6oo 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
( Am.  Jour.  PI) arm. 
I   December,  1902. 
merited  on  so  recently  that  any  additional  remarks  at  this  time 
would  be  superfluous.  As  noted  above,  the  seventy-fourth  general 
meeting  of  the  German  Naturalists  and  Physicians  was  held  at 
Carlsbad,  from  the  2ist  to  the  27th  of  September,  1902.  Among 
the  numerous  papers  that  were  presented  before  the  Section  on 
Pharmacy  and  Pharmacognosy,  the  following  are  of  more  particular 
interest  to  the  pharmacist. 
Opium,  Persian. — P.  Siedler,  Berlin,  suggests  that  in  consideration 
of  the  fact  that  Smyrna  opium  is  being  so  extensively  adulterated, 
more  attention  be  paid  to  the  possible  use  of  the  better  grades  of 
Persian  opium,  in  the  making  of  galenical  preparations. 
Horse-Chestnut,  Examination  and  Possible  Uses  for. — Dr.  E.  Laves, 
Hanover,  calls  attention  to  the  food-value  of  horse-chestnuts  and  to 
the  possibility  of  making  this  food  available  by  removing  the 
saponin,  bitter  principle  and  other  objectionable  ingredients  by 
means  of  alcohol.  This  alcohol  extract  has  been  recommended  as 
being  possibly  useful  in  medicine. 
The  Saponin  of  Lychnis  Flos  Cuculi. — Dr.  P.  Suss.  This  writer 
refers  to  the  wide  distribution  of  saponin  in  vegetable  drugs,  and 
then  reports  his  method  of  separating  the  saponin  from  the  fresh 
flowering  herb  of  Lychnis  flos  cuculi.  The  resulting  amorphous  pow- 
der, amounting  to  0-2  per  cent,  of  the  fresh  herb,  the  writer  calls 
"  Lichnidin,"  and  reserves  a  report  of  a  chemical  study  for  a  future 
occasion. 
Quantitative  Estimation  of  Caffeine. — Dr.  J.  Katz,  Leipzig,  gives  a 
modification  of  Beitter's  method  for  estimating  caffeine  so  as  to 
make  it  available  for  roasted  coffee,  roasted  kola  nuts  or  Para- 
guay tea. 
Change  in  Alcoholic  Tinctures. — Dr.  Richard  Firbas,  Vienna,  calls 
attention  to  some  of  the  possible  changes  that  may  be  and  are  occa- 
sioned by  plant  ferments  and  analogous  bodies  in  alcoholic  tinc- 
tures containing  them. 
Yohimbin. — Dr.  P.  Siedler  gave  a  resume  of  the  work  that  had 
been  done  on,  and  the  literature  of  this  alkaloid,  obtained  from  a 
species  of  Tabernae  montana,  used  medicinally  in  aphrodisiac  mix- 
tures. 
Among  the  novelties  that  were  reported  on  at  the  other  sections, 
probably  the  most  interesting  was  a  report  from  Dr.  Paul  Moser, 
before  the  Section  on  Pediatrics,  on  the  successful  use  of  a  serum  in 
the  treatment  of  scarlet  fever. 
