VoL. i. No. 4. 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST OF AUSTRALASIA. 
71 
an impossibility. Experiments were tried on persons suffering 
from brain diseases, stomach complaints, &c., &c., and on 
persons in good health, with the result that the majority were 
adversely affected, and several paid the penalty of their lives 
for their devotion to science. Laws prohibiting the practice 
were then passed, and it fell into disuse until the close of the 
eighteenth century, when Dr. Harwood, a Cambridge pro- 
fessor, revived the subject by transfusing the blood of a sheep 
into the veins of a dog which he had bled to death, and which 
revived after being apparently dead for five minutes. How- 
ever, the discovery was not followed up at the time, and it 
was the beginning of the present century when Blundell by a 
series of experiments demonstrated the fact that the lives of 
persons dying from hemorrhages might be saved by the trans- 
fusion of healthy blood into their veins : from that time no 
further progress was made until last year, when some letters 
appeared in the Scientific American^ signed by Mr. J. A. Armi- 
tage, which prove that it is possible to resuscitate animals 
which have been practically dead for long intervals — varying 
in his experiments from 3 to 18 hours. 
It has been conclusively proved that death from loss of 
blood can be averted, and that even when the loss has been so 
great that death has actually occurred life may be restored 
by the transfusion of healthy blood into the viens of the 
patient ; in other words, death by anemia, when the anaj- 
mia is produced by loss of blood, can and has been averted, 
and the question now is : Would the employment of trans- 
fusion be. useful in the large class of diseases which produce 
anffiinia by imx>overishing the blood ? The early scientists 
tried their experiments on healthy subjects or on patients 
suffering from diseases which did not involve impoverishment 
of blood, and were surprised to find that very serious effects 
followed the transfusion. When we reflect, however, that 
plethora — an undue amount of blood in the system, the result 
of overeating, &c. — causes most distressing symptoms, we 
can readily see that the sudden injection of new blood into 
veins already full, could hardly result othermse. 
(To he continued.) 
ITtb ^icmebics, jforiuulir, anir Quests, 
ALISMA— A NEW EEMEDY FOE HYDEOPHOBIA, 
It is stated that the common water plaintain (alisma) is much 
extolled in Eussia for the treatment of hydrophobia. The 
grated roots collected soon after the plant flowers and spread 
on bread and butter, is the method of administration. The 
remedy has to be exhibited night and morning, and a few 
doses are said to suffice. 
EEMEDY FOE ASTHMA. 
Dr. Mulheron recommends the following formula in the 
treatment of asthma : — 
15 . . Ammon, chlorid. . . . . . . . . 51 ! ss 
Spt. eth. nitros. .. .. .. . . 51 ! ss 
jEther. sulph. . . . . . . . . 5 iii 
Syrup ipecac. . . . . . . • • 5^ 
Ext. glycyrrh gvi 
Misce, — Sig. One teaspoonful three times a day. 
SYEUP OF HIPPUEATE OF LIME. 
Dr. M. G. Guignard gives the following formul® : — 
Pure hippuric acid . . . . . . 1 gramme 
Milk of lime . . . . . . . . q. s. 
(To produce alkaline reaction.) 
Hot water . . . . . . . . 20 c.c. 
Sugar . . . . . . . . . . 24 grammes 
Alcoholate of lemon . . . . . . 0*15 gramme 
The anti-diabetic solution of hijopurate of lime is prepared in 
the same way, minus the sugar. — Repert. de PJiarm. 
NEW TEST FOE NITEIC ACID. 
The newly discovered alkaloid cinchonamine contained in 
false cuprea bark, forms an almost insoluble compound with 
nitric acid. — 2IercJc^s Handelsbericht. 
When a man prefers whisky to mutton, is he not obeying 
the Divine behest : — “Walk not after the flesh, but after the 
gpirit?” 
Scientifit autr radical |lotcs. 
“ Whciifound make anote of '' — ^Dickens. 
NOVEL USE OF DYNAMITE. 
A German banker who had the misfortune to be several 
times robbed of his watch and chain, on one occasion charged 
the watch with dynamite. “Watches are made to go” is an 
old saying, and this one went like the others, but when wound 
up it exploded. The thief’s hands, like those of the watch, 
were shattered, as well as one of his eyes. 
A NEW FAT. 
Lanoline is the name of a member of a new class of fats 
described by Dr. Liebrich, of Berlin. It is considered that 
this class of fats play an important part in the animal 
economy. Lanoline though insoluble in water, has the power 
of absorbing its own bulk of water. It speedily penetrates the 
skin when rubbed over the surface. 
DECOMPOSITION OF WATER BY ZINC. 
Enquiries having been made by Vllote to discover whether 
zinc, free from any foreign metals, decomposes water, either 
on boiling or in presence of dilute sulphuric acid, experi- 
ment proved that such is not the case. Pure zinc, heated 
with distilled water in a flask, so arranged as to receive the 
gases' over mercury, gave off no hydrogen on prolonged 
boiling. It was also not attacked by dilute sulphuric acid. 
The presence of ii’on in proportions of from 3 to 5 in 100,000 
enabled it to decompose water. Traces of arsenic and anti- 
mony have the same effect. 
THE ALKALOIDS OF ATEOPACE.E. 
Mr. A. W. Gerard finds that if an alcoholic solution of 
atropine is mixed with an aqeous solution of mercuric chloride 
there is formed a yellow precipitate of mercuric oxide which 
turns red on boiling. This reaction is common to atropine, 
hyoscyamine, daturine, duboisine, and homatropine. Mercuric 
chloride has no similar action upon other alkaloids. 
SALICYLATE OF IRON. 
Mr. H. T. Ebeiie describes a process for preparation of 
salicylate of iron. The formulte and method is as follows : — 
I^ Ferri Sulphate . . 100 parts. 
Soda Carbonate . . 110 parts. 
Dissolve each salt in 200 parts of boiling water, and filter. 
The two solutions, when cokl, are poured together, when the 
precipitated carbonate of iron is allowed to subside. The super- 
natant liquor is decanted, and the precipitate washed with dis- 
tilled water until the washings cease to give any turbidity 
with barium chloride. The precipitate is next placed in an 
evaporating basin, and warmed over a water bath, salicylic 
acid being added gradually until effervescence ceases and the 
precipitate is entirely dissolved. The solution is finally evapo- 
rated to dryness, and the residue powdered. 
TORTURING TENTACLES. 
A few weeks back a boy in Brisbane was attacked by a 
medusa, or stinging fish, while paddling in shallow sea water. 
The creatine’s tentacles covered the greater part of his body 
and limbs. The little fellow, maddened with pain, rushed on 
to the sands in which he burrowed and rolled, uttering the 
most piercing shrieks all the time. He was speedily conveyed 
to a surgery near by. 
The doctor was successful in relieving the pain by the 
application of ammonia and doses of whisky and ammonia ; 
but for two days the boy’s life was in danger. When taken 
to the doctor the boy’s body appeared as if it had been 
lashed with a thin whip, and portions of the gelatine-like sub- 
stance of which the fish is composed were adhering to his 
limbs. Subsequently the marks turned black, and the doctor 
was alarmed lest mortification should set in. The tissues 
of the flesh about the “ wales ” were absolutely destroyed. 
