gist's Diary" for 1882, a large number of methods and formulas for removing stains and spots of every description from all sorts of substances, which will be found very useful for reference.

Cleansing Fluid for Greasy Bottles.-The following preparation is recommended as an efficient solvent for grease in obstinately dirty bottles: Take of Castile soap in shavings, 4 ounces; carbonate of soda, 2 ounces; borax, 1 ounce; aqua ammoniæ, 7 ounces; alcohol, 3 ounces; sulphuric ether, 2 ounces; add soft water sufficient to make one gallon. The soap should be boiled in the water until it is dissolved, and the other ingredients then added.-New Rem., June, 1882, p. 179.

Coating for Blackboards.-The following formulas are given in Phar. Ztg., 1881, No. 72:

1. Sandarac, 300; shellac, 300; lampblack, 200; ultramarine, 30; ether, 10 grams; 96 per cent, alcohol, 4 liters.-H. Schoeneweg.

2. Shellac, 200; camphor, 80; lampblack, 90; ether, 800; alcohol, 1000 grams.-C. Welcker, Am. Jour. Phar., February, 1882, p. 64.

Leather Dressing-Preparation.-A fine, brilliant, elastic dressing for leather can be made as follows: To 3 pounds of boiling water add, with continual stirring, pound of white wax, 1 ounce of transparent glue, 2 ounces of gum senegal, 1 ounces white soap, and 2 ounces of brown candy. Finally, add 24 ounces of alcohol and, after the whole is cooled, 3 ounces of fine Frankfort black. The dressing is thinly applied to the leather with a soft brush, and, after it is dried, it is rubbed with a piece of fine pumice-stone and polished with a stiff brush. Chem. and Drug., September, 1881, p. 397.

Black Leather-varnish.-M. v. Valta gives the following formula for a black leather-varnish, which is said not to crack or peel off: Rosin, turpentine, oil of turpentine, of each 30 parts; sandarac, 60 parts; shellac, 120 parts; alcohol (90 per cent.), 900 parts. Digest, and then add lampblack, 15 parts, previously triturated with a little alcohol.-New Rem., February, 1882, p. 39; from Phar. Ztg.

India-rubber Varnish-Preparation.-Dr. Eder gives the following recipe: Inclose 30 grams of finely-cut caoutchouc in a capacious linen. bag, and suspend this within a flask containing a liter of benzin, by means of a thread held fast by the stopper, so that the bag remains near the surface of the liquid. In the course of six or eight days the soluble portion of the caoutchouc, about 40 to 60 per cent., will pass into the benzin, while the contents of the bag will expand enormously. The clear solution, which is quite viscous, and contains 1.2 to 1.5 per cent. of caoutchouc, is then carefully separated. The swelled contents of the bag retain one-fourth to one-third of the benzin used, and may be utilized for the preparation of an inferior kind

of varnish. A solution of india-rubber in benzin, kept in half-full bottles, is decomposed on exposure to light, which may be seen by the change in the solution from a viscous to a thin fluid condition. Even in the dark this change goes on, but it requires about three times as much time.-New Rem., February, 1882, p. 53.

Varnish for Drawings, Maps, etc.-Formula.-A varnish for paper which produces no stains may be prepared, according to the "Polyt. Notizblatt," as follows:

Clear dammar resin is covered, in a flask, with four and a half to six times its quantity of acetone, and allowed to stand for fourteen days at a moderate temperature, after which the clear solution is poured off. Three parts of this solution is mixed with four parts of thick collodion, and the mixture allowed to become clear by standing. It is applied with a soft camel's or beaver's hair-brush, in vertical strokes. At first the coating looks like a thin, white film, but on complete drying, it becomes transparent and shining. It should be laid on two or three times. It retains its elasticity under all circumstances, and remains glossy in every kind of weather.-New Rem., April, 1882, p. 113.

Turkish Black Hair Dye-Preparation.-M. v. Valta (in "Phar. Ztg."), August 24th, 1881, gives the following Turkish method of making black hair dye: Very finely powdered nutgalls are triturated with a fatty oil until a doughy mass results, which is then introduced into an iron vessel, and roasted until no more oily fumes are given off. The residue is now rubbed, with water, to a pulp, heated, and while still moist, mixed with such a quantity of a mixture of equal parts of most finely divided metallic iron and copper that the mass still retains the consistence of an ointment. It is next perfumed with ambergris, and preserved in a damp place, whereby it develops its full power of dyeing. Hair, to which this mixture is applied, retains its softness, plasticity, and black color for a long time after one application. The mixture owes its property to the presence of pyrogallic acid, which is formed on roasting the nutgalls.-New Rem., Jan., 1882, p. 22.

Starch Gloss. This is composed of 1 part each of spermaceti, gum senegal, and borax, 24 parts of glycerin, and 244 parts of water. Two or three teaspoonfuls are to be added to pound of boiled starch.— Chem, and Drug., July, 1881, p. 292; from Faerb. Murt. Ztg.

Flour Paste is made by thoroughly mixing flour 4 ounces with water 1 pint, straining through a sieve, adding nitric acid 40 minims, and heating until thoroughly cooked; when cold, 5 minims each of oil of cloves and carbolic acid are added. In the dry climate of California the addition of 5 per cent. of glycerin prevents the paste from drying

up too soon. Am. Jour. Phar., April, 1880, p. 180; from Proc. Calif. Coll. Phar., 1882, p. 51.

Colored Fires-Safe Mixtures.-In consequence of some accidents which have lately happened, Mr. Sailer, of Alstaetten, Switzerland, advises to dispense with mixtures containing chlorate of potassium and sulphur altogether, or at least to use them only with the greatest care, and only when needed. Traces of sulphuric acid adhering to the sulphur may start an explosion; mixtures containing nitrate of strontium alongside of sulphur and chlorate of potassium are also very risky, and should not be kept in stock. Mr. Sailer recommends the following mixtures as absolutely safe. He states that they do not produce quite as handsome a light as those which contain sulphur, but are still quite satisfactory, besides having the advantage of burning without much smoke and poisonous vapors. Red: shellac, 1 part; nitrate of strontium, 5 parts; Yellow: nitrate of sodium, pure and dry, 1 part; shellac, 4 parts; Green: shellac, 1 part; nitrate of barium, 5 parts. The shellac is fused with the color-producing salt, which must be chemically pure, and the resulting mass preserved in tight tin boxes.-New Rem., June, 1882, p. 175; from Schweiz. Wochenschr. f. Pharm.

Chemical Food for Plants.-The "Phar. Zeitschr. f. Russ." recommends the following formula: Sulphate of ammonium, 4 parts; nitrate of potash, 2 parts; sugar, 1 part. Mix. About 40 or 50 grains of this powder should be added to a gallon of water and applied to the plants once or twice a week.-Chem. and Drug., July, 1881, p. 292.

MATERIA MEDICA.

a. Vegetable Drugs.

GENERAL SUBJECTS.

Medicinal Plants-Cultivation in Lincolnshire.-Mr. E. M. Holmes has contributed a paper on the cultivation of medicinal plants, near Market Deeping, a small village in Lincolnshire. The principal plants cultivated appear to be peppermint, henbane, belladonna, dill, caraway, squirting cucumber, and Lactuca virosa; but savin, rosemary, wormwood, thyme, and lemon thyme, are also occasionally cultivated for their essential oils, and aconite for the extract of the leaves. The paper contains much useful information, and coming from so close an

observer as Mr. Holmes, brief abstracts have been made of the more important points, which, in accordance with the general plan of this Report, will be found under the plants to which they have reference.Pharm. Jour. Trans., September 17, 1881, pp. 237-239.

New Drugs from the Argentine Republic.-The following àro mentioned by Gehe & Co.:

Cestrum pseudoguina, Mart., durazuillo, nat. ord. Solanaceæ. The leaves and root bark are employed in fevers and abdominal complaints.

Nierembergia oippomanica, Mart., chucu, nat. ord. Solanaceæ. Horses feeding on it are attacked by fever and rigor, called "chucu." Xanthoxylum Coco, Gill., Rutacea; used against chucu.

Gourliea Decorticans, Gill., chanar, Leguminosa; the inspissated juice of the fruit is used in pectoral complaints; the bark in difficult after-birth.

Zizyphus Mistol, Griseb., Rhamnacea; the fruit is diuretic.

Condalia lineata, Griseb., piquillin, Rhamnacea; the inspissated juice is laxative; chiefly used for children.

Celtis Tala, Gill., Urticaceae; an infusion of the leaves is used in pectoral catarrhs.

Martinia montevidensis, Cham., Gesneraces; the seeds are used in diseases of the eye.

Prosopis Tintitaco, Leguminosa; the fruit is diuretic.

Colletia ferox, Gill., s. Barba tigris, Rhamnacea; the wood is very hard and indestructible, even in water.

Topas aire, Composite; botanical name not known; used in ophthalmic complaints.

Nio, probably identical with mio-mio, from Baccharis cordifolia Lam., Composite; the herb is a deadly poison to cattle, and, according to P. N. Arata, contains an alkaloid, baccarine.-Amer. Jour. Pharm., March, 1882, p. 134; from Zeitschr. Est. Apoth. Ver., 1881, No. 27.

Heteromeles Arbutifolia, J. Romer-Proximate Constituents.-This is known as laurel hawthorn, the toyou or tollou of the Indians, and grows in the Coast Range of California. The leaves yielded to D. D. Lustig hydrocyanic acid, volatile oil, tannin, gallic acid, resins, fat, wax, gum, coloring matter, and chlorophyll. The fruit is eaten by the Indians. Amer. Jour. Pharm., April, 1882, p. 178; from Proc. Calif. Coll. Pharm., 1882, p. 59.

ALGE.

Iodine-yielding Alga-Direct Use in Pharmacy.-Mr. James Wheeler advocates the direct use in pharmacy of several algæ containing iodine, and among these particularly those belonging to the genus

Laminaria, which appear from his experiments to contain iodine in largest quantity. Fucus vesiculosus, which has gained some favor as a remedial agent, and has long been singled out as such, appears to contain but small quantities of iodine, while other species of Fucus, such as F. nodosus and F. serratus appear to contain no iodine at all. The species of Laminaria to which Mr. Wheeler particularly refers are the following:

Laminaria Cloustoni.-The fronds of this yield a decoction rich in iodine. In most respects it possesses no advantages over the other members of the genus, but from the facility with which its fronds are powdered it would afford a cheap and possibly useful compound of a resolvent poultice, or, on paper, after the manner of charta sinapis or some other flexible material, supply, on soaking in water, a convenient application to scrofulous joints, etc.

Laminaria Flexicaulis.-This doubtless is the richest of all algæ in iodine, which it yields from the fronds in larger percentage than either the stem or the root. Maceration in water or proof spirit is found to extract its iodine, and the author gives formulas for Infusion and Tincture, which see, under "Pharmacy."

Laminaria Saccharina.-This is of more complex character than either of the preceding, yielding to decoction 50 per cent. of its weight, and affording iodine, bromine, and mannite, the latter shown by Stenhouse to amount to 12 or 15 per cent. of the plant, and a mucilage which, in Mr. Wheeler's experience, differs materially from that af forded by any other species. Its emulsifying is far superior to that of Chondrus crispus, producing a minuter division and separation of the oil-globules. He, therefore, believes it to be specially adapted to the production of emulsions of cod-liver oil, a formula for which, as well as for a decoction, will be found under "Pharmacy."-Pharm. Jour. Trans., February 4, 1882, pp. 642, 644.

Fucus Amylaceus-Determination and Examination of its Carbohydrates. Mr. Henry G. Greenish has isolated the carbohydrates of Sphærococcus lichenoides, better known under the name of Fucus amylaceus, and subjected them to very careful examination, the results of which are summarized as follows:

1. The gelatinous substance contained in Fucus amylaceus is not identical with lichenin. It is distinguished particularly by its insolubility in ammonio-cupric oxide, the difficulty of its precipitation by alcohol, and the characters of the sugar produced by boiling it with dilute mineral acids. It appears, however, to be identical with the gelose of Payen.

2. The gelose is not composed of "pararabin," as is proved by the