AmAJPri],;iS9arm'}    Cotton-Seed  Oil  and  Beef  Fat  in  Lard.  195 
this  reason  the  action  of  arecoline  upon  the  human  iris  has  not  yet 
been  tested. 
Arecoline  separates  unaltered  with  the  secretions  and  excretions, 
from  which  it  can  be  recovered.  In  the  absence  of  a  characteristic 
color  reaction,  arecoline  separated  from  urine  can  only  be  identified 
chemically  by  its  behaviour  with  potassium-bismuth  iodide,  and  phys- 
iologically by  its  action  upon  the  heart  of  a  curarized  frog. 
It  has  been  stated  by  various  authorities  that  the  chewing  of  the 
areca  nut  gives  rise  sometimes  to  poisonous  symptoms.  As  the  natives 
of  India  and  the  neighboring  islands  chew  principally  the  juicy  ker- 
nels of  the  younger  areca  nuts  with  some  quicklime  and  a  leaf  of 
Piper  Betel,  or  older  nuts  that  have  been  submitted  to  a  preliminary 
treatment  with  hot  water,  it  can  be  understood  that  these  morsels  con- 
tain little  of  the  easily  soluble  arecoline,  and  that  therefore  it  is  only 
seldom  that  poisonous  symptoms  are  observed,  and  then  as  a  rule  not 
in  natives.  But  it  is  also  in  accord  with  observations  made  during 
the  experiments  on  animals  that  the  organism  may  become  gradually 
tolerant  to  th°  poison  of  areca  nut,  as  in  the  case  of  the  smoking  and 
chewing  of  tobacco. 
In  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Marine  the  physiological  experiments  indi- 
cate that  the  areca  nut  may  prove  a  valuable  article  of  the  materia 
medica,  since  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  arecoline  hydrobromide  is 
capable  of  being  utilized  therapeutically  on  account  of  its  effect  on  the 
peristaltic  action  of  the  bowels,  and  on  entozoa,  and  also  in  suitable 
combination  as  a  cardiac  remedy. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Feb.  23, 
p.  667. 
COTTON-SEED  OIL  AND  BEEF  FAT  IN  LARD.1 
By  J.  A.  Wilson. 
Up  to  some  time  ago,  the  positive  detection,  not  to  say  the  ap- 
proximate determination,  of  cotton-seed  oil  and  beef  fat  in  lards  was 
of  a  difficult  character,  but  the  discovery  of  certain  optical  and 
general  tests  has  rendered  this  problem  tolerably  easy.  Some  time 
ago  the  author  had  reason  to  examine  two  samples  of  old  cotton-seed 
oil,  which  had  been  in  the  laboratory  thirteen  and  seventeen  months 
1  From  Chemical  News,  March  1,  p.  99.  See  also  Amer.  Joue.  Phar.,  1888,  p. 
573-578. 
