and bromine, and, as was expected, found them to contain traces of ammonia, corresponding to but little more than one grain of phosphate of ammonium in a fluid ounce of the U. S. P. dilute acid. The author states that this impurity cannot be avoided, but the amount of ammonia is so small that it may be practically disregarded, The American Journal of Pharmacy for March contains a paper on this subject, and the conclusions arrived at by Mr. H. Trimble, the author, are similar to those given above.

ACTIVE PRINCIPLE OF VERATRUM VIRIDE.-Mr. Charles Bullock (Am. Jour. Pharm., April), gives in detail the results of a series of experiments made in order to determine whether veratrum viride contains any alkaloid other than jervia. The conclusion arrived at is that jervia is the only alkaloid present, and that the socalled veratroidia is a mixture of jervia with a light colored resin. The larger the amount of this resin the greater will be the proportion of jervia taken up by ether. The different physiological effects of jervia and veratroidia are also attributed to the presence of the

resin.

EPSOM SALT TURNED ΤΟ A NEW USE.—It is stated by Dr. Frank that one of the principal uses of sulphate of magnesia is that of being employed to give a body and weight to cotton fabrics. The fabric is soaked in a saturated solution of the salt and then dried. This plan is, principally, practised in England, and the poorer cotton's only are subjected to such treatment. Owing to impurities in the sulphate, the fibre of the cotton is, to some extent, injured. Some goods were examined which lost over fifty per cent. in weight by washing, most of this being Epsom salt.

COMPOSITION OF PERSIAN OPIUM.-Mr. W. D. Howard, (Pharm. Jour. and Trans.), examined a sample of opium, sent to England as being perfectly pure, and found its composition to be as follows: Morphine, (crystallized from alcohol), 10'40 per cent.; codeine, (anhydrous), o 29; narcotine, 2.50; thebaine, o 57; cryptopine, o09; papaverine, trace. The opium was of light brown colour, and had been collected without the excessive use of oil.

EXPLOSIVE MIXTURE OF CHROMIC ACID AND GLYCERIN.—A prescription requiring about 8 grains of glycerin to be mixed with 62

grains of glycerin was recently attempted to be dispensed in a pharmacy at Paris. Upon shaking the bottle in order to make the mixture--the chromic acid having been previously dissolved in a little water-a violent explosion took place, fortunately without serious consequences.

CORALLINE TEST-PAPER.-Dr. Waller proposes a new testpaper, made by soaking white paper in solution of coralline. Alkaline liquids develop a beautiful red color, and the test is said to be very sensitive. Acid also produces a change of color, but the yellow color produced is not very characteristic.

FEMALE STUDENTS.-There are at present 171 female students attending the St. Petersburg medical schools; of these 102 are of noble birth. At the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy there are also two female students.

CACHETS DE PAIN.-Mr. H. P. Lechler, (Am. Journal Pharmacy, condemns these wafer discs as being very tedious and troublesome to make, and still more difficult to administer successfully. He thinks the cachets will soon only be referred to as things of the past.

Varieties.

ARTIFICIAL LIME-JUICE.-A very satisfactory preparation, very much like the veritable, can be made as follows:

Dissolve, add the peel of a lemon, infuse for twenty-four hours, and strain through a hair sieve. This preparation will retain its composition and flavor if kept in a cool place. For lime-juice cordial, digest fresh and dried lemon-peel, of each 3ij., and fresh orange-peel 3 i., in a gallon of proof spirit for a week, strain and press, and add water q. s. to reduce it to desired strength, and lump-sugar 3 lbs. to the gallon. The addition of a little orange-flower or rose-water improves the flavor.

DANGERS OF ABSORPTION OF PHENIC ACID.-The carelessness with which non-professional journals take up certain popular receipts is not always without its dangers, and especially since these often come into the hands of children. For instance, there appeared lately in one of the public prints an article upon the poison of vipers, which recommended that carbolic acid should immediately be introduced within the wound, the acid to be mixed with alcohol in the proportion of two to one. Observe the offhand manner in which a toxic agent is spoken of, as if it were the most inoffensive thing in the world. In order to try the experiment, a cat was selected upon whose skin, denuded of hair alone, a saturated solution of carbolic acid in alcohol, mixed with an equal quantity of water, was rubbed. This produced no effect; but when the same solution was rubbed into a scratch upon the nose two or three times, the animal immediately fell into convulsions, and very shortly succumbed. Prussic acid could not have acted more promptly. The moral of this experiment is obvious.— L'Abeille Medicale, No. 3, 1875; from Medical Times.

CHLORIDE OF LEAD AS A DEODORIZER AND DISINFECTANT.-Dr. R. H. Goolden calls attention (Lancet, Dec. 11, 1875), to the value of chloride of lead, which he says is the most powerful and economical deodorizer and disinfectant. To prepare it for use he directs to take half a drachm of nitrate of lead, dissolve it in a pint or more of boiling water, then dissolve two drachms of common salt in a bucket of water, and pour the two solutions together; allow the sediment to subside. The clear supernatant fluid will be a saturated solution of chloride of lead. A cloth dipped in this solution and hung up in a room will sweeten a fetid atmosphere instantaneously, or the solution thrown down a sink, water-closet, or drain, or over a heap of dung or other refuse, will produce a like result. Even the tarnishing of gold and silver plate may be prevented by a rag dipped in the solution being hung up in a room or window where it is exposed. He relates some striking instances of the instantaneous and efficient action of this preparation. Med. News and Library.

TO DESTROY HOUSEHOLD PESTS.-For the destruction of indoor pests, hot alum-water is said to be unfailing as an insecticide. It will destroy red and black ants, cockroaches, spiders, bugs, and all the crawling pests which infest our houses. Two pounds of alum dissolved into three or four quarts of boiling water; let it stand on the fire till the alum disappears; apply it with a brush, while nearly boiling hot, to every joint and crevice in closets, bedsteads, pantry-shelves and the like. Brush the crevices in the floor of the skirting or boards, if you suspect that they harbor vermin. If, in whitewashing a ceiling, plenty of alum is added to the lime, it will also serve to keep insects at a distance. Cockroaches will flee the paint which has been washed in alum water.

REACTIONS OF SACCHARINE MATTERS BY M. Vidau.—A mixture of equal parts of commercial hydrochloric acid and of a fatty oil, but especially of oil of sesame, is a very delicate test for sugar, glucose, levulose, honey, &c. The oil and acid are shaken together for some minutes, and the mixture is heated until the acid liquid begins to boil, then the acid is allowed to subside and its colour is observed. When oil of sesame is used, the subsequent addition of one-tenth of a milligram of inverted sugar suffices to produce a characteristic rose colour. The reantion is distinct with a liquid containing one 20,000th of inverted sugar, and detects a milligram of that substance when dissolved in a cubic centimeter of normal urine.-J. Pharm. Chim., (44), xxii., 33. Amer. Jour. Pharm.