Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  "I 
October,  1910.  j 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
485 
lead  to  overdosing  with  arsenic  (/.  Am.  M.  Ass.,  1910,  v.  55, 
P-  235)- 
Scoparius. — J.  Chevalier  reports  a  systematic  study  of  the 
sparteine  content  of  scoparius  at  different  seasons  of  the  year. 
For  the  whole  plant  the  highest,  0.68  per  cent.,  was  found  in  March. 
This  rapidly  decreases,  being  but  0.325  per  cent,  in  April.  The 
minimum  is  reached  in  August,  0.233  per  cent.,  and  from  this  a 
gradual  rise  to  November  with  0.475  Per  cent-  The  dried  and 
ripe  fruit  was  found  to  have  1.10  per  cent,  of  sparteine  {Apotheker 
Ztg.,  1910,  v.  25,  p.  466). 
Scopolamine. — Delbet  and  Dupont  warn  against  the  use  of 
scopolamine  for  general  anaesthesia;  their  review  of  120  cases  in- 
cludes 2  fatalities,  one  serious  post-operative  syncope,  and  a  number 
of  other  mishaps  (/.  Am.  M.  Ass.,  1910,  v.  55,  p.  257). 
Spritol  is  the  name  given  to  a  substitute  for  ethyl  alcohol  that 
on  examination  was  found  to  consist  of  wood  alcohol  (Apoth.  Ztg., 
Berlin,  1910,  v.  25,  p.  136). 
Viroid. — Dr.  Henry  Freeman  Walker  suggests  the  word 
"  Viroid  "  as  a  generic  term  for  designating  the  biologic  specifics 
used  in  active  immunization.  He  believes  that  this  name  would  be 
distinctive  in  that  it  would  indicate,  with  the  necessary  prefix, 
the  virus  for  which  it  would  be  used  as  an  antidote.  It  would 
also  restrict  "  Vaccine  "  to  the  now  well-established  cow-pox  virus 
(/.  Am.  M.  Ass.,  1910,  v.  55,  p.  42). 
Drugs. — J.  Biberfeld  {Dent.  Med.  Wchnschr .) ,  in  a  review  of 
the  pharmaceutical  harvest  of  the  last  few  years,  asserts  that  not 
much  grain  is  left  after  separating  it  from  the  chaff  (/.  Am.  M. 
Ass.,  1910,  v.  55,  p.  541). 
An  Alkaloidal  Synthesis. — Pictet  and  Finkelstein 
("  Berichte,"  xlii,  1979)  have  succeeded  in  synthesizing  the  alka- 
loid laudanosine  (methyl-tetra-hydro-papaverine)  by  the  interaction 
of  homoveratrylamine  and  homoveratric  acid.  The  latter  body  is 
prepared  from  eugenol  by  the  method  elaborated  by  Tiemann  and 
Matsmoto  (Chem.  and  Drug.,  London,  July  30,  1910,  p.  159). 
Fluidextracts. — An  interesting  and  timely  contribution  to  the 
preparation  and  valuation  of  galenical  preparations  is  presented  by 
the  chief  apothecary  of  the  city  hospital,  Berlin,  H.  Linke. 
He  reviews  the  introduction  of  fluidextracts  in  the  German 
Pharmacopoeia,  the  expectations  that  were  expressed  twenty  years 
ago,  and  the  failure  of  these  expectations  to  materialize  on  account 
