THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. I53 



time than will any other anxiolytic ferment." 2. That Taka-Diastase seems 

 to he less retarded in its digestive action hy the presence of the organic 

 acids (butyric, lactic, acetic), and also hy tea, coffee and alcohol, than are 

 saliva and the malt extracts. This is an important point in pyrosis. 3. 

 That all mineral acids, hydrochloric, etc., quickly stop and permanently 

 destroy all diastatic action if allowed sufficient time and if present in 

 sufficient quantities. 4. That Taka-Diastase and malt diastase have, like 

 ptyalin, no action upon cellulose (uncooked starch). All starch food should, 

 therefore, he cooked to permit of the starch ferment assisting nature in this 

 function.. 



An Adulterant of Calabar Bean.— W. B. Day reports (West. Drug.) 

 the discovery by Prof. Hereth of a foreign seed in a lot of calabar bean 

 which has been identified by Prof. Lloyd as the seed of Entada scandens, 

 Benth. The seeds are described as broadly kidney-shaped, flatfish, almost 

 lenticular, about If inches in diameter and about § inches thick. In the 

 powdered drug the most noticeable difference is in the size of the starch 

 grains, those of entada measuring from 5 to 6 microns, while those of 

 calabar bean measure from 40 to 60 microns. Further, the cotyledons of 

 entada do not give the salmon color produced on treating calabar bean with 

 caustic potash. The entada beans have not been met with in this country 

 before, it is said, as adulterant of physostigma. 



Mending Platinum Vessels. — Th,- editor of the National Druggist 

 says he has frequently succeeded in mending small holes in platinum cap- 

 sules by placing a small crystal of gold chloride over the aperture, and at- 

 taching it by meeting with a gentle heat, and then turning on the flame 

 of the oxyhydrogen blow-pipe, by which the chloride was reduced, filling 

 the hole with a plug of pure gold. For larger holes, after cleansing the 

 bottom around the hole, he cuts a disc of platinum foil a little larger than 

 the aperture; with a glass rod touches the edge around the aperture with 

 a solution of the chloride, warms gently, until the moisture has been driven 

 off, approximates the foil over the opening, and turns on the oxhydrogen 

 flame as before. The gold acts as a solder between the platinum surfaces, 

 and makes the ca] side as good as ever, he says, for all purposes which do 

 not require an extreme heat. 



The Treatment of Myxoedema— It is now generally recognized that 

 thyroid feeding is the most valuable resource in the treatment of myxoe- 

 dema and cretinism. As in both of these affections there is a marked 

 atrophy or absence of the thyroid gland, the value of thyroid therapeutics 

 is readily explicable. While the results hitherto derived from the thyroid 

 preparations in common use have been quite encouraging, it is probable 

 that they will become much better when physicians will avail themselves 



