Am.  Jour.  Pbarm  \ 
December,  1904.  } 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
587 
quality  ;  while  the  prices  at  present  are  higher,  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion is  less.  The  use  to  which  green  cardamoms  are  ultimately  put 
is  still  more  or  less  shrouded  in  mystery ;  but  it  appears  that  the 
demand  for  this  variety  was  first  created  by  the  discovery  made  by 
the  German  sausage  makers,  who  found  that  the  better  and  stronger 
flavoring  was  got  from  the  less  finished  article.  (Chem.  and  Drug., 
September,  1904,  page  444.) 
Nux  Vomica. — The  Chemist  and  Druggist  (September,  1904,  page 
452)  gives  an  abstract  from  an  article  published  in  the  Calcutta  Capi- 
tal describing  in  detail  the  sources  and  methods  of  collecting  this 
drug.  Nux  vomica  is  included  among  the  general  items  of  the 
minor  forest  products  of  India,  and  the  right  to  collect  is  yearly  sold 
to  the  highest  bidder. 
The  nux  vomica  tree  has  an  imposing  appearance,  bearing  in  the 
autumn  clusters  of  greenish  or  yellow  fruits,  according  to  their 
maturity.  The  fruits  are  the  size  of  an  apple  and  contain  a  soft 
pulp,  in  which  are  embedded  numerous  round  flattened  seeds  of  a 
grayish-green  color.  The  first  quality  of  seed  is  obtained  by  collect- 
ing the  fruits,  washing  out  the  seeds  and  drying  them  in  the 
sun.  The  more  inferior  qualities  of  the  drug  usually  consist  of 
seeds  gathered  from  under  the  trees,  which  have  been  rejected  by 
the  birds  and  monkeys,  who  eat  freely  of  the  pulp  when  ripe. 
Cochin  enjoys  a  large  trade  in  nux  vomica,  as  the  dry  sub-moun- 
tainous tracts  of  the  Travancore  Hills  afford  seeds  of  good  appear- 
ance and  quality. 
Rhubarb. — Prof.  A.  Tschirch,  who  has  recently  made  an  exhaustive 
comparative  study  of  the  different  varieties  of  rhubarb,  concludes 
that  practically  all  of  the  known  plants  yielding  rhubarb  are  to  be 
classed  in  one  or  the  other  of  three  varieties,  Rheum  Pahnatum, 
Rheum  Officinale  and  Rheum  Collinianum.  From  the  fact  that 
commercial  Chinese  rhubarb  usually  consists  of  a  mixture  of  several 
varieties,  some  of  which  do  not  show  any  of  the  structural  charac- 
teristics noted  in  the  three  varieties  enumerated  above,  Tschirch 
concludes  that  much  of  it  is  derived  from  some  still  unknown  plant. 
Trie  chemical  examination  of  the  specimens  grown  in  the  botanical 
gardens  at  Berne,  Switzerland,  shows  that  there  is  considerable  varia- 
tion in  the  emodin  content  of  the  different  varieties  of  rhubarb. 
Commercial  Chinese  rhubarb  contains  as  high  as  4  per  cent,  of 
emodin,  while  the  best  of  that  grown  at  Berne,  derived  from  rheum 
