No. 2, December, 1921] PHARMACOGNOSY 113 



725. Holmes, E. M. Birch tar. Pharm. Jour. 106: 508. 1921.— This article should be pre- 

 pared in England from the bark removed from Betula alba poles, the latter so commonly used 

 as hop poles in Kent and Sussex. The difficulty of obtaining from Russia a fine birch tar with 

 fairly uniform constants, and the value of betulin anhydride as an antiseptic with an agreeable 

 odor should render such a native industry feasible; or the industry might be developed in 

 India, where immense forests of Betula Bhojpattra are available. — E. A'. Gathercoal. 



726. Holmes, E. M. Delphinium Staphisagria. Pharm. Jour. 106: 2Go. 1921. — Seeds of 

 Delphinium Staphisagria, Anemone Pulsatilla and other ranunculaceous plants are not likely 

 to germinate unless well-developed, earlj'-ripened seed are planted soon after they are ripened. 

 The seed furnished by some botanical gardens are smaller than those of D. Staphisagria and 

 produce plants of D. pictum. — E. N . Gathercoal. 



727. Holmes, E. M. Henbane cultivation. Pharm. Jour. 106: 248-249. 1921.— The seed 

 should be carefully selected, only the largest and first ripened being retained, and should 

 not be completely dried. The smaller, weaker seed tend to produce annual plants. Before 

 planting the seed should be soaked in water over night and the floating portion removed. 

 Soils rich in magnesia are preferred by the plant, the ash of the latter, it is noted, containing 

 21 parts of magnesia to IS of potash, 6 of lime, and 5 of soda. — E. N . Gathercoal. 



728. McCoRD, Carey P., C. H. Kilker, and Dorothy K. Minster. Pj^rethrum der- 

 matitis — a record of the occurrence of occupational dermatoses among workers in the Pyre thrum 

 industry. Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc. 77: 448-449. 1921. — Pyrethrum (Dalmatian or Persian 

 insect powder, or "buhach") is the most commonly used household insecticide at this time. 

 It is an efficacious and, at the same time, inexpensive agent; consequently, an extensive indus- 

 try has grown up around the manufacture of the powder. The extent of its use in the U. S. A. 

 is indicated by the importation in a single year (1917) of 1,504,000 pounds of the crude material. 

 With the recent introduction of large-scale production methods in the manufacture of the 

 powder has come the realization that the industry is subject to conditions of work that are 

 inimical to the health of exposed workers. This powder is made from the flowers of 3 species 

 of Chrysanthemum or Pijrethrimi: (1) cinerariaefolium, (2) roseum, and (3) Marshallii or 

 carneum. The principal sources of these flowers are the Caucasus, Persia, Dalmatia, Japan, 

 Montenegro, and in recent years California. There are 3 grades of flowers which determine 

 the value of the powder as an insecticide: (1) The open flowers, which make the poorest grade 

 of powder; (2) the half-closed flowers, which yield a little better grade; (3) the closed flowers, 

 which make the finest grade. The authors discuss: trade processes, substances responsible 

 for the hazard, clinical characteristics, treatment and preventive measures. — Wm. B. Day. 



729. IMuszYXSKi, Jax. A new haemostatic: Polygonum hydropiper. Pharm. Jour. 106: 

 26^270. 1921. — Polygonum hydropiper has been used by the Russian peasants from remote 

 times for arresting bleeding and in the treatment of metrorrhagia. Since ergot and hydrastis 

 have become so scarce and very expensive in Russia, repeated clinical successes have been 

 had with the fluid extract of smartweed as a haemostatic in all cases of internal haemorrhage 

 (pulmonary, gastric, haemorrhoidal, and uterine), even succeeding where ergot and hydrastis 

 had failed. — E. N. Gathercoal. 



730. Samaan, Karam. A contribution to the study of digitalis. Pharm. Jour. 106: 

 481-482. 1921. — The relative toxicity and pharmacologic action of various concentrated 

 infusions of digitalis, when perfused into the whole heart of the frog, are presented, with 

 special reference to the solvent used in preparing the concentrated infusions as well as 

 the effect of keeping the preparation. Concentrated infusions prepared by percolation of 

 digitalis with 20 per cent alcohol tend to contain more digitoxin and to be more toxic than 

 the aqueous infusion prepared by the British Pharmacopoeia (1914) method. The concen- 

 trated infusions presented, upon keeping for 4 weeks, a brown precipitate, about .07 per cent 

 W/V when dried, which was powerfully toxic indicating the presence of digitoxin. — E. N. 

 Gathercoal. 



