298        Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  {Amju°n"'iS2frm" 
first  of  these  was  obtained  by  Kuhlmann  by  bringing  together 
anhydrous  ether  and  stannic  chloride  The  Annalen  der 
Chetnie,  Vol.  112,  p.  223,  and  Vol.  114,  p.  356,  contains  articles, 
by  Buckton  and  by  Cahours,  on  "  Zinnmonoethylchlorid,  Darstel- 
lung,  Eigenschaften  und  Zusammensetzung."  Buckton  mentions  a 
Zinndiethylchlorid  also;  but  this  has  only  a  remote  connection  to 
our  point.  J.  B.  N. 
A   NEW  METHOD   OF   DISTINGUISHING    HUMAN    BLOOD    FROM    THAT  OF 
ANIMALS. 
C.  Tarchetti  (Gaz.  degli  Osped.,  May  19,  1901)  describes  a  new 
procedure  for  this  purpose :  If  into  an  animal  (A)  the  blood  of  a 
different  species  (B)  is  injected,  then  after  a  certain  time  the  blood 
of  the  animal  (A)  is  found  to  be  toxic  towards  blood  of  the  species 
(B).  Thus,  by  repeated  injections  into  rabbits  of  human  blood — 
10  c.c.  on  four  or  five  occasions  at  intervals  of  about  a  week — 
Uhlenhuth  and  Wassermann  got  from  the  blood  of  the  rabbit  a 
serum  which  exhibits  hemotoxic  powers  to  human  blood,  not  only 
in  a  fresh  state,  but  also  when  dried  and  redissolved  in  normal  saline 
solution.  Ape's  blood  was  the  only  other  one  which  behaved  like 
human  blood.  Wassermann  and  Schultze  proceed  thus :  Dissolve 
the  spot  of  blood  to  be  examined  in  a  little  normal  saline  solution; 
filter ;  place  4  or  5  c.c.  in  two  small  test-tubes,  to  one  of  which  (a)  add 
o*5  c.c.  of  rabbit's  blood  made  hemotoxic  as  above;  to  the  other 
(b)  add  0-5  c.c.  of  normal  rabbit's  blood,  A  third  control-tube  (c) 
may  be  made  with  4  or  5  c.c.  of  solution  of  the  biood  of  any  ani- 
mal save  ape  or  man  in  distilled  water.  Place  the  solutions  in  a 
thermometer  at  370  C;  if  the  spot  of  blood  be  human,  in  an  hour's 
time  the  tube  (a)  will  show  a  turbidity  or  a  flocculent  precipitate, 
while  (b)  and  (c)  will  be  perfectly  limpid.  Tarchetti  carried  out 
similar  experiments  with  human  blood  and  that  of  animals,  both 
fresh  and  dried,  for  more  than  two  months  on  cloth,  wool  and  knife 
blades,  and  found  the  method  reliable.  The  reaction  occurs  almost 
as  well  at  the  air  temperature  as  at  370  C.  The  solutions  must  be 
absolutely  clear  to  begin  with,  and  he  finds  distilled  water  better 
for  this  purpose  than  normal  saline  fluid,  for  it  brings  all  the  hemo- 
globin out  of  the  corpuscles.  He  has  found  that  the  diagnosis  can 
be  at  once  made  with  the  greatest  certainty  in  a  hanging  drop 
under  the  microscope;   a  slight  uniform  precipitate  is  at  once 
