66 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



while the alkaloids go into solution as acetates; 

 likewise coloring matter extractives and al- 

 buminous bodies form insoluluble' compounds 

 with the lead. The percolate is filtered, treated 

 with slight excess sulphuric acid, the insoluble 

 lead sulphate filtered off, and the alkaloid pre- 

 cipitated by excess of pottassio-mercuric iodide, 

 the precipitate is washed and the alkaloid 

 removed afterwards by either of two methods. 



1. The precipitate is shaken in separating 

 flask with potassium cyanide, a little solution 

 of caustic soda and ether. The alkaloids may 

 be removed from the ether and purified in the 

 usual way. 



2. Add slight excess of solution of sodium 

 sulphide after standing a short time, acidify 

 with sulphuric acid, filter, make alkaline and 

 shake alkaloids out with ether. 



The addition of a little oil (olive) to the ether 

 assists in its rapid separation. V. C. 



Toluol Thermometer. — There has lately been 

 introduced a thermometer in which the mer- 

 cury is replaced by Toluol. It answers admir- 

 ably for low temperatures, as its freezing point 

 is circa — 7d°C., boiling point being -|-i7o°C. 

 The toluol is colored black which renders the 

 thread easy to distinguish. The co efficient of 

 expansion is five times greater than that of 

 mercuty, also its density is very small, circa 

 0.870, this allows the use of a larger bulb and 

 capillary tube. Because of their comparative 

 cheapness they promise to supplant the mercury 

 thermometer for general uses. V. C. 



Vanillin.— Yon Heyden (Pharm. Centralh), 

 has patented a new process in which aldehyde- 

 guaiacol carboxylic acid or its silver salt is 

 heated in presence of acidulated water to tem- 

 perature of 180° under pressure, whereby car- 

 bonic acid gas is split off, yielding aldehyde 

 guaiacol or vanillin, thus; 

 COOH 



COH 

 Reaction for Veratrine.- 

 two three drops of a mixture of sulphuric acid 

 and furfuraldehyde (five drops to ten C. c. acid). 

 This mixture by means of a glass-rod is applied 

 to a minute particle of the alkaloid when a 

 yellowish-green and then an olive green mixture 

 results; the edges and the whole of the mixture 

 afterwards turn to a beautiful blue color. On 

 warming, the mixture gradually acquires a 

 purple violet color. The blue substance ob- 

 tained in the cold is insoluble in alcohol, ether 

 or chloroform. The least amount of water, or 



=co, + 



CeH3-OCH3 

 ^COH 



-N. Wender uses 



alkali, decolorizes the solution and on adding 

 much water a fairly permanent yellow solution, 

 is obtained. — Cheni. Zeit., iSgj. pjo. 



AStioloo'v of Cholera. — Sanarelli (Ann. de 

 rinst. Pasteur, 1893, 693), advances the idea 

 that the morphological unity of the cholera 

 bacillus must be abandoned, since there exist 

 different varieties of vibriones morphologically 

 distinct, which are capable of producing in man 

 and in the lower animals one and the same 

 type of cholera, clinically identical. Koch's 

 bacteriological diagnosis of cholera as recently 

 established, agrees neither with the idea of a 

 limited monomorphism nor with the assumption 

 of a polymorphism of the vibriones, since in 

 every impure water we may find pathogenous 

 microbes which possess quite the same char- 

 acter as the specific exotic vibrones. In addi- 

 tion to the morbific forms originating in the 

 water, which exactly resemble those from the 

 bowel, there are found in water a number of 

 non-pathogenous microbes which approach the 

 former very closely, so that they may be re-- 

 garded as varieties capable under certain cir- 

 cumstances of resuming their former (?) malig- 

 nant properties. This constant occurrence of 

 pathogenic mic:obia in all sewage is a proof 

 of the great importance of the pollution of 

 water for the origin and spread of cholera. The 

 water-vibrios and those of cholera dejections 

 are in every respect very closely allied, which 

 points to a common origin. Virulent vibriones 

 do not long retain their malignant character. 

 They gradually disappear along with the other 

 characteristic properties of the vibriones, such 

 as the formation of nitrites and ofindol. 



A Ptomaine in Influenza. — Griffith and Ladel 

 (Pharm. Centralh., 1894, 4) have obtained a 

 ptomaine from the urine of patients suffering 

 from "La Grippe." It is a poisonous base, 

 crystalline, soluble in water and gives character- 

 istic reactions. Its formula being Ca H9 NO4. 

 The urine was made alkaline with sodium car- 

 bonate, and shaken with ether, the base re- 

 moved from the ether by agitating with aque- 

 ous solution acidulated with tartaric acid, and 

 from this the base is removed by adding an 

 alkali and shaking with ether. The ether on 

 evaporating leaves the base behind. V. C. 



''White Ipecac" and Senega.— P^. Andree, 

 Apoth. Zeit., 1894, 23), examined a parcel 

 of senega root sent out by a well-known drug 

 house and found it to contain a consider- 

 able quantity of Richardsonia scabra, St, 

 Hillaire, so-called "white ipecac." The senega 



