96 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
April, 1880. 
Messrs. Woinarski and Newman, the resident surgeons, were 
promptly in attendance, and at once took steps to counteract 
the effects of the poison. The stomach pump was called into 
requisition, and the galvanic battery and the administration 
of antidotes were persevered with for nearly six hours without 
any symptoms of the patient’s return to consciousness. At 
length the pupils of the eyes became sensible to light, and 
there was every prospect of a successful result from the treat- 
ment adopted. The woman has not yet sufficiently recovered 
to give any reason for attempting her own life, but it is 
believed that domestic infelicity and an over-indulgence in 
intoxicating liquors are the primary causes. 
A young woman, twenty-one years of age, named Hattie 
Burt, attempted to commit suicide on the 26th April, by 
swallowing a quantity of laudanum. She was, however, 
fortunately discovered, and being promptly removed to the 
Melbourne Hospital, the requisite antidotes were applied by 
Dr. Armstrong, one of the resident surgeons, successfully. 
A man named Francis Conway was brought to the Mel- 
bourne Hospital, on the 3rd May, suffering from the effects of 
poisoning by strychnine, which it is believed he took with the 
intention of committing suicide. Under treatment by Dr. 
Armstrong, resident surgeon, he slightly improved, and hopes 
are entertained of his recovery. Conway was at one time in 
the police force, but he retired about three years ago on a 
pension. It is believed that drink was the cause of the 
suicidal act. 
“ Baunscheiditism” Again. — Mr. Samuel Fischer, who 
professes to cure all complaints by means of what he calls 
“ baunscheiditism,” summoned W. Dudgeon at the City Police 
Court for £ 1 , as work and labour done. Mr. Cohen appeared 
for the plaintiff, and Mr. Hornbuckle for the defence. The 
latter raised a preliminary objection that the plaintiff was not 
a registered medical practitioner, but Mr. Webster, P.M., over- 
ruled this objection. The plaintiff stated in his evidence that 
he had agreed to charge 10s. for each application of the 
instrument to the defendant’s child; and, in reply to Mr. 
Hornbuckle, said “ the operation was quite a mechanical one.” 
Mr. Hornbuckle inquired if the plaintiff did not use the 
instrument to make insertions in the skin, and then rub oil on. 
Plaintiff — “ Yes, that is what I do, so that we shall not be 
mere slaves to doctors.” He proceeded to say that the child 
was suffering from scrofula, and had been poisoned by vaccina- 
tion. Mrs. Dudgeon was called, and said Fischer promised 
to cure the child for £2. After the first application he was 
paid 10s., and the second time was given an I.O.U. for a like 
amount, which was afterwards paid. The plaintiff, she said, 
used the instrument to her child after applying it to a man 
with yellow jaundice, who had since died. He injected oil 
into the temples of the child, and also into the glands of the 
neck. After this the child became nearly blind, and she had 
to place it under other treatment. Mr. Webster said the case 
was not borne out by the evidence, and he would dismiss it. 
He believed that Fischer had a perfect right to sue, and the 
case was only dismissed on its merits . — Bendigo Advertiser . 
PROSECUTION OF AN UNREGISTERED CHEMIST. 
At the St. Kilda Police Court, on the 7th May, Robert Soppet, 
carrying on business in Robe-street, was summoned by the 
police under the 25th section of the Pharmacy Act. Mr. 
Soppet produced his certificate of qualification from the 
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and pleaded that he 
was ignorant that he had committed any offence. On his 
arrival in this colony he forwarded his application for regis- 
tration to the secretary of the Pharmacy Board, but he had 
not until the 6th of May finally completed the requisite forms, 
although he had been in the colony eight months. He asked 
the bench to deal leniently with him ; what he had done 
was in ignorance, and since the summons had been taken out 
he had completed his registration. The police, therefore, 
did not wish to press the charge, and the bench fined the 
defendant 15s. costs. 
flotcs attb Abstracts, 
Salicylic Acid Tampons. — A s employed in the German 
army, they consist of pieces of soft gauze of about 13 or 16 
square centimeters, which are loosely tied around 1 or 2 grams 
of cotton, so as to be readily formed into any desired shape 
by pressure. One kilo of these tampons is impregnated with 
a solution of 110 grams of salicylic acid and 10 grams of castor 
oil in 3£ or 4 litres of 95 per cent, alcohol. They are after- 
wards dried in a well- ventilated room, and are intended to be 
used in applying a temporary bandage until the services of a 
surgeon may be procured. Bernbeck suggests the use of 
glycerine in place of the castor oil, considering it far preferable. 
— Pharm. Ztg. 9 1879. 
Extemporaneous Preparation of Syrup of Licorice. 
— Juehling prepares a syrup, equal in strength to that of the 
German Pharmacopoeia, by mixing : — 
Essentia liquiritias ... 10*0 
Syrupi simplicis ... ... ... 180*0 
Mellis depurati 120*0 M. 
Essentia liguiritice is made by extracting twice 1000 grams 
of licorice root with 3000 grams of water, evaporating the 
infusion to 500 grams, adding 500 grams of alcohol, filtering 
and evaporating to 333 grams (consistence of honey). — Pharm . 
Ztg. % 1879. 
Ferric Hydrates.— The trihydrate, Fe 2 (0H) 6 , has never 
been prepared thus far, according to Tommasi, who mentions 
the existence of two isomeric, respectively red and yellow, 
monohydrates, Fe 2 0 2 (0H) 2 , and bihydrates, Fe 2 0(0H) 4 , and 
publishes the following distinctions : — The red bihydrate 
remains unaltered up to 50° C. and the yellow to 105° C.; the 
red monohydrate to 92°, and the yellow to 150° C. The red 
hydrates, when dehydrated, leave as a residue a brown oxide, 
having the density 5*1, while the yellow hydrates leave a red 
or reddish-yellow oxide, having the density 3*95. The red 
hydrates dissolve even in dilute acids, while the yellow are 
scarcely soluble in concentrated acids. The red hydrates are 
readily dissolved by ferric chloride solution, and this solution 
yields, on the addition of sodium sulphate or sulphuric acid, 
a precipitate of hydrated oxide ; the yellow hydrates are 
insoluble in ferric chloride. The red hydrates are entirely 
dehydrated by boiling, while the yellow are only reduced to 
monohydrates. Tommasi considers the combinations of ferric 
hydrates with ferric salts mere mechanical mixtures, and not 
chemical compounds.— Ber. d. JDeutsch . Chem. Ges., 1879. 
Inorganic Chemistry.— The Chemical Cause of the 
Poisonous Nature of Arsenic . — The old theory proposed 
by Liebig that arsenous acid, like corrosive sublimate, formed 
an insoluble compound with albumen, and hence decomposes 
the animal tissues, has been given up since it has been found 
experimentally that these supposed albuminates are not formed 
by the action of arsenous acid or its salts. Binz and Schulz 
find that arsenic acid, digested with egg- albumen and fibrin of 
warm-blooded animals, at the temperature of the body, is 
reduced. They find that the mucous membrane of the 
stomach, the liver, and the undecomposed protoplasm of plants 
reduce arsenic acid and also oxidise arsenous to arsenic acid. 
The authors find in this alternate oxidation and reduction, 
which the two arsenic acids undergo when in contact with 
the albumen molecules, the reason for the decomposing effect 
which arsenic in its several forms exerts upon the tissue, or, 
in other words, for its poisonous character. They draw an 
analogy with the poisonous effects of nitrogen dioxide, which 
is also a carrier of oxygen, passing into nitrogen tetroxide, and 
then, in the presence of water, regenerating nitrogen dioxide. 
Phosphorus and antimony they consider as showing similar 
characters.— -iter, der Chem. Ges. 
Benzoate of Soda in Diphtheria.— Dr. Letzerich has 
successfully treated, with benzoate of soda, twenty-seven cases 
of diphtheria which came under his care during an epidemic 
of the disease in Berlin. Of these cases eight were severe, 
accompanied by high fever, delirium, retention of the urine 
and faeces, existing often before the extensive local affection 
had made its appearance. In the blood there were found 
numerous bacteria and plasma corpuscles from which, by culti- 
vation in veal broth, very large colonies of micrococci became 
developed. The dose of sodium benzoate for children and 
adults is to be regulated by the weight of the body. The 
formula for infants under one year old is 
R Sodas benzoat. pur 5*0 or Sodas benzoat. pur, 3 j. 
Aquae distillat. Aquas distillat. 
Aquas menth. ppt, aa 40*0 Aquas menth, ppt. aa Jj. 
Syrup cort. aurant. 10 Syrup cort. aurant. 3 ij. M. 
Half a tablespoonful every hour. 
The dose for children between one and three years of ao-e is 
given at 7-8 grams (two drachms) dissolved in three and a- 
half ounces of the vehicle, the whole amount being given in 
the course of the day, in half to one tablespoonful doses. 
