ON ARTIFICIAL FLAKE MANNA. 
629 
ginal liquid was tlien evaporated in a platinum capsule. It turned brownish, 
and, on further heating, gave off a pungent odour, at once recalling that of 
acroleine. A syrupy swe6t liquid remained, which did not reduce nitrate of 
silver, but, after caustic soda was added and a rather higher heat applied, the 
liquid reduced nitrate of silver, owing to the formation of formiate of sodium 
from the decomposition of the glycerine. The composition, then, of this pro¬ 
posed remedy is carbolic acid, glycerine, water, and iodide of ammonium. It 
will scarcely be contended that the effects of iodine, locally applied, are quite 
the same as alkaline iodides; if it were so, the sooner tiucture of iodine is ba¬ 
nished from use the better. But, in any case, the title of this preparation is not 
borne out by its real composition ; and as the majority of medical men are too 
ready to try any presumed novelty on the dictum of others, without inquiring 
into the merits of the thing suggested, it is all the more necessary that spurious 
or deceptive drugs should be exposed as soon as possible. 
Not long since, a Mr. F. Stearns, of Detroit, was expelled by a large majority 
(63 to 22) from the American Pharmaceutical Association for the sale and ad¬ 
vertisement of an article which he called “sweet quinine,” but which contained 
no quinine , and was therefore a fraudulent imposture. Such a wholesome spirit 
of self-respect and of proper dignity speaks well for the status of medical ethics 
among our American brethren. 
Dublin, March , 1870. 
ON ABTIFICLYL FLAKE MANNA. 
BY EDWARD HISTED. 
After the reading of Mr. Hanbury’s “ Historical Notes on Manna,” at the 
meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of November 3rd, 1869, a few remarks 
were made by some gentlemen present respecting the existence of an artificial 
manna, said to be a very good imitation of the genuine. Some weeks since I 
was fortunate enough to become possessed of a specimen of this substance which 
had been brought from Paris, and was much surprised at the clever manner 
in which it had been produced, and the great resemblance it bore to what it was 
intended to imitate. 
The consumption of manna in this country being comparatively small, a 
factitious or adulterated form of the drug would scarcely be accepted by phar¬ 
maceutists ; this may account for tlie^artificial flake manna in question being so 
little known in England. 
In the first volume of the Pharmaceutical Journal (1842) will be found a 
description of a spurious sort of manna having a singular resemblance to the 
genuine, but differing essentially in that it contained no maunite, but was 
mainly composed of sugar of fecula, or glucose. 
The artificial flake manna, which I have made the subject of my experiments, 
is certainly something better than this ; yet, though one may hesitate to stig¬ 
matize it as spurious, there can be no question it is intended to deceive, it being, 
according to the printed circular which is sold with it, manna of inferior quality 
which has been purified and made to assume the form of the large stalactitic 
pieces which constitute the most esteemed form of the drug. 1 he printed cir¬ 
cular accompanying each parcel, in fact, alleges that it consists entirely of 
natural manna, and that it is free from sugar, starch, jalap, scammony, or other 
foreign substance ; that it differs only from natural manna in not being conta¬ 
minated with slight impurities, such as particles of wood, bark, and leaves, 
which are always found in the latter ; and, finally, that it has precisely the 
same medicinal action as natural flake manna. 
