34 



THE ALUMJS/l JOURNAL. 



THE MOST RECENT WORK. 



Effect of Electricity on Plants. — According 

 to the results obtained by Prof, A. Aloi, both 

 atmospheric and terrestrial electricity exercise 

 a favorable influence on the germination of 

 seeds and on the growth of plants, as is shown 

 by their quicker germination and by their yield- 

 ing a greater weight of produce in the same 

 time. Prof. Aloi anticipates that the applica- 

 tion of electricity will be one of the most im- 

 portant new appliances in the agriculture of the 

 future. — Bulletine de la Societa Botanica 

 Italian a. 



Systematic Arrangement of the Elements. — 

 Julius Thomsen {Zeil. anorg. Chem., /Spj), 

 arranges the elements in ascending order of 

 atomic weights in three main groups, of which 

 the first contains two series of seven elements, 

 the second two series of seventeen elements and 

 the third thirty-one elements. Hydrogen stands 

 by itself. Electro-positive elements are at the 

 one end of each of the four smaller series and 

 electro-negative elements at the other. Tlie 

 arrangement serves to show relationships be- 

 tween the elements beyond those shown by the 

 ordinary periodic scheme. 



Chemical Phenomena of Osssification. — P. 

 Camille Chabrie {Compl. rend., 1895), has found 

 that the conversion of the fundamental carti- 

 lagenous matter into the fundamental osseous 

 matter is the result of a simultaneous oxidation 

 and the substitution of the amido group for 

 the hydroxyl group, the change being brought 

 about by the influence of ammonia or ammoni- 

 um salts in an alkaline medium, but not in the 

 ■presence of lactic acid. The same change seems 

 to be brought about in the organism by urea in 

 consequence of its ready convertibility into 

 ammonium salts, Ammonium carbonate de- 

 stroys the blood corpuscles, with liberation of 

 lecithin, which acts as a feeble base and com- 

 bines with carbonic acid. If lecithin, emul- 

 sified in water, is added to a mixture of sodi- 

 hydrogen phosphate, and sodium hydrogen 

 carbonate, to which some calcium chloride has 

 been added, a precipitate of calcium carbonate 

 and phosphate is formed, owing to the combi- 

 nation of the lecithin with the carbonic acid that 

 would otherwise keep them in solution. It would 

 seem, therefore, that the lecithin set free by the 

 destruction of blood corpuscles is one of the 

 main causes of calcification. In presence of 

 lactic acid, as in cases of osteomalgia, this pre- 

 cipitation of calcium salts could not take 

 place, and the action of the acid an the lecithin 

 would liberate fatty acids, which are always 



present m such cases. The presence of rela- 

 tively high proportions of magnesium salts 

 under the same conditions arises from the fact 



that the solubilities of calcium and magnesium 

 salts of fatty acids are practically the same in 

 dilute solutions of lactic acid, whereas in nor- 

 mal ossification the conditions are not such as 

 favor the precip tation of magnesmm salts. 



NEW REMEDIES. 



Leifon. — Crude, watery borneol, obtained 

 from Blumea balsamifera, said to be identical 

 with Ngai camphor. 



Medidladen. — Extract of spinal cord, used 

 against gout. 



Plperovatine. — Alkaloid from Piper ovatum. 

 Spastic. 



Rubrol. — Solution of boric acid, thymol and 

 some coal tar derivative. Injection in gonor- 

 rhea. 



Stypticm. — C12H13NO3 + H2O.HC2. A 

 Hemostatic. 



Zincohetnol. — Zincated hemol. Antichloratic 

 and antidiarrheic. Dose : 0.5 gm. — Merk's Bul- 

 letin. 



Aminol. — Said to be an aqueous solution of 

 a gas possessing antiseptic and deodorizing 

 properties ; described as a colorless, slightly 

 turbid liquid, possessing the odor of trimethyl- 

 amine, reaction strongly alkaline to test paper, 

 specific gr. at 175° C. i.oi. 



lodoformal. — A yellow powder having a 

 strong odor of cumaino. Is insoluble in water 

 and in ether, nearly soluble in boiling alcohol, 

 melts at 128° C. Yields iodoform when acted 

 upon by hydrochloric acid and iodine by the 

 action of concentrated sulphuric acid. 



Phenosuccine. — Produced by the action of 

 succinic acid upon paraamidophenol ; it forms 

 small colorless needles, which dissolve in 83 

 parts of water and melt at 155° C. Analgesic 

 and antipyretic. 



Sodiuin Phenosuccinate. — Obtained on heat- 

 ing succinamine with sodium hydroxide. An- 

 algesic and antipyretic. 



Theiienit. — A new food preservative, whose 

 chief active constituent is said to be Sodium 

 Bisulphite. 



'frophenin. — Von Merrony describes it as a 

 homologue of Phenacetine, obtained by heating 

 paraphenetidin with hopionic acid. It melts at 

 120° C. and is soluble in about 2,000 parts of 

 cold water. Its properties are antipvretic and 

 antineuralgic. The dose as an antipyretic is 

 from 0.3 to 0.6 (5 to 10 grains). To secure its 

 analgesic action i.o (15 grains) doses, repeated 

 3 or 4 times in 24 hours, are given without fear 

 of producing unplesant secondary eflfects. 



