N. MATEKIA MEDIC A, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE. 637 



rated to dryness, and absolute alcohol applied, which dis- 

 solves out the organic alkali, to which hydrate of lime is sub- 

 sequently added. It is from this source that the material 

 used in the experiments of the writer was derived, and pre- 

 sents itself in the form of a limpid, colorless, very volatile 

 liquid, of an extremely strong odor of rotten fish. The pres- 

 ent price of the drug in France is about twenty-five dollars 

 per pound ; but this can be readily reduced, should there be 

 a sufficient demand for it. 



As the result of numerous experiments, Dujardin-Beaumetz 

 expresses his great confidence in the remedy for the cases re- 

 ferred to, stating that it may be administered without incon- 

 venience in doses of from half a dram to a dram and a half 

 He finds that it exercises a more powerful effect in cases of 

 acute rheumatism of the joints than any other substance hith- 

 erto employed, and hopes, as the result of experiments he is 

 about making, to present a fuller report on the subject here- 

 after. 11 B, March 15, 1873, 151. 



TRIMETHYLAMIXE IN RHEUMATISM. 



The a2)plicatron of trimethylamine in cases of acute articu- 

 lar rheumatism seems to commend itself more and more to 

 those who have made use of it, and its virtues have lately been 

 especially detailed by Dr. Dujardin-Beaumetz, of Paris. In 

 a recent article he takes occasion to say that propylamine, 

 which has usually been considered as identical with trime- 

 thylamine, is in reality a very different substance, being, in 

 fact, a more or less complex solution of ammonia and tryme- 

 thylamine, and consequently not a chemically definable sub- 

 stance, but a mixture of variable composition. Trimethyla- 

 mine itself is most conveniently obtained from old herring 

 brine by a chemical process (and also from several other sub- 

 stances), and is open to the great objection of possessing a 

 disagreeable odor, resembling that of putrid fish. The diffi- 

 culty of obtaining it pure, and the disadvantage of its smell, 

 have suggested the employment of its compounds, and the 

 hydrochlorate has been proposed .as eminently suited for all 

 medicinal purposes. It is a fixed salt, composed of needle- 

 shaped crystals, without any odor excepting when in solu- 

 tion, and even then this is not very objectionable. It is very 

 deliquescent, and acts like a caustic upon the skin. 



