^"'  i^riss!?"""}    Practical  Notes  from  Foreign  Journals.  17 
quantity  of  it  to  solutions  of  zinc  acetate  has  proved  very  effectual 
in  obstinate  cases  of  blennorrhagia.  The  high  price  of  this  com- 
pound is  an  obstacle  to  its  more  extended  use. — Etude  sur  Vhydrure 
de  salicyle,  Constantinople. 
Fxami nation  of  Pilocarpine  and  its  Salts. — The  amount  of  water 
of  crystallization  in  three  commercial  samples  of  pilocarpine  hydro- 
chlorate  was  found  by  A.  Christensen  to  vary  between  2-97  and  3'78 
per  cent.,  and  in  two  samples  of  nitrate  was  I'Ol  and  1'29  per  cent. 
The  former  contained  14'5  and  15*0  per  cent,  of  hydrochloric  acid 
and  84*6,  85*5  and  86*9  per  cent,  of  alkaloid ;  the  nitrate  yielded 
21*1  and  23*7  per  cent,  of  acid,  and  7()"2  and  78*8  per  cent,  of 
"alkaloid.  For  the  determination  of  the  latter  Poehl's  method  with 
phospliomolybdic  acid  yielded  by  far  too  large  results;  with  Mayer's 
solution  volumetric  and  gravimetric  determinations  gave  incorrect 
results,  and  the  experiments,  consisting  in  decomposing  the  salts  with 
XaOH,  dissolving  in  chloroform  and  titrating  with  normal  acid, 
indicated  that  the  alkaloid  had  been  decomposed  with  the  formation  of 
an  acid  body.  The  above  mentioned  results  were  obtained  by  the  gra- 
vimetric method  with  chloride  of  gold. 
The  qualitative  reactions  of  the  five  samples  of  salts  and  two  sam- 
ples of  hydrate  showed  no  difference  in  their  behavior ;  but  the  physi- 
ological experiments  made  by  Dr.  Podwissotzki  showed  that  four  sam- 
ples (marked  T)  acted  similar  to  jaborine  and  atropine,  while  three 
samples  (marked  M  and  N)  acted  more  feebly,  like  pilocarpine  and 
nicotine.  In  the  former  the  presence  of  the  alkaloid  jaborine  could 
not  !)e  proven,  and  the  author  is  inclined  to  assume  jaborandi  leaves 
to  contain,  besides  pilocarpine,  a  second  similar  alkaloid,  and  that  the 
different  methods  employed  by  manufacturers  may  yield  either  one  or 
a  mixture  of  both  alkaloids.  —  Phar.  Zeitschr.  f.  RussL,  1881. 
Reprint. 
Color  Reactions  of  Alkaloids. — Mylius  states  that  the  color  reactions 
communicated  by  Maurice  Eobin  (see  this  journal,  1881,  p.  284)  were 
l)ublished  by  R.  Schneider  in  1872  (see  this  journal,  1873,  p.  396).— 
Phar.  Centralhalle,  1881,  p.  400. 
Curacao  Cordicd. — M.  v.  Yalta  communicates  the  following  for- 
nuda,  which  is  stated  to  be  used  by  large  confectioners :  Take  of  bitter 
orange  (Curasao)  peel,  freed  from  pulp  and  cut,  15  parts;  orange  ber- 
ries, bruised,  15  parts ;  90  per  cent,  alcohol,  190  })arts  Macerate, 
strain,  and  add  milk,  10  parts;  water,  80  parts.  Filter  and  mix  with 
simple  syrup,  50  parts. — Phar.  Zeitung,  1881,  No.  72. 
2 
