THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



265 



colored ; the membranes are the more quickly 

 stained the more pectin they contain ; lignified 

 and suberific tissues are not stained. After be- 

 ing thus stained, the sections are washed in al- 

 cohol of 0.89 specific gravity, whereupon they 

 are dehydrated by being immersed successively 

 in diluted alcohol made a little stronger in each 

 successive step. They are then mounted in an 

 anhydrous medium. This borated-carmine so- 

 lution is said to be also well adapted for double 

 staining — as with iodine green or with methyl- 

 ene blue. For instance, the sections first stain- 

 ed with the iodine green are deprived of their 

 surplus of coloring matter by being washed in 

 alcohol (0.89 sp. gr.) ; then they are immersed 

 in the carmine solution, which supplants the 

 iodine green stains in all tissues, excepting 

 those which have become lignified ; the latter 

 retain the first stain. In such double staining 

 processes, it is a difficult matter to fix the length 

 of time necessary for each immersion. It is 

 necessary to closely watch the action of the dif- 

 ferent fluids upon the material to be stained. — 

 Merck's Report. 



The Atomic Weights of Nickel and Cobalt — 

 Clemens Winkler finds the atomic weight of 

 nickel, as calculated from the mean result of 

 his experiments, 58.7433, and that of cobalt, 

 59.3507. These atomic weights are referred to 

 H = 1 and 1 = 126.53. — Zeit. Anal. Chemie. 



The Estimation of Hydrastine. — Linde has 

 published the following method for the estima- 

 tion of hydrastine in the fluid extract of Hydras- 

 tis. 10 grammes are evaporated in a porcelain 

 dish on the water bath to 5 cc, and transferred 

 into a separator with the aid of a little water 

 and brought up to 10 cc. To this are added 10 

 cc. of petroleum ether, 50 cc. of ether, and 5 cc. 

 of 10 per cent, ammonia. The mixture is well 

 shaken for a few minutes and allowed to separ- 

 ate; 50 cc. of the ethereal layer are transferred 

 to another cylinder and shaken with 10 cc. of 5 

 per cent, hydrochloric acid. The ether is re- 

 moved on separation, and the acid solution is 

 washed with ether to remove traces of fat. When 

 this is done 5 cc. of ammonia is again added, 

 and the liberated alkaloid extracted with 50 cc. 

 of ether; 40 cc. are separated and the ether 

 evaporated, and the base is weighed. The 

 amount multiplied by 1.5 is the quantity in 10 

 grammes of the extract. The author also pro- 

 poses a method for the estimation of the ber- 

 berine. — Apothker Zeitung. 



Snake-Bite Antitoxine. — At a recent meeting 

 of the Royal Society of Edinburg, Prof. Fraser 



delivered a lecture embodying some extremely 

 valuable and interesting data obtained by him 

 during several years of experimental work on 

 an antidote for snake poisons. The principles 

 utilized by him are similar to those employed 

 in the antitoxine treatment of diphtheria and in 

 vaccination for small pox. He first immunized 

 an animal by repeated small doses of the snake 

 poison, slowly increasing in quantity, until the 

 animal was taken at a single dose many times 

 the minimum lethal amount for anon-immuniz- 

 ed individual. He then injected into another 

 animal some of the blood serum from the im- 

 munized case, and found that this prevented 

 many ill effects from a subsequent injection of 

 venom. Still a third animal was given an in- 

 jection of pure venom, and, when distinct symp- 

 toms of poisoning appeared, was treated with 

 the immunizing serum, with the result that the 

 symptoms of poisoning disappeared and no ill 

 effects followed. When it is remembered that 

 in British India alone there are each year from 

 eighteen to twenty thousand deaths caused by 

 snake bite, the great beneficence of this dis- 

 covery is apparent. Prof. Fraser is at present 

 immunizing a horse, but is having some trouble, 

 owing to the difficulty of procuring the snake- 

 poison in sufficient quantity. — The Popular 

 Science Monthly. 



Tests for Rhubarb in the Urine. — Urine, 

 voided after the use of rhubarb, as is well 

 known, possesses the property of reducing cop- 

 per tartrate and bismuth tartrate in alkaline so- 

 lutions. It is, therefore, of importance to know, 

 when testing for sugar in the urine, that no 

 rhubarb is present therein. E. Proksch (Pharm. 

 Centralh., xxxvi, p. 341) gives the following 

 tests for rhubarb : ( 1 ) To the urine add hydro- 

 chloric acid, then xylol, and shake. Then pour 

 the xylol layer upon potassa solution. If 

 rhubarb is present, a pink color manifests it- 

 self in from 5 to 10 minutes, at the point of con- 

 tact of the two solutions; (2) the same test 

 conducted with chloroform, instead of xylol, 

 shows a violet coloration at the point of con- 

 tact of the two liquids ; 13) if sulphurous acid 

 be added to the urine, the mixture shaken with 

 chloroform, and the chloroformic layer then 

 treated with potassa solution, a pink color will 

 be developed in case rhubarb be present ; I 4) if 

 the urine be treated with sulphanillic acid, and 

 shaken with xylol, the lower, aqueous layer will 

 be colored a wine-red color, while the xylol so- 

 lution will have acquired a faint pink colora- 

 tion, if rhubarb be present. It is said that, as 

 this test depends upon the presence of chryso- 



