Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Feb.,  1882.  j 
Varieties. 
87 
impervious  to  water.  Tlie  cotton  from  the  cotton-wood  tree  is  much  better, 
he  says,  than  ordinary  cotton,  on  account  of  its  being  firmer  and  shorter, 
and  so  more  easily  subdivided  and  made  into  pellets  to  be  introduced  into 
small  cavities.  It  can  be  easily  procured  in  the  month  of  June  in  any  of 
our  river  bottoms. —  Weste?m  Med.  Reporter  ;  St.  Louis  Courier  of  Medicine y 
Nov.  8,  1881. 
Oil  of  Juniper  Antiseptic  Catgut.— Dr.  Kocher,  of  Berne  ("  Deutsche 
Medicinische  Zeitung"),  claims  that  oil  of  juniper  has  very  permanent 
effects  as  an  antisceptic,  and  employs  the  following  metliod  of  prejDaring 
catgut  with  it :  The  required  quantity  of  catgut  is  placed  for  twenty-four 
hours  in  pure  oil  of  juniper,  and  immediately  subsequent  to  this  is  trans- 
ferred, tightly  wound  on  a  flat  reel  ten  inches  long,  to  ninety-five  per  cent, 
alcohol.  If  placed  in  glycerin  for  a  day  prior  to  immersion  in  alcohol  it 
becomes  more  pliable.  When  desired  the  catgut  must  be  cut  exactly 
where  the  edges  of  the  reel  turn. — Chicago  Med.  Review. 
Solvent  for  Gallic  Acid.— Mr.  Frederick  Long  writes  to  the  "  British 
Medical  Journal"  to  say  that  he  has  accidentally  discovered  a  method  of 
dissolving  gallic  acid.  Having  a  short  time  since  a  case  of  hsematuria,  the 
result  of  uric-acid  gravel,  he  chanced  to  prescribe  a  mixture  containing 
half  a  drachm  of  gallic  acid  and  a  drachm  and  a  half  of  citrate  of  potas- 
sium, and,  to  his  surprise,  he  found  he  had  a  perfectly  clear  liquid,  the 
gallic  acid  being  completely  dissolved.  He  has  since  made  further  experi- 
ments, and  he  finds  that,  with  care,  twenty  grains  of  citrate  will  dissolve 
as  much  as  fifteen  grains  of  gallic  acid  in  an  ounce  of  water,  and  remain 
quite  clear  for  any  length  of  time.  To  be  able  to  give  gallic  acid  in  perfect 
solution  is  a  great  advantage,  as  absorption  must  take  place  more  rapidly 
when  the  salt  is  in  solution  than  when  simply  suspended  in  mucilage. 
The  citrate,  being  a  very  simple  salt,  can  do  no  harm  in  any  cases  in  which 
gallic  acid  is  required.  The  only  means  of  dissolving  gallic  acid  for  medi- 
cinal use  heretofore  known  to  Mr.  Long  have  been  alcohol  and  boiling 
water,  both  of  which  are  practically  useless.— PAz^.  Med.  Times,  Nov.  19. 
BoRACic  Acid  Poisoning. — The  prevailing  opinion  is  favorable  to  the 
use  of  boracic  acid  in  catarrhal  aflfections  of  mucous  membranes.  Nobody 
apprehends  poisonous  effects  from  this  remedy.  Mododewkovv,  of  Moscow, 
relates  two  cases  of  fatal  poisoning  that  are  well  calculated  to  disturb  the 
assurance  of  safety  in  the  use  of  boracic  acid.  A  patient  with  a  pleuritic 
exudation  was  tapped,  and  the  cavity  subsequently  washed  out  by  injec- 
tions with  a  five  per  cent,  solution  of  the  acid,  a  part  of  which  was  allowed 
to  remain  in  the  pleural  cavity.  A  similar  operation  was  performed  upon 
a  lumbar  abscess.  Both  patients  soon  complained  of  nausea,  followed  by 
incessant  vomiting  and  hiccup.  An  erythema  appeared  in  their  face, 
whence  it  rapidly  extended  over  the  trunk  and  extremities.  The  temper- 
ature was  but  passingly  increased  and  sunk  to  36°C.  The  pulse  became 
filiform,  and  cardiac  paralysis  supervened  with  symptoms  of  utter  exhaus- 
tion. The  autopsy  of  the  second  patient  exhibited  punctated  ecchymosea 
upon  the  anterior  wall  of  the  right  ventricle,  otherwise  nothing  reniarka- 
