ON  A  NEW  PREPARATION  OF  LUPULIN. 
415 
&c,,  on  the  value  of  carbolic  acid  in  preventing  the  entry  of  ser- 
pents into  dwellings,  from  which  we  find  that  a  few  drops  of  the 
acid  are  sufficient  to  quickly  kill  full-grown  cobras  and  other 
poisonous  snakes.  Dr.  Fayrer  is  continuing  his  experiments  on 
the  merits  of  carbolic  acid  as  a  therapeutic  agent  in  snake  bite, 
and,  in  the  meantime,  he  suggests  its  use  as  a  preventive  against 
the  entry  of  snakes  into  houses,  &c.  Dr.  Calvert  informs  us 
that  it  is  probable  that  the  acid  will  save  life  by  applying  it,  in  a 
caustic  state,  to  the  wound  caused  by  the  bite  of  a  serpent,  and 
more  satisfactory  results  will  be  obtained  by  following  the  method 
first  put  into  practice  by  Dr.  Tessier  in  the  Mauritius,  for  the 
cure  of  a  virulent  intermittent  fever.  In  this  case,  by  injecting  ^, 
under  the  skin  a  solution  of  three-quarters  of  a  grain  of  carbolic 
acid  dissolved  in  20  minims  of  water,  the  patients  were  rapidly 
cured,  and  the  spread  of  the  pestilence  arrested. — Lond.  Chem. 
News,  July  30,  1869. 
ON  A  NEW  PREPARATION  OF  LUPULIN. 
By  DycE  Duckworth,  M.D. 
Medical  Tutor,  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital. 
The  author,  after  alluding  to  the  general  use  made  of  Lupulin 
in  the  United  States,  and  its  neglect  in  Great  Britain,  says : 
The  preparations  in  the  United  States  codex  are  arranged  with 
due  regard  to  this  point,  and  in  recommending  these  to  more 
careful  notice  in  England,  I  should  have  little  or  nothing  to  add, 
were  it  not  that  I  believe  I  have  observed  the  fact  that  the 
aromatic  spirit  of  ammonia  is  a  better  solvent  of  this  substance 
than  any  other  yet  proposed.  The  American  tincture  and  fluid 
extract  are  prepared  with  rectified  spirit,  and  the  oleo-resin,  as 
in  the  case  of  Filix-mas,  is  procured  by  means  of  aether.  The 
two  former  turn  milky  on  the  addition  of  water,  and,  what  is 
more  noteworthy,  cast  ofi"  the  resin  they  hold  in  solution,  which 
appears  as  a  film  on  the  surface  of  the  mixture.  This  resin  I 
find  cannot  be  taken  up  again  by  adding  excess  of  alkalies,  such 
as  liquor  potassae,  bicarbonate  of  soda,  or  aromatic  spirit  of 
ammonia.  If,  however,  either  of  these  preparations  be  put  into 
a  dry  vessel,  and  about  an  equal  bulk  of  spiritus  ammonise  aro- 
