18  Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  {A^/i"i§?rm- 
it  fades  under  the  influence  of  light. — Monit.  sci. ;  J.  de  Ph.  et  de  Ch., 
Nov.  1. 
Toxic  Power  of  Strophanti**.  Prof.  See  in  a  communication 
to  the  Academy  of  Medicine  (Nov.  13),  said  that  the  strophantus  plant 
or  its  extracts  only,  should  be  used  in  medicine ;  strophantin,  he  said, 
had  so  high  a  toxicity  that  it  "  must  not  be  employed  clinically. "  At 
the  same  meeting,  Dr.  Dujar din-Beau metz  also  recommended  that  stro- 
jphantin  be  prescribed  in  no  case,  "  as  the  quantity  of  strophantidin 
contained  in  it  must,  for  the  present,  be  more  or  less  conjectural." 
[The  samples  of  strophantin  which  seem  to  have  frightened  the  Paris 
faculty  are  said  (Un.  Med.,  Nov.  15),  to  have  been  made  by  M.  Ar- 
naud,  chief  of  M.  ChevreuPs  laboratory.] 
Incompatibility  of  Cocaine  and  Borate  of  Sodium.  In 
a  paper  to  the  Soctite  de  Pharmacie,  M.  Levaillant  said  «that  in  mixing 
these  substances  for  collyria  or  gargarisma  he  had  found  a  precipitate 
of  cocaine.  This  will  disappear  on  the  addition  of  a  few  drops  of 
glycerin.    Arch,  de  Ph.,  Nov.  5. 
Reaction  of  Phenacetine. — Chlorinated  water  gives  the  aque- 
ous solution  a  red-violet  color  which  soon  passes  to  ruby  red.  A  solu- 
tion of  chloride  of  lime  will  give  the  same  reaction. — Arch,  de  Ph. 
Dec.  5. 
Eschscholtzia  Californica. — According  to  a  recent  examination 
of  this  plant  by  M.  Bardet,  (J.  de  Ph.  et  de  Ch.,  Dec.  1),  its  narcotic 
power  is  weak ;  doses  of  10  to  12  gm.  of  the  extract  were  necessary 
to  kill  a  rabbit.  In  seeking  the  active  principle,  the  author  took  up 
the  extract  with  acidulated  water  and  treated  it  with  ammonia,  which 
gave  a  viscous  product  capable  of  reducing  iodic  acid,  a  violet  precip- 
itate with  molybdate  of  sodium,  and  an  orange  color  with  nitric  acid  ; 
briefly,  it  offered  the  reactions  of  morphine.  This  is  the  first  time,  so 
he  believes,  that  morphine  has  been  obtained  from  plants  other  than 
papaver L.  After  extracting  the  morphine,  another  substance  remained 
which  gave  a  yellow  precipitate  with  phospho-molybdate.  It  ap- 
peared to  be  a  glucoside.    M.  Bardet  is  now  studying  it. 
1  That  Walz  found  in  Eschscholtzia  in  1844  sanguinarine  and  two  other 
alkaloids  was  mentioned  in  Amer.  Journ.  Phar.,  1887,  p.  296.  Charbonnier  ob- 
tained a  little  morphine  from  the  leaves  and  capsules  of  Argemone  mexicana 
in  1868 ;  see  Jour,  de  Phar.  et  de  Chim.,  4  ser.,  vii,  p.  348-358. — Editor  of  Amer. 
Jour.  Phar. 
