256 Biochemical News, Notes and Comment [March, 



wards, the market will be restricted and without the benefit of com- 

 Petition. 



Thymol. Hitherto thymol has been almost entirely manufac- 

 tured in Germany, although the ajowan seeds, which are almost the 

 sole source of the oil from which thymol is produced, are grown on 

 a large scale only in India. The cutting off of the supplies of thy- 

 mol from Germany has increased the price eightfold, and it is even 

 now (Jan. 15) $5 a pound, as against $1.25 before the war. As 

 the manufacturing process is quite simple, preparations are now 

 being made to produce the drug in England. A British possession is 

 able to provide a Substitute for thymol, carvacrol, obtained from 

 oils derived from a variety of plants, but particularly from the orig- 

 anum of Cyprus. 



SoDiUM VERSUS POTASsiUM SALTS. The probable shortage of 

 potassium salts, due to the war, suggests that sodium salts may in 

 most cases be substituted without disadvantage. In general, potas- 

 sium salts have no marked superiority over the corresponding 

 sodium salts. While the potassium Compounds are said to be more 

 active and to possess a more diuretic effect, the sodium salts are less 

 depressing to the heart and in some instances less disagreeable to the 

 taste. Sodium iodid, sodium bromid, sodium acetate, sodium cit- 

 rate, etc., are just as effective as the corresponding potassium salts. 



Miscellaneous items. In consequence of the war, the publica- 

 tion of the British Pharmacopoeia for 19 14 has been postponed. 



The weekly French scientific Journal, La Natur e, which sus- 

 pended publication in August, began again on Dec. 12. 



The family of Emil du Bois Reymond has donated the Helm- 

 holtz gold medal to the relief fund, with the Statement that this 

 medal, representing the highest appreciation in his own land of the 

 scientific achievements of du Bois Reymond, is honored more by 

 devoting it to the Service of his country than by preserving it. 



The Münch. med. Wochenschr. has proposed that a select com- 

 mit. prepare a list of German equivalents for the names of diseases 

 which have been taken from the Russian, French and English lan- 

 guages; if no satisfactory German names can be found, Latin or 

 Greek to be substituted. 



The Rockefeiler Inst, for Med. Research has appropriated $20,- 

 000 to be used, under the direction of the Inst., for the furtherance 



