42 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
[July 16, 1S70. 
In reference to the nitrogenous organic matter, it 
is established, in a general way, that open country 
air contains very little, and that town air, especially 
that of unhealthy towns like Glasgow, contains com¬ 
paratively much; also, that the air of close rooms 
and of privies contains comparatively much. The 
air of open places in London stands this test well; 
and, as is so well known, London is remarkably 
healthy. 
A curiously close parallelism may be traced be¬ 
tween the “ organic character ” of air and that of 
water. 
Thus, from the data to be found in the report, it 
appears that one kilogramme of air collected in dif¬ 
ferent parts of Chelsea (London), gave 0'035 milli¬ 
gramme of free ammonia, and 0'085 milligramme 
of albuminoid ammonia. 
It is known that one kilogramme of average 
London water, such as is supplied by the Thames 
water companies, gives 0‘01 milligramme of free 
ammonia, and 0'08 milligramme of albuminoid am¬ 
monia. 
The range of variation in atmospheric air when it 
has been polluted is much like the range exhibited by 
polluted water. Thus the analysis of air from a 
“midden” showed— 
In one kilogramme of air, 
0'20 m illi gra mm e of free ammonia; 
O'32 milligramme of albuminoid ammonia. 
Chemists who are in the habit of using the am¬ 
monia process will recognize these numbers as being 
such as are given by bad well-water. 
In conclusion, and to complete the parallel, the 
remark may be made that the daily amount of water 
drunk by the human subject and the daily amount 
(by weight) of air passed through the lungs are com¬ 
mensurable quantities. 
CULTURE AND DISEASES OE THE SILKWORM. 
Pasteur has recently investigated some of the 
diseases which attack the silkworm, and has pub¬ 
lished the results of his labours in a work entitled 
‘ Sur la Maladie des Vers a Soie.’ The disease, called 
pebrine, which has been vei% prevalent and destruc¬ 
tive of late years in various parts of France, has 
especially engaged his attention. 
Pebrine derives its name from the black specks 
which occur on the silkworm suffering Lorn it, and 
it consists in the development of peculiar parasitic 
corpuscles which invade the eggs, the blood, and all 
the tissues of the silkworm. One of the observations 
of M. Pasteur is, that the corpuscles are very easy 
of detection in the moth of the silkworm, whilst in 
the earlier stages of silkworm development, i. e. in 
the stage of the egg and of the worm, the detection 
of the pebrine corpuscles is difficult and often im¬ 
possible. 
Moths, which are recognized as sound, produce 
sound eggs, whilst unsound moths produce unsound 
eggs, which, although themselves shoving no sign 
ol the disease, cannot develope into healthy worms. 
Pasteur’s practical advice to the silk cidtivator 
was to examine the moth, and to make sure that 
healthy moths were started from. The mode of pro¬ 
cedure in vogue before Pasteur’s investigation of the 
subject was to examine the eggs. Pasteur remarks, 
that the culture of the silkworm ought to become a 
profitable industry in many of the colonies of Great 
Britain. 
MUSCARIN, THE ALKALOID OF THE FLY 
FUNGUS. 
From Wittstein’s ‘ Yierteljahressclirift,’ bd. xix. 
heft 2 (1870), it appears that Koppe and Schmiede- 
berg have extracted an alkaloid from the fly fungus 
(Amanita muscaria), and have given to it the name 
Muscarin. The process of preparation is very com¬ 
plicated and tedious, including the pressing out of 
the juice of the fungus, subsequent concentration 
by evaporation, and precipitation by means of 
alcohol. The alcoholic solution is evaporated, and 
then purified by means of sugar of lead and am¬ 
monia, which remove some insoluble matter from it; 
it is then dried up with powdered glass. From the dry 
mass a tincture in absolute alcohol is made. The eva¬ 
poration and precipitation by means of ammonia and 
acetate of lead is repeated. The lead is subsequently 
removed by means of dilute sulphuric acid. To the 
sulphate of the new alkaloid there is added the double 
iodide of potassium and mercury, which throws down 
a precipitate containing the alkaloid in question. 
From this precipitate it is to be extracted by means 
of baryta water, etc. 
Muscarin forms a crystalline mass, which is very 
deliquescent, fusing to a syrup on exposure to the 
air. It is tasteless and odourless; reacts strongly 
alkaline ; is insoluble in ether, little soluble in chlo¬ 
roform, very soluble in alcohol and ether. When 
exposed to the action of heat, it first becomes brown¬ 
ish (at 80° C.), and at 100° C. is a solid, but fuses at 
higher temperatures; strongly heated, it evolves a 
smell of tobacco and burns. It is not alterable by 
boiling with weak solution of potash or dilute sul¬ 
phuric acid. Heated with solid potash, it evolves a 
smell of fish, and, on further treatment, disengages 
abundance of ammonia. 
It is a powerful base, precipitating oxides of iron 
and of copper from their solutions in acids. With 
carbonic acid, it yields a tolerably stable carbonate, 
and, with sulphuric acid, it gives crystalline salt, 
which is deliquescent. 
Tannic acid precipitates it only from concentrated 
solutions; picric acid, chloride of platinum, and 
ferrocyanide of potassium give no precipitate. 
The toxic effects of muscarin resemble those of the 
Calabar bean. 
ACCIDENT DURING THE RECTIFICATION OF 
ETHER. 
An accident, which it is difficult to account for, is 
described in one of the French journals, ‘ Repertoire 
de Pharmacie,’ as having occurred to a chemist, M. 
Adrian, while engaged in the distillation of ether. 
The assistant who had charge of the apparatus 
having left the laboratory for a short time, M. Adrian 
observed that the ether was coming over too rapidly, 
and proceeded to reduce the jet of steam by winch the 
retort was heated. While he had his hand on the 
steam-cock for that purpose, he saw a flame in the 
middle of the laboratory, on the floor, travelling to¬ 
wards the receiver attached to the condenser. In an 
instant the liquid in the receiver caught fire, the vessel 
broke, and some of the burning liquid was projected 
over M. Adrian, finally setting his clothes on fire. 
He suffered severe injuries from the accident, and 
had great difficulty in escaping with his life. The 
most remarkable part of the case is this, that the 
process was being performed by the use of steam as 
