120 
PHARMACEUTICAL  GLEANINGS. 
Of  course,  where  the  proportion  is  greater  the  artificial  camphor 
is  apparent  much  sooner. 
M.  Saladin  says  that  oil  of  turpentine  to  the  fraction  of  l-30th 
can  be  detected  in  naphtha  by  rubbing  a  few  grains  of  iodide  of  po- 
tassium and  water  with  the  suspected  naphtha,  when  if  turpentine 
is  present,  the  water  acquires  a  yellow  or  even  orange  red  color. 
Rancid  Butter. — Wild  (Pharm.  Jour.,)  states  that  if  rancid  butter 
be  kneaded  thoroughly  with  fresh  milk  and  afterwards  with  pure 
water,  it  is  rendered  as  pure  and  fresh  as  when  recently  made. 
The  effect  is  ascribed  to  the  removal  of  free  butyric  acid,  which  is 
soluble  in  milk,  and  upon  which  the  rancidity  depends. 
Siberian  Rhubarb. — Mr.  Bell  states  in  his  Journal,  Jan.  1854, 
that  twelve  chests  of  rhubarb,  imported  from  St.  Petersburg,  were 
recently  sold  in  London,  which  is  certified  to  be  part  of  a  crop  of 
rhubarb  grown  in  Siberia  in  1793,  from  seed  obtained  in  the  rhu- 
barb country  of  China,  by  order  of  the  Empress  Catharine  II.,  of 
Russia.  Mr.  Bell  describes  it  as  in  small  pieces,  the  largest  from 
2§  to  3|  inches  long,  1  to  1J  diameter,  and  cylindrical  or  semi- 
cylindrical  in  shape.  Some  of  the  chests  were  in  much  smaller 
pieces.  The  bark  is  pared  off.  Its  color  is  remarkably  good,  and 
the  odor  not  peculiar.  It  is  supposed  to  be  the  product  of  Rheum 
undulatum,  which  Guibourt  says  was  formerly  cultivated  in  Siberia. 
Should  colchicum  seed  be  bruised  for  pharmaceutical  treatment  ? 
— Mr.  H.  Bonnewyn  (Annals  of  Pharm.  Jan.  1854.,)  to  settle  this 
mooted  question  made  the  following  experiments.  He  prepared 
two  tinctures,  one  with  five  ounces  of  the  whole  seeds  with  ten 
ounces  of  alcohol,  and  the  other  with  five  ounces  of  the  same  seeds 
in  powder  with  the  same  quantity  of  alcohol ;  both  were  macerated 
a  month  with  frequent  agitation,  and  filtered.  To  decide  their  rela- 
tive value  he  extracted  the  colchicia  from  each  of  them  by  Liebig's 
method,  and  found  that  the  quantity  of  colchicia  was  considerably 
greater  in  the  tincture  of  the  bruised  seeds  than  in  the  other.  He 
then  had  them  tried  by  a  physician,  who  pronounced  the  tincture  of 
the  bruised  seed  decidedly  superior  to  the  other.  The  alcohol  used 
contained  67  per  cent. 
Vegetable  Musk  as  a  substitute  for  True  Musk. — The  high 
price  of  true  musk,  and  its  constant  adulteration,  induced  Dr.  Han- 
non  (Jour,  de  Pharm.,  Jan.  1854,)  to  seek  for  a  vegetable  substitute. 
Having  tried  the  Adoxa  muscatellina3  and  Malva  moschata,  with 
