72 
THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
Liebemann's cholestol test. The fat is dissolved in acetic anhydride (not glacial acetic 
acid). To the solution sulphuric acid is added, when the mixture assumes a 
rose colouration, passing quickly into dark blue and green. By adding five 
or ten per cent, of glycerine or ordinary fat to Lanolin its unctuous character is 
improved. 
A writer in the RussJcaia Meditz says that he has had great success in 
the cure of over three hundred cases of acute and chronic catarrh, or cold in 
the head, by the use of ice-cold water. The legs, from the knee downward, are 
washed with it in the morning and at night, and rubbed vigorously with a coarse 
towel. It is necessary to do this for two days only, and many patients are said 
to have been cured in one day. 
In the Union Medicate , Dr. Cyon confirms the statement, made by Dumas 
in 1878, that borax is possessed of most valuable antiseptic powers. Indepen- 
dently of its value for the preservation of food, it is a great preventive of 
infectious diseases, and may be employed internally to ward off epidemics. It 
may be taken for months or years with impunity, and constitutes a valuable 
prophylactic. Dr. Cyon states that it is a remarkable fact that in all epidemics 
of cholera the workmen in boracic acid factories have escaped the disease. The 
usual dose is five or six grammes (75 to 90 grains) daily, taken for an indefinite 
time. 
The juice of the walnut rind has been used from time immemorial as a hair 
dye. Bernschen and Semper have recently communicated to the Berlin Chemical 
Society a method of preserving it for use in the shape of a hydroglucoside, pre- 
pared as follows : — The rinds of the ripe nut are digested in sulphuric ether 
until their colouring matter is extracted. A solution of chromic acid in water 
is added to the ether solution, and the mixture is thoroughly agitated. The 
ether is then distilled off, and the residue purified by solution, first in hot ether, 
and afterward in a mixture of chloroform and petroleum ether, from which latter 
it is obtained in a crystalline form as hydrogen glucoside. This substance colours 
the hair and skin exactly as does the juice of the fresh rind. 
The Medical and Surgical Reporter supports the observation that, while 
the excessive imbibition of iced water (especially when one is warm) |is not to be 
commended, the unlimited use of pure spring water, at its natutal temperature, 
is not very conducive to health, but has an actual tendency to favour a fullness 
and roundness of body. 
Quantitative Valuation oe Besin in Soap— This method is based upon 
the behaviour of sodium chloride to separate out the fat soap only, while the resin 
soap is retained in solution. Dr. Heiner’s experiments made with soap containing 
20 per cent, of resin have on an average 1J per cent, less of resin. Two samples 
of equal weight are treated; one is decomposed with H 2 SO*, and the fatty 
acids containing the resin are weighed. Dissolve the other sample in water, 
treat with solution of IMaCl, separate the liquid containing the resin and glycerine 
from the soap mass, wash with solution of NaCl, dissolve again in water, 
precipitate again, wash repeatedly with the salt solution, and decompose the pure 
soap with H 2 S0 4 , and weigh. The difference in weight of the two results 
gives the weight of the resin.— Monit. Scientif. 
Scopoline, an alkaloid obtained from the root of the Scopolia Japonica, 
which has several times appeared in English commerce under the Japanese 
belladonna root, has been used in France as a mydriatic. It is said to dilate 
the pupils more rapidly than atropine, its action lasting longer, the pupils 
being more dilated on the third day than after the instillation of atropine. 
It appears to have no irritative action on the conjunctiva, and is a strong antagonist 
to the action of eserine. 
