June, 1882. 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
19 
like a pastile, and is held near the patient, who inhales the 
fumes. — Jas. Sawyer, M.D., in British Med. Journal. 
The remedy for snake-bites recommended by Dr. Lacerda» 
which has recently attracted considerable attention, is already 
experiencing the fate, in part, of all its predecessors, in having 
to submit to adverse criticism. M. Vulpian states (Comptes 
JRendus , xciv., 613) that when 1 per cent, of permanganate 
of potash is injected hypodermically into a dog it is almost 
immediately decomposed, a brown deposit of the binoxide 
taking place in a limited circle round the puncture. He 
therefore thinks that such a solution could be of little service 
except in very recent bites. Further, he found that the intra- 
venous injection of 0*5 gram of permanganate was itself 
sufficient to cause the death of a small dog in from ten to 
twenty hours. 
A new antidote to strychnine has been discovered by Messrs. 
Greville, Williams and Waters ( Proc . Royal Society , xxxi., 
p. 162) in p lutidine, which is produced in the distillation of 
cinchonine with caustic potash . A frog first treated with p 
lutidine and then dosed with strychnine was not tetanised ; 
in another, in which tetanus had been induced by the adminis- 
tration of strychnine, the spasms were found to pass oft when 
p lutidine was given ; and when both bases were simulta- 
neously given no effect was produced. 
The results of some experiments as to the evaporation of 
glycerine have been put on record by M. Couttolenc ( Reper- 
toire , x., 73). He states that if heated in a water-bath to 
90 degs. C., glycerine will lose in five hours any water it may 
contain, and that then the evaporation of the glycerine pro- 
ceeds regularly at the rate of about 0*00317 gram per square 
centimetre of surface exposed. This proportion is increased 
by the admixture of sand, and rapidly diminished by the 
lowering of the temperature. The more water there is present 
in the glycerine the greater is the quantity of glycerine 
carried off in the evaporation, but the quantities are not in 
regular proportion. 
Mr. A. R. Bennett has described before the Glasgow Philo- 
sophical Society a cheap form of voltaic battery, which well 
deserves notice. The battery consists of a zinc and iron com- 
bination in caustic soda solution. In the specimen shown the 
containing vessels were an Australian meat can containing iron 
borings and a porous cell holding caustic soda solution, 
together with a piece of sheet zinc. The electro-motive force 
of this new battery is 1*23 volts., or practically the same as 
the Leclanche form (1*30 volts.). A practical comparison of 
the “ Bennett” and the Leclanche cells was made by setting 
each cell to ring an electric bell of five ohms resistance. The 
Leclanche cell vibrated the bell hammer continuously for 
twenty days, while the “Bennett” cell vibrated a similar bell 
hammer continuously for thirty-one days, or a difference in 
favour of the “ Bennett” cell of eleven days. A detailed 
description of this new battery will be found in the Electrician 
of 25th February and 4th March, and in the English Mechanic 
of 10th March. 
Mrs. Mulhall, in Between the Amazons and Andes , gives a 
curious account of the origin of the name of the celebrated 
botanist, Bonpland. Visiting the house of one of his friends 
at Corrientes, she came across a manuscript in Bonpland’s 
writing, which begins : — “ I was born at Rochelle on 29th 
August, 1773. My real name was Amadd Goryand. My father 
— a physician — intended me for the same profession. It was 
on account of my great love for plants that he gave me the 
sobriquet of * Bon-plant,’ which I afterwards adopted instead 
of my family name.” 
In Italy the disease known as pellagra, and which is said to 
be as fatal in that country as consumption is in Great Britain, 
has been attributed to the exclusive use of maize or Indian 
corn for food, especially when damaged grain has been ground. 
According to the recent researches of Lambroso ( Revue Scien- 
tijique , 20th January, 1882), the substance which causes the 
symptoms characteristic of the disease is not the spore of the 
fungus which is formed on the grain, but an active principle 
which can be obtained from it by a process analogous to that 
by which ergotine is obtained from ergot of rye. This sub- 
stance is called by its discoverer “ pellagrozeine.” A tincture 
made from damaged maize, taken in doses of six grams daily, 
was found to produce in twelve workmen all the symptoms 
characteristic of incipient pellagra. It has been noted by 
Stambio that the majority of those who, suffering from this 
disease, commit suicide, do so by drowning. This would seem 
to arise from the pleasure experienced in seeing and touching 
water, which is one of the symptoms characteristic of the 
disease.— Pharmaceutical Journal aud Transactions . 
_ The danger that may arise from grocers selling even such, 
simple medicines as Epsom salts is shown by a recent case of 
poisoning recorded in British Medical Journal (p. 304). A 
man intending to take Epsom salts took what he supposed to 
be that article, but was nitrate of potash, obtained at the 
village grocer’s, noticing at the time, however, that it had not 
the usual “ sour” taste. In large doses nitrate of potash acts 
as an irritant poison, and the man, consequently, barely 
escaped with his life. The remedies used were thin milk gruel, 
copious warm water enemas, one-quarter grain of morphia 
every three hours, followed by a dose of castor oil. 
At Auckland some experiments in tea culture, made under 
the auspices of the Acclimatisation Society, have been very 
successful, an excellent infusion having been obtained. The 
plant grows luxuriantly in the ordinary soil of Auckland. 
— — — — — — — — — —— 
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