558 
REVIEW. 
> 
Production of an Alkaloid during the Alcoholic Fermentation. By M. 
Oser.— In fermenting sugar with washed yeast M. Oser obtained, besides alcohol, an 
alkaloid to which he attributes the formula C 26 H 20 N 4 . The chlorohydrate of this alka¬ 
loid crystallizes in hygroscopic scales, becomes brown in the air, and possesses a pungent 
bitter taste. The author is assured that this alkaloid does not pre-exist in the yeast, but 
that it is formed during the fermentation. Attention has already been directed to the 
presence of trimethylamin in wine (see page 333).— Joum. Prakt. Chem., and American 
Journal of Pharmacy. 
Naphthaline to Repel Insects. —M. Eugene Pelouse proposes to employ naph¬ 
thaline to protect plants from insects. It does not act as an insecticide, but is so dis¬ 
agreeable to them as to cause them to leave a plant upon which it is sprinkled. It is 
used in very small quantities, and said to be very effectual.— Journ. de Chim. Med., and 
Amer. Journ. Pharm. 
Suicide by “ Vermin Powder.” —An inquest was held at Leytonstone Road, 
Stratford, on Monday, November 9th, on the body of Miss Clara Jeffs, aged 22. 
On the previous Monday the sister of the deceased, on hearing cries, went upstairs, 
and found the deceased lying on the bed insensible. Medical aid was obtained, but 
death took place shortly afterwards; previously she admitted having taken “Vermin 
Powder.” The paper that had contained the powder was found in the room. The 
deceased had had an attack of brain fever two years ago, and had been very desponding 
since. An analysis of the contents of the stomach was made by Dr. Tidy, who detected 
the presence of strychnine, which, in his opinion, was the cause of death. The jury 
returned a verdict in accordance with these facts. 
©lutuarg. 
On the 13th of February, at Chelmsford, aged forty years, Alfred Rowley Pertwee, 
chemist. 
REVIEW. 
The Law to regulate the Sale oe Poisons within Great Britain. By William 
Flux, Attorney-at-Law, Solicitor to the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, etc. 
John Churchill and Sons, New Burlington Street. 
At a time when every chemist and druggist in Great Britain, and many other persons 
also, are anxious to master the difficulties of the new Pharmacy Act, to the provisions 
of which they will hereafter be subject, this digest will be most acceptable. The author, 
in a very short preface, explains that he has endeavoured to place in convenient arrange¬ 
ment the leading passages of the statutes regulating the sale of poisons, and in doing 
so has, as far as possible, used the precise language of the statutes themselves in prefer¬ 
ence to words of his own. This introduction might lead the reader to infer that the 
book will be nothing more than a reprint of the Act. The advantage however is, that 
it is something less. In the Act itself different things are included in the same pro¬ 
hibitory clauses. In the work before us they are divided. Thus in Chapter IV. entitled, 
“ Who may Sell Poisons,” the first clause of the Act is made perfectly intelligible bv 
printing it without those words respecting the improper assumption of titles, etc., which 
are irrelevant to “ Who may sell.” By this condensation Parliamentary language becomes 
clear. But it must not be supposed that the improper assumption of titles is overlooked. 
That question receives similar treatment by itself in Chapter VI. Each subject, being 
treated as it were “ without incumbrances,” becomes plain to the uninitiated in legal 
phraseology. A simple table of contents at the commencement, and a most copious 
“Index” at the end of the book, guide each man to the solution of his own doubt or 
difficulty. 
Mr. Flux has wisely embodied the “ Arsenic Act,” and certain parts of the Adultera¬ 
tion of Food Act in his book, both being alluded to in the new Pharmacy Act. 
