia and quinia in the acid, previously
mixed with the remaining 2 drachms of water; mix and filter into the
syrup.  Each  fluid drachm contains  2 gr. iron, 1 gr.  quinine, -^ gr.
strychnine.

  Syetjp of Phosphates of Ieon and Steychntne may be prepared as
last, omitting  quinine.


       Syrup of Phosphate of  Iron and  Manganese.

       Take of Phosphate of iron.................72 grs.
               Phosphate of manganese...........48 grs.
              Water...........................8 fl. drms.
               Syrupy phosphoric acid............8 fl. drms.
               Syrup........................... 10 fl. oz.
  Rub the powders with the water, add the acid, and filter into syrup.
  Each fluid drachm contains three-quarters grain iron salt, one-half
grain manganese salt and acid equal to 30 minims of dilute phosphoric
acid, B. P.


               Syrup  of Phosphate of Quinia.

       Take of Phosphate of quinia.............96 grs.
              Water.........................13^ fl.  drms.
              Syrupy  phosphoric acid..........2£ fid.  drms.
              Syrup.........................10 fl. oz.
  Mix acid and water, add quinia, and filter into syrup.
  Each fluid  drachm contains 1 gr. quinia and 10  minims dilute acid.
 If  phosphate of quinia be not at hand, the same weight of alkaloid
 may be used, freshly made by precipitating  solution of disulphate by
 solution of ammonia, washing and drying at 100° F. 
PRESCRIPTIONS AND  FORMULAS.
293
        Syrup of  Phosphate  of Iron and Quinine.
      Take of  Phosphate of iron................192 grs.
              Phosphate of quinia or quinia as in
                last.........................96 grs.
              Water.........................7 fl. drms.
              Syrupy phosphoric acid...........9 fl. drms.
              Syrup........................10 fl. oz.
  Rub the powders  with water, add the acid, and filter  into syrup.
Each fluid drachm contains 2 gr. iron and 1 gr. quinine.


            Syrup of Phosphate of Manganese.
      Take of Phosphate of manganese..........96 grs.
              Water..........................9 fl. drms.
              Syrupy  phosphoric acid...........7 fl. drms.
              Syrup..........................10 fl.  oz.
  To be made as last.  Strength, 1 gr. manganese salt and 25 minims
of acid to fluid  drachm.


               Syrup of Phosphate  of Zinc.

      Take of Phosphate of zinc..............192 grs.
              Water........................11 fl. drms.
              Syrupy  phosphoric acid..........5 fl. drms.
              Syrup.........................10 fl. oz.
  Rub the phosphate with the water, add the acid, and filter into syrup.
Each fluid drachm contains 2 gr. zinc salt, 18 min. dilute phosphoric
acid.
         Amber-Colored  Syrup of Lactate  of Iron.
    Take of Lactate of iron........................  1 drm.
           White sugar..........................12i oz.
           Boiling distilled water..................  6£ fl.  §.
  Rub the salt to powder with half an ounce of the sugar, and dissolve
the mixture quickly in the boiling water.  Pour the solution into  a,
matrass placed on a sand-bath, and add to it the rest of  the sugar in
small  pieces.   When  the sugar is dissolved, filter the syrup, and as
soon as cold, transfer it to well-stoppered vessels.   Strength four grains
to  the ounce.  Dose—Two to four fluid drachms.—Pharmaceutical
Journal. 
294
PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
    Lahache's  Syrup of Iodide  of Potassium and Iron.
  Take of Iodide of potassium..................  308 grains.
           Iodide of iron (in solution 1 to 3).......  203   "
           Orange flower water.................  462   "
           Simple syrup (concentrated)............   33£ fl. ounces.
  Dissolve the iodide of potassium in the orange-flower water, add the
other solution, and incorporate the syrup.   Preserve it cool and free
from light.— Union Pharmaceutique.
                        Syrupus  Croci.

  In order to obviate the tendency to fermentation Mr. G. W. Kennedy
proposes the following formula:
       Take of True saffron..........................§ ss.
              Glycerine.............................3 ij.
              Water................................§ vi.
  Let the  above macerate for seven days, filter into  a pint bottle, and
add water through the filter q. s. to make § viii., then add sugar 14 oz.
av., and dissolve cold by frequent agitation.  The result is a beautiful
thick, dark, orange-colored  syrup.—American Journ. of Pharm.
Solution of  Santonine.
  It is often desirable to obtain a solution of santonine, especially for
injection in parasitic disease of the bladder, etc.  According to Dr.
Jno. Harley, a concentrated limpid neutral solution may be obtained,
which will bear dilution to any extent by the following method:
       Take of Santonine in powder.................gr. xii.
               Bicarbonate of soda..................grs. xx.
               Distilled water......................§ iij.
  Put the soda and water in a flask.  Keep  the fluid near the boiling
point, adding, as it disappears, about two grains of the santonine at a
time, until the whole is dissolved.
  By continued boiling the fluid may be reduced to two ounces, when
it will contain  six grains of the santonine to the ounce.  If the alkaline
reaction be objectionable, neutralize carefully with acetic  acid.   The
solution is tasteless, except in regard to the acetate  of  soda.__London
Practitioner. 
PRESCRIPTIONS  AND FORMULAS.             295
                 Martindale's Copaiba Jelly.
    Take of Thick copaiba..........................   | viii.
           Powdered sugar.........................   § iv.
           Honey (not crystallized)..................   1 iv.
           Distilled water........................   3 v.
           Oil of peppermint.......................   3 i.
           Roseine (dissolved in uixx. water).........  iV gr-
  Put the honey, sugar, copaiba, and water into  an evaporating dish.
Keeping it well stirred, heat the mixture gently  till it boils, and con-
tinue the agitation and ebullition about five minutes. In the first part
of the operation  two distinct strata are formed—the upper, the co-
paiba ; the lower,  the honey, etc.   As the water evaporates it becomes
a homogeneous jelly.   When  it  has  partly evaporated  stir in  the
roseine (aniline pigment) and oil of peppermint.   An  ammoniacal
solution of carmine may be substituted for the aniline color.  Accord-
ing to Mr. Berkely Hill, this jelly, when well made, has the consistency
of calf's-foot  jelly, is very handsome, and not repulsive to the palate,
the peppermint masking the copaiba.  A piece the size of a filbert,
rolled in wafer-paper, may be swallowed without tasting.
  It contains  fifty per cent, of copaiba.—London Lancet.
             Pills  of Yellow Sandal  Wood Oil.

    ft Take of Oil of yellow sandal wood...............  1 ss.
               Yellow wax...........................  1 ss-
  Melt the wax in a capsule, and weigh into it the oil of sandal wood.
Mix and stir until  cold, then roll out the mass, and divide into 80
pills, and sprinkle with marsh  mallow powder.   Each pill contains
three  grains.  In the same manner may be made pills of oils  of
cubebs, pepper,  and fleabane.—Peof. Ebeet, The Chicago Pharma-
cist.                            ____________

                Sweet Tincture of Rhubarb.
    Take of  Rhubarb, bruised..................... 2 ounces.
             Liquorice root, bruised................ 2
             Aniseed, bruised..................... 1
             Sugar............................... \  .
             Diluted alcohol...................... 2 Pmts-
  Macerate for fourteen days, express and filter.-A^ York Drug-
gists'  Circular. 
296             PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
                Unguentum  Acidi  Carbolici.

  Simple ointment, benzoated, 4 pounds troy.
  Carbolic acid, crystallized, 3 ounces 96 grains.
  Liquefy the acid by immersing the vessel containing it in hot water,
and when the ointment is about congealing, add the acid, stirring it
with a strong wooden spatula.
  Each  drachm  contains three  grains.—Chas.  Feedigke, Chicago
 Pharmacy.
Soluble  Pills of  Quinine.
    Tartaric acid................................grs. iv.
    Sulphate of quinine.........................grs. xx
    Conserve of rose.............................q. s.
To be made into 10 pills.—M. Cazac, Lyon Medical.
                   Spirit of Sandal Wood.

    Take of Oil of sandal wood.......................  § i.
            Alcohol................................  | ii.
            Oil of cinnamon........................  uixxv.
      Mix.
  Dose  one  to two drachms  three times a day.—De. Hendeeson,
London Lancet.
Poor Man's Plaster.
    Take of Beeswax............................. 1 ounce.
            Tar................................. 3   "
            Resin............................... 3   "
  To be melted together and spread on paper or muslin.—New York
Druggists' Circular.
Suppositories for Piles.
ft   Butyr. theobromae, § i.
     Iodoformi, 3 i.
M.   Ft. suppositor viij. 
PRESCRBPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
297
   Jackson's Cough Syrup.
(Formula  of  the  Cincinnati  College of
             Pharmacy.)
R  Fluid extract of ipecac, 3 ss.
   Fluid extract  of senegae (§ i. Rad.
     senegse to f 3 i.),  3 iii.
   Fluid extract rhei,  3 iv.
   Syr. simplex, § xxxi.
   Morphiae muriat., grs. viii.
   01. sassafras, gttse xtxii.
     M ft. mistura.
By order of the  College,
           James M. Ayebs, Secretary.
 —Cincinnati Medical News.

      Cholera  Infantum.

  Dr. J. E. Reeves recommends (Phila.
Med. Times) the following in the early
stage of this affection :—

     B   Plumb, acet., gr. xij.
        Morph. acet., gr. ss.
        Sacch. alb., 3 iss.
        Acet. destill.,  3 ss.
        Aquae, f § ij.
     M.
   S. A teaspoonful to  a  child from one
to two  years  old.   Should this  fail to
check vomiting, ten to fifteen  drops of
"chloroform paregoric'1''  may  be given.
After vomiting  has ceased—

        Bismuth subnitr., gr. xxxvi.
        Cretae preparat., gr. xx,
        Pulv. Doveri,  gr. v.
     Make twelve powders.
   S. One every three or four hours until
convalescence.

   The  Editor  of  New  Remedies  has
found the following  formula  very effi-
cient and elegant  in allaying both the
vomiting  and  purging.  It is  liked by
most children.  Owing to the often un-
due  effect of opiates in infants, he pre-
fers  to give paregoric separately, as the
symptoms seem to demand, omitting the
opiate from the mixture.
    B  Acid, sulph. aromat., gr. xxiv.
        Extr. haematoxyl., gr. xviij.
        Curacoa, f 3 i.
        Syrup, f 3 xi.
    M.
  S. Teaspoonful every one, or  two,  or
three hours, according to urgency of case, ■i
to a child ten months old.  With this, in
severe cases, he orders that milk shall  be
used very sparingly, if at all, sustenance
being obtained  from raw "beef pulp."
This is  made  by scraping, with a case-
knife, a beefsteak—taking the red pulp,
adding three to five gtt. of brandy to the
teaspoonful, and. giving the latter quan-
tity every hour or two, followed by three
grains of pepsin.  After the severity  of
the disease is  checked, bismuth is often
very useful.  Under any plan of treatment
internally, the  great value  of  external
warmth—of sinapisms and spice-plasters,
brandy  as required, quiet, etc.—must be
borne in mind.


        Spinal Irritation.
  Dr. J. B. Cony {Northwestern  Medical
and Surgical Journal), in the treatment
of  spinal irritation, places more reliance
in blistering the spine than in any other
individual remedy.  He finds the majority
of  cases to  be benefited by the follow-
ing:—
     B   Bromid. potass., § ss.
         Fl. ext. Valerian, § ij.
         Spts. ammonia arornat,  § j.
         Syrup simplex,  % j.
     M.
  S. A  teaspoonful three or four times
a day.

   Chloral  in Cod-Liver  Oil.
  The Gas. Farm. Ital. advocates the use
of  the  following formula, stating  the
compound to  be less nauseous and more
quieting than  the pure oil :—
   E  Take of  Chloral-hydrate, gr. 10.
              Cod-liver oil, gr. 190.
Digest in a sand-bath with gentle heat. 
298
PRESCRIPTIONS
AND FORMULAS.
 Liniment for  Fissure of the
               Anus.
  M.  Van Holsbeck  states that he has
 succeeded in curing anal fissures which
 had resisted  the division of the sphincter,
 with the following application.  Dissolve
 one part of  tannic acid in  16 parts of
 glycerine.
  A tent wet with this  preparation is to
 be introduced into the rectum night and
 morning.  The  bowels  are  to  be kept
 open.—Revue de Therapeutique, April 1,
 1871.

 Formula  for Iodoform  Oint-
               ment.
  Dr.  Wm. Ingalls advocates the follow-
 ing formula  for use  in  syphilitic ulcers
 and rupia:—
    ft  Iodoform, 3 ss.
        Spts. vini rect., q. s.
        Adipis, 3 vijss.
    M. et. ft. ung.
       —Boston Med. and Surg. Jour.

        Canquoin's  Paste.
    Chloride of zinc.......8 parts.
    Oxide of zinc.........1 part.
    Flour (dried at 212°). .7 parts.
    Cold water............1 part.
  Mix the oxide of zinc and flour;  dis-
solve  the chloride of zinc in the water,
add the zinc and flour,  and  rub up in a
mortar.  The paste in  a few hours be-
comes  consistent,  and remains so.   It
should be kept in a glass-stoppered bottle,
covered with a layer of starch.—Gazette
Midicale.

 Parvesi's Collodion Styptic.
    Collodion...........100 parts.
    Carbolic acid....... 10   "
    Pure tannin........ 5   "
    Benzoic  acid........ 5   "
  Agitate  till thoroughly mixed.   On
evaporation it leaves a brown  pellicle, ad-
hering strongly to tissues, and effecting
instant coagulation of the blood and al-
 bumen.— Year-Booh of Pharmacy.
        Crotonized Ether.
             (dr.  bubio.)
   The following formula appears to af-
 ford  a good method  of  administering
 Croton oil:—
     R  01. Tiglii, f I i.
         Ether, sulph., f § i.
    M.
   Dose, 5 to 25 drops, as required.— Year-
 Booh  of Pharmacy.

     Antistrumous Potion.
 Iodine, 40 centigr. =6.17 grs.
 Iodide  of potassium, 6 grammes=92.G
   grs.
 Tincture of cardamom., 25 grammes=
   385.75 grs.
 Comp. syrup of sarsaparilla, 75 grammes
   = 1,157.25 grs.
 M.
   Dose, two or three teaspoonf uls a day
 —L1 Union Medicate.

       Mercurial  Potion.
 Bichloride  of  mercury,  25 centigr. =
   3.86 grs.
 Tincture of gentian,  100  grammes=
   1,543.4 grs.
 Syrup of orange flowers, 50 grammes=
   771.7 grs.
   Dissolve.
   Two teaspoonfuls daily  in  secondary
 syphilis.—V Union Medicate.

   Powders for Hemoptysis.
            (oppoi.zeb's.)
 Powdered alum, 4  grammes=61.72  gra.
 Muriate of morphia,  .05 centigr. =.0077
   grs.
 White sugar, 4 grammes=61.72 grs.
   Make into 12 powders.
   One to be taken every hour, and at the
 same time cold  compresses to the chest,
 with absolute repose and silence.  These
 powders  are especially useful in  cases
which cannot support the perchloride of
iron.—V Union Medicate. 
PRESCRIPTIONS  AND  FORMULAS.
299
    Carminative Draught.
Bicarbonate  of potash,  4  grammes=
  61.72 grs.
Compound tine, of cardamom., 8 grammes
  =123.44 grs.
Compound tinct. of rhubarb, 8 grammes
  =123.44 grs.
Aromatic spirits of ammonia, 4 grammes
  = 61.72 grs.
Water  of  Peppermint,  100 grammes=
  1,543.4 grs.
Syrup of orange peel, 30 grammes.
  M.
  One-fourth to be taken one hour before
the principal meals, in cases of flatulent
dyspepsia.—L1 Union Medicate.

   Iodide of Starch Powder.
 IJ  Iodine resublimed. ..gr. xxiv.
    Sp. vini rect........fflxxiv. vel q. s.
    Pulv. amyli pur____§ i.
   Rub the iodine to  powder by means of
the spirit; gradually add the starch, and
triturate until  the mass assumes a  uni-
form color.—Pharm. Jour,  and Trans.

   Unguent for Bronchocele.
   Professor  James R.  Wood,  of  New
York,  extols the following formula as
an ointment in bronchocele  and other
glandular tumors:—
   B  Ung. stramonii.........§ ij.
      Ext. conii.............3 ij.
      Iodid. potassii.......• • 3 ij-
      Iodidi................grs. x.
—Detroit Review of Medicine and Pharm.

 Compound Fluid Extract  of
              Buchu.
  Dr. X. T.  Bates recommends the fol-
lowing formula highly:—
Take of Buchu leaves......16 troy oz.
       Uva ursi..........  4  "  "
       Cubebs...........  4  "  "
       Juniper berries----  4  "
  Cover with alcohol 95 per cent., and
macerate for a week; then  exhaust with
alcohol at 70°, and evaporate so as to
measure twenty-eight (28) fluid ounces. -
Materia Medica Journal.

       Cephalic  Essence.
          (fob headache).

Take Oil of lavender, 4 fl.  drachms.
     Camphor, 2 ounces.
     Water of ammonia, strong, 2 ounces.
     Alcohol, 14 fl. ounces.
  Fragrant, stimulant,  and may be used
as a rubefacient in  local  pains.—Drug-
gists' Circular.

    Emulsion of  Almonds.
  The  Journal of Pharmacy  gives  the
following recipe for this useful prepara-
tion :—
  Take sweet almonds  (blanched), sugar,
and glycerine (C. P.),  of  each 1 ounce;
powdered gum arabic,  1 drachm ; water,
2 ounces.  Rub to a uniform paste, strain
through muslin, and evaporate, by a heat
not exceeding  150° F., to  the consistence
of a fresh solid extract; preserve in wide-
mouthed bottles, of size  convenient  for
use ; may be flavored to suit taste. The
author  prefers orange-flower water and
oil of  almonds.  When an  emulsion of
almonds is prescribed,  as is now often  the
case, as a vehicle for  chloral-hydrate, it is
readily prepared as  follows: Take con-
centrated emulsion,  2 drachms;  water,
sufficient to make 1 ounce of mixture;
mix thoroughly.  The  above emulsion is
preserved, or rather  condensed, niilk of
almonds, and may be  useful for dietetic
and culinary  purposes—as, for instance,
to prepare readily orgeade.   The syrop
d'orgeade  does  not,  as is well  known,
keep for any length of time without fer-
menting and spoiling.

     Glycerine  Ointment.
    R   Starch.........  3 parts.
         Glycerine......10   "
  The  starch, finely pulverized, is digest-
ed for  about an hour with the glycerine
at the heat of a water-bath. 
300
PRESCRIPTIONS
AND FORMULAS.
 Ointment for Haemorrhoids.
R  Morphiae sulph.......grain iij.
    Ext.  stramonii.......grain xxx.
    Olei  olivae...........grain lx.
    Plumbi oxy-carb.....grain lx.
    Cerat. adipis......... 3 iij-
M.  Ft. unguent.—Richmond  Journal.

     Glycerole of Lupulin.
         BY emmet  kannal.
  {From the Author's Inaugural Essay.)
Take of Lupulin, one troy ounce.
       Alcohol, six fluid ounces.
       Glycerin, nine fluid ounces.
       Curacoa cordial, one fluid ounce.
  Mix the alcohol with two fluid ounces
of glycerine, moisten the lupulin with
the mixture, pack  into  a  cylindrical
percolator, and continue to add this mix-
ture until eight fluid ounces of the  per-
colate has passed; to this add the re-
mainder  of glycerine, previously mixed
with the curacoa, and thoroughly  mix
the whole together.  This will afford, by
careful manipulation, a very fine prepara-
tion, miscible with  any of the officinal
syrups or tinctures, and possessing all the
medicinal properties  of lupulin.   Dose
for an  adult, one teaspoonful, represent-
ing 7-J- grains of lupulin.—Amer. Jour.
of Pharm.

Formula  for Tinct. Cinchonse
              Comp.
R Red Peruvian bark, § iv.
   Bitter orange-peel, § iij.
   Serpentaria, grs. 360, moderately fine
      powder.
   Saffron, " Spanish," grs. 120, moder-
      ately coarse powder.
  Dilute  alcohol, using 2 parts stronger
alcohol to 1  of  water, a sufficient quan-
tity to  obtain by percolation  2\ pints of
tincture.
  This does not deposit any sediment,
and is a very dark and handsome tinc-
ture.
                      W. R. Jones.
            Soda Mint.
 ft  Sodae bicarb.............  § i.
    Spts. ammon. aromat---   3 i.
    Aquae menth. viridis......f § ij.
  M. Filter.
  Dose: One to two tablespoonfuls for
an adult; one-half to two teaspoonfuls
for an infant.
                W. Ranstead Jones.

Formulary  of  Elixirs  and
  Other  Preparations of  the
  Newark     Pharmaceutical
  Association.
       Wine of Beef and Iron.
R Extracti  carnis  (Liebig's)...  1 oz.
   Ferri citrat................96 grs.
   Vini xerici................16 oz.
   Syrupi....................  2 oz.
   Pinientae (contus)..........  | dr.
   Aquae.............q. s. ft. 24 oz.
  Dissolve the extract of beef in 4 oz. of
water and add the  allspice; after stand-
ing ten hours add  the wine and syrup,
then  the  citrate  of iron, previously dis-
solved in 2 oz. water;  filter.
  Each fluid ounce contains: Fresh beef,
1 oz.; citrate of iron, 4  grs.  Dose, one
tablespoonfuL

           Nutritive Wine.
  Prepared same as  above, omitting the
citrate of iron.

         Elixir of Calisaya.
R Cort. cinchonae flav.........  i oz.
     "      "     (calisaya)...  i oz.
     "  aurantii...............  i oz.
   Sem. coriand..............  2 drs.
   Cocci cacti................  1 dr.
   Spts. vini deod.............12 oz.
   Aquae.....................10 oz.
   Glycerinae................. 5 oz.
   Syrupi....................  5 oz.
  Reduce the barks, etc., to a moderately
fine powder, and pack firmly in a perco-
lator ; mix the deodorized spirits, water,
glycerine, and syrup, adding enough wa-
ter to make two pints of percolate, to 
PRESCRIPTIONS  AND FORMULAS.
301
which add 20 grains powdered  tartaric
acid, and,  after standing 24 hours, filter.
  Each fluid ounce  contains  16 grains
cinchona bark.

 Elixir of Pyrophos. Iron and Quinia.
B Ferri pyrophos............160 grs.
   Quiniae sulph.............  10 grs.
   Spts. vini deod............  2| oz.
   Syrupi....................  3 oz.
   Aquae......................  9£ oz.
     "  flor. auranti..........  5 oz.
   Acid, sulph. dil...........q. s.
  Dissolve the pyrophosph. of iron in the
water and add the  syrup, then  dissolve
the quinine in the orange-flower water,
with as little diluted sulph. acid  as pos-
sible, and gradually mix;  then filter.
  Each fluid ounce contains :  Pyrophos.
iron, 8 grains; sulph. quinia, i grain.

  Elixir of Quinia, Iron, and  Bismuth.
 B Elix. ferri pyrophos. et quiniae. 16 oz.
    Bismuth, et ammon. citratis.  .128 grs.
   Dissolve.
   Each fluid  oz. contains 8 grains pyro-
 phos. iron, 8 grains citrate bismuth, -Jgrain
 quinia.

  Elixir of Pyrophos. Iron,  Quinia, and
              Strychnia.
 B  Elix. ferri pyrophos. et quiniae.16 oz.
    Strychniae................. 1 gr>
   Dissolve.
   Each fluid ounce contains: Pyrophos.
 iron, 8 grains; quinia, i grain; strych-
 nia, A grain.

            Wine of Pepsin.
 R. Pepsin (Hawley's).........160 grs.
    Vini xerici...............   16 oz.
    Acid. mur. dil............   1 dr.
   Triturate the pepsin with 4 oz. of wine
 mixed with acid.   Pour this  on a filter,
 and pass  the balance of the wine through
 it.
   Each  fluid ounce contains:  Hawley's
 pepsin, 10 grains.
           Elixir Aromatic.
R  Cort. aurantii..............  4 drs.
   Sem. coriand..............  2 drs.
     "  angelica?.............  2| drs.
   Cocci cacti................  1 dr.
   Spts. vini deod............12 oz.
   Aquae....................10 oz.
   Glycerinae................  5 oz.
   Syrupi...................  6 oz.
   Percolate 2 pints.
   A pleasant vehicle for administering
nauseous remedies.
Elixir of Valer. Ammonia.
R  Ammonise valerianat.......96 grs.
   Fl. ext. vanil.,
   Tr. cardam. comp., aS......   \ oz.
    " xanthoxyl.............  2 drs.
   Syr. aurantii cort..........  6 drs.
   Aquae....................  4 oz.
  Dissolve the valerianate of ammonia in
the water and add the other ingredients,
previously mixed.
  Two  grains val.  ammonia  to each
drachm.
 Comp. Syrup of Hypophosphites and
                Iron.
R  Hypophos. sodae,
        "     calcis,
        "     potassae, 5S.....256 grs.
        "     ferri...........126 grs.
   Aquae..................... 12 oz.
   Sacch. alb................ 18 oz.
  Dissolve the  hypophosphites in  the
water in a water-bath and  filter.  Add
sufficient water to make up for the evap-
oration.  Add  sugar and  apply gentle
heat to  make syrup, 21 oz.
  Each fluid ounce contains: Hypophos-
phite of soda, lime,  and potass., 12  grs.
each; hypophos. of iron, 6 grs.


   Comp. Syrup of Hypophosphites.
  Same as above, omitting the iron. 
302
PRESCRIPTIONS
AND FORMULAS.
           Chemical Food.
  Parrish's formula, omitting cochineal
and muriatic acid.  See U. S. D.
  Each teaspoonful contains:  1  grain
phosphate  of  iron;  2| grains of lime,
and the other alkaline phosphates.


Elixir of Pepsin, Bismuth, and Strych-
                 nia.
R Pepsin (Hawley's).........256 grs.
   Bismuth, citrat............ 64 grs.
   Strychniae................  1 gr.
   Aq. flor. aurantii..........  6 oz.
   Spirit, vini deod..........  2 oz.
   Aquae....................  4 oz.
   Glycerinae (pure)...........  2 oz.
   Syrupi...................  2 oz.
  Triturate the  pepsin with the water
and  glycerine, and filter;  dissolve the
bismuth  in 2 oz. orange-flower  water,
with  a few  drops of aqua ammoniae.
Dissolve  the  strychnia with a feW drops
of acetic acid.  Add  the bismuth solu-
tion  to the pepsin, then the balance of
the fluids, and finally the  solution of
strychnia.
  Each fluid ounce contains:  Pepsin, 16
grains;  citrate bismuth, 4 grains; strych-
nia, tV grain.


  Elixir of Gentian and Ferri Phosp.
R. Cort. aurantii.............   1 oz.
   Sem.  coriand............./  1 dr.
   Macidis..................   1 dr.
   Rad. gentian...............  1 oz.
   Spts. vini deod............   4 oz.
   Aquae.. •.................   4 oz.
     "  flor. aurantii.........   2 oz.
   Syrupi...................   6 oz.
   Ferri  pyrophos............256 grs.
  Reduce the roots, seeds, etc., to a mod-
erately fine powder, pack in a percolator,
mix the spirits and waters, and percolate
10 ounces.  Dissolve the  pyrophosphate
of iron; add the syrup and filter.
  Each fluid  ounce represents 16 grains
pyrophos. of iron; 30 grains  gentian.—
Journal of Pharmacy.
         Powder of Tar.
  Mr.  Magne Laliens,  pharmacien  of
Toulouse, proposes that one part of tar
shall  be rubbed  up with two parts of
charcoal of light wood, and in this way a
powder  be prepared which  is readily
handled, and does not stick to the vessels
and hands.   Out of this preparation the
various liquid  preparations are readily
made.
Thus,  tar-water—a litre (1.056  qts.) of
  water should be  macerated with, and
  filtered  through  15  to  30 grammes
  (oz. ss. to oz. i.) of the powder.
Syrup of  Tar—R  Tar  powder,  50
    grammes ( § i.  3 ivss.)
  Water, 189 gramm. (§ v. 3 vj.)
  Sugar, 320 gramm. ( § x. 3 ij.)
  Mix the sugar and powder, pour on the
water, and allow to digest at 60° C.
  For  purposes of fumigation  the tar
powder is very convenient, and  appears
to be the best  preparation yet brought
forward for inhalation, as it may be sim-
ply put in a pipe on a tampon of cotton,
and smoked.  Internally the powder may
be exhibited  in substance; it may be lo-
cally applied to foul sores, etc.
  If desired, a similar  preparation can
be made from coal tar.—i' Union Medi-
cate de la Gironde, May, 1871.


    Formula for Chlorosis.
    BY DR. DELIOUX DE SAVIGNAC.
Take of Tartrate of iron and  potash, 10
           grammes (154.34 gr.).
        Powdered   aloes,  2  grammes
           (30.86 grs.).
        Powdered castoreum, 2 grammes
           (30.86 grs.).          *
        Powdered   saffron, 1   gramme
           (15.34 grs.).
        Venice turpentine, q. s
  Make into 100 pills.   The quantity of
Venice turpentine required to make into
a  pilular  consistence   is  about  five
grammes (77 grs.).  One of these pills is 
PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
303
to be taken three times a day, and the
number increased until they act as a laxa-
tive on the bowels.—Bull. Gen. deTherap.,
June 30,1871.

 Anthelmintic Prescriptions.
  M.  Bouchut  commends most highly
the following recipes:—

       For Lumbricoid Worms.
R Calomel, q. s.
   Santonine, q.  s.
  The powders are to  be so made that
for every year  of  age, 5 to  10  centi-
grammes of calomel and 5 grains of san-
tonine win be taken.

           For Ascarides.
    Take of Soot........  30 parts.
          •Water.......300   "
  Boil and administer as an injection at
temperature of about 100° F.
  M.  Bouchut has  also used with great
success, in cases  of lumbricoid worms in
children, the following syrup, whose for-
mula was given him by M. Cruveilhier:—
Take of Senna,
        Rhubarb,
        Santonica,
        Tansy,
        Corsican moss  (Irish moss),
        Wormwood,
           Each 4 grammes (61.7 grs.).
  Make a cold infusion with 240 grammes
(Ivij. 3v. avoird.), of water, and add
enough sugar to make a syrup.
  Dose—A tablespoonful in  the morn-
ing, for three days.—Journal de Medecine
et de Chirurgie pratiques, p. 02, 1871.

   Carbolic  Acid  Formulae.
  The following formulae are taken from
Dr. A S. Sansom's work, entitled  " The
Antiseptic System:"

      Alcoholized Carbolic Acid.
  Take of Alcohol,
          Acid  carbol.  (crystallized),
            equal parts.
  Mix and keep  in weU-stoppered bottles.
—Lemaire.
       Etherized Carbolic Acid.
  Take of Ether...........100 parts.
          Carbolic acid....  1 part.
M.
  Used for insufflation in catarrh of thi
Eustachian tube.—Lemaire.

         Carbolized Vinegar.
  Take of Vinegar...........4 parts.
          Carbolized  acid___1 part.
  M.   Used as a disinfectant instead of
aromatic vinegar.—Quesneville.

     Glycerinum Acidi Carbolici.
  Take of Glycerine.........f. = iv.
          Carbolic acid.........§ i.
  Rub in mortar till solution  is effected.
—British Pharmacopeia.

        Carbolized Glycerine.
  Take of Glycerine........100 parts.
          Carbolic acid.....  1 part.
  Mix.  For impetigo, chronic  eczema,
lichen,  prurigo,  and  pemphigus. — Z*
maire.

        Syrup  of Carbolic Acid.
  Take of Simple syrup.....100 parts.
       Carbolic acid.......  1 part.
  Mix.                 —Chaumelle.

   Compound Disinfectant Solution.
Take of Water..............1000 parts,
        Carbolic acid........  10   "
        Sulphate of zinc or iron   3   "
  Mix.  The carbolic acid having no ac-
tion on sulphuretted hydrogen, the salt is
inserted to act on it.—Lemaire.

       The Suvern Disinfectant.
  Good quick-lime put in  a cask, slaked
and stirred; coal tar,  10 lbs.; mix thor-
oughly, then add chloride of magnesium
15 lbs.  dissolved in hot water.  Mix again
and add hot water, until the mass is liquid
enough to drop slowly  from  a stick
plunged into it and then withdrawn.  The
magnesium chloride is decomposed, deli-
quescent chloride of lime  and magnesia
resulting; this prevents caking  and adher-
ence to pipes.—Parhes. 
 301               PRESCRIPTIONS

 Solution of Carbolic Acid for Toilets.
Take of—
Crystallized carbolic acid.....  10 parts.
Essence of millefleurs........   1 part.
Tincture of soap-bark (quilla-
  ya saponaria).............  50 parts.
Water.....................1000   "
  Mix.   To be diluted with ten times its
bulk of water, for washing hands, etc.  The
soap-bark tincture is prepared by boiling
one part of the powdered bark in 4 of al-
cohol and filtering.—Lemaire.

        Carbolized  Tooth-Wash.
Take of Water..............1000 parts.
        Essence of  spearmint  50   "
        Carbolic acid.......  10   "
  Mix.   A dessert-spoonful to a quarter
tumbler of water.—Lemaire.

  Carbolized  Amylaceous  Ointment.
  Take of Pure starch....... 3 parts.
          Hot water........10  "
  Mix in the usual way (the starch being
first made into a paste with cold water,
and then hot water  added) to a stiff con-
sistence ; then  add  olive  oil, 1 part, gly-
cerine,  3 parts, carbolic acid, 1 part,  and
thoroughly mix  in a  mortar.  A  very
pleasant, soft jelly,  much better than the
purely fatty ointments.—Sansom.

            Carbolized Oil.
Take of Crystallized carbolic acid, 1 part.
       Boiled linseed or olive oil, 4 parts.
  Mix.

          Carbolized Putty.
Take of Carbolized oil  about 6 table-
           spoonfuls.
         Common whiting  sufficient to
           make a  firm paste.
  Mix.                      —Lister.

   Antiseptic Lead Plaster.
  Olive  oil,  12 parts  (by measure);
litharge, finely ground,  12  parts   (by
weight); beeswax, 3 parts  (by weight);
crystallized  carbolic   acid,  2|  parts
(by  weight);  htfat  half   the  olive
AND FORMULAS.

 oil  over  a  slow  fire,  then  add  the
 litharge  gradually,  stirring constantly
 till  the mass becomes thick or  a little
 stiff; then add the other half of the  oil,
 till  it  becomes  again thin.  Then add
 the  wax gradually  till the liquid again
 thickens.  Remove from the fire and add
 the  acid, stirring throughout.  Cover up
 closely and set aside, to allow all  the re-
 sidual  litharge  to  settle;  then  pour  off
 the  fluid, and spread upon calico to  the
 proper thickness.   The plaster made in
 this way can be spread by machine, and
 kept roUed in stock, and if in a well-fit-
 ting tin canister will retain its virtues  for
 a great length of time.—Lister.

     Antiseptic Lac Plaster.
   Shellac, 3 parts;  crystallized carbolic
 acid, 1  part.  Heat  the lac  with about
 one-third of the carbolic acid, over a slow
 fire,  till the lac is  completely melted;
 then remove from  the fire and add the
 remainder of the acid, and  stir briskly till
 the  ingredients  are  thoroughly mixed.
 Strain  through  muslin, and pour into
 the machine for spreading plaster; and
 when the liquid has thickened by cool-
 ing  to  a degree ascertained  by experi-
 ence, spread  to the  thickness of about
 sV   of   an  inch.    Afterwards,  brush
 over the surface of the plaster lightly
 with a solution of gutta-percha  in bisul-
 phide of carbon. When the sulphide has
 evaporated, put in tin canisters.—Lister.

     Antiseptic Cere-Cloth.
   Calico or thin cloth may be saturated
 with the cerate made by the following
 receipt, by simply drawing it through the
 melted  ointment.
 Strongest Cerate:—
  Take of Pure acid (liquefied), f \ iij.
          Olive oil (colored with alkanet
             root to  distinguish cerate)
             f ijss.
          Yellow wax (liquefied), f § jss
          Paraffine (liquefied), f § v.
  Mix with heat. 
PRESCRIPTIONS
AND  FORMULAS.
305
Medium strength:—
  Take of Pure carbolic acid, f 3 ij.
         Olive oil, f | ijss.
         Yellow wax, f § ijss.
         Paraffine, f § v.
  Mix with heat.
Weakest:—
  Take of Pure carbolic acid, f 3 iss.
         Olive oil, f 3 i., f 3 vi.
         White wax, f § i., f 3 vi,
         Paraffine, f 3 vij.
Mix with heat.—Lund.

  Antiseptic Muslin Gauze.
  Take of Paraffine.........16 parts.
          Resin............4 parts.
          Carbolic acid.....  1 part.
  Melt together.
  Cheap muslin gauze is  dipped  in the
mixture and well wrung or pressed while
hot.   A good antiseptic covering for
wounds, nearly free from odor and unir-
ritating to  the  most sensitive skin.  By
washing in boiling water it loses the par-
affine and resin, and the same  gauze may
therefore be used repeatedly. When used,
should be folded in about 8 layers.-Lister.

Protective against Local  Irri-
  tating Effects of the Acid.
  Vamish both sides of oiled silk with
copal varnish, and when  dry  brush over
with a mixture  of starch and dextrine to
give a film of material soluble in  water,
so that it may become uniformly  moist-
ened when dipped in antiseptic lotion.—
Lister.

     Carholized Powders.
  Take of  pure liquefied carbolic acid
and alcohol, each 5 parts.   Mix. Add by
degrees 100 parts of one of the following
powders: lycopodium, starch, charcoal,
or plaster-of-Paris.—Lister.
fused through it.  The small proportion
of water present renders the catgut sup-
ple,  and  so  changes  it that it may  be
transferred to  a watery solution at the
commencement of an operation and re-
main unchanged.—Lister.

Aceto-Carbolic  Solution  for
       Tinea and  Scabies.
  Take of Pyroligneous acetic
           acid, 8°........20 parts.
          Water...........75 parts.
          Pure carbolic acid. 5 parts.
Mix  the acids and add the water.
  For tinea apply the liquid once a day
with a brush;  for scabies sponge with
it, and also  apply to the clothes.—Le-
maire.

Carbolized  Gargle  for  Diph-
               theria.
  Take of Carbolic acid, 20 minims.
          Acetic acid, 3 ss.
          Honey,
          Tincture of myrrh, each, f 3 ij.
          Water, to f 1 vi.
  The acids to be shaken  together well
before the other ingredients are added.—
Charles Sedgwick, Jr.

 Quinine  and  Sulpho-Carbo-
         late of Sodium.
  Take of Sulphate of quinine,  f—i.
          Sulphuric acid,  5 minims.
  Dissolve, and add to solution of sul-
pho-carbolate of sodium 20 grs., in water
one fluid ounce.—Sansom.

Carbolized  Mixture  for  Zy-
         motic Diseases.
Take of carbolic  and  acetic acids, each,
  from 1 tol| f.  drachms.
Tincture of op'um, chloric  ether, each
  1 fl. drachm.
Water, to 8 fl. ounces.
  A  tablespoonful  every 4  hours until
the fever subsides.—Dr. Alex. Keith.
Antiseptic  Catgut Ligature.
  Made  by steeping catgut of the re-
quired thickness in carbolized oil (1-5),
with a very small quantity of water dif-
            20 
306               PRESCRIPTIONS  AND  FORMULAS.
   Plaster  of Cantharidine.
  In  order  to  avoid the inequality  of
strength in  blistering  ointment and  its
deterioration by age, Delpech and  Gui-
chard {Gaz. de  Phar.) recommend the
use of a salt of cantharidine.   To pre-
pare,  this they first  dissolve with mod-
erate  warmth  2 grmm. of  cantharidine
in 100  grmm. of alcohol,  and add 1.5
grmm. of caustic potash dissolved  in as
small a  quantity of water  as  may be;
union takes place  immediately, and the
salt may be  separated by filtration.  The
plaster is prepared from the salt in the
following way:  Two grmm. of gelatine
are dissolved  in 10 of water;  to  this
are added 10 grmm. of alcohol, a little
glycerine, and 0.20  grmm.  of  the  can-
tharidal salt.  With this mixture gutta-
percha  paper is spread in  such  a  way
that  each square decimtr. is covered by
1 ctgrmm.  of  the salt.  When the plas-
ter is to be used its surface should be
moistened.   If  for  any reason it is de-
sirable to make it more active, it may be
done by putting on more of  the canthar-
idal mixture.—Schmidfs Jahrbucher, June
19, 1871.

 Tincture of Acetate of Iron.
   R   Liq. ferri persulph... .f § ijss.
       Liq. ammoniae........q. s.
   M.
  The precipitated  oxide  of iron, after
being well washed  and pressed as dry  as
possible, is  to be dissolved without  heat
in 520 grains, or approximately, 9 fluid
drachms of  glacial acetic acid, and the
solution  diluted with distilled water  to
5 fluid ounces.  One part of this with 3
parts  of sp. vini. rect. will represent the
tinct.  ferri acet.  B. P.  The  preparation
keeps well,  but, being slightly supersatu-
rated, deposits some  crystals, which im-
mediately dissolve  on addition of water
or dilute alcohol.- Year-Booh of Pharmacy.
      Excipients for Pills.
  W.  Martindale, in  an elaborate paper
upon this subject, states he has,  after re-
peated experiments,  settled  down upon
two excipients.   One he calls  glycerins
mass, the other  oread mass.   The first ii
made by heating together, with constant
stirring until a temperature of 240° F. is
reached, five parts of glycerine by weight
with one part of flour; this makes a firm
adhesive p^aste.  The second, bread mass,
is firmer, and is  made in a similar way,
glycerine  and flour being used in equal
proportion.   For particular  purposes it
sometimes is well to vary from these pro-
portions to get excipients  of different
density.—Transactions British Pharma-
ceutical Conference.

   Collodion prepared with
               Paper.
  M. Guichard states that  if cotton be
substituted by paper in the  preparation
of collodion, a more uniform, transpar-
ent,  and finer article results.   A fine fil-
tering-paper which has been well washed
with water  acidulated with  muriatic.—
Bulletin General de Therapeutique.

         Iodized  Cotton.
  Dr. Mehu proposes iodized cotton aa
a local application, to be  applied over
glandular enlargements, and kept in place
by appropriate bandages.  The cotton is
of a deep brown color, and when exposed
to the air slowly loses its iodine, and be-
comes white.  In making it  10 parts of
iodine  should be used for every 100 of
cotton.  The latter  should be very clean
and fine, and should be pulled into little
pieces or flakes,  which are to be  drop-
ped separately into a wide-mouthed bot-
tle,   each flake having in  its turn its
appropriate  measure of iodin?  thrown
on it.  When the bottle is in this way
partially filled,  it   should  be  loosely
corked, and gradually heated in a sand-
bath, until the  volatilized   iodine  is
thoroughly diffused  through the cot-
ton.  Dr. Mehu has  obtained very good
results from this cotton in the treatment
of scrofulous enlargement of the glands
in children.   It does not discolor or irri-
tate  the  skin. — Bulletin  General  de
Therap., July 15, 1871. 
PRESCRIPTIONS  AND  FORMULAS.               307
    Treatment of Chorea.
  M. Favre d'Esnans says, in the London
Lancet, that he has attained the happiest
effects in epilepsy and chorea, from the
use of prussiate of iron.  The following
is his formulary:—
    Prussiate of iron.... grs. xv.
    Extract of valerian, .grs.  xxxv.
  Make 24 pills,  and give one pill every
six  hours, each pill to  be followed by
a wine-glass  of  infusion of  valerian.—
Oregon Med. and Surg. Reporter.

       Formula for Otitis.
Take of Tobacco.....3 j- (cut fine).
        Glycerine.... | j.        M.
  S.—five drops in the ear once a day.
  Dr. Brownrigg of Mississippi commends
most highly the above formula as a remedy
in acute otitis.—Medical and Surgical Re-
porter, Dec.  9, 1871.

            Chinoidine.
  Dr. I. T. Davis, Jr., recommends this
substance as a substitute for quinine  in
malaria, chiefly on account of its cheapness
 (price 15 cts. an ounce), to be used in pill
form and as an elixir. The pills are made
directly from the  mass, 2 grs. each.
   " Of these, I direct 12 to be taken on the
well day—one every hour, two every two
hours, or three every two hours, accord-
ing to circumstances;  twenty-four grains
being sufficient to break up the paroxysm
in the adult.  I then direct  the  patient
to take a  pill three times a day for a
week, and in protracted cases for two or
three weeks."
  The elixir is made as follows:
   R,  Cliinoidine,
      Acetic acid..........aa, § j.
      Aquae...............§ ix.
  Dig?stin a half-gallon bottle for twenty-
four hours, witli frequent agitation until
all  the chinoidine  is  dissolved.  Add
elixir-taraxacum,  § x., filter, and add sy-
mp orange  peel,  'f x., when it is ready
for use.
  A teaspoonful contains two grains, and
may be used for  a  pill and  in the same
manner.—Medical and Surgical Reporter,
Dec. 9, 1871.
              Maltine.
  This substance, called diastase, first re-
ported by Payen and Persoz in 1833, is
recommended  in  dyspepsia, either with
or without pepsine, by  Prof. De Renzi.
The  subjoined formula  is laid down in
La Nuova Ligvria Medicate:—
B Maltine, centigr. xv.  F. pil. No. 3.
     One pill  before each meal.
B Maltine,  centigr.  v.  to  x.;  Pepsine,
     centigr.,  c. to cl. F. doses No. 2.
            —New York Medical Record.

           Diaphoretic.
  Dr. S. C. Osborne commends very high-
ly the  following formula, stating that in
intermittent fever it is  of great use, not
only in shortening the paroxysm but also
in lessening the dose of quinine necessary
to prevent relapse.  The first dose usual-
ly nauseates for  the hour, but after this
nausea is absent, and the third dose rare-
ly fails to induce profuse  diaphoresis.
Take of
       Chloroformi
       Sq. etheris nitrosi
       Tinct. opii camphor
       Vini antimonii
       Aquae...............fl | vi.
Mix.
  S.  For adults teaspoonful every hour
until the fever abates.—American Practi-
tioner, vol. iv., p. 187.

Dupuytren's Pills  for Syphi-
                  lis.
Take of Extract of  guaiac  0.80  grms.
  (12.26 gr.)
Extract of opium 0.40 grms.  (6.13  grA
Corrosive sublimate 0.20 grms. (3.07 gr.).
  Make into 20 pills, each of which will
contain  0.02  gramm. extract  of opium
and 0.01 of corrosive sublimate.  These
pills  are very renowned in  France.—
Ibid.

Dr.  Debout's  Pills  for  Mi-
              graine.
  These  pills  are exceedingly commend-
ed as having power to cure in many casee
this obstinate  affection. 
308
PRESCRIPTIONS  AND  FORMULAS.
Take of Quinia sulph. 3 grms. (46 gr.).
Digitalis (powdered),  1 grin. 50 (23 gr.).
Syrup                 q- s-
  Mix, and divide into thirty pills.  One
to be taken every night at bed-time.—
L Union Pharmaceutique, Sept., 1871.

 Paste of Canquoin,  Modified.
            (demakquay.)
    Chloride of zinc......10 parts.
    Glycerine............. 4
    Starch...............20  "
  Mix.  This paste is more convenient in
application than the  original.—L" Union
Medicate.

Ioduretted Gargle for Syphili-
   tic Ulceration of the Mouth.
Take of Iodide of potassium.  0.60 parts.
        Tincture of iodine...  2.00   "
        Distilled water.....140.00   "
   M —Dr. Gauthier,  Giornale ital tan o
delle  malatie veneree e delle malatie della
pelle, Nov., 1870.

 Antihemorrhoidal   Supposi-
                tory.
 Extract of rhatany.50 centigr. (7.67 gr.).
 Chlorohydrate of morphia. .  2 centigr.
   (.31 gr.).
 Stearine (better, cocoa butter.—Ed.  N.
   R.),  1  gramme.
   Make into  a  suppository.—Revue de
 Tlu'rap. Medico-Chit■xirg., Aug., 1871.

 Glycerine  to Mask Castor-Oil.
   According to a  correspondent of  the
 Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, the
 following formula affords a  method of
 completely disguising castor-oil:—
     Glycerine,
     01. ricini,. aa...........  f r  ij.
     01. cinnam............1Tl.iv.
   The essential oil should be rubbed up
 with the  glycerine, the castor-oil added,
 and the mixture well shaken before using.
 [This seems to be the best method of dis-
 guising castor-oil yet devised.—Ed. N.R.]
       Lavender Brandy.

Take of Oil of lavender.....  2 ounces.
        Oil of neroli....... 10 drops.
        Essence of lavender.  1 pound.
        Syrup of gum arabic  1 gallon.
        Pure spirits........  4 ban-els.
  Dissolve the oils first in a sufficient
quantity of alchol, say about one gallon;
add then the essence, mix the whole with
the spirits, and add, finally, the syrup.
A different  proceeding will make the
liquid turbid, so that it has to be filtered
—Druggists' Circular.

      Dyspepsia Lozenges.
Take of subnitrate of  bismuth, 9 gram-
  mes = 3 ij- grs. 18.
Carbonate of  magnesia, 14 grammes=
   3 iijss.
Precipitated carbonate of lime, 20 gram-
  mes= 3 v.
Pulverized   sugar,  100  grammes = §  i.
   3iss.
Pulverized gum arabic, 4 grammes= I i.
Mucilage of  quince, q. s.
  Make into 100 tablets.
  S.—Two  or three after  meals in acid
dyspepsia.—Revue  de  Therap.  Medico-
Chirurg., Si'pt., 1871.

    Antineuralgic Powders.
             Laxglebert.
Take  of powdered cubebs, 68 grammes
  = §ij- 3iss.
Carbonate of soda, 4 grammes = 3 i.
  Mix, and divide into 36 powders.  Six
to twelve daily for the neuralgic urethral
pains which persist after the drying of a
blennorrhagic discharge.   In addition,
use three injections of one or two minutes'
duration of  the following solution:—
Take distilled water..........100 parts.
Atropia sulph............10 to 20  "
   Mix.
   —Revue de Tie rap.  Medico-Chirurg.

   Antidysmenoirhcea' Pills.
Take of Extract of belladonna, 45 centi-
 grammes^. 8 grs. 
PRESCRIPTIONS  AND  FORMULAS.
309
Camphor (powdered), 4 grarnmes=61.3
  grs.
Sulphate of quinia, 2 grammes=30.7 grs.
  Mix and make into 30 pills.
  S.  One every hour, or two hours, until
relief is afforded; these pills are useful
when the dysmenorrhoea is not organic in
its nature.—R",vue  de  Therap.  Medico-
Chir., Sept., 1871.

   A Remedy for Freckles.
Take of Sulpho-carbolate of zinc.2parts.
      Glycerine..............25  "
      Rose-water.............25  "
      Spirits..................5  "
  Dissolve and mix.
  The freckled  skin is to be anointed
with this twice daily, the ointment being
allowed  to stay on for one-half to one
hour, and then washed  off  with  cold
water.  Anaemic persons should also take
a mild ferruginous tonic.  In the sunlight
a dark veil should  be worn.—Zeitschrift
des Allegem. Oester. Apotheh. Vereines, Oc-
tober 1, 1871.

Drops  for   Gastralgia   (Dr.
      Gallard's  Formula).
Take of  Distilled  water  of
          cherry laurel___  5 00 parts.
        Muriate of morphia  0.10  "
  Mix and dissolve.
  One drop on  a lump of sugar imme-
diately before  meals.—Union Medicate.

     Antigastralgic  Pills.
Take of extract of belladonna, 30 centigs.
  =4.6 grs.
Sulphate  of  quinine, 2 grammes=30.7
  grs.
Extract of valerian, q. s.
  Mix and make into 15 pills.
  S.  Three a day.
           —Revue de Therap. Med.

       Glycerole of Tar.
  Take of Tar.............150 parts.
         Yellow of egg... 150  "
         Glycerine.......300  "
  Mix.  This  preparation is of  the con-
sistency of a pomade.  It docs not adhere
to the skin.  It may be diluted  with
water.— Union Medicate.

Carminative  Powder for  In-
               fants.
Take of Fennel seed.......  25.0 grains.
       Aniseed...........  50.0   "
       Powdered sugar___350.0   "
       Powdered opium...  1.0   "
  Make into  a powder, ten grains  of
which  will contain .02 grains of opium.
—Zeitschrift des Osterreich. Apotheh. Ve-
reines, Sept., 1871.

Elixir  of Chloroform (Useful
             in Colic).
Take of Chloroform........1
        Tinct- opii..........[   f? .
       m-         i  >     I <*c* L 3 ASS.
       Tinct. camphons...
       Spir. ammon. arom.. J
       Oil cinnamon...... gtt xx.
       Brandy...........f 1  ij.
  Mix.  Sig. Half  a fluid drachm, more
or less.—American Eclectic Medical Jour-
nal.

Astringent Aromatic Powder.
  Take of Catechu...........8 parts.
          Kino..............4  "
          Extract of rhatany. .4  "
          Canella............2  "
          Nutmeg..........2  "
  Mix  and powder.  To be given  in
doses of 1 to 3 (15 to 46 gr.) grammes for
chronic diarrhoea.— Union Medicate.

Disinfectant   Glycerole   for
    Suppurating Wounds.
  Take of Glycerine.........80 parts.
          Sulphite of soda. .10  "
          Powdered starch.. 8  "
  Mix  and heat in a water-bath until it
acquires  the  right consistency.— Union
Medicate.

       Pills of  Iodoform.
Take  of iodoform 10  grammes (153.4

Extr. gentian q. s.
  Make into 100 pills, each containing 10 
310
PRESCRIPTIONS  AND  FORMULAS.
ctgrm. (1.53 gr.) of iodoform.  Take 1
to 4 daily.—Ibid.

 Wutzer's  Pills for Sperma-
             torrhoea.

  Take of Phosphoric acid... .4 parts.
          Camphor..........1.2 "
          Powdered red  cin-
            chona bark......4  "
          Extr. cascarilla.....q. s.
  Take  daily  5 pills of  0.1 gramme
(1.534 grains) weight of this mixture.—
Zeits. des Oester. Apotheh. Vereines.


 Berndt's Pills for Diabetes.

Take of Acetate of morphia  0.15 grms.
    (2.25 grs.).
Ammoniated copper 0.30 grammes  (4.5
  grs.).
Extract of quassia,
Extract  of beefs gall, 5a 4.00 grammes
    (61.36 grs.).
  Make into pills of 0.1 gramme weight
and give morning  and evening  five.—
Ibid., Aug. 20, 1871.
Anaesthetic  Calcareous  Gly-
              cerole.

           (Dr. Brtjyne.)

Take  of freshly  precipitated  hydrate
           of lime......   3 parts.
         Glycerine.......150   "
Heat slightly and mix.
Then add bichloride of ethyl. 3   "
  The liquid  thus  obtained is  transpar-
ent, uniform,  clear.  It may be applied
by means of a compress, which is to be
covered  by some impervious  material.
It is especially useful in burns and their
ulcers, in foul gangrenous  or  indolent
ulcers, the formula being modified to suit
the various cases by diminution  of the
lime or anaesthetic as the indications may
require.   It is also especially  useful in
scaly  and  dry  cutaneous  eruptions,
especially where there is much itching.—
Journal  de Bruxelle*.
   Glycerole of Thymic Acid.
  Take of Thymic acid......    1 part.
          Glycerole of starch. 100 parts.
A very elegant disinfectant solution foi
   application to foul ulcers.

    Lotion of  Thymic Acid.
   Take of Thymic acid......   1 part.
          Alcohol, at 85°...   4 parts.
   Dissolve, and add distilled
    water..................995  "
Use for injections, washes, etc.

   Pomade of Thymic Acid.
  Take of Thymic acid.....1 to 4 parts.
          Lard.........100 parts.
Mix, and use as an ointment.
  These preparations of thymol are to be
used instead of similar  preparations of
carbolic acid.  They are  exceedingly ele-
gant,  thymol  having a very  agreeable
odor, but costly.  All these formulas are
taken from JeanneVs Formulaire Offie. et
Mag.

Collodium-Paper —  Counter-
     Irritating Collodium.
  A very viscid and perfect collodium-
paper may be prepared by the  following
formula:—
Take of Sulphuric acid (1.82)  200 parts.
       Nitric     "  (1.37;  100  "
White filtering-paper, previous-
  ly  purified  by hydrocldoric
  acid..................... 10   "
  Mix in a glass vessel, and allow to stand
about three hours till the reaction is com-
plete.  Then wash well.  The paper thus
obtained is freely soluble in a mixture of
alcohol and ether, or if a little residue is
left after solution it remains at the bot-
tom ; a very useful collodion for counter-
irritation may be prepared according to
the following formula:—
  No. 1. A very energetic preparation:—
        Alcohol..........  3.50 parts.
        Ether............ 11.50  "
        Paper powder.....  1.00 part.
  Mix. and add 10 parts of resin of thap-
sia, dissolved in 16 parts of  alcohoL 
PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
311
  No. 2. A weaker preparation—one more
generally useful:—
  Take of Alcohol........   12.00 parts.
         Ether..........   45    "
         Paper powder...    5
  Dissolve, and add:—-
    Resin of thapsia, 30 parts, dissolved
in 63  parts of Alcohol.—L1 Union Phar-
maceutique, October, 1871.

  Antacid Mixture (Piorry).
Take of Bicarbonate of soda, 6 grammes
         ( 3 iss).
        Distilled water,  30 grammes
         ( 3 vii.).
        Syrup of  orange  flowers,  30
          grammes ( 3 vii.).
        Essential oil of anise, 1 gtt.
  To  be taken at one time.—IJ Union
Medicate.


  Antidy sent eric Injection.

Iodine, 60 centigs.=9.1 gr.
Iodide of potassium, 1 gramme=15.34 gr.
Distilled water, 60 grammes=920 gr.
  Dissolve, and use as an injection against
dysentery.   It is  sometimes  necessary to
give it twice in  the twenty-four hours,
and to continue  for two or three  days.
For children it should be used less strong.
A marked effect of the injection is to les-
sen  the tenesmus at once.—L1 Union Medi-
cate, Oct., 1871.

Eulenberg's  Formula  for the
    Vomiting  of Pregnancy.
  Tincture of iodine......... 1 part.
  Rectified alcohol...........12  "
  Mix.  Three drops to be  given many
times a day.—I? Union Medicate.

Ointment  of Balsam of  Peru.
Take of Red oxide of mercury, 10 centigr.
          = 1.534 gr.
        Lard, 4 grammes.   3 i.
        Balsam of Peru, 8 to 12  drops.
  This  ointment is  most  strenuously
commended  by Dr. Warlomont in the
treatment of  atonic corneal ulcers, espe-
cially when they are large and deep.  Al-
so in perforating  ulcer, with  hernia of
iris,  occurring in purulent ophthalmia
and  in  scrofulous  children.—Annates
d"1 Oculistique.

    Copaiba  Suppositories.
  Dr. J. H. Welmer proposes {Med. and
Surgical Reporter), the following as  a
substitute for the  exhibition of copaiba
by the mouth in gonorrhoea:—
B  Copaibae..................f 1 vj.
    Opii pulv................gr.  vj.
    Olei theobromae, Cetacei, aa, § jss.
    Cerae albae.............gr. xlv.—M.
Misce secundum artem et fiant supposi-
  toria, No. xij.
Signa.  One to be introduced into the
  bowel morning and night.


     Carminative Mixture.
  Take of Oil of camphor,
          Oil of cajeput, aa f 3 ij-
          Oil of  cinnamon (or cloves),
            f 3.1-
  Mix.  Ten to fifteen drops on sugar for
an adult.—Ed. N.  R.

    To  Disguise Castor-Oil.

  Rub up two drops oil of cinnamon with
an ounce of glycerine and add  an ounce
of castor oil.   Children will take  it as  a
luxury and  ask for  more.—Druggists'1
Circular.

          Vaginismus.

  M. Gueneau de  Mussy,  in the Gazette
des LTdpitaitx, June, 1871. commends the
treatment of this obstinate affection by
the following formula:—
Take of  Butter of cacao,  20 grammes
           (306.8 grs.).
         Bromide of potassium, 3   "
           (46.0 grs.).
         Extract of belladonna, 1   "
           (15.34 gr.). 
312
PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
  Make into ten vaginal suppositories.
One to be used each night for a week.
  Some drops of the following formula
are also to be given hypodermically:—
Take of Muriate of  morphia, 50 centigr.
          (7.57 grs.).
       Sulphate of atropine,  1   "
          (.1534 gr.).
       Distilled  water,  10  grammes
          (153.4 grs.).
  Mix and make a solution.
  If pruritus exist with the vaginismus,
the suppositories  must  be  used  for a
longer time, and arseniate of soda be ex-
hibited.

  Burgoyne's Cholera Pills.
Take  of  Tannate of quinia, 1 gramme
           (15.34 gr.).
         Powdered opium,  5  centigrs.
            (7.65).
         Essence of aniseed, 2 drops.
         Simple syrup, q. s.
  Make into 10 pills,  which may  be
taken in the course of one or two hours.

Treatment of  Malarious Dys-
              entery.
  Dr.  Davis directs twenty grains  of
powdered ipecac to be given at once, and
followed by a teaspoonful of the follow-
ing solution every three  hours in  sweet-
ened water;—
  R   Strychnia, 1 gr.
       Nitric acid,  3 j.
       Tin'et. opii, § j.
       Simple syrup, § j.
       Water, |ij.           M.
  The ipecac is mostly followed by free
vomiting, after which the strychnia mix-
ture is generally retained.  Rapid  im-
provement follows  and the mixture can
be taken less frequently.—Chicago Medi-
cal Examiner, August, 1871.

   Drastic Pills for Dropsy.

Take  of  Elaterium  (1.5  grains)   10
            centi err.
         Extr.  of hyoscyamus (9 grains)
           60 centigr.
         Extract of gentian (9 grains)
           60 centigr.
  Mix and make into 10 pills.
  One or two to be taken in dropsy, when
it is  desired to rapidly run off water by
the bowels,  and if  necessary  the dose
may be increased to three.—L" Union Me-
dicate.

    Formula for  Chilblains.
  In the Revue de Therapeutique Medico-
Ghirurg.  of November, 1871, the follow-
ing recipes are highly  praised for the
treatment  of  this troublesome  affection
(Testelius' Formula):—
      Tincture of iodine, 1 part.
      Labaraque solution, 2 parts.  Mix.
  The affected part to be well anointed
with  this  and dried  by the  fire.  This
formula is only to be  applied where the
skin is not broken.
  For cracks  and chaps the best prepara-
tion  is m?de by heating  honey in the
oven.  WlieK honey is so heated a sort of
scum  rises to the top; this is to be re-
moved until  no more is formed.  The
liquid left behind is oily, not  sticky.  It
is to  be applied to the hand  or affected
part after washing, and is said to be very
efficacious.  During the latter part of the
siege of Paris honey could no longer be
obtained, and the following formula of
M. Cazenave was much applauded as a
substitute: —
  Take of Tincture of aloes, 2 to 4 parts.
          Glycerine, 30 parts.   Mix.
  On retiring to bed a piece of cloth wet
with this is to be applied over the chap-
ped places, and the hands then gloved.
  The following is taken from the Geor-
gia Medical Companion, October, 1870:
  A perfectly safe and effectual remedy
for chilblains is, Mr.  Skey says, obtain-
able in the employment of  laudanum,
taken internally in very small  doses, of
from  two drops for young children, night
and  morning, up  to six or  eight  for
adults.  It is in such quantities perfectly 
PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
313
harmless, and, as a rule, will effect a cure
in the course of four or five days.
  Dr. George P. Rugg, in a letter  to the
Lancet, commends " chloralum " for un-
broken chilblains.  It should be applied
undiluted, night and  morning, using a
moderate amount of friction.
  The following recipes appeared  in the
Pharmaceutical Journal:—
    B   Glycerine,  3 iij.
        Tinct. of arnica, 3 j.
        Spirit of camphor, 3 ss.
        Rose-water, 3 j.
  To be well rubbed in, night and morn-
ing.
  Dr. Dewar's Lotion :—
B  Sulphurous  acid,  Glycerine, aa, 3 j.
    Distilled water, 3 ij.
      B  Lin. belladonna,  3 ij-
          Lin. aconiti, 3 ij-
          Acid, carbolic, 1T\. x.
          Collodion flexile, ad  3 j.—M.
  Apply with a camel-hair brush.
  The above is for  unbroken  chilblains;
if they are broken,  the lin. aconite is  to
be omitted.

         Fever  Mixture.

  The value of aconite in allaying fevers
is apparently not so  completely recognized
by the  profession as  it ought to be, and
having found the following recipes very
useful in allaying fever, and  iu control-
ling it, when not dependent upon a deep-
seated   cause,  I offer them here.—[Ed.
N. R]
Take of Tincture of aconite root, gtt. xxiv.
        Sweet spirits of nitre, f 3 ij.
        Solution (or  mixture) of citrate
           of potash, f ~ iv.
  Mix.  S. Tablespoonf ul every one, two,
or three hours.
  This  formula, containing  two drops
of the tincture of aconite root  to  the
dose,  should be given cautiously, and
every hour only in urgent  cases which
can  be very carefully watched.   Many
women will scarcely bear it given every
two  hours.   The  following  formula is
more generally applicable and safer :—
Take of Tincture of aconite root, gtt. xii.
        Sweet spirit of nitre, f 3" ij-
        Solution (or mixture) of citrate
          of potash, f 1 iij.
  Mix.  S. Tablespoonf ul  every one or
two hours.
  Where there is much restlessness with
the fever  the  following formula is very
useful:—
Take of Tincture of aconite root, gtt. xii.
        Sweet spirit of nitre,
        Comp. spirit of nitre, aa f 3 iss.
        Camphor water, f 3 iij.
        Morphiae sulph., gr. ss.
  Mix.   S. Tablespoonful  every one or
two hours.

Van   den   Court's   Pills  for
              Chordee.
  Take of Extract of belladonna, gr. ij.
          Lupuline, grs. xij.
          Camphor, gr. xij.
  Mix and make into eight pills.
  S. Take from two to four  at  night.—
London Lancet.

 Formula for Vesical Catarrh.
    Fluid extract buchu,
        "      "   uva ursi,  aa  3 ss.
        "      "   gelsemium,  3j.  M.
  S. 50 drops five times daily.—Dr. T. C.
Miller, Journal of Matci'ia Medica.

Iodide of  Iron and Cod-Liver
                 Oil.
  Dr. I. Cummiskey commends the fol-
lowing formula as affording a stable com-
pound, of a beautiful dark-red color:—
Take of Iodide of Iron, gr. lxiv.
        Ether sulphuric, q. s.
         Cod-liver oil (clarified), Oj.
  Dissolve in  a mortar the iodide of iron
in a slight excess  of ether, and  add the
oil gradually, stirring with the  pestle
rapidly until  the  mixture is complete.
Keep in a tightly-corked bottle.
  The  proportion here given is half a
grain of the iodide to one drachm of the
oil; the  dose is  from f 3 i. to f I ss.—
Philadelphia Medical Times,~Kov. 15,1871. 
314
PRESCRIPTIONS AND  FORMULAS.
        G-astralgic Pills.
Take of Extract of belladonna, 0.30 grm.
        Sulphate of quinia, 2.00 grm.
        Extract of valerian, q. s.
  Mix and divide into fifteen  pills.
  S.  One to be taken three times a day.
—Zeitschrift des Allgemein. Oester. Apothe-
her-Vereines, October 20, 1871.

         Cure for Corns.
  Bathe the feet well in warm water, then
with a sharp instrument pare off as much
of the com as can be done without pain
or causing it to  bleed, and dress once  a
day with the following salve :—
  B  Black oxide of copper,  gr. xv.
     Lard, § ss.  M.
     —Chemist and Druggist, Nov. 15.

Salve  for  Chapped Lips and
              Hands.

  Take of White wax, two ounces.
          Spermaceti, one ounce.
          Oil of almonds, four ounces.
          Honey,  two ounces.
          Essence  of bergamot, quarter
            of  an ounce, or any other
            scent.
  Melt  the  wax  and spermaceti; then
add the honey, and melt all together,  and
when hot add the almond oil  by degrees,
stirring it till cold.

   Carlo  Parvesi's  Styptic.
    Take of Collodion, 100 parts.
            Carbolic acid, 10 parts.
            Tannin (Pclouse's), 5 parts.
            Benzoic acid (from gum), 5
              parts.
  Mix the ingredients in the order above
written, and agitate until perfect solution
is effected.  This preparation has a brown
color, and leaves on evaporation a strong-
ly adherent pellicle.  It  instantly coagu-
lates blood, forming a consistent clot,  and
a wound rapidly cicatrizes under its pro-
tection.— Carlo Parvesi. {American Jour-
nal of Dental Science.)
       Depilatory Powder.
Take of quicklime, gram. xxx.
        Yellow sulphate of arsenic, gram.
          ii.
        Starch  in  powder, gram. xxiv.
  Mix.  To  use this powder, it  is only
necessary to  dissolve it  in a small quan-
tity of water, and  apply it to the spot
from which we  desire to remove the hair.
From one to two minutes are sufficient to
produce this result.—Lb'pertoire Pharma-
ceutique.— Georgia Med.  Companion.

              Powder
For excessive perspiration of  the hands
and feet:—
         Carbolic acid, 1 part.
         Burnt  alum, 4 parts.
         Starch, 200 parts.
         French chalk, 50 parts.
         Oil of  lemon, 2 parts.
  Make a fine powder, to be  applied to
the hands and  feet, or be sprinkled in-
side of gloves or stockings.—Pharmaceu-
tische Centralhalle.—Georgia  Med. Com-
panion.

       Glycerine  Cream.
  Receipt for chapped lips:—
Take of Spermaceti, four drachms.
        White wax, one drachm.
        Oil of almonds, two troy ounces,
        Glycerine,  one troy ounce.
  Melt the spermaceti, wax, and oil to-
gether, and when cooling stir  in the gly-
cerine and perfume.—Geoi'gia Med. Com-
panion.

         Styptic Cotton.
  Dr. Jas. Cummiskey commends {Phila.
Med.  Times, Jan. 1, 1872) the following
modification of Dr. Ehrle's formula:—
  Take cotton of the  best quality; boil
in a  weak solution of soda (four per
cent.)  for about  an hour;  wash with
cold  water; press  out  and dry.  Then
steep the cotton in Liquor ferri sulphatis
(diluted  one-third); press  and air-dry;
after which pick to pieces. 
PRESCRIPTIONS
AND FORMULAS.               315
        Wine of Myrrh.
  Dr. Delioux de Savignac, in a paper of
some length on myrrh {Bulletin General
de Therap., Dec,  1871),  commends the
following formula:—
Take of Myrrh (choice pieces) 20 grammes
         (306 grs.).
       Bitter orange peel, 15 grammes
         (245 grs.).
       Malaga wine, 1 litre (1.75 pints).
  Allow to macerate ten days, and filter.
  Two tablespoonfnls are to be  taken
before  or  after eatirg, at the moment
when the pain is expected to occur.

Catechu and Opium as an As-
       tringent  in Gleet.
  Dr. R. Locke Johnson  extols, for the
cure of gleet,  an  astringent injection
composed of:—
  R  Tinct. opii............  3 j.
      Tinct. catechu.........  3 ss.
      Mist, acaciae...........  § ij.
  M.—To be used twice daily.
  He relates one case in which the dis-
charge  ceased  after the  second appli-
cation, and  did  not return.—Medical
Press and Circular, Aug. 23, 1871.

    Antiherpetic Solution.
             (PURDON.)
Take of Chromic acid, 4  grammes (61.3
          gr.)-
        Distilled  water,  30  grammes
          (460 grs.).
  Dissolve.
  This solution  is to be  used as a local
application in  tinea tonsurans, tinea cir-
ciimata, sycosis, and other parasitic affec-
tions.—L1 Union Medicate.

    Tonic  Febrifuge "Wine.
               (OROSI.)
Take of Yellow cinchona  bark.  6 parts.
       Gentian root........) eacn
       Bitter orange peel. • •  f  4 parts.
       Chamomile flowers..  >
       Spanish wine.......  250 parts.
  Macerate eight days and filter.
  Dose:  From 60 to 100 grammes per
day when the  fever is broken.—L' Union
Medicate.

     Formula for  Cystitis.
  The following is used by Prof. Gross
to relieve the  irritation of the bladder
produced by the presence of a stone:—
  R  Uvae Ursi...........3 j. ;
      Sodae Bicarb........3 iij.  M.
  S.   Add to one and a half pints of
boiling water, and take a wineglassful
two  or three times daily.—Phila. Med.
Times.

        Strumous  Otitis.
  Prof.  Gross  practises  the  following
treatment:—
  After the ear is well washed out with
tepid water, the  following solution will
be applied with a camel's-hair  brush,
once daily, until the discharge is ma-
terially lessened;  and after that  every
third or fourth day, as the case may re-
quire :
  R   Argent.  Nit..........gr. x.;
      Aquae...............f 3 j.  M.
  A  blister will  also  be applied behind
the ear, to be renewed every eight or ten
days.
  This patient  will also take in pill form,
three times daily,—
R  Ext. cinchonae..........gr. ij.;
    Ferri iodid.............gr. \ ;
    Hydrarg.  cldor. corros. . gr. -fa.   M.
  The diet will be unstimulating, yet at
the same  time nutritious and easy of di-
gestion.   All red meats and coffee should
be forbidden ;  but oysters, eggs, poultry,
milk, tea, stale bread,  and fresh fruits
may  be liberally partaken of.  The pa-
tient will also  take ample exercise in the
open air, guarding from cold by wear-
ing flannel next to the skin.—Phila. Med.
Times.

     Rochard's  Ointment.
  This preparation is used by Dr. Dubois
(Lecturer on Diseases of the Skin, Uni- 
316               PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
versify of Pennsylvania,) as a mild caus-
tic to remove non-syphilitic condylomata
or warts:—
  B  Iodini pulv............gr. vij.;
      Hydrarg. chlor. mit.....3i.;
      Adipis................§ ij-
  Misce.  Fiat unguentum.

   Formula for Tapeworm.
  Dr. S. Q. Knight says  {Phila.  Med.
Times, Jan. 1,1872) :—My friend Dr. Ed-
win Morris,  of Spalding,  England, has
used  areca-nut with success.   I have
found kameela successful in cases occur-
ring in my own practice in which other
remedies have failed.
  Mrs. A.,  aged fifty-six,  suffered from
tape-worm, and had been treated at dif-
ferent times  by means of purgatives, with
liquid diet,  emulsion of pumpkin-seed,
oil  of turpentine, and oil  of male-fern,
but without the desired effect, although
small portions of the worm were passed.
When I saw the patient for the  fourth
time, I ordered the following:—
  B  Kameelae..........? ss.;
       Syrupi simplicis.. . . f § j.  M.
  S.—Take a tablespoonful at a dose.
  Next morning, having taken one dose,-
the patient passed  a  tapeworm fifteen
feet in length.  The remaining dose pro-
duced no effect.  The  patient recovered
her health,  and has remained well for
two years.
  Two  other cases, having  the same
symptoms, were  treated by me with ka-
meela, and both terminated successfully.

Sulpho-Carbolate of Soda  in
            Scarlatina.
  Dr. J.  B. Crawford, of Wilkesboro'
{Trans, of  Med.  Soc.  of  Pennsylvania),
says :—" Scarlatina   occurred in  almost
every section of Luzerne county,  varying
much in severity in different cases and
localities, but seldom evincing a marked
malignancy of character.  In addition to
the better-known remedies, the  sulpho-
carbolate of soda has been used with very
satisfactory results  in  the treatment.  I
take this occasion to strongly recommend
its  use to those practitioners who have not
yet tested its efficacy in the treatment of
this  disease.   In about thirty  cases of
scarlatina, of average severity, I have re-
lied  almost exclusively upon this article,
and  have been highly gratified with the
results.   To a child of three years of age
I would give one  and a half to three
grains, every two hours,  during the con-
tinuance of the more severe symptoms of
the disease.  It is generally readily taken
by the patient and  well tolerated by the
stomach when thus prepared:—
   B  Sodae sulpho-carbolat.. 3 ij.
      Aquae pur*..........f 3 iv.
      Syr. aurant. cort......f 3 ij.  M.
  Sig. A teaspoonful to be given once
in two to four hours.—Medical Cosmos.

 Chills  and Fever Remedies.
  Ringler's fever tincture, in use  in the
Austrian Military Hospital, is prepared as
follows:—
  Take of Aloes...........  + ounce.
        Camphor...........  4 scruples.
        Orange peel and ele-
          campane  root,  of
          each.............  8 ounces.
        Bruise and digest with
          alcohol, 80 p. c___10 pints.
for eight days ; then express and add
        Sulphuric acid dilute. 12 ounces.
        Sulphate of quinine.. 6    "
        Tinct.  opii  crocat.
          (Sydenham's Laud-
          anum) ...........  11   "
   Two  drachms of  this  tincture is given
three hours before the expected paroxysm,
with short diet.  On the  7th, 14th, and
18th day after the  last  attack, the same
dose is given;  seldom  fails.   The fol-
lowing is said to be the formula for War-
burg's Fever Drops:—
   Take Aloes,
        Radix zedoar, of each.l  drachm.
        Camphor,
        Croci, of each.......5  grains.
        Alcohol dilute......8 ounces.
   Macerate  for several  days,  filter,  and
add
        Quinine sulph.......\ drachm.
   F. sol.; dose, four  to six teaspoonsful
during the day.—Druggists' Circular. 
PRESCRIPTIONS AND  FORMULAS.
317
 Gelsemium in Irritable Blad-
                 der.
   Dr. W. S. Hill commends, in the Ameri-
 can Journ. Med. Sciences (Jan. 1), gelsem-
 ium in cases of irritable bladder.  He com-
 bines it with  carbonate of potash when
 the urine is acid,  and the bromide when
 nervous symptoms are present.   Thus:—
     R  Potassii bromid.....  gr. iv.
        Potass, carb.........  gr. iij.
        Extr. gelsem. fl......  Tit x.
        Muse.............  | ij.
   M.   S.  Take every sixth hour.

           Quinine Pills.
   Dr.  Ewart  {Indian Medical  Gazette,
 Nov. 1, 1871) commends the following
 method as forming soluble  quinine pills,
 which may be made to contain 5 grains
 each,  and yet not  be above ordinary size.
    Take of quinine........... q. s.
   Triturate well  in a mortar  until the
 crystals are thoroughly  broken up, and
 then rub up with  a saturated solution of
 citric acid, and divide into pills of the
 required size.

 Solution for Pruritus Vulvae.
   The  following  is commended by Mr.
 McGrath as almost a  specific.
 Take of Biborate of soda........3 ij.
        Hydrochlorate of morphia gr. xx.
        Hydrocyanic acid.......3 j.
        Glycerine..............f § j.
        Distilled  rose-water.....f 3 viij.
   To be applied freely with  a soft sponge
 morning and evening, the  parts having
 been previously  well  washed.— Canada
 Lancet.

    Cream  of  Otto  of Rose.
     Spermaceti...........5 oz.
     White wax...........2£ oz.
     Oil of almonds........1 lb.
     Rose-water...........6 oz.
  Melt the wax and spermaceti in the oil
with gentle heat,  transfer the whole to a
mortar previously warmed  and capable
of holding at  least four times the quan-
tity. Commence  to stir  with a pestle of
 hard wood,  using  a bone spatula, and
 never cease stirring nor change the direc-
 tion until the manipulation is complete.
 In  a short time  commence to add  the
 rose-water slightly warmed, and then stir
 more briskly.  When the creamy consis-
 tence is obtained add 20 drops of otto de
 rose, but the  ointment should be quite
 cool  before this  is  added.  The cream
 should  be covered  and  set aside for a
 night; and if any watery globules are ob-
 served to be stirring, let them be pressed
 out.  This preparation will not keep over
 a month at  the  longest.—Chemist and
 Druggist.

 Treatment of  Seborrhcea  Ca-
               pitis.
         (pityriasis capitis.)
  Dr.  Louis  A.  Duhring writes as  fol-
 lows:—
  The first thing to be done in these cases
 is to remove the masses of desiccated se-
 bum and epidermis.  This is accomplished
 by saturating the hair with olive oil, re-
 taining it on the head over night, and
 then  washing thoroughly with the  fol-
 lowing :—
     B Saponis viridis.... § iv.
       Alcoholis.........f 3 ij.  Misce.
  This preparation is known as spirit us
 saponis lalinus.
  If the amount of secretion be not great,
 the use of  oil may  be dispensed with.
 The way of applying the preparation is
 to take a small flannel rag, wring it out
 in hot water,  and  pour ujaon it about a
 teaspoonful of the spirit, which is to be
 rubbed  into the head, adding a small
 quantity of  warm water  from  time  to
 time, so as to form a lather. This " sham-
 pooing " process is to be continued for ten
 minutes, when the head may be washed
 with pure water and thoroughly dried.
  The application is to be made morning
and  evening,  and  may have to be con-
tinued for some time.  When the scales
have been  entirely removed, some such
mixture as the following oil  must be
ordered:— 
318
PRESCRIPTIONS
AND FORMULAS.
  B Acid, carbolici.......3 ss.
    01. ricini,
    Alcoholis..........aa f | ij. Misce.
  Sig.—Apply after washing.
  The object of this application is to re-
lieve the dryness and contraction of the
skin and hairs resulting  from the use of
the spiritus saponis kalinus.—Phila. Med.
Times.

Muriate of Ammonia in Bron-
   chitis, Catarrhal Pneumo-
   nia, etc.
  In obstinate acute bronchitis after the
first intense stage, in catarrhal pneumonia
both of children and adults, in bronchor-
rhcea, and also in ordinary chronic bron-
chitis,  I have obtained  more apparent
good from the use of muriate of ammo-
nia than a^y other remedy.   Of course
other secondary measures are to be vigor-
ously used—counter irritants, poultices,
support or diminution of food supply,
etc., etc., as the case may call for.  The
following, the  best formula for giving
the muriate with which I am acquaint-
ed, is as.follows:—
  Take of Ammonia muriat. .. 3 ij.
          Extr. glycyrrhiz. . .. 3 j-
          Mucil. acaciae,
          Aqua..............aa f § iij.
  M. S. Tablespoonful for an adult every
two hours—teaspoonful for a child a year
old, every  three hours.
  Sometimes,  however, the patients ob-
ject to  the mixture of  sweet and salt,
preferring the following :—
  Take of Ammonia muriat.... 3 ij.
          Aqua................f 3 vi.
  Dose  as before.
  Where the  cough is  very  annoying,
^„th of a grain of sulphate of morphia,
or 10 to 15 minims of tincture of hyoscy-
amus, may be added to each dose.
  In bronchorrhcea, the following may at
the same time be used by inhalation twice
or thrice daily :—
  Take of Sat.  solution of alum,  \ vj.
          Tr. hyoscyam........§ ss.
    M.                 (Ed. N. R.)
M.  Delioux's  Mercurial Col-
  lodion for the Prevention of
  Pitting by Small-Pox.
Take of Collodion, 30 gram. (460 gr.)
        Venice turpentine, 1.50 gram. (23
          gr-)
        Corrosive sublimate, 0.30 gram.
          (4.6 gr.)
  Mix.  When the subject is young, less
of the sublimate to'be used—0.20 gram.for
from 10 to 15, less for under 10 years of
age.   When the disease is very violent in
the adult, or the application be made late,
0.40 gram, may be used.   The collodion is
kept in a bottle, with a mouth sufficiently
large to allow a r-amel's-hair brush the size
of the finger to be used, and is to be
freely applied to the whole surface of the
face, and  a second coat is  to be given
where  the movements  of  the   mouth,
eyes, etc., cause  the first to crack, and
also  where the pock is  apt to be most
thickly produced.  If the contraction of
the collodion gives pain a few drops of
castor oil should be added to it.—Rev. de
Therap. Medico-Chirurg., Jan. 15, 1872.

Muriate of Ammonia in He-
              patitis.
  Dr. J. L. Hill derived great benefit from
use of the following, in  a severe, obstin-
ate case of hepatitis:—
   B Ammoniae muriatis. .. 3 iij.
     Tr. cimicifugae.......3 iiss.
     Aquae...............3 ij-  M.
  Sig.—Teaspoonful four  times  a day;
all other treatment discontinued.— Oregon
Med. and Surg. Journal.
  (The muriate of ammonia alone would
probably have answered  as wTell and have
been much more elegant.—Ed. N. R.)

    Chloral in Combination.
  Dr. I. E. Bowers commends the follow-
ing:—
    B  Chloral hydrate, grs. xxx.
        Tr. opii., gtt. xx.
        Potass, bromidi, grs. xv.
  This dose was  given to three  patients. 
PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
319
They went to sleep in. about fifteen min-
utes, slept all night, and greater part of
next day; they could be easily aroused to
take food, but would almost  immediate-
ly turn over  and go to sleep again.  As
there were no  bad symptoms they were
allowed to sleep till the effect passed off,
and the patients were found much bene-
fited by the long rest.
  In another case the following was em-
ployed :—
  Make an aqueous solution of the salt
grs. x.  ad 3 j. and of this take at a dose:
  R Sol. chloral hydrate,  3 ij— 3 vj.
     Tinct. hyoscyami, 3 j— 3 ij-
     Syr. simpl. vel rhei aromat.,  3 ij.
     Aquae purae, 1 ss— § j.
  (These doses of chloral  are excessive.
 —Ed. N. R.)—North  Western Medical and
 Surg. Journal, Dec,  1871.

 Vaginal Suppositories in Ul-
    ceration of the Os Uteri.
  Between the intervals of cauterization,
 vaginal suppositories will prove  useful
 adjuvants.   They  may  be  used   every
 night or alternate night by being pushed
 up  to the  cervix at bed-time by the
 patient.  These I have usually directed
 to be made of ungt. hydr. nitrat. with ex-
 tract of belladonna, and occasionally a
 drop of carbolic acid, the whole in cap-
 sule.   A very  good formula  for  these
 suppositories is:—
     B Ungt. hydrargyri nitr.  3 j-
       Acid, tannic.........3 j.
       Ulmi pulv..........q.s.    M.
  Ft. suppos. vj.
  S.—One to be used at bed-time.
  If the ulcer is irritable, or much pain is
 experienced, an anodyne may be added;
 as morphia or extract belladonna.   In a
 case where the ulceration is slight it may
 be  entirely  cured by these suppositories
 in connection with the free use of vaginal
 ablutions.—Dr. T. C. Smith,  Med. and
 Surg. Reporter, Jan. 20, 1872.

       Phosphorus Pills.
  The following formula for  the admin-
istration of phosphorus originated with
Dr. Radcliffe.  Take of phosphorus, six
grains; suet, six hundred grains;  melt the
suet  in  a stoppered bottle  capable  of
holding twice the  quantity indicated;
put in the phosphorus, and when liquid,
agitate the mixture until it becomes solid,
divide into three-grain pills, and cover
with gelatine.  Each pill will  contain
one thirty-third part of a grain of phos-
phorus.

Formula for Tapeworm (Su-
             vacher).
Take of Castor oil, 60 grammes (15 3
          by weight).
        Oil of turpentine, 15 grammes
          (3.8 3).
        Gum  arabic,  15  grammes
          (3.8 3).
        Mint water, 60 grammes (15 3).
        Simple   water,    30 grammes
          (7-6 3)-
  Mix, and make a potion to be taken
early in the morning at  one draught.—
L' Union Medicate.

   Cod-Liver  Oil Disguised.
  M. H. Duquesnal states that in the fol-
lowing  formula  the cod-liver oil  is so
masked that it   cannot be smelled  or
tasted, provided  the light oil be used.
In a closed bottle the preparation keeps
indefinitely; exposed to  the air it  loses
after a time its aromatic odor, regaining
the sensible qualities of cod-liver oil.
Take of Cod-liver oil.........100 parts.
        Essential  oil of Euca-
          lyptus .............1 part.
  Mix.  Dose 1 to 10 grammes.
—Bulletin  General  de Therapcut.,  Dec.
30, 1871.

     Pills of Iron and Mint.
  Take of sulphate of iron..  6 gram.
      Powder of soap......0.45 gram.
      Oil of mint.........  1 gtt.
      Gum tragacanth.....0.06 gram.
  Mix and divide into 6 pills.— Journal
de Pharm., Dec, 1871. 
320
PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
  Granulated Cod-Liver Oil.
  M.  Sissier  claims for the  following
preparation many advantages:—
Take of White gelatine.......   4 grms.
       Distilled water.......  25  '
       Simple syrup.........  25
       Finely powdered sugar. 50  "
       Pure cod-liver oil.....  50
  The gelatine should be cut and placed
in a wide-mouthed bottle ; the water and
syrup added,  and the whole heated in a
water-bath until dissolved.   The  cod-
liver  oil and  the sugar should  next be
well rubbed up together in a mortar, and
then the warm solution of gelatine stirred
in, the stirring being continued until the
mixture is quite cold.
  After some time  the mass will present
the appearance of  a dense homogeneous
jelly ; it is then necessary to  add a  suffi-
cient  quantity of finely-powdered sugar
to form a  firm paste, weighing 250 grams.
The paste is spread upon a marble slab,
divided into  small pieces and left for
some hours to harden.  It is then divided
into  small pieces  the size  of  a lentil,
which, after  further drying, become suf-
ficiently firm to allow of granulation in
a mortar.  The drying of this granulated
powder is accomplished on  a stove at a
temperature of 30° to 35° C.  The  pro-
duct  will contain one-fifth of its weight
of cod-liver  oil.   It  should be kept in
well-closed bottles.—Journal de  Pharma-
cie et de Chemie.

    Reduced Iron Lozenges.

Take of Reduced  iron......  10 parts.
         Refined   sugar,  in
           powder..........250 parts.
         Gum acacia, in pow-
           der.............  15 parts.
         Mucilage  of  gum
           acacia..........  30 parts,
         Distilled water.... a sufficiency.
   Mix the iron, sugar, and gum, and add
 the mucilage and water to form a proper
 mass.   Divide into  lozenges,  each of
which shall contain one grain, or 6.4 con-
tigrams of reduced iron.  Dry them in a
hot-air chamber with a moderate heat.—.
Pharm. Journal.

 Tannic Acid Suppositories.
Take of Tannic acid..........  36 parts.
       Benzoated lard.......  44 parts.
       White wax___ ......  10 parts.
       Oil of theobroma.....  90 parts.
  Melt the wax and  oil of theobroma
with a gentle heat, then add the tannic
acid and benzoated lard, previously rub-
bed together in a mortar, and mix all the
ingredients thoroughly. Pour the mix-
ture wliile it is fluid into suitable moulds
to f orm suppositories, each of which shall
weigh about 15.4 grains,  or 1  gram.—
Pharmaceutical Journal.

     Guaiac with an Alkali.
           BY CHAS. SYMES.
  The following formula  represents a
common  prescription:—
  R  Tinct. guaiaci........ ? ss.
      Pot. bicarb........... 3 ij-
      Spt. aether, nit....... 3 iij-
      Aquae ad............ § vj.  M.
  Now mix these ingredients in whatever
order you please,  and the resin will de-
posit in lumps, partly floating and partly
adhering to the sides of the bottle, and
no amount of shaking will  distribute it
evenly through the mixture again.
  If, however, the  proportionate quan-
tity of powdered guaiacum (12 grains to
 3 j) be first rubbed with a portion of the
water, and in finishing the mixture the
proportion of spirit equivalent  to the
tincture  be added, a homogeneous and
tolerably elegant  mixture is formed, the
powder being easily  distributed through
the fluid when required, even after it has
been prepared some time.—Pharmaceuti-
cal Journal.
  In a subsequent number of the same
journal G. Wilborn states that there is nc
difficulty whatever in making the mixture
in the following way :—1st, fit a cork to
the bottle intended to hold the mixture; 
PRESCRIPTIONS
AND FORMULAS.
321
2d, weigh the potass, bicarb, and put it
into the bottle; 3d, add to it § v. of dis-
tilled  water;  4th, measure  the tincture
and spirit together; 5th. pour these into
the bottle, taking care that it falls clearly
into the water, etc. (this is important for
insuring a fine  division of the  resin);
6th, immediately cork and  shake for a
second or two; 7th, fill up with distilled
water.   When first made,  the mixture
has a dirty drab appearance, changing in
two or three  hours to a bright green.
The precipitated resin is so finely divided,
that after standing seven hours, it mea-
sured  3 iij., and at the end of three days
occupied a bulk of § ij. The supernatant
liquid is a clear brownish-yellow color ;
there is  not the slightest  adhesion of
resin to the glass, and the  precipitated
resin is  at once  diffused  through  the
liquid by agitation.

Pills of Croton Oil and Opium.
Take of Croton oil........   1 drop.
        Pulverized opium.0.03 gramme.
        Bread crumb.....0.10   "
        Mucilage of tragacanth, q. s.
  Make into one pill.— Journ. de Pharm.

   Formula for Chloroform.
Take of Chloroform...........  % parts.
       Oil of sweet almonds.. .  3   "
        Syrup of acacia.......40   "
  Mix and agitate thoroughly.
  Dose: Teaspoonful  every 15  minutes.
—Revue de Therap. Medico-Chirur., Jan.
1, 1872.

Carbolic and Tannic Acid In-
    jection for Gonorrhoea.
  Mr. Jno. Ashmead praises most highly
the  following  formula originally pro-
posed by Mr. Wood:—
    Take of Carbolic acid,
           Tannic acid, aa grs. viij.
           Glycerine.. . f § ss.
           Water......ad f § j.
  S. Use as an injection.
            21
Treatment    of    Rheumatic
           Ophthalmia.
  In a  paper of some length on  rheu-
matic ophthalmia, in the Rsvue de Thera-
peut. Medico-Chirurgicale,  Jan.  1,  1872,
Dr. Tavignot states that  early in the dis-
ease he orders the following formula:—
  Take  of Glycerole of starch. .60 parts.
          Veratria............  1 part.
  Mix.  S. Make circumorbital frictions
with a  small quantity of this.   To re-
lieve the pain and promote absorption he
has the  skin above the eye pricked mi-
croscopically with the needle of  Baun-
scheidt, or the rouleau of needles of M.
Matthieu.
  Internally he gives the following pills
two to four times a day:—
Take of Veratria,
        Extract of opium,
        Extract  of hyoscyamus, aa 0.10
          gramme (1.58 gr.).
  Mix and make into 20 pills.
  When the disease is chronic he uses the
following:—
Take of Sulphate of quinia, 2 grammes
           (30.7 gr.).
        Powdered  colchicum seeds  1
           gramme (15.34 gr.).
        Extract of digitalis,  0.25 centi-
           grammes (3.8 gr.).
  Mix  and make into  20 silver-coated
pills.  Two to four daily.

         Phenol Sodique.
     (BY E. WILDMAN, M.D., D.D.S.)
  This preparation of carbolic acid is de-
servedly quite popular with the medical
and dental professions.  Its composition,
so far as I have ascertained, has not been
made public.  The following  formula is
the result of numerous experiments, and
will give  an article that will compare
favorably  with the  best French phenol
sodique :—
Take of Carbolic acid in crystals, 188 grs.
        Caustic  soda.......... 31  •'
        Pure water. 4 fluid oz.  Mix.
  The carbolic acid should be free from 
322
PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
offensive odor, such as is  prepared for
medicinal purposes.  When first mixed
it is nearly colorless, but in time assumes
a wine color;  does not deposit any tarry
residue, as is too often found in the com-
mercial article.   Carbolic  acid  has  a
feeble action  as  an  acid, combining de-
finitely with a very  small portion of al-
kali.  When  the quantity  of soda  used
was just sufficient to neutralize the car-
bolic acid,  the compound did not appear
to be as efficient as the one resulting from
the  above formula.—Phil. Dental Times.


Ethereal Solution of Quinine.

  The following preparation is said to be
especially useful for hypodermic use, be-
ing very concentrated and unirritating:—
Take of Quinia sulphate, 3 vj. -f-gr. xiij.
        Dilute sulphuric acid,
        Aqua ammoniae, aa q. s.
         Stronger ether, fl § xvj.
        Distilled water, q. s.
  Dissolve the  quinine,  dried  at  212°
Fahrenheit previously to weighing, in  a
pint of water, by the aid of sulphuric
acid.   Filter if necessary, and introduce
the solution into a four-pint bottle, add-
ing sufficient water to make it  measure
32  ounces.  Precipitate the quinia from
this solution  by adding aqua ammoniae,
avoiding any excess.  The quantity to be
employed is  best determined by a pre-
liminary experiment, ascertaining the rel-
ative strength of the dilute acid and the
aqua ammoniae.   Use a little more than
double the amount  corresponding to the
quantity of sulphuric acid that has been
found  necessary to  dissolve tlie quinine.
When the mixture is  sufficiently cooled,
pour in 15 fluid ounces of stronger ether.
and agitate till  the whole of the quinia
is dissolved.   It sometimes happens that
the quinia refuses to dissolve readily.  In
such cases  the addition of a few drops
more of aqua ammoniae will bring about
the desired result.  The contents of the
bottle arrange themselves in two distinct
layers,  the upper consisting of the ethe-
real solution of quinia, the  lower, of an
aqueous solution of sulphate of ammonia.
The ethereal solution is to be separated,
and evaporated at a moderate temperature
till reduced to 2| fluid ounces.  To as-
certain the precise strength  of the solu-
tion, evaporate a  few minims to dryness,
and  weigh the  residue.  If it contain
more  than one grain  of  quinia in five
minims a sufficient quantity of ether must
be added to bring it to  that  strength.
The solution is to be kept in well stop-
pered bottles, and should not be exposed
to light.—American Journ. of Pharmacy.

     Antiscorbutic  Syrup.

Take  of  leaves of scurvy-grass (Cochle-
          aria),
        Leaves of water-cress,
        Root  of  the  wild  radish, aa
                          1,000 parts.
        Fresh rind of bitter-
          orange ..........  200  "
        Dried   leaves   of
          buckbean  (Meny-
          anthes).........  400  "
        Very finely powdered
          cinnamon........5,000  "
        Alcohol...........1,600  "
        Water............   800  "
        Sugar about.......5,000  "
   Cut the radish into small  pieces, and
add to it a part of the alcohol, with the cin-
namon and orange peel in shreds.  Allow
to macerate for 24 hours, when the whole
is to be expressed very forcibly through a
linen,  and add  the rest of  the  alcohol.
Allow the resultant to stand in a  tall
vessel.  Add to the buckbean double its
weight of  boiling  water, and triturate
with  the scurvy-grass  and water-cress.
Express, and add the sugar, heating by
means of a water-bath, and when cold
strain through flannel.  Decant the alco-
hol from the tall vessel carefully, so as to
avoid  mixing the precipitate which has
formed, and  add the spirits to the ex-
pressed juice.  To every 100 grammes of
the liquid add 160 grammes of  sugar.—
La Sante Publique, Dec. 14,  1871. 
PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
323
Antiscorbutic  Conserve
          (Cadet).
equal
parts.
Leaves of Cochlearia Officinalis..
        Water-cress..........
        Buckbean (Menyanthes
          Trif oliata).........
        Cochlearia Armoracia. J
Juice of horse-radish.
Juice of  Seville  orange (Citrus Bigara-
  dia).
White sugar, q. s.
  Make into a conserve.
  Dose, 3 to 15 drachms two or three times
a day.—Jeannels Formulaire.

Antiscorbutic  Juice (French
             Codex).

Take equal parts  of fresh   leaves  of
    Cochlearia Officinalis,
    Water-cress,
    Buckbean,
  Put into a marble mortar and beat into
mass.  Express the juice and filter.

Antiscorbutic  Beer  (French
             Codex).

Take fresh leaves of
   Cochlearia Officinalis...........   3
        "      Armoracia......   6
   Young shoots of Abies Pectinata   3
   Becent beer.................. 200
  Macerate for four days, agitating from
time to time, and then express.


      Carbolic  Acid Pills.

Take of Carbolic acid......   3 drops.
       Soap powder.......  0*70 gram.
       Lycopodium.......  006  "
       Powder  of  gum tra-
         gacanth .........  q.  s.
  For six pills.  The first two ingredients
make a semi-fluid mass that the lycopo-
dium does not absorb, but which acquires
firmness upon the addition  of the gum
tragacanth.—Journal de Pharmacie et de
Chimie.
     Resolvent Pommxda.
Take of iodide of lead 2 prts. by weight.
       Neapolitan
         Ointment.. .  3  "
       Lard........10  "
  Mix together.  To be used as an un-
guent in commencing periostitis night and
morning.   Each application to be fol-
lowed by a poultice of bread and milk.
—I? Union Medicate.

Jeannel's  Laxative   Powder.
Take of Tartrate of soda and
          potash...........   50 parts.
       White sugar......... 100   "
       Bicarbonate of soda..   22   "
       Powdered tartaric acid  20   "
       Oil of lemon.........  q.  s.
  Dose—A teaspoonful in  sweetened
water.—Jeannels Formulaire.

         Creasote  Pills.
Take of Creasote...........  1 drop.
        Soap powder.......  025 gram.
        Crumb of bread....  0'20   "
        Lycopodium.......  005   "
  For six pills.  The soap powder forms
with the creasote a homogeneous mass, to
which the crumb of bread gives plasticity.
  Or, better still—
Take of Creasote...........  3  drops.
        Crumb of bread___  0*60 gram.
        Lycopodium.......  0-06
        Mucilage of gum tra-
          gacanth .........  q. s.
  Make into six pills, each of which con-
tains half  a drop of the active  constitu-
ent.__Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie.

Benzoic Acid Potion for Chro-
   nic Catarrh, Uric Acid (Bou-
   chardot), Gravel,  etc.

Take of Acid, benzoic, 5 gram. (77 gr.)
        Mucilage  of  acacia. 125 gram.
          (36i 3 -)
   The whole  to be taken in the course of
the day in tablesooonful doses.— JeanneTt
Formulaire. 
324
PRESCRIPTIONS AND FORMULAS.
  Benzoic Acid  Mixture (Bou-
             chardot).
Take of Benzoic acid...... 1 to 5 gram.
        Phosphate of soda ...  10  "
        Distilled water...... 100  "
        Simple............  30  "
  M. The whole to be taken in the course
of the  day; useful in gravel.—Jeannels
Formulaire.

    Malherbi's Vin Digestif.
Take of Bordeaux wine of cinchona bark.
                            100 parts.
        Sirop  thebaique.....  30  "
        Pure hydrochloric acid  1  "
  Two to six tablespoonfuls in the indi-
gestion of old people with foul eructations,
where there is reason to  suppose diges-
tion is imperfect  from want  of gastric
juice.—V Union Medicate, Dec. 23, 1871,

Anti-dyspeptic Pills (Sass and
             Lincoln).
Take of Sulphate of quinine..  1 "5 gram.
                             (23 grs.)
        Pepsine..... 7 gram. (107 grs.)
        Extract of absinthium, q. s.
  Make into 40 pills.
  Two  pills  to be taken after eating by
persons suffering from functional disturb-
ance of  the stomach, in  pyrosis, gastral-
gia after eating, and especially where the
digestion of nitrogenous matters is sup-
posed to be enfeebled.

Dr. H. Hartshorne's  Cholera
             Remedy.
Take of Chloroform........"]
        Tinct. opium......
        Spts. camphor.....\ aa f. 3 iss.
        Spts. ammonia, aro- 11
          matic...........J
        Creasote............. gtt. iij.
        Oil of cinnamon...... gtt.  viij.
        Brandy............. f 3 ij.
  Mix.  Dilute  a teaspoonful with a
wine-glass  of water, and give two  tea-
spoonfuls every five minutes, followed by
a lump of ice.

A Rapid Method of Preparing
      Mercurial  Ointment.
  M. Lucien Lebeuf  states that the  fol-
lowing process yields a preparation in all
respects identical with the mercurial oint-
ment of the Codex.
Take of Ether...............  4 grms.
        Benzoin............. 20   "
        Oil of sweet almond..  5   "
        Dissolve and filter.
  Put  1 kilogramme of  mercury in a
wide-mouthed glass-stoppered  jar of 0
to 6 times  capacity of  the mercury and
tincture.   Add the tincture and shake
briskly,  from time to time removing  the
stopper  to  allow the vapor of ether to
escape.  When the mercury has been  re-
duced to an exceedingly fine powder,  de-
cant the major part  of  the' supernatant
liquid, and again shake vigorously until
a gray mass is obtained, having the con-
sistency  and unctuosity of an ointment.
This stage of the  preparation is a very im-
portant one, and  care must be exercised,
as the more the mercury is divided the less
time will its extinction in the fat require.
Take then  920 grammes of lard and 80
grammes of wax, and melt them together
with a mild heat.   When the mixture is
cold, put a  little of it in a mortar, and
put on it the divided mercury.  Immedi-
ately  triturate vigorously,  rinsing fre-
quently  the bottle which has contained
the mercury with a part of the decanted
tincture, adding it each time to the con-
tents of the mortar.   After a  vigorous
trituration  of from 40 to 50, the ether
should be  evaporated and the mercury
extinguished.  The remainder of the lard
may be  now  added, and the whole well
triturated for from 15 to 20 minutes.—
Revue de Therapeut.  Med.-Chir. Feb. 1,
1872. 
fl)art  5.
GENERAL    RECEIPTS
Essence of  Moss Rose.
    Otto Rose, 3 iss.
    Ess. Ambergris, § iiss.
    Ess. Musk, §j.
    Alcohol, 3 xv.
    Aq. Rosae Cone,  § x.
        —London Pharm. Journal.
      Aniseed Cordial.

    B  01. Anisi, 3 ss.
       Sacch. Alb., 1 ij.
       Syr. Simpl., §iij.
       Sp. Vin. rect., 3 viij.
       Aq. destHL, § xxx.

 The oil to be weU rubbed with the
sugar;  add the water gradually; mix
the remaining ingredients, and filter.
    Fumigating  Pastilles.
1—Take Benzoin..........  2 ounces.
       Balsam of Tolu,
       Yellow Sandal-wood, of
         each...........  4 drachms.
       Nitre.............  2 drachms.
       Labdanum.......  1 drachm.
       Charcoal..........  6 ounces.

  Mix with a solution of gum  tragacanth,
and divide the mass into pastiUes, cone-
shaped, and dry them in the air.  The
foregoing  is the formula  of the Paris
Codex.
2—Take Benzoin............4 ounces.
        Cascarilla........ \ ounce.
        Nitre and Gum Arabic,
          of each......... 3 drachms
        Myrrh............ 1 drachm.
        Oils of Nutmeg and
          Cloves, of each... 25 drops.
        Charcoal.......... 7 ounces.
  All in fine powder.   Beat them to a
smooth mass with cold water, q. s., and
form into small cones and dry in the air.
—Druggists' Circular and Chemical Ga-
zette.

          Hair Wash.
     R  Glycerine, Iij.
        Tincture of Myrrh, 3 j.
        Cologne, §j.
        Tincture of Cantharides,  f ss.
        Distilled Water, § xxiv.
     M.
            —Pharmaceutical Journal.


           Hair Dye.
          No. 1 Solution.
        Argent. Nitr. Cryst.,  3 j.
        Gum Acaciae,  3 j.
        Aq. Destillat., § ij.
M.
M.
  No. 2 Solution.

Acid. Pyrogallic, gr. iv.
Aq. Destil., 3 ij.
E. Asttn. 
326
GENERAL RECETPTS.
    Artificial  Fruit Essence.
          Pineapple Essence.
 Chloroform.........1 part (by volume)
 Aldehyde..........1  "
 Butyrate of ethyl___5  "
 Butyrate of amyl... 10  "
 Glycerine...........3  "
 Alcohol..........100  "

          Raspberry Essence.
 Nitric ether.........1 part.
 Aldehyde..........1  "
 Acetate of ethyl.....5  "
 Formiate of ethyl.... 1  "
 Butyrate of ethyl___1  "
 Benzoate of ethyl... 1  "
 Enanthylate of ethyl. 1  ''
 Sebacic ether.......1  "
 Salicylate of methyl. .1  "
 Acetate of amyl.....1  "
 Butyrate of amyl.... 1  "
 Tartaric acid.......5  "
 Succinic  acid.......1  "
 Glycerine...........4  "
 Alcohol..........100  "

          Strawberry Essence.
 Nitric ether.........1 part
 Acetate of ethyl.....5  "
 Formiate  of ethyl___1  "
 Butyrate of ethyl___5  "
 Salicylate of methyl. 1  "
 Acetate of amyl.....3  "
 Butyrate of amyl___2  "
 Glycerine.......... .2  "
 Alcohol..........100  "
             —The Druggists' Circular.

          Fine  Blue Ink.
  Take of yellow prussiate of potassa 10
 parts, dissolve in 160 parts of pure distill-
 ed water; gradually and while stirring
 add  to  that  solution a mixture of five
 parts of a solution of perchloride of iron
 (sp.  gr. 1.480)  and 160 parts  of water.
 The  ensuing precipitate is coUected on a
filter, and washed with distilled water
until the wash-water begins to assume a
blue color, after  which the precipitate,
 which  was  then  become  completely
 soluble in distilled water, is dissolved by
 400 parts of that water.
         —Dr. Dikgler,  Chemical News,
from Polytechnische Journal, Von Dingier.

             Amandine.
   Bitter almonds (blanched), 4 oz.
   Beat them in a mortar with a small
 quantity to  a smooth paste,  and add :—
   Orris root, in fine powder.
   Soap, in fine powder, each 1 oz.
   Glycerole of starch,    "  2 oz.
   Clarified honey,        "  1 oz.
   Oil of bitter almonds,    5 drops.
   Oil of lavender,          i fl.  drm.
   Oil of bergamot,         1  fl. drm.
   Tincture of cochineal, q. s. to color.
     Mix.
   Or,
   Blanch 12  oz. of bitter almonds, and
beat them  in  a  mortar  with a  small
quantity  of rose or other water to a
smooth paste;  then add 7 oz. of rice
flour, 3 oz.  of bean flour, 1 oz. of  orris
powder, and when perfectly mixed, | oz.
carbonate of potash, dissolved in rose-
water;  again beat  together, and  add 3
oz. of  spirituous essence of  jessamine, 2
drops  of  oil  of rhodium,  and one of
neroli.
                           Bearles.
     Or,
   Take of fine  pale honey (or  strong
syrup)  4  oz.,  white soft  soap made
from lard and potash, 2  oz., mix them
thoroughly in a Wedgewood mortar, ad-
ding, if  necessary, two  or three  tea-
spoonfuls of solution of potash, so as to
produce   a   thoroughly  homogeneous
paste. To  this add and rub in by degrees,
and very gradually,
   Oil of almonds, 3£ lbs.
Previously mixed and scented with
   Essential oil of almonds.
   Essence of bergamot, of each, 3 fl drms.
   Oil of cloves,
  Balsam  of Peru, of each 1| drm.
And continue the  trituration until the
whole assumes the appearance of  a rich 
GENERAL RECEIPTS.
327
transparont jeUy.   Finally, put the paste
into pots or wide-mouthed, bottle.
  [NOTK.—The balsam ought to be triturated with a
little of almond oil, warm before adding to it the rest,
and, after all the scents are added, the oil should be al-
lowed to settle for two or three days, and the clean
portion only used.]
  In using, a lump of amandine, the size
of a large pea, is rubbed with a few drops
of waiin water, and the rich, white lather
applied to the hands, face, neck, etc.  In
a short time the skin may be wiped with
a soft napkin.
   —Pharm. Journal and Transactions.
Syrups for Mineral Waters.

  The  following formulae for mineral
water syrups are from the  Druggists'
Circular:
  1.        Simple  Syrup.
    White sugar........10 pounds.
    Water............. 1 gallon.
    Isinglass (best)..... £ ounce.
    (Or, the white of an egg.)  ''
  Dissolve the isinglass in hot water, and
add it to the hot syrup.   The syrup is to
be made with gentle  heat, and then
strained.
  2.         Lemon Syrup.
  Grate off the yeUow rind of lemons,
and beat it up with a sufficient quantity of
granulated  sugar.   Express the lemon-
juice, add to each pint of juice 1 pint of
water and 3i pounds of granulated sugar,
including that rubbed  up with the rind;
warm until the sugar  is dissolved, and
strain.
  3.        Another  Formula.
    Simple syrup........1  gallon
    Oil of  lemon.......25 drops.
    Citric acic..........10 drachms.
  Rub the  oil of lemon with the acid,
add a small portion of syrup, and mix.

  4.        Another Formula.
  Dissolve 6 drachms of tartaric acid and
1 ounce of  gum-arabic, in pieces, in one
gallon of simple syrup; then flavor with
li fluid drachm of best oil of lemon. Or,
flavor with the saturated tincture of the
peel in Cologne spirits.

  5.      Strawberry Syrup.
    Strawberry juice.....1 pint.
    Simple syrup........3 pints.
    Solution of citric acid
      (see below).....2 drachms.

  6.      Another Formula.
    Fresh strawberries... 5 quarts.
    White sugar........12 pounds.
    Water.............  1 pint.
  Sprinkle some  of the sugar over the
fruit in layers, and aUow the whole to
stand for several hours;  express the juice
and strain, washing out the pulp with
water; add  the remainder of sugar and
water,  bring the  fluid  to the point  of
boiling, and then  strain.  This will keep
for a long time.
  7.      Raspberry Syrup.
    Raspberry juice......1 pint.
    Simple syrup........2 pints.
    Solution of citric acid. 2 drachms.
  Raspberry syrup may  also  be made in
a way similar to No. 6 for strawberry.

  8.        Vanilla Syrup.
    Fluid extract  of va-
      nilla................1 ounce.
    Citric acid..........i ounce.
    Simple syrup......1 gallon.
  Rub the acid with some of the syrup,
add the extract of vanilla, and mix.
  9.    Vanilla  Cream Syrup.
    Fluid extract  of va-
       nilla .............1 ounce.
    Simple syrup........3 pints.
    Cream  (or condensed
       miUs:).............1 pint.
   May be colored with  carmine.

   10.        Cream Syrup.
    Fresh cream.........i pint.
    Fresh milk..........i pint.
    Powdered sugar......1 pound.
   Mix by shaking, and keep in a cool
place.  The addition of a few grains of
bicarbonate  of soda will for some time
retard souring. 
328
GENERAL  RECEIPTS.
11.       Ginger Syrup.
   Tincture of ginger... 2 fl. ounces.
   Simple syrup........4 pints.

12.       Orange Syrup.
   Oil of orange.......30 drops.
   Tartaric acid.......  4 drachms.
   Simple syrup.......  1 gallon.
Rub the oil with the acid, and mix.

13.     Pineapple Syrup.
   Oil of pineapple.....1 drachm.
   Tartaric acid.........1 drachm.
   Simple syrup___.....6 pints.

14.     Another  Formula.
   Pineapple juice  (by
    expression).......  1 gallon.
   Sugar..............15 pounds.
  Fruit acid (see below)  2 ounces.

15.      Orange Syrup.
  Cream syrup.........1 pint.
  Vanilla syrup........1 pint.
  Oil of bitter almonds.4 drops.

16.      Nectar Syrup.
  Vanilla syrup........5 pints.
  Pineapple syrup......1 pint.
   Strawberry, raspberry,
    or lemon..........2 pints.

17.      Sherbet Syrup.
  Vanilla syrup........3 pints.
  Pineapple syrup......1 pint.
  Lemon syrup........1 pint.

18.       Grape  Syrup.
   Brandy.............\ pint.
   Spirits of lemon.....\ ounce.
   Tinct. of red sanders.2 ounces.
   Simple syrup........1 gaUon.

19.      Banana Syrup.
   Oil of banana.......2 drachms.
   Tartaric acid.........1 drachm.
   Simple syrup........6 pints.

20.       Coffee  Syrup.
   Coffee, roasted.......i pound.
   Boiling  water.......1 gallon.
   Enough is filtered to make  one-half
gallon of the infusion, to which  add
     Granulated sugar___7 pounds.

   21.     Wild Cherry Syrup.
     Wild cherry bark (in
       coarse powder).... 5 ounces,
   Moisten the bark with water and let it
stand for twenty-four hours in a  close
vessel.  Then pack it firmly in a  percola-
tor, and pour water upon it until one pint
of fluid is obtained.
  To this  add,
     Sugar..............28 ounces.

  22.   Winter-Green  Syrup.
     Oil of winter-green..25 drops.
     Simple syrup....... 5 pints.
     Burnt sugar (to color)  q. s.

  23.     Sarsaparilla Syrup.
     Oil of winter-green. .10 drops.
     Oil of anise.........10  "
     Oil of sassafras......10  "
    Fluid ext. of sarsa-
      parilla........... 2 ounces.
    Simple syrup........5 pints.
    Powdered   ext.  of
      liquorice.........\ ounce.

  24.  .Another Formula.   {ParrisKs.)
    Simple syrup........4 pints.
    Comp. syrup  of  sarsa-
      parilla............4 fl. ounces.
    Caramel.............Ii    "
    Oil of winter-green.. .6 drops.
     Oil of sassafras......6  "

  25.       Maple Syrup.
    Maple sugar.........4 pounds.
    Water..............2 pints.

  26.     Chocolate Syrup.
    Best  chocolate.......8 ounces.
    Water..............2 pints.
    White sugar.........4 pounds.
  Mix the chocolate  in water,  and stii
thoroughly over a slow fire.  Strain, and
add the sugar.

  27.   Coffee Cream Syrup
    Coffee syrup.........2 pints.
    Cream..............1 pint 
GENERAL  RECEIPTS.
329
 28.     Ambrosia Syrup.
   Raspberry syrup......2 pints.
   Vanilla syrup.......2   "
   Hock wine..........3 ounces.

 29.  Hock and Claret Syrup.
   Hock or claret wine.. 1 pint.
   Simple syrup........2 pints.

 30.      Solferino Syrup.
   Brandy.............1 pint.
   Simple syrup........2 pints.

 31.        Fruit Acid.
     (Used in some of  the syrups).
   Citric acid..........4 ounces.
   Water..............8    "
 Most of the syrups not made  from
fruits may have a little gum-arabic added,
in order to produce a rich froth.
 N.  B.—Fruit essences and  juices  may
be obtained from various dealers, such as
Hance Brothers & White, of Philadelphia.
Baking Powders.
R
      Sodae bicarb.  § xvj.
      Pulv. acid. tart. § xiv.
      Pulv. magnesiae carb. § vj.
      Pulv. farinae,  § xij.  M.
  Rub through a sieve.

  R  Pulv. acid. tart. § viij.
      Pulv. sodae bicarb.  § ix.
      Rice flour, § x.  M.
  A  teaspoonful to every  pound  of
flour.
  R  Sodae bicarb. 1 lb.
      Farinae, 1 lb.
      Pulv. alum, £ lb.
      Magnesiae carb. i oz.
  Dry in oven separately.  Magnesia may
be put on the flour.   Scotch farina an-
swers  best.

  R  Sodae bicarb.  16 oz.
      Acid. tart, exsiccat. 8 oz.
      Rice flour, 12 oz.
  Rub together.—Pharm. Journal and
Trans.
          Waterproofing.
      Bisulph.  carbon. § ij.
      Gutta percha, § ss.
      G. asphalt.  § ij.
      Brown amber,  § ss.
      Linseed oil,  § xij.
  Dissolve  the  gutta  percha  in the
bisulph. carbon,  the asphalt  and ambei
in the oil, and mix  well.


Test  for  the Genuineness of
         Silver  Plating.
  In the January number of Polytechnis-
che Journal, Von Dingier, occurs the fol-
lowing  simple  test by Prof. Boettger:
The metaUic surface is carefully cleaned,
and a drop of a cold saturated solution
of bichromate of potash in nitric acid is
placed upon it, and immediately washed
off with cold water.  If the surface is
silver, a blood-red  stain of chromate of
silver is formed.   On German silver or
Britannia ware  a  black or brown spot
results.

    Ink—Extemporaneous.
To the Druggists'  Circular :
  If you should ever be in a hurry about
black ink, the following recipe wiU give
you one of good color, and  permanent,
too:—
  Take Acid, tannic,
         "  gaRic aa..........gr. xx.
Dissolve in
      Water.....................2 oz.
  Ferr.  sulph. cryst.,
    "   subsulph.  sice.  (Monsel's salt),
                            aa gr. xv.
Dissolve in
      Water....................2 oz.
Mix the two solutions, and add
    Mucilage...........2^ fl. drachms.
    01.  cloves..........2 drops.
  The above ink is none of the cheapest,
being about $1 per gallon;  but  for my
own use I prefer it to every other.
       Very respectfully yours,
                       Polyhistor. 
330
GENERAL RECEIPTS.
 On the  Preparation of Kou-
                miss.
   According to Dr. A. Oberstein, koumiss
 may be prepared as follows:  Take a day's
 milk and dilute it with a sixth part of
 water  and an  eighth part of very sour
 cow's milk.  An earthenware vessel, great-
 er in height  than width, is about two-
 thirds filled with the  mixture, and cover-
 ed with a wooden lid or cloth.   Place in
 a warm place for twenty-four hours, after
 which whisk the milk well, and again
 allow to stand  quietly for  twenty-four
 hours ; whisk again most thoroughly, till
 the whole is of a uniform consistency;
 the koumiss is  then  ready.   Before use
 the koumiss must be beaten or  whisked
 up.  It may be preserved many months
 in a cellar.— Year-Booh of Pharmacy.

 Mucilage of Gum Tragacanth.
     B  Pulv. tragacanth, 3 i.
        Glycerine, 3 vi.
        Aqua,  ad |  x.
  Rub the tragacanth with the glycerine
 in a mortar, and then add the water.  This
 will produce a mucilage at once, without
 the objection of bubbles incident to agi-
 tation.               H. E.  Godfrey.


 A New and Cheap Method of
   Preparing Pure Dextrine.
  For this purpose 500 parts of potato-
 starch are mixed with 1,500 parts of cold
 distilled water and 8 parts of pure oxalic
 acid, and this mixture placed in a suitable
 vessel on a water-bath, and heated until a
 small sample tested with iodine  solution
 does not produce the reaction of starch.
When this  is found  to be the case, the
vessel is immediately removed from the
water-bath, and the  liquid  neutralized
with pure carbonate of lime.  After hav-
ing been left standing for  a couple of
 days, the liquor  is filtered, and the clear
filtrate evaporated upon a water-bath un-
til the mass has become quite  a paste,
 whieh is removed by a spatula, and, hav-
ing been made into a thin cake, is placed
upon paper and  further dried in a warm
place.   Two  hundred and  twenty  parta
of pure dextrine are thus attained.—Bos-
ton Journal of Chemistry. ■


    Colors for Show-Bottles.
                 Red.
  1. Liquid magenta dye, q. s.
  This is a  good color, stands well, and
can always be deepened by addition  of
more magenta.
  2. Iodine,  1  part.   Potass, iodid., 1
part.  Dissolve in a little alcohol and use
as required.
  3. Dissolve cochineal in liq. ammoniae
by aid of gentle heat.  A beautiful color,
but liable to fade.
               Purple.
  Plumbi acetas, 24; cochineal, 1 part.
                Pink.
  Cobalt,  nitras: ammon.  carb.  (in ex-
cess).   Very pretty.
               Yellow.
  1. Potass,  bichrom., 6 parts;  potass.
carb., 4 parts.
  2. Potass, chromas, q. s   Both these
are fine and permanent colors.
               Canary.
  Picric acid dissolved in a little alcohol.
               Orange.
  Potass, bichrom., q. s.  Sulphuric acid
deepens the color.
               Green.
  Dissolve a  few copper coins in nitric
acid.  Very permanent.
           Emerald Green.
  Nickel  dissolved  in dilute sulphuric
acid by heat.  Very  beautiful and per-
manent color.
                Blue.
  Cupri sulph., 2 paits; acid, sulph., 1
part.
             Royal Blue.
  Cupri sulph., dissolve and add liq. am-
moniae to the required shade.— Year-Book
of Pharmacy. 
GENERAL  RECEIPTS.
331
    Preservation  of Eggs.
  R   Quick-lime, salt,  aa 1 lb.
      Saltpetre......... 3 oz.
      Water............ 1 gallon.
  Boil for 10  or 15  minutes, and when
cold  put in the eggs, small end down-
wards, using a vessel lined with lead, and
placing in a cold, dry ceUar.— Year-Booh
of Pharmacy.

         Curry Powder.
    Coriander............  8 parts.
    Curcuma.............  6  "
    Black pepper.........4  "
    Ginger..............  2  "
    Fcenum Graecum......  2  "
    Cayenne pepper.......  i  "   .
    Cumin seed..........  i  "
— Yierteljahrschrift fur prahtische Phar-
macie.

     Preservation of  Beer.
  According  to Habich and Von Fleck,
beer as well  as wine can be caused to
keep well by simply heating for a little
time to the temperature of 50° C.—Ibid.

 To  make  Water-proof  Glue.
  One ounce  of  gum sandarac and one
•.ranee of mastic  are  to be dissolved to-
gether in a pint of alcohol, to which an
ounce of white turpentine is to be added.
At the same  time a very thick glue is to
be kept  ready, mixed with a little isin-
glass.  The solution of the resins in alco-
hol is to be  heated to boiling in a glue-
pot,  and the glue added gradually with
constant stirring, so as to render the
whole mass  homogeneous.   After the
mixture is strained through a cloth, it is
ready for use, and is to be applied hot.
It dries quickly  and becomes very hard,
and surfaces of wood united by it  do not
Beparate when immersed in water.—Jour.
of App. Chem.
detection of Cotton in  Linen
              Tissues.
  Zimmermann proposes to discover cot-
ton in linen tissues by dipping the sam-
ple for eight  oi ten minutes into a mix-
ture  of two parts of  nitric and three
parts  of sulphuric acids.  If cotton  be
present, gun-cotton,  which  can  be ex-
tracted by a mixture of alcohol and ether,
would be formed in this manner.  Better
than this, and really excellent for tissues
that  are not dyed, is Frankenstein's  oil
test.   A sample of the goods is dipped
into  olive or colza oil, which is  eagerly
absorbed by the fabric.  The sample is
then pressed between pieces of  unsized
paper, in order to remove the excess of oil.
If the tissue consists of mixed fibres, it
will now appear striped, the linen threads
having become  transparent,  and  appear-
ing lighter than the cotton threads, which
remain unchanged.  If  the prepared sam-
ple, on the other hand,  be placed upon a
dark  surface, the linen threads  appear
darker than those of the cotton.   In this,
as in all other tests mentioned heretofore,
it is advisable to  pull out a few threads
from the edge of the sample before pro-
ceeding with the experiment.
  The microscope affords to its possessors
a very convenient test, all  the  various
fibres  having very distinctive physical
characteristics as seen by it.—The  Tech-
nologist.
 Red Fires  without Sulphur.
  The ingredients must be perfectly dry,
and be well mixed.  They may be burned
in open pans, or packed in paper moulds.
   R  Nitrate of strontia. . 4 parts.
      Rosin............. 1 part.
      Chlorate of potassa. 1  "
   Gives a nearly orange-colored light.
   B  Nitrate of strontia. 24 parts.
      Chlorate of potassa. 16  "
      Lycopodium......  3  "
      Sugar of milk.....  2  "
   This gives a large, powerful, somewhat
orange-colored flame.
   R  Chlorate of potassa. 12 parts.
      Nitrate of potassa..  5  "
      Sugar of milk.....  4  "
      Lycopodium......  1 part.
      Oxalate of strontia.  1  "
   Gives a rose-colored flame.—Druggists1
 Circular. 
332                      GENERAL
RECEIPTS.
         Cologne Water.
            First Quality.
    Pure  alcohol.......  6 gallons.
    Oil of neroli........  4 ounces.
     "  " rosemary.___  2   "
     "  " orange.......  5   w
     "  "citron.......5   "
     "  "bergamot....  2   "
  Mix  with  agitation; then aUow it  to
stand for a few days perfectly quiet be-
fore bottling.
           Second Quality.
    Pure  alcohol.......  6 gallons.
    Oil of neroli........  2i ounces.
        " rosemary.....  2   "
        " orange-peel...  4   "
        " lemon.......4   "
        " bergamot___4   "
  Treat in the same way as the first.
  The  quality  of the product of course
depends upon  that  of the oils  used.—
Druggists' Circular.

        Sachet Powders.
          1. Violet Sachet.
Take Black currant leaves.......1 lb.
     Cassia flower-heads........1 "
     Rose leaves..............1 "
     Orris-root powder.........2 lbs.
     Oil of almonds...........i dr.
     Grain musk..............1 "
     Gum benzoin, in powder.. .i lb.
  Mix  the ingredients well by sifting;
keep them in a glass or porcelain jar for
a week before offering for sale.
        2. Millefleurs Sachet.
Take Lavender flowers, ground... 1 lb.
     Orris root................1 "
     Rose leaves...............1 "
     Benzoin.................1 "
     Tonka beans..............i "
     Vanilla..................i "
     Sandal-wood.............J "
     Musk....................2 drs.
     Civet....................2  "
     Cloves, ground............% lb.
     Cinnamon................2 ozs.
     Allspice.................2  "
              —Druggists' Circular.
       Vanilla  Pastilles.
  Pastilles which give out the scent of
vanilla may  be thus prepared:—Galba-
num, twenty-four parts; cloves, sixteen
parts; vanilla, thirty-two parts; essence
of cloves, one part; and essence of va-
nilla, sixteen parts;  all the ingredients
being well powdered and  mixed into a
mass of mucilage of gum arabic.  Liquid
compositions of a  similar nature may
also  be prepared, of which a small quan-
tity may be poured into a saucer and ig-
nited.   A fluid of  this kind may  be
formed of gum benzoin, thirty-two parts;
gum galbanum, twenty-four parts; and
bruised cloves, seventeen parts. The ma-
terials are to be well broken up into
fragments and put into a stoppered bot-
tle, with a sufficient quantity of rectified
spirits of wine to dissolve the gums.  The
vessel must be kept in a warm place for
some time, until the benzoin and galba-
num  are dissolved,  and then the  clear
liquor should be decanted into another
bottle, and preserved for use.—Household
Guide.

       Magnolia Water.
  Thev materials must be  of  the  best
quality.
R  Spirit,  ext.  of  orange-flower
     pomatum................  1  pint
   Spirit,  ext. of rose pomatum..  2  "
     "    "of tuberose poma-
     tum  ....................  i  "
   Spirit,  ext. of violet poma-
     tum.......•.............  i  "
   Oil of  lemon........... 3 drachms.
      "   almonds.........10 drops.
               —Druggists' Circular.

     Jockey-Cluh Bouquet.
R  Ess. iridis................  § v.
   Ess. cassiae..............\
   Ess. tuberose.............>  aa 3 x.
   Ess. ambergris...........)
   01. bergami................  3 ss.
   Otto of rose.............     3 i
   s.v.r.............'.'..'.';;  |Xiv. 
GENERAL RECEIPTS.
333
  M.  The Ess. iridis is made by adding
1 pint of S.  V. R. to a pound of orris
root in coarse powder, allowing to stand
a month, and pressing off, or by percola-
tion.— Year-Booh of Pharmacy.

  A  Wash to  remove Grease
        and other Spots.
  The following recipes are based on dif-
ferent principles, the one to remove the
spots by dissolving the  grease, the other
by first acting on it chemically:—
Take of Benzine...............20 oz.
        Alcohol (strong).......  5  "
        Ether.................. 2 drs.
        Ammonia............. 1 dr.
            Javelle Water.
 Take of Bleaching powder.....  1 oz.
        Carbonate of potassa...  1 "
        Water................33 "
  Triturate the bleaching powder in the
 cold with 25, ounces of water, then add
 the carbonate of potassa, previously dis-
 solved in the rest of the water, shake well
 and let it settle.  The supernatant liquor
 is filtered if necessary, and mixed with
 one ounce of hydrochloric acid, when it
 is ready for use.—Druggists' Circular.

 Pomatum for  Chapped Lips.
 Take of Lard................16 parts.
        Cacao oil............24  "
        Spermaceti........... 8
        Yellow wax.........3  "
        Alcannae root......... 1  "
  The substances are fused for a quarter
 of an hour at a gentle heat, then strained
 through a cloth and mixed with
  Oil of lemon,
  Oil of bergamot, S3..........£ part.
  Oil of bitter Almonds........h  "
 When the  mass is poured into  suitable
 vessels to cool.

 Wash  for  the  Gums —Eau
   Dentifrice—(Eau  de Botot.)
  This  is a  French  preparation, as the
 name indicates, and is put up in the fol-
 lowing way:—
Take of Anise-seed...........  80 parts
        Cloves,
        Cinnamon, 55.........  20  "
        Oil of peppermint.....  10  "
        Cochineal...........   5  "
        Vanilla.............   1  "
        Rectified spirits.......800  "
        Rose-water..........200  "
  Digest for about a week and filter; then
add of Essence of  amber......   1 part.
A few drops in a glass of water, to rinse
the mouth with.—Druggists' Circular.

   Castor Oil and Glycerine
            Pomatum.
R Cerae albae..................§ iss.
    Glycerinae..................3 ij.
    01. ricini..................§ xij.
    Ess. limonis................3 v.
    Ess. bergam................3 ij.
    Ess. lavandulae.............3 i.
    01. caryophyl...............gtt x.
    Annatto....................gr. x.
    Spirit, rect. )...........a.
    Aquae destil. )
  By a  moderate  heat dissolve the wax
in a small portion  of the castor-oil (one-
fourth), and triturate it with the remain-
der of  the oil and  the  glycerine  till
quite cool; then add the volatile oil and
essences.  Lastly, rub the annatto with a
drachm of water till smoothly suspended,
add a drachm of alcohol, and stir the
coloring into  the  pomade till  it is thor-
oughly mixed.  Avoid much heat.

Preparation for the Cure of
            Baldness.
Rum.......................500 parts.
Alcohol...'................. 75
Distilled water.............. 75
Tincture of cantharides.......  3
Carbonate of potash..........  3
Carbonate of ammonia.......  5
  Mix the liquids  after having dissolved
the salts,  and  filter.  After the skin of
the head has been wetted with this pre-
paration for several minutes, it should be
washed with  water.—Journal  de Phar- 
9 O (
GENERAL
RECEIPTS.
          Liquid Glue.
  F. W. S. says{Sci. American):  "Fill a
vessel (I use a glass jar) with  broken up
glue of best  quality,  then fill it with
acetic acid.  Keep it in hot water for a
few hours, until the glue is all melted,
and  you will have an excellent glue
always ready."

 Ganteine for Cleaning Kid
             Gloves.
White soap.................250 parts.
Water......................155   "
  Dissolve with heat, cool, and add—
Eau de Javelle..............165 parts.
Solution of ammonia......... 10   "
  The whole to be ground together until
a smooth paste is formed.  A little of this
is rubbed over the  glove with a piece of
flannel.—New York Druggists' Circular.

      Cement for  Marble.
  Sift plaster-of-Paris  through  muslin,
and mix it with shellac dissolved in alco-
hol or naphtha.  As soon as mixed apply
quickly, and squeeze out as much of the
composition as possible, wiping off that
which squeezes  out before it sets.  The
cement will hold better if the parts to be
joined be roughened by a pointed tool
before cementing.   This  can be done
without breaking  off  the edges  of  the
fractured  parts.  Plaster-of-Paris used
with  white of egg also makes  a good
cement, but it must be used with expedi-
tion.—Sci. American.

To make Artificial Marble for
  Paper  Weights  or  Other
  Fancy Articles.
  Soak plaster-of-Paris in a  solution of
alum; bake it in an oven, and then grind
it to a powder.   In using, mix  it with
water, and tc* produce the  clouds and
veins stir in any dry color you wish; this
wiR become very hard, and is  susceptible
of a very high polish.— Sci. American.
   New Bleaching  Liquid.
  A  new substance for bleaching wool
and silk, according to a French patent of
Frezon, very efficiently replaces the old
process.   This mixture answers well for
silk in all states, and also  for raw, spun,
or woven wool.  It is composed of 4 lbs.
oxalic acid, 4 lbs. common salt, and 200
quarts of water.  The goods are placed
therein for one hour, and then washed
in the river.—Technologist,  May,  1871,
from Musterzeitung far Faerberei, 1870.

 Cement for Glass  Syringes.
  Resin,  two parts; gutta-percha, one
part; melt together over  a slow fire, ap-
ply hot, and trim with a hot knife.—Ibid.

To  remove Nitrate of Silver
      Stains from Cloth.
  Nitrate of silver stains are most effect-
ually removed from white cotton or lin-
en cloth by applying to it a dilute solu-
tion  of  permanganate of potash  and
hydrochloric  acid,  which is to  be fol-
lowed by washing with hypophosphite of
soda  and  plain water.  This  process
renders the use  of  the highly poisonous
cyanide   of  potassium  unnecessary.—
Journal of Applied  Chemistry.

 The Effect of Climate  and
         Soil  on Plants.
  As an example of the effect of  a trop-
ical climate and soil on British cultivated
plants and  their products, may be men-
tioned the  fact of  the introduction of
some peppermint plants from the  Mitch-
am fields into a plantation at Singapore.
After being planted in their new tropical
home, in a situation fully  exposed  to the
sun,  they grew very well, but not to  the
height they grow in this country;  more-
over, they refused to flower, and almost as
soon as they had arrived  at full growth
they dried up, having an  appearance of
being burnt.  They were  also found to
yield not more than half the usual quan-
tity of essential oil, and that of a dark
claret color  and of an inferior odor.—
Gardeners' Chronicle. 
GENERAL
RECEIPTS.
335
New  Quantitative  Test  for
         Sugar in  Urine.
          Knapp's Solution.
  M. C. Knapp proposes, in the following
formula,  to take advantage of the power
of glucose to completely reduce an alka-
line solution of. mercury:—
  Take of pure dry cyanide  of mercury,
            x. grammes.
          Water, q. s.
          Solution  of caustic soda (sp.
            gr. 1.145), 100 cubic cent.
  Dissolve the cyanide in such quantity
of water, that when the solution is added
it will make one litre.
  In testing,  take 100 cubic centimetres
of this solution and add sufficient of the
urine to  completely reduce the mercury.
The amount of glucose contained in such
quantity  will be  100 milligrammes.   In
order to know when the mercury is com-
pletely reduced, as the urine  is carefully
added, a  drop of the fluid should from
time to time be put on white paper, and
a little weak solution of sulphuret of am-
monia be added; if the mercury has not
been fully reduced the drop will be turned
brown.
  This test is said to be better than that
of Fehling,  because the fluid is abso-
lutely permanent  and more easily pre-
pared, and the application is  quicker and
easier.—Bulletin  General  de  Therap.,
Oct. 30, 1871.

     A very Hard Cement.
  Some workmen having used Portland
cement, mixed with finely divided cast or
wrought  iron filings,  in the gardens of
Bev. F.  Moigno, the latter  has noticed
that  the  cement has become  so intensely
hard that it cannot be broken with a ham-
mer or pick.—Les Mondes, Aug. 24,1871.

       Parchment-Paper.
  The use of parchment paper for the pre-
paration  of deeds and other purposes is
increasing very rapidly, and  is replacing
the genuine parchment in a great many of
its applications.  An improved method of
preparing this substance, according to a
late article, consists in using the commer-
cial  oil of vitriol in an undiluted state.
The paper is first pressed through a solu-
tion of alum, and thoroughly dried, previ-
ous to its immersion, thus preventing any
undue  action of the corrosive principle
of the vitriol.  After the application of
the acid the paper is passed into a vat of
water, and then through an alkaline bath,
to be again washed.  Written and printed
paper may undergo this improved process
without materially affecting the clearness
and  distinctness of the letters,  and  the
paper retains  all its qualities, even after
being wetted several times in succession,
while paper prepared in the ordinary man-
ner loses, to a great extent, its pliability
and  becomes hard and stiff.—Harper's
Monthly.

   New Pharaoh's  Serpents.
  A mixture, which in burning gives the
same appearance as the sulphocyanide of
mercury, without being accompanied by-
similar noxious fumes, can be made by an
intimate mixture of two parts acid chro-
mate of potash, one part nitrate of pot-
ash, and three parts of white loaf sugar.
After mixing, this should be moulded
into  pastilles of suitable shape and size,
and kept away from light in a dry place.
If they are to be kept for some time, they
should be covered with a thin coat-of gum-
sandarach.  A small amount of Peru bal-
sam  gives them a delightful odor when
burning.   The resulting ash, in the form
of a serpent, is said to  be an excellent
polishing powder.—American Chemist.

Arsenical Soap for the Preser-
   vation  of  Bird  and  other
   Skins.
  Take of Arsenious acid.....32 parts.
          Dried carbonate  of
            potash...........12  "
          Water.............32   "
          White Castile soap. .32   "
          Pulverized quicklime  4   "
          Powdered camphor..  1   "
  Dissolve  the arsenic and potash in the
water boiling, and add the soap; allow
to cool, and rub the camphor and lime in,
in a mortar.—French Codex. 
336
GENERAL RECEIPTS.
 Brunetti's Method of Preserv-
   ing Cadaver or Anatomical
   parts.
   1. Injection of pure water, to wash out
 the vessels.
   2. Injection of Alcohol at 80°, to drive
 out the water.
   3. Injection of ether, to dissolve the
 fat.
   4. Injection of a 10 to 15 per cent, so-
 lution of tannin.
   5. Desiccation by injection of hot air.
 —Dr.  Jeannel's Formulaire Officinal et
 Magistral.

    To Make Soup Tablets.
   The Chemical News gives us, from the
 German Manuals  of Pharmacy, the fol-
 lowing receipt, by Reinsch, for making
 the soup  tablets so  much  in use in the
 German army during the late war.  The
 formula is as follows:—
   Take eleven parts by weight of good
 suet, melt it in an iron pan, and make it
 very hot, so as to  begin to brown ; add,
 while keeping the  fat stirred, eighteen
 parts of rye meal, and  continue heating
 and  stirring so as  to  make the mass
 brown; add then four parts  of  dried
 salt, and  two parts of  coarsely pulver-
 ized caraway-seed.   The mixture is then
 poured into tin pans, somewhat like those
 used for  making  chocolate into cakes.
 The cakes have the appearance of choco-
 late, and are chiefly intended for the use
 of soldiers while in the field.  A quantity
 of about one ounce of this preparation is
 sufficient to yield, when boiled with some
 water, a ration of good soup, and in case
 of need the cakes,  being agreeable to the
 taste, may be eaten raw.

      Solvents for Indigo.
  The  extensive employment of indigo
makes a new solvent of importance. In the
first place, Venetian turpentine, heated to
the point of ebullition,  dissolves indigo
with the same blue color as does sulphu-
ric acid or aniline.   After cooling, mag-1
 nificent  copper-red  crystals  separate.
 The crystals can easily be freed from the
 solvent by  ether  or alcohol.   Boiling
 paraffin is an equally good solvent.  A
 somewhat  dilute solution  of  indigo in
 paraffin  can with  difficulty be  distin-
 guished from alcoholic solution of fuch-
 sine.   Petroleum dissolves indigo with
 carmine red solution ; so also spermaceti
 and stearic acid, the first with carmine
 violet, the last with blue color.—Drug-
 gists' Circular.

       To Filter Alcohol.
   The following method of filtering al-
 cohol, or its solutions, is  said to be very
 satisfactory, and is used extensively in
 North Germany, where it constitutes one
 of the secrets of the trade.  Clean, un-
 sized paper (Swedish filtering paper is
 the best) is to  be torn into shreds and
 stirred into the liquid to  be clarified.
 The whole is then to be strained through
 a flannel bag, when the resulting liquid
 will be found to possess the utmost clear-
 ness and limpidity.   A filter may also be
 made  by  spreading paper-pulp evenly
 upon  stretched  flannel or woollen cloth.
 When dry, the cloth so  coated will be
 found to give better results than the felts,
 etc., commonly employed  as filters.—
 Druggists' Circular.

 To   get  rid of  Ants from a
              Dwelling.
  Take a large sponge, wash it thorough-
ly, and dry it.  Then place it near the
 ants' hive, and sprinkle white sugar on it.
The  ants  will  soon collect on it, and
make their nests in it.  When they have
settled, the sponge may be thrown in hot
water, and the ants killed by thousands.
By a repetition of this, any place can be
readily cleared  of  these vermin.—Zeit-
schrift des Allgem.  Oesterr. Apotheker-
 Vereines.

        Chinese  Varnish.
  Dr.  V. Scherzer states, in the Bayerischs
Industrie und Gewerbe Blatt, May, 1871, 
GENERAL
RECEIPTS.
337
that the Chinese make a varnish, to which
they  give the name of Schiotiao, in  the
following manner :  Three parts of previ-
ously defibrinated fresh blood are mixed
with four parts of lime and a little pow-
dered alum.  The result is the formation
of a thick glutinous mass, which is ready
for use at once.  It  is chiefly used  for
hardening the surface of wood, and ren-
dering  it perfectly  water-tight.    Dr.
Scherzer states that he has  seen  straw
bags made so tight with it as to be used
for holding  oil,  whilst thin mill-board
painted with it becomes as hard as wood.
—Chemical News, Aug. 25,  1871.

Preventives for the Ignition
       of Woven Fabrics.
  A. Patua recommends the following in
the Bayer. Indust. und  Gewerbe Blatt :
Water, twenty  parts; borax, three; and
sulphate of magnesia,  two and a quarter
parts.  These salts are only to be mixed
just  previous to  their use.   The muslins
or other fabrics  are thoroughly impreg-
nated with the solution, then wrung out,
hung up until  nearly  dry,  and then
ironed.—Chemical News.

         Cologne Water.
Take of Oil of bergamot.....  4 parts.
        Essential oil of cinna-
          mon..............  1  "
        Essential oil of lemon.  4  "
            "      "   citron
          (Citrus Medica)---   4  "
        Essential oil of laven-
          der..............  2  "
        Essential oil of orange-
          flowers............   2  "
        Essential oil  of rose-
          mary.............   2
        Alcohol, at 90°......480  "
        Spirits of rosemary. .. 40  "
        Compound spirits of
          balm  (Melissa Offi- >
          cinalis)...........  60
  Mix, and allow to stand for eight days.
Distil  until 434  parts of spirits are  ob-
tained.—French Codex.
              22
Improved  Mixtures for  Red,
  Green,   and   Blue   Bengal
  Lights.
  J.  N. Braunschweizer commends the
following, in  the  Bayer.  Lid. Gewerbe
Blatt:  For red, nitrate of  strontia, nine
parts;  shellac, three  parts ; chlorate of
potassa, one and a half part.   For green,
nitrate  of baryta,  nine  parts; shellac,
three parts; chlorate of potassa, one and
a half  part.   For blue, ammoniacal sul-
phate of copper, eight parts; shellac, one
part; chlorate of potassa (coarsely pow-
dered), six parts.  These mixtures  can be
used in rooms, as they do not emit, when
burning, any deleterious fumes.—Chemi-
cal News.

     Cologne (Dorvault's).

Take of Alcohol, at 85°___1,750 parts.
        Essential oil of  cit-
          ron (C. Medica)..   12  "
        Essential oil of lem-
          on .............   40  "
        Essential oil of lav-
          ender...........    6  "
        Spirits of benzoin..   45  "
  Mix.  Allow to stand  for twenty-four
hours and filter.—Jeannels Formulaire.

Bouquet de la Reine d'Angle-
          terre (Piesse).
Take of Extract of rose.......56 parts.
            "    violets.....56  "
            "    tuberose.. ..'28  "
            "    orange-flow-
                    ers......14  "
        Essential oil of berga-
          mot............... 7  "
  Mix  and filter.—Jeannel's Formulaire.


Spirits of Patchouly (Piesse).

Take of Alcohol, at 85°......600 parts.
        Essential oil of patch-
          ouly..............   '
        Essential oil of rose..   1  part.
  Mix  and filter.—Jeannels Formxdaire. 
338                     GENERAL RECEIPTS.
    Bouquet de  Foin Coupe
              (Piesse).
 Take of Extr.  of Tonka bean. .113 parts.
        Extract of geranium.  56  "
        Extract  of   orange-
          flowers............  56  "
        Extract of rose......  56  "
            "     jasmine...  56  "
        Spirits of rose.......  56  "
  Mix and filter.—Jeannels Formulaire.

 Artificial  Essence  of  Helio-
        trope (Marquez).

 Take of Vanilla (cut in pieces). 12 parts.
        Alcohol, at 85°.....1,000  "
        Water  of  orange-
          flower..........  125  "
  Macerate for eight days, then filter.—
 Jeannels Formulaire.

        Sachets of Cassia.

 Take of Flowers of Acacia farnesiana,
        Powdered orris  roots,   equal
          parts.
  Mix.—Jeannel's Formulaire.

 Sachet  of Lavender (Piesse).

 Take of Powdered lavender.... 75 parts.
            "    benzoin. ... 20  "
        Essential  oil of laven-
          der ............... 1 part.
  Mix.—Ibid.

 Sachet of Heliotrope (Piesse).

Take of Powdered orris root. 2,000 parts.
            "  rosa centi-
                 folia___1,000  "
            "  tonka bean.  500  "
        Cut vanilla bean...  250  "
        Powdered musk...   10  "
        Essential oil of bit-
          ter almonds......    1 part.
  Pound the musk and vanilla bean  to-
gether, and add the rest.  Pass through a
not close sieve.  An excellent imitation of
heliotrope.—Ibid.
     Sachet a la Marechale
             (Piesse).
 Take of Sandal-wood........280 parts
        Orris root...........280  "
        Rosa centifolia......140  "
        Cloves..............140  "
        Cassia  bark  (Laurus
          cassia)............140  "
        Musk..............  1 part.
   Powder coarsely.—Ibid.

 Sachet for Perfuming Linen.
 Take of Orris root,
        Rosa centifolia, each. 125 parts.
        Orris root,
        Nutmegs, each......  8  "
        Grana moschata (Hi-
          biscus abelmoschus) 15  "
   Powder coarsely and mix.—Ibid.

          Silver Soap.
    Hard  Soap............  8  oz.
    Turpentine............  Ii oz.
    Water................  4  oz.
 Boil until perfect solution, and add
    Liq. Ammonia.........  3  oz.
      —Canada Pharmaceutical Journal.

 Method of Rendering Wooden
   Taps Impervious to Liquids,
   and Preventing their Crack-
   ing.
             DR. E. KOPP.
  The taps are placed in molten paraffine
 heated to from 110° to 120°; by this means
 the water is eliminated from the wood, and
 the wood becomes thoroughly impregnat-
 ed with paraffine. The taps are not remov-
 ed from this  bath until all the aqueous
 vapor has been expelled, and are left, after
the removal of the vessel from the fire, in
the molten liquid up to the very moment
the paraffine begins to solidify. Wooden
taps thus prepared are very  durable, do
not become soaked with liquids, keep very
tight, and are not liable to become mouldy.
The excess of  paraffine is wiped off with
care, and the  taps are next rubbed clean
with a piece of flannel.—Chemical News-
 Canada Pharm. Journal. 
GENERAL RECEIPTS.                      339
     Falling of the  Hair.
  The most satisfactory treatment is the
use  of Tannin,  one and a half scruples;
Adipis,  one  oz.  Oleum  Sabinse, gtt.
v-xxx to one oz. Adipis  has this effect
still more  decidedly, but  causes the hair
to become harsh, stiff, and of a  dirty
color, and has  an  unpleasant odor.  It
sometimes causes severe headache.—Drug-
gists' Circular.

            Soft Soap.
  Boil twenty-five pounds of fried grease
in two pails of  strong lye;  add another
pailful of  hot lye also  on the following
day, if there  is grease  on the top  of the
soap.  Afterwards  add a pailful of hot
water each day  until the barrel is filled.
—Druggists' Circular.

To  Prevent  Polished Mate-
      rials from Rusting.
  The following has been tested and ap-
proved by good authorities:  Put half an
ounce of  solid paraffine  into a  wide-
mouthed glass  bottle, and let it melt in
boiling  water;  then add one and a half
ounce of petroleum ; shake the mixture,
after having  corked the bottle, until  it
becomes a cold ointment.  In using, cover
the metal with it, and wipe off afterwards
the  greater  portion, so that the  polish
will be little affected.  A thin  coat  is
sufficient to prevent polished metals from
tarnishing.—Boston Journ. of Chem.

Shoe-Blacking without  Acid.
  From 3 to 4 lbs. of lamp-black  and i
lb.  of bone-black are well mixed with 5
lbs. of glycerine and treacle.   Meanwhile
2i oz. of gutta-percha are cautiously fused
in a copper or  iron saucepan, and 10 oz.
of olive oil added, with continual stirring,
and afterwards 1  oz.  of  stearine.  The
warm mass is added to the former mixture,
and then a solution of 5  oz. of gum Senegal
in li lb. of water, and one drachm each
of oil of  rosemary and lavender may be
added.  For use, the blacking is diluted
with three to four parts of water.  This
blacking keeps the leather soft and tends
to preserve it.—Boston Journ. of Chem.

          Bottle  Wax.
  The ingredients  are, shellac,  2 lbs.;
rosin, 4 lbs.; Venice turpentine, 2-J- lbs.;
red lead, li lb.  Melt the shellac  and
rosin cautiously in  a  bright copper pan,
over a clear charcoal fire.   When melted
add the turpentine, and lastly, mix in the
red lead. Pour into moulds, or form sticks
on a wrarm marble plate.  The gloss may
be produced by polishing the sticks with
a rag until they are cold.—Boston Journ.
of Chem.

Preventives for the  Ignition
       of Woven Fabrics.
  A. Patera recommends the use of a solu-
tion consisting of water, 20 parts; borax,
3, and  sulphate of magnesia,  2i parts.
These salts are only to be mixed just pre-
vious to use.  The muslins and other simi-
lar fabrics  are  thoroughly impregnated
with the solution, next wrung  out, and
are, after having become nearly  dry,
ironed.   The use of a mixture of sulphate
of ammonia and sulphate of lime is also
recommended.  And, lastly, attention  ii.
called again to the application first rnado
by  Fuchs, so far back as 1823, of a solu-
tion of silicate  of potassa, or soda, foi
rendering wood, and especially theatrical
decorations, fire-proof—that is  to  say,
preventing such from bursting into flame
if accidentally ignited.—Ibid.

          Iron Cement.
  Winkler  has  found that the best iron
cement can be made by preparing a mix-
ture composed  of  16  parts  of clean
wrought-iron filings, 3 parts of pulver-
ized sal ammoniac, and 2 parts of flowers
of sulphur.  This mixture  can be kept in
a dry package  any length of  time, un-
changed ; and when required for use, it ia
better  to reduce one part of it with 12
parts of iron filings, and  enough water,
containing a little of sulphuric  acid, to 
340
GENERAL RECEIPTS.
 form a stiff paste.   When thus reduced
 it must be immediately applied, as it sets
 rapidly.  The author recommends it for
 joining broken pieces of cast-iron, and for
 stopping large  fractures.  For very fine
 work, pure jmlverized iron filings, such
 as apothecaries use, can be substituted for
 the coarse article.—Sci. American.

          To Curl Hair.
   Take two ounces of borax, one drachm
 of powdered gum Senegal, one quart of
 hot water (not boiling); mix, and as soon
 as the ingredients are dissolved, add two
 ounces of spirits of wine strongly impreg-
 nated with camphor;  on retiring to rest,
 wet the hair with the above mixture and
 roll it in papers as usual; leave them till
 morning, when untwist and form into
 ringlets. —Druggists' Circular.

      To Get  Rid of Flies.
  In an interesting  lecture in the Phila-
 delphia Medical  Times, by Dr.  Addinell
 Hewson,  on flies, the author states that
 hanging  about a room branches of the
 May weed or wild chamomile, in flower,
 is sufficient to  expel  the flies, or  even
 strewing  the dried  flowers  about  the
 room will  suffice.   An  equally effica-
 cious remedy is,  imperfectly burning
 black pepper upon a hot shovel.  He has
 also found that throwing a netting  over
 the bed will keep out these pests, even if
 the meshes are an inch in size, provided
 there be not a window or light behind the
 bed.

           To Kill  Lice.
  In the  Philadelphia Medical Times of
 Dec.  1, Dr. Louis A. Duhring states that
the best  method of  getting rid of these
vermin is to saturate the hair with coal
 oil, a teacupful or thereabouts being used
 at bed-time, after which a flannel night-
cap should be put on, and in the morning
the head be thoroughly washed with soap
and wTarm water.  To get rid of the nits
alkaline washes  and the frequent use of
the fine-tooth comb must be resorted to.
 [I have found that the repeated use of a
 strong infusion  of fish-berries (cocculus
 indicus) will answer the purpose, and the
 application, though not so effectual, is
 certainly pleasanter than the plan pur-
 sued by Dr. Duhring.—Ed. N. R.]

 Preservative for Anatomical
            Specimens.
           BY DR. B. TITCOMB.
  First  place  the object in a  vessel con-
 taining pure water; let it remain a few
 hours,  or over night,  then  transfer it tc
 another containing a solution of creasote,
 f 3 ij. to f | xij. of water; let it remain over
 night, then place it in a jar  or vessel con-
 taining a liquid of the following propor-
 tions :—
  R Chloride of sodium....  1 iss.
     Sulphate of alumina....  = iss.
     Nitrate of potassa......§ vj.
     Aqua................f | vij.
 —Trans.  Am. Med. Ass., Chicago Medical
 Times.

 Powder for the Preservation
         of the Cadaver.
 Take of light Wood saw-dust... 50 parts.
       Powdered sulph. of zinc. 20   "
        Oil of lavender........ 1 part.
  Arrange the corpse in a box filled to the
 depth of two inches with this powder, and
then cover  it with the same.—French
 Codex.

Sucquet's Powder for the Pre-
     servation of Corpses.
    Sublimed sulphur,
    Powdered boracic acid,  aa, q. s.
  About 90 lbs. (40 kil.) are required for
an adult corpse, to be used as last formula.
 -Jeannels Formulaire.

      Vafflard's Powder.
    Impure carbolic acid. .  4 parts.
    Sawdust.............16   "
 ix intimately. To be used as last f ormu-
 .  According to the  official  report ai 
GENERAL RECEIPTS.
341
the Parisian authorities a body immersed
in this powder  gradually dries without
putrefaction.  About 90 lbs. are required
for an adult corpse.—Ibid.

Mixture for  the Preservation
     of Anatomical  Pieces.
Take of Glycerine.............14 parts.
       Brown sugar.......... 2  "
       Nitrate of potash...... 1 part.
  Mix.  After a  maceration of some days'
duration  the  pieces become rigid, but
recover their suppleness on exposure to a
dry,  warm  an-,  and when they are dry
may  be varnished.  The duration of ma-
ceration depends upon the size  of  the
piece;  eight days is enough for a hand.
—Ibid.

Solution  of Chloride of Zinc
 for Preserving the Cadaver,
Chloride of zinc.. 1 part (or a little more) ;
Distilled water... 2 parts.
  Dissolve.   Inject into body.  Good, but
alters color.—Ibid.

Solution  of  Sulphate of  Zinc
   and Alumina for Preserving
   the  Cadaver.
Take of Sulphate of alumina (free
         from  iron)...........60 parts.
       Water................40  "
       Oxide of zinc..........  6  "
Mix.  Dissolve  with heat  Filter, and
evaporate until  a  specific gravity of 135
is obtained.  Said to be very efficacious
when used as an  injection into the cadaver.
—French Codex.

Cleaning  Glass  Vessels   in
   which  Petroleum has  been
   kept.
  In Dingler's Polytechnisches Journal  the
following method is given for this pur-
pose :— Wash the vessel with thin milk of
lime, which forms an emulsion with  the
petroleum, and  removes every trace of it,
and  by washing a second time  with milk
of lime and a small quantity of chloride
of lime, even the smell may be so com-
pletely removed as  to render  the vessel
thus cleansed fit for keeping beer in.  If
the milk of lime be used warm, instead
of cold, the  operation is rendered much
more effective.—Chemist and Druggist.

      Lute for  Corks,  etc.
  Anthracene acts capitally as a substitute
for paraffine (either by itself or mixed
with the latter) in covering corks or joints
of apparatus required to stand a compara-
tively high temperature.  A luting of an-
thracene is capable of standing  a high
pressure and temperature combined for a
lengthened period.—Robert F.  Smith,
Chem. News.

  Marking  Ink for  Parcels.

  If you dissolve asphaltum, grahamite,
albertite, or any mineral of this character,
in naphtha or oil of turpentine to a thin
fluid,  you will obtain an ink to answer all
your purposes,  viz.,  to dry quickly, not to
spread, and the markings to be nearly in-
destructible.—Chemist and Druggist.

Extract of Ambergris  (Pies-
                se).
Take  of Spirit of rose........250 parts.
        Spirit of ambergris.. .500   "
        Spirit of musk toW . .125   "
        Spirit of vanilla......56   "
   Mix and filter. A very persistent per-
fume.—Ibid.

   Spirit of  Vanilla  (Piesse).
Take of Vanilla in  small pieces. .6 parts.
        Alcohol at 85°.......100   "
   Macerate for a month, express and fil-
    —Ibid.

    Essence of Ambergris.
       Ambergris........1 part.
       Musk............1  "
       Sulphuric ether and
         alcohol mixed. .70  "
   Macerate for two days and filter.  A
 very  persistent  perfume.—Jeannels For-
 mulaire. 
342
GENERAL RECEIPTS.
Compound  Spirit  of Amber-
  gris and Musk.  Guibourt's
  Royal   Essence   for   the
  Handkerchief.
  This very persistent  perfume is made
according to the following:—
Take of Ambergris............25 parts.
        Musk................12  "
        Cevet (vivera civetta)..  5  "
        Oil of rose............  2  "
        Oil of cinnamon (laur-
         us cinnamomum)....  3  "
        Oil of Wood of Rhodes
         (convolvulus scopari-
         us)................  2  "
        Oil of orange flowers
         (citrus aurantium).. .  2  "
        Carbonate of potash.. .  6  "
        Alcohol at 90°.......860  "
  Macerate for fifteen days  and  filter.—
Ibid.

.Artificial  Extract of Carna-
         tions (Piesse).
Take of Spirit of oil of roses . . .56 parts.
        Spirit of orange flowers. 28  "
        Spirit of acacia farnesi-
         ana................28  "
        Spirit of vanilla.......11  "
        Oil of cloves..........  1  "
  Mix and filter.—Ibid.

  Eau  de Portugal (Piesse).
Take of Alcohol at 85°.......600 parts
        Oil of orange  (citrus
         aurantium).........32  "
        Oil of  citron (citrus li-
         mon)...............  8  "
        Oil of bergamot (citrus
         limetta)............  4  "
        Oil of  rose  (rosa centi-
         folia)..............  1   «
  Mix and filter.—Jeannel's Formulaire.

  Lavender Water (Piesse).
Take of Oil of English lavender, 23 parts.
       Alcohol at 85".......680   "
       Rose water.......... 55   "
  Mix and filter.—Ibid.
   Lavender Water (Smith).
Take of Oil of lavender.......  6 parts.
       Spirit of Amber (gris ?)  3   "
       Cologne............. 50   '
       Alcohol at 85°.......100   *•
  Mix and filter.—Ibid.

Compound   Spirit  of  Musk
            (Piesse).
Take of Spirit of musk —oVo.....4 parte.
       Spirit of ambergris.....2   "
       Spirit of rose..........1   "
  Mix and filter.

   The  Spirit of Ambergris
Is made as follows :
  Take of Alcohol at 85°... 800 parts.
         Ambergris....... 17  "
  Macerate  for  a month,  agitating from
time to time, and filter.

      The Spirit of Musk
Of the French Codex is made as follows:
  Take of Musk-pods........ 1 part.
         Alcohol at 80°.....10 "
  Macerate for ten days, express and fil-
ter.—Ibid.

         Curry Powder.
  Inthe Food Journal of December 1,1871,
Wm. Cochran endorses the following re-
cipe as affording the closest approach to
a Singapore Curry Powder that can be
obtained outside of the Tropics:—
1 cocoanut and  1 lime sliced.
Cardamoms, thoroughly ground... 2 ozs.
Cinnamon,	It	' ...2
Chilies,	U	1-1
Coriander seed,	"	' ...4
Black pepper,	U	' ...4
Mustard seed	u	' ...2
Turmeric,	u	' ...5
Ginger,	"	' ...4
On Cooking of Food at below
       212° F. or 100° C.
  M. Jkanxel, in a communication to the
French Academy, arrives at the following
conclusions:—
  "1.  The boiling of water in  which 
GENERAL  RECEIPTS.
343
meat is cooked to make broth, or in which
vegetables are prepared for the table, has
no advantage other than that of showing,
by the escape  of  steam,—a phenomenon
which attracts the attention  even of the
most ignorant,—that the fire is sufficient
to insure the cooking of the  food; but,
on  the  other  hand,  continued  boiling
during the process  of cooking has  two
disadvantages: First, the  aromatic prin-
ciples carried off by the steam are dissi-
pated in the atmosphere,  and the flavor
of the food is thus diminished.  Second-
ly, a very considerable amount of fuel is
wasted.
   " 2. Meat and vegetables, either fresh
or desiccated, can be  cooked at a tempe-
rature of +95°.
   "3. Cooking at +95° requires  a little
more time than cooking at  the  boiling-
point under the pressure of O11"11.76 in the
proportion of sixteen  to fifteen or four-
teen for beef broth,  and in that of about
five to four for  potatoes or  desiccated
vegetables.
   " 4.  As  regards  the consumption of
fuel, there is an economy  of about forty
per cent, when the cooking is done in an
ordinary stove.
   " 5. The broth and the meat are much
more palatable  when they  have  been
cooked at a temperature of  +95°  and
without  more boiling than is necessary
for scumming, and  for tliis purpose the
term  of  boiling need not exceed fifteen
minutes.
   "6. By cooking at +95° the yield of
the cooked  meat is  increased by from
three to six per cent.
   "7. By cooking  at +95° the yield of
broth is  increased ten per cent.,  so  that
the same quantity of broth may be ob-
tained as when the temperature is raised
to 100°, with ten per cent, less water.
  "8. It would be easy for the head cook
in a large establishment to regulate the
heat in their saucepans by thermometers
and registers. Where the cooking is done
by gas this is exceedingly  easy.
  "9.  The thermometer  (which  should
be of the  description  used by sugar-re-
finers and  brewers, and which  may  be
obtained of any of the  opticians in Paris)
should be protected from injury by being
encased in a fenestrated covering of met-
al,  leaving the  scale  uncovered at the
upper part, so that when the thermometer
is  hung by a hook to the edge of the
saucepan, its scale can be seen through
an  orifice or a notch  made  in  the lid.
The damper of the stove should be  shut
as soon as the temperature  approaches
+ 100°:  and opened whenever it tends to
fall below +95°."
  Note.—After skimming the pot-au-feu
and adding vegetables and  spices, the
boiling saucepan should be placed in a
box, the inside of Avhich, as well as the
cowskin lid, is  lined  with a layer (ten
centimetres in thickness) of coarse wool-
len stuff.  Thus shut up  in  a  non-con-
ductor of heat, the saucepan cools  very
slowly.   At the end of five minutes the
temperature of the water  is still + 70,
the bouillon is made, and the meat, vege-
tables, and spices are cooked without the
loss of  any of their aromatic principles
by evaporation.   Such is the Norwegian
saucepan, the use of which cannot be too
highly recommended.—Philadelphia  Mid.
Times, Jan. 1, 1871.

          Metallic  Soap.

  Metallic  soap in linseed-oil is  highly
recommended  for  coating canvas  for
wagon  covers,  tents,  etc.,  as being not
only impermeable to  moisture,  but re-
maining pliable for a long time without
breaking.  It can  be made with little
expense, as follows: Soft soap  is to be
dissolved in hot water, and a solution of
sulphate of iron  added.  The sulphuric
acid combines with the potash of the
soap, and the oxide of iron is precipitated
with the fatty acid as insoluble ircn-soap.
This is washed and dried, and mixed  with
linseed-oil.   The  addition of dissolved
India-rubber to the oil greatly improves
the paint.—Harper's Monthly. 
 344                   • GENERAL F,

 Recipe for Acute  Indigestion
            in Horses.
  In the Philadelphia Practical Farmer
 of February 1, J. Michener, V.  S., states
 that if horses  are  over-fed, especially
 after an  exhausting drive, they are very
 liable  to acute  indigestion,  and  offer
 very serious symptoms, prominent among
 which  is foul, sour breath.   In  these
 cases he  has found the following to act
 as a specific :—
  B Aloes.................4 drachms.
     Capsicum ............4    "
     Soda, Bicarb...........4    "
  Mix  and dissolve in half a pint of hot
water.
  Administer at once.


         Graham Bread.
  Graham  Flour.—The wheat must be
of the best quality, and either run through
a smut-mill, or washed and  dried before
grinding.   It should be ground rather
coarser than  common flour,  and  used
without bolting.  It takes more wetting
than fine flour.  For  every loaf  allow
three large tablespoonfuls of molasses, one
quart of wetting, a tablespoonful of salt,
three  tablespoonfuls of  brewer's  yeast.
Mix the  yeast, molasses,  and salt in the
wetting, add half a teaspoonful of soda,
and mix  in as  much coarse flour as can
possibly be stirred in with a spoon. Now
knead  the bread briskly until it cleaves
from the hand.  Put the loaves in the
pan and pat  it in place and shape.  If
made with home-made yeast sponge the
bread,  and add the molasses  and other
wetting after the sponge rises.   Knead
until the dough cleaves from the hands;
set  it  in a  warm  place until it rises.
When light, knead it again as before, and
put it in  the. pans to rise. Add no  flour
after the first  mixing;   the dough will
not be  stiff enough to form into  loaves.
Shape  the  leaves after  they are in the
pan with the  hand.—Philadelphia Prac-
tical Farmer.
Dr. Maddox's Method of Clean-
           ing Diatoms.
  Dissolve 40 grains of crushed chlorate
of potash in water, with the addition of
one and a half  drachms of hydrochloric
acid, the whole to be placed in a three-
ounce vial, and closed with a wax cork.
The diatoms are to  be immersed in this
for a suitable length of time, and subse-
quently washed in water.

Ointment for Gun-Barrels on
          the Sea-shore.
  It is said that an ointment made of cor-
rosive sublimate and lard will prove an
effectual protection against the rusting of
gun-barrels on  the  sea-shore.—Harper's
Monthly.

   Sugar Determination in
               Urine.
  Professor Seegen read a  paper before
the Medical Society of Vienna on " Sugar
Determination," in which he first detailed
the importance to the physician of prov-
ing the presence of sugar in urine, and
then dwelt upon the contradictory results
of existing methods of analysis, especi-
ally in regard to the presence of sugar in
many physiological conditions, as, for in-
stance, during pregnancy, and during the
period  of suckling,  after inhalation of
chloroform and  ether, etc.  The author
was  thereby induced to test all existing
methods,  and he arrived at the follow-
ing results:—
  We have no re-agent to prove minute
traces of sugar dissolved in urine beyond
doubt, and to the exclusion of other ana-
logous substances.
  All statements as  to the presence of
minute quantities of sugar in many phy-
siological  and  pathological  conditions
must be received with  caution.
  Normal urine  does  not  contain  it in
sufficiently large quantities to allow of
its determination.
  Normal urine contains minute quanti-
ties of reducing substances, but whether 
GENERAL  RECEIPTS.
345
they consist of sugar, partially or wholly,
cannot be determined with our known
tests.
  Albuminous  Urine and a New Reagent.
—The  precipitate  obtained by heating
urine with nitric acid is carefully washed
to remove the last traces of  urine, and it
is then re-dissolved in  a  little potash, a
few drops of  Fehling's copper solution
added; a fine violet coloration is instantly
produced, especially with a strong solu-
tion;  the reaction is very characteristic,
and readily shows one per cent, of  albu-
men.—Philadelphia Med.  and  Surg. Re-
 porter.

           Golden Ink.
  Golden ink may be made by mixing
finely divided  gold-leaf, or Dutch metal,
with thin gum-water.—Pharm. Jour, and
 Trans.

      Transparent  Cement.
  A very strong transparent cement,  ap-
plicable to wood, porcelain, glass, stone,
etc., may be made by rubbing together in
a mortar  two parts of nitrate of lime,
twenty-five parts  of water,  and twenty
parts  of powdered gum arabic.  The sur-
faces  to be united to be painted with the
cement, and bound together until com-
pletely dry.—A. Selle in Dingler's Poly-
technisches Journ.

         Glue for Labels.
  A good cement for attaching paper la-
bels to  bottles may be made by boiling
a mixture of  gelatine  and dextrine in
water.  When dry, the labels  should be
covered with  dammar varnish.—Dingl.
Pol. Jour.

Methods of Preserving Meat.
  The Belgian Muse* de I Industrie notes
the f ollowing methods of preserving meat
as the most deserving of attention amongst
those  communicated to the French Aca-
demy of Sciences, and published in its
Comptes Rendus within  the last  twelve
months.   1.  M.  Baudet's  method,  by
which  the meat is kept in water  acidu-
lated  with carbolic acid in the propor-
tion of one to five parts of acid per thou-
sand of water.  A series  of experiments
proved that all kinds of meat could thus
be kept  fresh,  for  lengthened  periods,
without acquiring any ill taste or odor.
  The meat may be placed  in barrels or
in air-tight tin  cases,  filled with  acidu-
lated water of the strength  above speci-
fied, and headed up ;  or the pieces may
be packed in barrels or cases in alternate
layers with charcoal, pounded small, and
saturated with water  containing r^o of
carbolic acid.  The charcoal serves as a
vehicle for the antiseptic fluid, and as an
absorbent of any gaseous matters given
off by the meat.   The latter should be
wrapped in  thin linen covers to prevent
the  charcoal working its way into the
tissues.
  This method, it is suggested, might be
employed in  curing  pork  in place of
" salting," or  of the  more lengthy  and
costly process of " smoking; " and  also
for  the  preservation  of  poultry,  game,
butter, eggs, etc.
  In the case  of South American meat,
M. Baudet proposes the use of large sacks
of caoutchouc.   The meat  should  be
packed in them, with alternate layers of
charcoal as above described, and each
sack, when filled, should be hermetically
closed by drawing another  empty caout-
chouc  sack,  cap-wise,   over  it.    The
caoutchouc, it is supposed,  would fetch
enough in the market—its low price not-
withstanding—to cover expenses of pack-
ing and freight, and so permit the meat
to be sold in Europe at a very small ad-
vance on cost price.  If intended for use
a second time, the empty bags should be
steeped in boiling water  for a few min-
utes, to  remove any  organic impurities
adhering to them.
  2. M. Gorge's method, which is in use in
La Plata, consists in washing and drying
the meat, and afterwards steeping in suc-
cessive  waters  containing  hydrochloric
acid and sulphite of soda, and then pack- 
346
GENERAL RECEIPTS.
 ing it in air-tight cases holding one, five,
 or ten  kilog. each.  Meat  thus  treated
 requires to be soaked in warm water for
 about half an hour before use.
   3. M. Leon Soubeiran has recommend-
 ed braying and  drying, in the  fashion
 adopted by  the  Chinese and Mongols,
 ain1 described by  M. Simon, French Con-
 sul in China, in a communication made
 by him to the Societe  d'Acclimatation.
 The pemmican  of our Arctic  voyagers,
 and the char qui  of South America, are
 familiar examples of meat preserved by
 analogous processes.  The late M. Payen,
 a distinguished member of the Academy,
 insisted  upon the  great perfection  to
 which this system might be carried by
 the  aid of hot air stoves and suitable
 apparatus.—Food  Journal, Jan. 1, 1872.

 How to  Prevent  the  Rusting
      of Steel Instruments.
   A  correspondent confidently  recom-
 mends equal parts of carbolic  acid and
 olive oil, smeared over the surface of the
 instruments, as an  unfailing preventive of
 rust in any climate.  He states that it is
 a plan much used by. medical officers in
 the navy, and it is found to preserve the
 burnish and brightness of the steel, how-
 ever moist and warm the atmosphere may
 be.  Our correspondent adds that it will
 also be found advantageous  to  have the
 fittings of instrument-cases made only of
 brass  and  polished wood, as  the  glue
 with which the velvet usually employed
 is fastened on is apt to absorb  moisture
 and remain damp for a considerable time.
—The Lancet.

 Fluid to  Restore Putrid Tis-
               sues.
  Dr. B. W. Richardson states in a lec-
ture in the Medical Times and Gazette of
December 9, 1871, that if the fluid con-
structed according to the  following for-
mula be poured on a soft, putrid tissue
it becomes  firm and inoffensive, so that
it  can be readily  dissected, and may be
so preserved indefinitely in the fluid.
 Take of Iodine...................  3 j,
         Methylated ether,  sp. gr.
           .720..................f lx.
         Absolute alcohol.........f § j.
         Strong sulphuric acid.... f 3 iv.
   Dissolve the iodine in  the ether  and
 alcohol mixed together, then slowly drop
 in the sulphuric acid.


    To  Detect Wool in Silk.

   Put the tissue into a solution of caustic
 potash,  in which previously oxide of lead
 has been dissolved; woollen fibres turn
 black,  silk do not.—Moniteur Scienti-
 jique.

  Sulphuret  of Cadmium  for
          Coloring Soap.
  According to  E. Schering {Dingier's
 Polytechn. Jour.) sulphuret of cadmium
 makes the finest, most durable, and cheap-
 est yellow color for  soap  yet discovered.
 The sulphuret must first be rubbed up
 with some oil, and  this mixture well in-
 corporated by stirring it  with  the hot
 liquid soap.


 Mehu's  Solution  for  Preser-
   vation of Anatomical Speci-
   mens.

 Take of Arsenious acid.......  20 parts.
        Crystallized  carbolic
          acid..............  10  "
        Water..............700  "
        Alcohol.............300  "
  Put the whole  of  the arsenic in a re-
 tort, and upon it put half the alcohol and
 a third of the water, and bring the whole
 to  the boiling point.   Nearly all  the
 arsenic at once dissolves;  filter, and add
 at once  more water  to the filtrate.  The
 remaining arsenic is now to be treated
 with the remaining alcohol and water as
 before, and the filtrate added to the first.
 To  the  fluid,  moderately warmed,  the
 carbolic acid is to be added with stirring.
—Schmidt's Jahrbiicher, Dec, 1871. 
GENERAL  RECEIPTS.                      347
  Varnish  for Photographs.
  According to the Zeitschrift des Allge-
mein. Ocster.Apot.-Vereins, Dec. 10,1871,
the following recipe offers a varnish which
may be used on photographs, etc., which
it  is  desired to retouch,  and  give  a
surface which will take lead pencil well,
and at the same time protect the pho-
tograph itself completely:—
Take of Castor oil......... 1 part.
       Sandarac......... 3  "
       Alcohol..........18  "
  Mix and dissolve.

Detersive  Paste for  Remov-
    ing Grease from Silk.
  Bub together fine French chalk  and
lavender  to the  consistency of a  thin
paste, and apply thoroughly to the spots
with the fingers ;  place a  sheet of brown
or blotting paper above  and below the
silk and  smooth it  with a  moderately
heated iron.  The French chalk may then
be removed by brushing.—Leavenworth
Medical Herald and Jour, of Phar.

  Perfumed Pomade and Ex-
               tract.
  The author of an amusing and instruc-
tive work on perfumery asks why the
ladies should not  cultivate  flowers for
their scent as well as for  their odor, and
he suggests a means of obtaining helio-
trope pomade which any  person may put
in practice.  An ordinary glue-pot, made
thoroughly clean, is, in fact, a bain Marie
on  a  small scale.  Place  in the pot  a
pound of fine lard, and when the helio-
trope  flowers are in season throw them
into the clarified fat.  Place the glue-pot
near the fire of the green-house, so as just
to liquefy the lard.  Let the flowers re-
main in the liquid for twenty-four hours ;
strain the fat from the spent flowers, and
go on repeating the operation for a week.
The result will be a pomade d la  helio-
trope.  This pomade can be made into
an extract by steeping the odorous fat in
highly rectified spirits.  In this manner a
young lady may make her own perfumes,
and so get them pure, which is far from
being the  case at  present.—Druggists'
Circular.

     Tonic Tooth  Powder,
  Triturate well together  one ounce of
pulverized Peruvian bark, one ounce of
pulverized  white  Castile  soap, and two
ounces of the best  prepared chalk.  It
may be flavored by adding a little of the
oils of wintergreen  and rosemary, with
the latter in a very small  proportion.
This powder is not only  good  for  the
teeth,  but also a preventive  of,  and re-
medy  for, spongy gums.   Another very
good tooth powder may be prepared by
the addition of one ounce  of pulverized
orris root to the above.  The addition of
bole armenian to tooth powders is only for
the purpose of coloring  them, and is  not
of the slightest benefit.  The Peruvian
bark will impart  sufficient color to this
preparation. —Ibid.

         Dextrine Paste.
  In hot water dissolve  a sufficient quan-
tity of dextrine to bring it to the consist-
ency  of  honey.   This  forms a strong
adhesive paste, will keep a long time un-
changed if the water is not allowed to
evaporate.  Sheets of paper may be pre-
pared for extempore labels  by  coating
one side with the  paste and allowing it
to dry;  when  to be used, by  slightly
wetting the gummed side,  it will adhere
to glass.   This paste is very useful in the
office  or laboratory.—Dr. Wildman, Phil-
adelphia Dental Times.

      Carbolic  Acid  Paper.
   Carbolic  acid  paper, which  is now
much used for packing fresh meats, for
the purpose of preserving them against
spoiling, is made by melting five parts of
stearine at a gentle heat, and then stir-
ring in thoroughly two  parts of  carbolic
acid; after which five  parts of melted 
348                       GENERAL

paraffin are to be added.  The whole is
to be well stirred together until it cools;
after which it is melted and applied with
a brush to the paper,  in  quires,  in the
same  way  as  in  preparing the waxed
paper so much used in Europe for wrap-
ping various articles.

    Inextinguishable Lamp.

  A new light, which seems fitted to be
of  use in  submarine   construction  of
works, is in use  in England.   It is a
cylinder of tin, with a  top filled with a
phosphite of calcium,  prepared by the
inventor, a Mr. Holmes.  When the lamp
is thrown into the sea or river, the water,
entering  the cylinder,  decomposes the
phosphite of calcium, phosphureited hy-
drogen results;  the latter  escaping in
great quantities ignites  spontaneously,
and burns with a brilliant light.—Scien-
tific American.

 Labels for Damp Situations.

  Quevenne recommended to  write  on
the back of adhesive plaster.  This kind
of labels sticks eternally, so to  speak.—
Druggists' Circular.

  Waterproofing  Linen,  Can-
             vas, etc.
  The following  directions for water-
proofing canvas and similar articles  for
tents, covers, etc., are given by H. Kuhr.
The   material  is taken  successively
through  a bath of sulphate of  alumina,
of soap, and of water; it is then dried and
smothered or calendered.   For the alu-
mina bath, use the ordinary neutral sul-
phate of alumina  of commerce (concen-
trated alum cake), dissolving one pint in
ten of water, which is  done easily with-
out the application of heat.  The soap is
best prepared in this manner:   Boil one
part of light  rosin, one part soda crys-
tals, and ten  of  water, till the alum is
dissolved; salt the soap out by the addi-
tion of one-third part  of  common salt;
dissolve this soap with an equal amount
RECEIPTS.

 of good palm-oil soap in thirty parts of
 water.  The soap bath  should be kept
 hot while the goods  are  passing through
 it.  It is  best to have three vats along-
 side  of each other,  and  by  a special
 arrangement to keep the goods down in
 the baths.   Special care  should be taken
 to have the fabric thoroughly soaked in
 the alumina bath.
  In  a note to the above, Drs. Hager and
 Jacobsen  remark  that  during  the last
 few years very  good and cheap water-
 proof goods of this description have been
 manufactured in Berlin, which they be-
 lieved is effected by steeping them first
 in a bath of  sulphate of  alumina and of
 copper, and then into one of water-glass
 and rosin soap.

   Method of  Obtaining the
      Fresh Juice of Fruits.
  M.  N. Granger states that the follow-
 ing process affords a clear juice of very
 fine color, taste,  and aroma.
  Raspberries,.—Take the fruit well  ri-
 pened and cleaned, crush them in a glass
 vessel with a wooden pestle into a homo-
 geneous mass,  add  to them five to ten
 parts per  one hundred of cane or grape
 sugar,  and  allow the  whole to  stand,
 mixing up occasionally. By means  of
 the alcohol resulting from the fermenta-
 tion  the  pectin  is  precipitated, and a
 clear juice is obtained,  preserving per-
 fectly the aroma  and taste of  the rasp^
 berry.
   Strawberries.—Put two parts  of clean
 strawberries, without crushing them, into
 a large-mouthed jar; add to it two-and-
 a-half  parts of  sugar, and agitate very
 frequently  at the ordinary temperature
 without heating.  The sugar gradually
 extracts the juice of the fruit, which are
 left tasteless and odorless,  and forms a
 clear syrup, which  is readily  separated
 by means of a flannel strainer, and must
 be mixed with one-fifth  part of alcoholi
 The  raspberry juice has a very delicate
 odor, but will not  bear the  least heat
 without destroying  its  taste.—L'Union
 Pharmaceutique. 
GENERAL
RECEIPTS.
349
          Hydrofugine.
  A  substance  called  hydrofugine has
recently been brought into  use  for the
purpose of rendering fabrics waterproof,
without interfering  with the circulation
of the  air through  them.  The  method
of preparing the compound is  as fol-
lows : In one of two pans, each of  a ca-
pacity of about five gallons, place twenty
pounds  of  sulphate of alumina cut in
thin  slices;  into  the other  pour  eight
pounds of oleic acid, and about a gallon
and a half of alcohol.   Stir in order to
properly  mix them, and  then pour gra-
dually  the  contents  of the  second pan
into the first, stirring all the  time with a
wooden pallet for about twenty minutes.
When the mixture is complete, allow it
to settle  for about  twenty-four hours.
The  alcohol and  the oleic  acid, which
floats on the top, can be poured off, and
the precipitate is  placed in  a felt  filter,
and  submitted  to a  strong pressure in
order to obtain a solid cake.  This cake is
removed and dried in a moderately hot
stove, and  afterwards reduced  to  pow-
der.  This  powder  is  prepared  for use
for woollen fabrics by mixing and dis-
solving one pound in about twenty gal-
lons of water.  For silk, linen, and other
fabrics,  one and  a half  pounds  of the
powder will be required for every twenty
gallons of  water.   The solutions are. to
be passed through a sieve before dipping
the fabrics,  which should be completely
saturated and afterward removed and
dried, when, it  is asserted, they  will be
found to  be impervious to water,  but not
to air.—Med. and Surg. Reporter.

 To Determine the Value of
            Cochineal.
       BY  DR.  CRACE  CULVERT.
  It  is  often advisable before  buying
cochineal  to  determine  its  tinctorial
power.   This may be ascertained by two
or three  methods.   In the  first,  equal
weights of  the cochineal to be assayed,
and of  one  of known  value, are treated
with alcohol or a solution of alum.   The
solutions  thus obtained are  poured into
tubes and placed in a  colorimeter.  This
is an oblong box, which has two  aper-
tures at each end  and two on the top, in
a direct line with the end apertures.  The
tubes are placed through the openings on
the top, and on looking through the end
apertures, any  difference in intensity of
color between the two liquids can be ob-
served.  If a difference is detected, alco-
hol  or water  is  added to the stronger
liquor  until there is perfect  uniformity
of tint.  According to the amount of
dilution required  is the relative value of
the cochineals.
  A  good process was published by the
late Dr. Penny, of Glasgow.   It  consists
in exhausting  a  gramme of  cochineal
with fifty grammes of potash solution,
and this extract is further diluted with one
hundred  grammes of water.  The  solu-
tion  thus obtained is mixed with a gra-
duated solution of ferricyanide of potas-
sium (one gramme of salt to 200 grammes
of water) till its color changes to a dark
brown.   A solution of bleaching-powder
of known strength can also be used for
the same purpose.  The best method con-
sists  in dyeing equal surfaces of flannel
in a bath composed as follws:—
           For Scarlet Tints.
    Water............1250 grains.
     Cream of  Tartar...   2
    Tin Composition...   2    "
     Cochineal.........   1    "
          For Crimson Tints.
    Water..............1250 grams.
     Cream of Tartar.....  0 75    "
     Alum..............  1-60    "
     Cochineal........... 1
  The pieces are then washed and dried,
and by a comparison of the relative in-
tensity of shade the value of the cochi-
neal  is  determined.—London  Pharm.
Journ., Dec. 2,  1871.

To  Remove Tar, Turpentine,
                 etc.
  Dr. A.  D. Binkend. gives the following
receipt in  the  Philadelphia  Med.  and
Surg. Report, as being very efficacious:— 
350
GENERAL RECEIPTS.
   For Cleansing Glass.—An amalgam of
 the pulverized extract of licorice and oil
 of aniseed.   This seems to combine with
 the turpentine, and  it may then be rub-
 bed dry and clean with a pledget of cot-
 ton.
   For cleansing tar or pitch from the
 skin,  make the mixture about the consis-
 tency of thick cream, and  rub on tho-
 roughly  with the  hand;   then follow
 with a piece of good soap, a  sponge, and
 warm, soft water.

 To Coat Metallic Objects with
   a   very   fine   Permanent
   Black.
   On a bottom of a cylindrical cast-iron
 varnish-vessel, eighteen  inches  high, a
 layer  one-half inch thick  of coal  dust;
 upon  this is placed an iron grating, and
 thereon are put  the iron, steel,  or  other
 metallic object to be coated.  The vessel,
 after  closure with  a tight  lid,  is next
 placed on  a coke  fire  and heated  for
 about a quarter of an hour, just to incipi-
 ent red heat.  The vessel  is then  taken
 off, and the lid  being removed  after
 about ten minutes,  the  metallic objects
 will be  coated  with  a very uniform,
 durable varnish,  which  resists  bending
 and a high temperature without crack-
 ing.  Very small objects, like hooks and
 eyes, are  better placed along with  some
 coal dust in a coffee-roasting apparatus,
 and this turned as is usual in the roasting
 of coffee  until the metallic objects have
 received a uniform  coating of the  right
 depth of  color.—Chemical News, Nov.  3,
 1871.

         Vienna Yeast.
             DR. VEGLA.
  Previously-malted barley,  maize, and
rye are ground and mixed; next put into
 water at from 65° to 75° F. ; after  some
hours the sweet liquid is decanted  from
the dregs and caused to ferment by  some
yeast.  The fermentation  becomes very
 strong and  the yeast globules are carried
 to the surface, forming a scum which is
skimmed  off,  placed  on  cloth-filters,
drained, washed with a  little distilled
water,  and  pressed  into any desired
shape by means of strong  hydraulic pres-
sure and covered with  tight,  stoutly-
woven  canvas.  This yeast keeps from
eight to fourteen days,  and  produces
much better bread or beer than the ordi-
nary variety.—Chemical News.

     Making Wax Models.
   To make the Moulds.—The object to be
moulded from should be first brushed
over with oil, into which  a little tallow
has been melted, all crevices being filled
with  common yellow  soap.    Mix  the
plaster-of-Paris in  a tea-cup (as it dries
very fast), and put it on the object with
a  knife  very smoothly.   If  a piece of
mould be long and narrow, strengthen it
by means  of bent wire.   The plaster
must be entirely hardened  before remov-
ing from the object.   After the moulds
are made,  if they are wetted with a
strong lather of  best white soap instead
of water, the figure  will be smoother
when  finished.    Equal  quantities  of
white wax and spermaceti look well  for
a bust.  A few drops of turpentine put
into wax remedy its brittleness.
   To  Model the  Wax.—Put the moulds
in warm water for five or ten  minutes;
wipe very gently with soft linen ; have
some white wax already melted in a pip-
kin, to which is added a little of Acker-
man's  flake-white  paint   (the  quantity
depends on the whiteness required), pour
in the wax  and  turn about till  cool.
When the wax has been  removed from
the turpentine, pare the  edges  with a
sharp,  slightly-warmed  knife,  and rub
smooth  with a  little turpentine.  The
object is then ready for coloring.—Lon-
don Lancet, Dec. 9, 1871.

 Vinaigre de  Bully (Auber).
Take of Cologne water.......100 parts.
        Spirit of benzoin.....  1   "
        Vinaigre radical.....  5   "
  Mix and filter. 
GENERAL RECEIPTS.
351
Artificial  Extract  of Lemon
       Verbena (Piesse).
Take .of Alcohol at 85°.......500 parts.
       Oil of orange (citrus au-
         rantium)...........  28  "
       Oil of lemon (citrus li-
         monis)............  56  "
       Oil of Andropogon nar-
         dus................   4  "
       Alcoholic   extract of
         orange flowers......175  "
       Alcoholic  extract  of
         tube-rose...........175  "
       Spirit of rose.........250  "
  Mix.
  This mixture is very much esteemed,
but must be made fresh  frequently, as it
deteriorates by keeping.—Jeannet's  For-
mulaire.

         Lait Virginal.
Take of Rose-water..........100 parts.
       Spirit of benzoin.....   1 part.
  Add the rose-water gradually to spirit
of benzoin, or as follows:—
Take of Rose-water...........565 parts.
       Spirit of tolu.........   7  "
  Add the  water little  by little to the
spirit.—Ibid.

Vinaigre  Virginal (Dorvault).
Take of Vinegar.........at  3° B.
        Alcohol.........at 85°
        Powdered benzoin, equal parts.
  Macerate for four days, with occasional
agitation, then filter.—Ibid.

  Viennese  Cosmetic Water.
Take of Bruised almonds......15 parts.
       Water of orange flower .62  "
       Water of roses........62
  Rub up the almonds with the waters,
allow to stand, express, and add
    Borate of soda.........1  part.
    Spirit of benzoin.......2  parts.
  Dissolve.
  A very economical and fragrant cos-
metic.—Ibid.
Acetic Acid  Lotion  for Bald-
               ness.
  Dr. H. G. Landis writes that he has
found the following prescription a  most
serviceable  and  refreshing  appli cation
both for baldness  and as a shampoo-
dressing to remove dandruff:—
Take of Acetic acid.........f 3 j.
        Cologne...........f 3 j.
        Aqua...........ad f § vj.
  Mix.


     Vinaigre Cosmetique.
Take of Alcohol  at 85°.......950 parts.
        Benzoin.............94   "
        English aromatic vine-
          gar .............. 31   "
        Balsam of Peru...... 31   "
        Oil of  Neroli  (citrus
          aurantium)........  2   "
        Oil of nutmeg.......  1   "
  Mix and filter.

  Vinaigre Radical  (French
              Codex).
  Take  of crystallized acetate of copper
q. s.  Distil in a stoneware retort pro-
vided with a long neck and a cooled  re-
ceiver surmounted by a long tube  until
nothing comes over any  longer.  The
acid is to be purified by redistillation in
a glass retort by means  of  a  sand bath.
The more concentrated acid forms near
the close of the  distillation.  This  vine-
gar contains a small amount of  acetone,
which gives it a peculiar odor.


  English Aromatic  Vinegar
        (French Codex).
Take of Crystallizable  acetic
          acid.............1200 parts.
        Camphor..........  120  "
        Volatile oil of cinna-
          mon.............    2
        Volatile oil of cloves,   4  "
        Volatile  oil of laven-
          der ............    1 
 
INDEX.
Abdominal effusion, drainage tube in, 159.
Abscess in neck, drainage in, 166.
Acetate of lead, estimation of acetic acid
      in, 234.
Acetate of iron, tincture of, (F.) 306.
Aconite, preparations of, 223.
Aconitia, action of crystallized, 99.
    materia med. of crystallized, 205.
Aconitum napellus, action of, 26.
Acupuncture, 175.
Aguomada, 172.
Alcohol, to filter,  (B.) 336.
    in diphtheria  34.
    influence on vision, 167.
    influence on temperature, 112, 114.
    injection into cysts, 177.
    check to use of, 277.
    test of purity, 237.
    purification of, 237.
    new test for, 238.
Alcoholic  poisoning,  governmental inter-
       ference to prevent, 277.
Almonds,  emulsion of, (F.) 299.
Alnus incana, 100.
Aloes, 186.
Aluminium, hydrated chloride of, 147.
Alum, detection of, in bread, 286.
    adulteration of bread, 287.
Amandine, (R.) 326.
Amaurosis, strychnia in, 135, 153.
Ambergris, essence of, (R.) 841.
    comp. spirit., (R.) 342.
    spirit of, 342.
Ammonia, muriate of, (F.) 318.
    in whooping cough, 107.
Amygdalin, 199.
Amyl, nitrite of,  in cholera, 95.
    in asthma, 95.
    in tetaDus, 29. •
    in hemicrania. 36.
    therapeutics of, 90.
    materia medica of, 219.
    ophthalmoscopy of, 112.
Amyl hydride,  110.
Anaesthetics, 172.
    local, 162.
    calcareous glycerole, (F.) 310.
Anasarca, puncture in, 156.
Andol-Andol, 236.
Andromeda Leschenaultii, oil of, 240.
Aneurism, popliteal,  cured by flexion,  179.
Animal charcoal as antidote to phosphorus,
       277.
Antacid mixture, (F.) 311.
Antagonism of atropia and Calabar bean,
      87.
    of belladonna and opium, 101. 288.
Anthelmintic prescriptions, (F.) 303.
Anthemic acid, 225.
Antidyspeptic pills, (F.) 311.
Antiherpetic sol., (F.) 315.
Antiseptic treatment of wounds, 157.
Antiscorbutic syrup, (F.)322.
    formula;,  (F.) 323.
Antistrumous potion. (F.)298.
Ants, to get rid of, (R.) 336.
Apothecary, duties of, 227.
Arrow wounds, poisoned, carbolic acid in,
       160.
Arsenic, new test for, 284.
    in menorrhagia and leucorrhcea, 120.
Arsenical soap, (R.) 335.
Ashantee bark, in dysentery,  167.
Aspirateur in hydrarthrosis, 119.
Asthma, iodide of potassium in, 160.
Astringent aromatic powder, (F.) 309.
Atropia, antagonism of physostigma, 87.
    to distinguish German and English, 238.
    action on vagus, 178.
    poisoning, 288.
    in opium poisoning, 288.
    distribution of,  243.


Baking powders, (R.) 329.
Baldness, preparation for, (R.) 333.
Balsam of Peru,  ointment of ,_(F.) 311.
Baths, cold, in fever, 13, 15, 56.
    hot, in dropsy, 53.
     hot air, 311.
     absorption in, 56.
 Bav ram,  (R.) 352.
 Beef essence,  physiological action of, W,
       71, 135.
     frozen, 174.
     new method of making, 138.
     new alkaloid in, 138.
 Beef and iron, wine of,  (F.) 300.
 Beer preservation of, (R.) 331.
     adulteration of, 27;5.
 Belladonna in typhoid fever, 16b.
     action of, 101.
     local application in inflammation, 1 ii.
     poisoning from external use, 289.
 Bengal lights, (R.) 337          .
 Benzol, to distinguish from benzine, „4~.
 Benzoic acid formula, (F.)  3^-o~4.
 Bird oils,  197. 
r> - i
oj4
INDEX.
Bisulphide of carbon as a local anaesthetic,
      162.
Blacking, shoe,  (R.) 339.
Bladder, catarrh of, (F.) 313.
    irritable, gelsemium for, (F.) 317.
Bleaching liquid, (R.) 334.
Blood-corpuscies,  action of various drugs
      on, 51.
Blood stains, spectrum of,  248.
    test for, 250.
Blood-letting, 118, 119, 159.
Bottles, show, colors for, (R.) 330.
    yellow glass, 241.
Bottle-wax, 339.
Bouquet de la Reine d'Angleterre, (R.)337.
Bouquet de foin coupe, (R.) 338.
Bright's disease, skimmed  milk in, 8.
    iodide of potassium in, 160.
    gallic acid in, 160.
    strychnia in, 170.
Bromal, 236.
Bromide of potassium, influence on opium,
      25.
    in croup, 34.
    in strychnia poisoning, 247.
    in urethral  fever, 169.
    physiological action of, 37.
    ill effects of, 104.
    adulteration of, 201.
Bromide of sodium, 150.
Bromides, organic, action of, 28, 63.
Bromides, therapeutics of, 63.
Bromo-chloralum, 47.
Bronchitis, atomized turpentine in, 177.
    muriate of  ammonia,  (F.) 318.
Bronchocele, ointment for, (F.) 299.
Buchu comp. f.  exti\, (F.) 299.
Cabbage leaves, 177.
Cadaver,  to  preserve, (R.) 336, 340, 341,
      (R.) 346.
Calabar bean, antagonism to atropia, 187.
    in tetanus, 170, 171.
    in paralysis of ocular muscles, 176.
Calisaya, elixir of, (F.) 300.
Calomel, injection of, 86.
Camphor in hospital gangrene, 149.
Cancer,  chloral in, 17.
    stomach-pump in, 31.
Cantharadine, plaster of, (F.) 306.
Cantharis erythocephala, 195.
Cantharis vesicatoria, 195.
Canquoin's paste, (F.) 298, 307.
Carbohc acid, various formulae, (F.) 294,
      303, 304, 305, 321, 323.
    in poisoned arrow wounds, 160.
    discovery of, 231.
    poisoning by, 281, 274.
    medicinal uses of,  127,  129, 163, 166,
      167.
    disinfectant power of.  127.
    black urine after, 275.
    antidote  for, 289.
Carbonic acid, effect of artificial cooling on
       elimination of, 130.
Carbonic oxide, poisoning by, 2^2.
     transfusion of  blood in poisoning by,
     283.
Carbuncles, treatment of, 106.
Carminative powder, (F.) 308.
     mixture,  (F.) 310.
     draught,  (F.) 299.
Carnin, 138.«
Carnations, artif. extr.,  (R.) 342.
Castor, 210.
Castor oil,  California, 232.
     pomatum of, (R.) 333.
     to disguise, (F.) 308.
Cassia, sachet of, (R.) 338.
Cataract, phosphorus in,  172, 179.
Cathartin,  219.
Cedar, white, poisoning  by oil of, 276.
Cements, (R.) 334, 335,  339, 345.
Cephalic essence, (F.) 299.
Cerebrospinal meningitis, 17.
Chafing, remedy for, 167.
Qhapped lips, salve for,  (R.)  333,  (F.)
      314.
Chestnut leaves, 244.
Chilblains treatment, (R) 312.
Chills, formula? for, (F.)  316.
Chinoidine, (F.) 307.
Chloral, as an antiseptic, 171.
     in cod-liver oil,  (F.) 297.
Chloral hydrate, physiological  action o",
      51.
     therapeutics of, 16,  52, 53, 147,  164.
      169, 176.
     materia medica of, 180, 182.
     as an antiseptic, 171.
     tests, 182.
     toxicology of, 253. 254, 206, 277,  280,
      282. 284.
     formula,  (F.) 318.
Chloral alcoholate tests,  45.
Chloralum, 157.
Chloride of iron in diphtheria, 34.
     incompatibles of, 241.
     injection  in uterus, 156.
Chloroform, elixir of, (F.) 309.
     deaths from, 29.
     action  on blood-corpuscle, 51.
     formulae for, (F.) 320.
     test for different kinds, 236.
     poisoning by, 267.
Chlorometry,  244.
Chlorosis, formula for, (F.) 302.
Cholera, 35, 95.
     Hartshorne's formula,  (F.)  324.
     Burgoyne's pills for,  312.
     bromide of potassium in, 169.
     treatment of,  169.
Cholera infantum, treatment of, (F.) 297.
Chordee, pills for,  (F.):];:!.
Chorea, ether spray  in, 167, 170. 307.
Chromic acid, 121.
Cicada sanguinolenta, 196. 
INDEX.
355
Cundurango, 43, 170.
Curry powder,  (R.) 331, 342.
Curare, action on temperature,  179.
Cysts serous, injection of alcohol into, 177.
Cystisus laburnum, poisoning by, 263.
Cystitis, (F.) 315.

Dandelion, use of, in India, 131.
Deafness, electricity in nervous, 134.
Delirium tremens, chloral in,  164.
Depilatory powder, (F.) 314.
Cicuta maculata, poisoning by, 285.
Cicuta virosa, poisoning by, 263.
(iinchonae, experiments on living, 217
Cinchon. comp. tincture, (F.) 300.
Cinchonia,  bromohydrate of, 239.
    value of, as a prophylactic, 114.
Citric acid, 240.
Climate, effects of, (R.) 334.
Coccus pehlah, 195.
    lacca, 195.
    manniparus, 195.
Cochineal, to determine value of, (R.) 349.
Cod-liver oil, saponified by lime, 36.
    to disguise, 239, (F.) 291,  319.
    in whooping-cough, 177.
    granulated, (F.) 320.
Coffee,  adulteration of, 241.
    physiological action of, 112.
Colchicum, poisoning by, 79.
Collodion, paper for, (F.) 306,  310.
    counter-irritating,  (F.) 310.
    for fractures, 132.
    styptic, (F.) 298.
    mercurial, (F.) 318.
Cologne, (R.) 332, 337.
Columba migratoria, 199.
Conia, synthesis of, 234.
    action of, 104.
    recognition of, 264.
Conium in nervous affections, 22.
    in inflammation, 172.
Constipation, electricity in, 56, 71.
Constant current in neuralgia, 45.
Convulsions in children, 16.
Cooking at low temperatures, (R.) 342.
 Copaiba in psoriasis, 165.
 Copaiba jelly, (F.) 294.
 Copaiba suppositories, (F.) 310.
 Copper, test for, 260.
 Cordial, aniseed, (R.) 325.
 Cordyceps sinensis, 195.
 Coriaria nescifolia, 201.
 Corks, lute for,  (R.) 341.
 Corns, cure for, (F.) 314.
 Corrosive sublimate, hypodermic use  of,
       166.
 Coralline, 290.
 Cotton, iodized, (F.) 306.
    to detect, in linen, (R.) 331.
    styptic,  (F.) 314.
    glycerized, 168.
    wool to filter air, 270.
Cramps, chloral in, 176.
 Creasote in typhoid fever, 171.
    pills, (F.) 323.
Creatinine, 139.
Croton oil, pills of, (F.) 320.
Croton chloral, 86.
Croup,  glycerine inhalations in, 33.
    sulphur in, 33.
    bromide of potassium in, 34.
Cryptopia, 213.
Cubebs, 202.
Cucurbita lagenaria, poisoning by, ~ol.
Dextrine paste,  (R.) 347.
Dextrine, to prepare, (R.) 330.
Diachylon ointment, (F.) 316.
Diabetes, milk in, 32.
Diabetes, treatment of,  64.
    Berndt's pills for, (F.) 310.
Diaphoretic, (F.) 307.
Diarrhoea, chronic,* ergot in, 152.
Diatoms, Dr. Maddox's method of cleaning,
      (R.) 344.
Digitalin, and allied substances, reaction of,
      207.
Digitalis in Pneumonia,  160.
    externally applied, 155.
    action on reflex movements, 115.
    action of, 116-117.
Diomedia Chilensis, 197.
Diphtheria, various treatments of, 34.
Disinfectants, 47, 78, 127.
Disinfectant glycerole (F.) 309.
Draught, carminative, (F.) 299.
Dropsy, the use of hot baths in, 53.
    pills for, (F.) 312.
Drop, size of, 233.
Drying, losses in, 227.
Dysentery, ashantee bark in, 167.
    ipecacuanha in, 105.
    injection for, (F.) 310.
    malarious, treatment of, (F.) 312.
    ergot in, 111.
Dysmenorrhoea, pills for, (F.) 308.
    arsenic in, 120.
    guaiacum in, 176.
Dyspepsia lozenges, (F.) 308.
    pills for, 324.
Dyspnoea cardiac, treatment of, 9.

Eau de Portugal, (R.) 342.
Eau dentifrice,  (R.) 333.
Eaude Botot, (R.) 333.
Eggs, preservation of, 331.
Electricity in tetanus, 145.
    in constipation, 56,  71.
    in nervous deafness, 134.
    in locomotor ataxia, 171.
Elixirs, (F.) 300, 301.
Emulsio hydrocyanata, 193.
Enemata, 172.
Eneuresis, nocturnal, chloral in, 17.
    iodide of iron in, 34.
Epididymitis, a new method of treatment,
       163.
Epicauta, 195. 
356
INDEX.
Epilepsy cured by colchicum, 108.
Ergot, in dysentery, 111.
     in diarrhoea, 152.
     composition of, 211.
     hypodermic use of,  with formula, 151,
       289.
     ophthalmoscopy of, 112.
Erysipelas, sulphate of iron in, 149.
     morphia in, 149.
Erythrocentaurin, 228.
Eserine, to make, 222.
Ether, acetic, 240.
     crotonized, (F.) 298.
     first insensibility from, 147.
     as a beverage, 289.
     hydrobromic, 63.
     spray in chorea, 167.
Eye, santonine in diseases of, 37.

Fat acids, to detect, in oil, 241.
Febrifuge wine, (F.) 315.
Felons, abortive treatment of, 168.
Fever,  cold  treatment of,  13, 15, 55, 56,
      105, 130.
     typhoid, Traube's treatment of, 57.
     typhus,  cold-water  treatment of, 13,
      15, 56.
     typhus, ice bags in,  55.
     strychnia in typhoid, 165.
     belladonna in typhoid, 166.
     creasote iu typhoid, 171.
     mixture,  (F.) 313.
Filter, cotton wool as, 270.
Fires, red, without sulphur, (R.) 331,  337.
Fissure of the anus, liniment for, (F.)  298.
Flies, blistering, Chinese, 195.
     to get rid of, (R.) 340.  •
Food, chemical, (F.) 302.
Freckles,  remedy for, (F.) 309.
Fulmar oil,  235.
Fruit essences, artificial, (R.)  325.

Gallic acid, in Bright's disease, 160:
     formation of, 235.
Ganteine, (R.) 334.
Gargle ioduretted, (F.) 308.
Gastralgia, drops for (F.), 309.
     pills for, (F.) 309, 314.
Gelatine,  as a vehicle,  201.
Gelatinae medicatse, 201.
Gelsemium,  in neuralgia, 40, 158.
     in irritable bladder,  (F.) 317.
Gentian and iron, elixir of, (F.) 302.
Girondin,  47.
Glass, yellow, for bottles, 241.
Glass syringes, cement for, (R.) 334.
Gleet, catechu in, (F.) 315.
Glue, water proof, (R.) 331.
     liquid (R.), 334.
     for labels, (R.) 345.
Glycerine, solvent powers, 229.
     boiling point, 185.
     freezing point, 241.
     and castor oil, (F.) 305.
 Glycerine cream, (F.) 314.
     inhalations of, in croup, 33.
     ointment, (F.) 299.
 Glycerole of lupulin, (F.) 300.
     of starch, (F.) 300.
     of tar,  (F.)309.
 Gold bronze,  (R.) 352.
 Gonorrhoea, treatment of, 68, (F.) 321.
 Guaiacum in  dysmenorrhoea, 176.
     with an alkali, (F.) 320.
 Gum arabic, 226.
 Gums, wash for, (R.) 333.
 Graham bread, (R.) 344.
 Grease, to remove, (R.) 333, 347.

 Hair, to curl, (R.) 340.
     to prevent falling of,  (R.) 339.
     wash, (R.) 325.
     dye,  (R.) 325.
 Heart's action, various drugs on, 36.
 Heliotrope,  artificial essence,  (R.) 338.
 Hemoptysis,  Oppolzer's powders for, (F.)
       298.
     ergot in,  151.
 Hepatitis, muriate of ammonia in, (F.) 318.
 Hernia,  strangulated,  puncture of  intes-
       tines in, 95.
 Hippomane manzanilla, 252.
 Hops, Newton's plan of extracting, 241.
 Horses, formula for indigestion in, (R.) 344.
 Hospital wards, purifying of, 173.
     gangrene, 148, 149.
 Hydrophobia, chloral in, 17.
 Hydrarthrosis, aspirateur in, 119.
 Hypophosphates, syrups of, 301.
 Hydrocotarnia, 214.
 Hydrocyanic acid, tests for, 271.
 Hydrofugine,  (R.) 349.
 Huechys sanguinea, 196.
     vesicatoria, 196.

 Ice bags,  on cooling fever cases by, 55.
     poultices, 176.
     in acute rheumatism, 176.
     in intestinal  occlusion, 178.
 Ignition, preventives of, (R.) 337, 339.
 Ileus, cold water in, 58.
 Inflammation of  limbs,  treatment by cut-
       ting off arterial supply, 25.
 India rubber,  artificial, 234.
     how collected, 336.
 Indigo, solvents for, (R.) 209.
 Indigotine, to prepare, 226.
Ink, blue, (R.) 325.
     black, (R.)328.
     marking,  (R.) 341.
     golden,  (R.)  345.
Intestinal occlusion,  forced injections in,

     ice in, 178.
Innominate  artery, wound of, 278.
Iodide of potassium in Bright's disease, 100.
     purity of, 245.
     in asthma, 160. 
LNDEX.
357
Iodide of potassium in lupus exedens, 177.
    producing pemphigus, 165.
    producing purpura, 161.
    idiosyncrasy to, 166.
Iodide of iron in incontinence of urine, 153.
Iodide of iron and potassium, syrup of, (F.)
      294.
Iodide of iron and cod-liver oil, (F.) 313.
    of starch powder, (F.) 299.
Iodine, exhibition of, 160.
    quantitative determination of, 235,239.
Iodoform in prurigo, 154.
    pills of, (F.)309.
    suppositories of, (F.) 296.
    ointment, (F.)  298.
Incontinence of urine, iodide of iron in, 34.
Indigotine, to crystallize, 334.
Ipecacuanha in dysentery, 106.
    syrup of, 187, 289.
Iron,  sulphate of,  in  poisoning by rhus
      toxicodendron and erysipelas, 149.
    cement for, (R.) 339.
Iron,  test for, 260.
Iridium, action of salts of, 178.
Iron and mint,  pills of,  (F.) 319.


Jackson's cough syrup,  (F.) 277.
Jalap, Tampico, resin of, 230.
Javelle water, (R.)  333.
Jockey-club bouquet, (R.) 332.
Juice of fresh fruits, (It.-) 348.

Koumiss, therapeutics,  1.
    preparation of, (F.) 330.
Kino, preservation of tincture  from gela-
      tinizing,  200.
    in diphtheria, 34.
Kurwa thumree,  251.

Labels for damp places (R.), 348.
Laburnum, poisoning by, 263.
Lactic acid,  inhalations of,  in diphtheria,
      34.
Lactate of iron, syrup of, (F.) 293.
Lactucarium, syrup of, (F.) 188.
Lait virginal, (It.) 351.
Lamp inextinguishable, (R.) 346.
Lanthopia, 213.
Laudania, 213.
Laudanosia, 213.
Lavender water,  (R.) 342.
    brandy, (F.)  308.
Laxative powder  (F.),  323.
Lead  poisoning as a cause of optic neuritis,
      179.
Leeches, 231.
Lemon verbena, artificial extract of, (R.)
      uOl.
Leucorrhcea, arsenic in, 120.
Lice,  to kill,  (R.) 339.
Lightning stroke, 269.
Lime  water,  inhalations of, 34.
Lime, saccharate of, 231.
Lips, chapped, pomatum for, (R.) 333.
Locomotor ataxia, electricity in, 171.
Lupus exedens, iodide of potassium in, 177,.
Lycoperdon as a styptic, 109.


Magnesia sulphate, action of, 97.
Magnolia water, (R.) 332.
Maltine, 307.
Marble, artificial, (R.) 334.
Mastitis, conium in, 173.
Meat extract, 60.
Meat, fluid, 61.
    preservation of, 234, (R.) 345.
Mehu's solution, (R.) 346.
Melia azidavaclita, 42.
Mennorrhagia, arsenic in, 120.
    injection of perchloride of iron for, 156.
Mercury, its action on the liver, 17.
    its action on children,  20.
    bichloride, poisoning by local applica-
      tion, 264.
    hypodermic use of, 166,  186.
Mercurial ointment, rapid preparation, (F.)
      324.
    potion, (F.) 298.
Metachloral, action of, 28.
Methylene bichloride, death  from, 173.
Methylene, bichloride of, 173.
Migraine, pills for,  (F.) 307.
Milk, as a prophylactic for lead poisoning,
      70.
     digested, 61.
     skimmed, treatment, 4.
    in diabetes mellitus, 32.
    mother's, improvement of, 154.
    insufficient food on, 279.
Mineral waters, syrups for, (R.) 327.
Morphia, hydrocyanate of,  237.
    injection into a vein, 110.
    bromide of, 63.
    poisoning by, with chloroform, 267.
Muriatic acid, poisoning by,  268.
    test for, 278.
Musk, spirit and compound sp., (R.) 342.
Muscular pains, acupuncture in, 226.
Mustard, detection of turmeric in, 197.
Myrrh, wine of, (F.) 345.
Mylabris cichorii, 195.

Narceine, tests for, 273.
Narcotia, 240.
Neuralgia,  gelsemium in, 40, 158.
    constant current in 45, 167.
    powders for, (F.) 308.
    sulphate of nickel in, 167.
    bromides in, 63.
Nickel sulphate in neuralgia,  167.
Nicotia, action on vagus, 178.
Nitrate of silver, poisoning by, 246.
    to remove stains of,  (R.) 334.
Nitric acid, test for, 287.
Nitrous oxide, ophthalmoscopy of, 112.
Nutritive wine, (F.) 300. 
358
INDEX.
Ocular muscles, Calabar bean in paralysis
      of, 176.
Olive oil, test of its purity, 186, 237.
Opb thalmia, chronic, cured by taking out of
      a tooth, 108.
    rheuma/'O, treatment of, (F.) 321.
Opium, corrective influence of bromide of
      potassium on, 25.
    action of, 101.
    alkaloids of, 212.
    importation of, 244.
    poisoning of, 288.
    to determine value of, 214.
Optic neuritis  caused by  lead  poisoning,
     ' 179.
Os  uteri,  vaginal  suppositories  for ulcera-
      tion of, (F.) 318.
Orchitis, local use of belladonna in, 174.
Otitis, (F.) 315.
Oxalic acid, poisoning by, 259.
Ozone, 289.
Ozone ether, 236.

Pad, the cooling, 130.
Palladium, action of, 178.
Paper sinapism, 237.
Papaverin, 314.
Paste, Canquoin's, (F.) 298, 307.
Pastilles, vanilla, (R.) 332.
    fumigating, (R.) 325.
Parchment paper, 335.
Patchouly, spirits of, (R.) 337.
Pemphigus,  165.
Penguin,  197.
Peppermint  oil, fluorescence of, 233.
     as a local anaesthetic, 162.
     Chinese, 243.
Pepsin, wine of, (F.) 301.
Pepsin and Pancreatine, solution of,  217.
Peritonitis, Traube's treatment  of, 58.
     "Whitelaw's treatment, 164.
Permanent black for metal, (R.) 350.
Perfumes, home made, (R.) 347.
Perspiration, powder for, (F.) 314.
Petroleum casks, poisoning by, 287.
     to clean after, (R.) 341.
Phenol sodique, 321.
Pharaoh's serpents,  (F.) 335.
Phosphorus, poisoning by, 283.
     pills of, (F.) 319.
     antidote for, 284, 344.
     in cataract, 172, 179.
     amount in human stomach, 279.
Phosphates, syrups of,  (F.) 291, 292, 293.
Photographs, varnish for,  (R.) 347.
Phthisis,  cod-liver oil and lime  in, 35.
Physostigma, antagonism to atropia, 88.
Piles, suppository for, (F.) 296, 300,  308.
Pills, excipient for, 171, 206.
     varnish for, 224.
 Platinum, action of, 178.
 Pleuro-pneumonia,  Traube's treatment of,
       58.
 Plumeria lancifolia, 172.
Plating, test for, (R.) 329.
Pneumonia, treatment of, 161, (F.) 318.
Poisonous shadows, 252.
Pomatum, (R.) 333.
Poor man's plaster, (F.) 294.
Poppies, death from syrup,  270.
Potash, sulphate of, action on temperature
      and heart's action, 154.
    salts of, physiological action, 71.
    nitrate, poisoning by, 276.
    to prepare carbolate of, 225.
Potion, mercurial, (F.)  298.
    antistrumous, (F.)  298.
Procellaria obscura, 198.
    pelagica,  198.
Protopia, 213.
Prurigo, iodoform in, 154.
Pruritus, formula; for, (F.) 317.
Prussic acid, action of, on blood-corpuscles,
      51.
    to detect, 271.
Psoriasis, 164.
Pumpkin seed, 170.
Puncture of  abdomen  for tympanitis, 59,
      95, 96.
Purgatives, action of, 97.
Putrid tissues, to restore, (R.) 346.
Pyrophosphates,  elixir of various, (F.) 301.


Quinia,  action of, on heart's action and on
      temperature, 154.
    to extract from quinoidine, 245.
    as a prophylactic, 114.
    on oxidation, 152.
    action on the uterus, 41.
    rash produced by,  174.
    bromohydrates of.  239.
    pills of, (F.)296, (F.) 317.
    to discover, in urine, 278.
    ethereal solution for hypodermic use,
       (F.) 322.
    in pneumonia, 161.
    bromide of,  238.
Quinoidine, value of, as a prophylactic, 115.


Reduced iron, lozenges of, (F.) 320.
Resolvent pomade, (F.) 323.
Rheumatism, Traube's treatment of, 58.
     cure for, 159.
Rhigolene, 110, 162.
Rhubarb, syrup of, (F.) 189,  191.
     aqueous tincture of,  (F ) 191.
     sweet tincture of,  (F.) 294.
     detection of turmeric in, 197.
     English,  238.
Rhus toxicodendron,  poisoning  by, treat-
       ment of, 150, 171.
Ribs, fracture of, treated by collodion, 132.
Ricinus, poisoning by seeds of, 253.
 Rose essence of moss,  (R.) 325.
     cream of, (F.) 317.
 Rochard's ointment, (F.) 315.
 Rusting, to prevent, (R.) 339, (R.) 346. 
INDEX.                                 359
Sachet powders, (R.) 332.
    of cassia, (It.) 338.
    heliotrope, (R.) 338.
    of lavender, (R.) 338.
    alaMarechal, (R.) 338.
    for linen, (R.) 338.
Saffron, syrup of, (F.) 294.
Sandal-wood oil, pills of, (F.) 295.
    spirit of, (F.j 296.
Santonine in diseases  of the eye, 155.
    solution, 294.
    action of,  142.
Scarlatina, treatment of, 139.
Sciatica, hydropathic treatment in, 166.
Seborrhcea capitis, (F.) 317.
Self-strangulation, 250.
Seneka, syrup of, 189, 289.
Senna, purgative principle, 242.
Setons, 177.
Silk, paste to remove grease from, (R.) 347.
Sinapism paper, 237.
Singultus, chloral in,  17.
Small-pox, darkness in,  72, 159.
    to prevent pitting in, 103, 160, 176, 318.
    carbohc acid in, 165.
    treatment of, 102.
Small-pox, sulphurous treatment of, 168.
    antiseptic treatment of. 140.
Snake bite,  treatment of, 258, 267, 289.
Soap, silver, (R.) 338.
    metallic, (R.) 343.
    soft, (R.)339.
Soda carbonate, new way of  making,  200.
Soda mint, (F.) 300.
Soup tablets, (R.) 336.
Spermatorrhoea, Wutzer's pills for, (F.) 310.
    treatment of, 17.
Spinal irritation. (F.) 297.
Squill, compound syrup of, (F.) 190, 290.
Steatornis caripensis,  199.
Steel instruments, to prevent rusting,  (R.)
      346.
Stings, wasp, treatment, 168.
Stomach-pump in cancer of the stomach, 31.
Stramonium in inflammations, 174.
Strychnia,  poisoning by, 287.
    bromide of, 63.
    in Bright's disease, 170.
    in tvphoid fever, 165.
    test for, 151,  126.
    in amaurosis, 135, 153.
    poisoning,  bromide  of  potassium in,
      247.
    not poisonous to monkeys, 288.
Strychnos potatorum, 194.
Styptic, Carlo Parvesi's,  (F.) 314.
Sugar,  new test for, (R.) 335, 344.
Sugar of milk, 240.
Sulphate of  magnesia, physiological action
      of, 98.
Sulpho-carbolate  of soda, 316.
Sulphur in croup, 33.
    in diphtheria, 34.
Sulphuret of cadmium, (R.) 340.
Sulphur, 240.
Sulphur alcohol, 28.
Suppositories. 210.
    vaginal, (F.) 319.
Silvern disinfectant, 303.
Syphilis, hypodermic  use of mercury in,
       66, 186.                           '
    treatment of,  84.
    Dupuytren's pills for, (F.) 307.

Tannic suppositories, 320.
Tape-worm, treatmentof (F.), 316, (F.)319.
Tanisic acid, 238.  ,
Tar, powder of,  (F.) 302.
    syrup of, (F ) 302.
    water of, < F.) 302.
    pomade of,  (F.) 309.
    to remove, (R.) 349.
    saccharated, 203.
    emulsion with saponine, 209.
    glycerole of, (F.) 309.
Taraxacum, 292.
Tartar emetic in pneumonia, 160.
Teaspoon as a measure, 174.
Temperature, means of lowering, 77.
    alcohol influence on,  112, 114.
    quinine influence on, 36.
    curare influence on, 179.
Test paper,  new, 287.
Tetanus, 29, 175, 316.
    hot-air  bath in, 146.
    chloral  in, 52, 145, 147.
    calabar bean in, 170,  171.
    electricity in,  145.
Theine, 229.
Thymic acid, glycerole of, (F.) 310.
    lotion, (F.) 310.
    pomade, (F.) 310.
Tic-douloureux, galvanic treatment, 167.
Tobacco, influence of, in producing disease,
       107.
Tonic tooth powder, (R.) 347.
Torsion as a hemostatic, 69.
Tragacanth, mucilage of,  (R.) 330.
Transfusion, 11, 04, 119.
Trichuriasis, 58.
Tuba root, 233.
Turpentine as an antidote for phosphorus,
      284.
    to remove,  349.
    atomized, 177.
Tutu plant,  26.
Tympanites, puncture in, 96.
Typhus fever, cold-water treatment of, 13,
      15, 56.
    ice bags in, 55.

Ulcer,  varicose, carbolated cerate in, 167.
Unguentum diachylii, (F.) 316.
Urethral fever, bromide of potassium in,
      169.
Urine, to detect sugar in, (R.) 335, (R.) 344.
    to detect creatinine in, 304.
    violet sediment in, 273. 
360
INDEX.
Urine, to detect quinine in, 278.
    albumen in, new test for, (R.) 345.
Vomiting of pregnancy,  (F.) 310.

Water, cold, in fever, 130.
    in treatment of typhus, 13, 15.
    hemlock,  poisoning  by, 263.
    to purify, 159.
Waterproofing, (R.) 329, 348.
Waters, Adirondack and Gettysburg, 132.
Wax models, to make, (R.) 350.
Whooping-cough, 17.
    ammonia  in,  107.
    cod-liver oil in, 177.
Wines, strength of, 242.
Wood, to make impervious, (R.) 338.
Wool, to detect in silk, (R.) 340.
Wounds, to purify, 159.
    antiseptic treatment of, 157.
    to disinfect, 157.
    glycerized cotton for dressing, 168.
    disinfectant glycerole for, (R.) 309.
Vaccine virus, preservation of, 160.
Vaccine lymph, preservation of, 160.
    glycerined, 73, 142, 160, 161.
Vaginismus, treatmentof, (F.) 310.
Vagus,  action of  atropia and nicotia on,
    178.
Valerianate of  ammonia,  elixir of,  (F.)
      301.
Vanilla crystals, 226.
    spirit of, (R.) 341.
Varnish, Chinese,  (R.) 336.
    for photographs,  (R.) 347.
Veratrum. viride, 144, 161.
Vesical catarrh, pills for, (F.) 313.
Vienna yeast, (R.) 350.
Vin digestif, (F.) 324.
Vinegars (R.), 350, 351. 
 
 
 
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