222  GLEANINGS  FROM  THE  FRENCH  JOUNALS. 
ment.  It  also  is  less  bitter  and  is  more  easily  tolerated  by  the 
stomach.  The  dose  is  half  that  of  the  sulphate — 3  to  3  J  grains 
in  twenty-four  hours. — Journ.  de  Pharm.  el  de  Ch.,  Fev.  1858, 
from  Mon.  des  Sci.  Med.  et  Ph. 
Ver atria  in  Pneumonia. — -Prof.  Vogt,  of  Berne,  gives  as  much 
as  five  milligrammes  (1.13th  of  a  grain)  of  this  alkaloid  every  two 
or  three  hours  till  the  production  of  vomiting  and  reduction  of 
pulse.  He  administers  the  veratria  in  pills  ordinarily,  but  were 
these  nauseate  very  easily,  gives  it  in  solution.  The  quantity 
necessary  to  be  given  to  produce  the  desired  effect  is  from  25  to 
30  milligrammes  usually  ;  but  in  certain  cases,  not  very  suscepti- 
ble, as  much  as  50  to  60  milligrammes  may  be  given  in  24  hours. 
If  the  stomach  is  very  irritable,  the  dose  is  reduced  to  2|  milli- 
grammes every  2  or  3  hours,  given  with  a  little  opium,  or  in  an 
effervescing  powder.  The  effect  on  the  pulse  is  more  slowly  pro- 
duced, but  is  equally  certain.  Repertoire  de  Pharmacie,  Feb. 
1860.  This  use  of  veratria  is  equivalent  to  the  extensive  dosing 
with  veratrum  viride  now  so  prevalent  in  the  United  States. 
Does  not  this  show  that  it  is  veratria  in  this  plant  which  acts  as 
an  arterial  sedative  ? 
On  the  part  played  by  Quercitrin  in  the  Coloring  of  Flowers, 
by  M.  Hlasiwetz. — Quercitrin  has  been  found  in  the  flowers  of 
Reseda  luteola,  Capparis  spinosa,  and  recently  in  those  of  the 
horse  chestnut.  It  is  a  characteristic  of  quercitrin  and  its  de- 
rivatives to  yield  various  colors  by  decomposition  under  certain 
circumstances,  and  the  author  thinks  that  nature  may  effect 
these  metamorphoses  as  well  as  the  chemist.  It  is  sufficient  to 
add  one  sixty-fifth  of  a  grain  of  quercetie  acid  to  21  pints  of  al- 
kaline water  to  get  a  beautiful  rose  color.  A  solution  of  quer- 
cetrin  is  colored  green  by  traces  of  iron  salts  ;  and  an  infinites- 
imal quantity  of  quercetie  acid  is  sufficient  to  give  a  blue  color 
to  a  weak  solution  of  chloride  of  iron.  With  these  reactions 
there  is  no  difficulty  in  explaining  the  play  of  colors  presented 
by  the  flower  of  the  hyacinth,  the  tulip  and  the  dahlia. 
On  Quinio,  a  crude  quinine. — M.  Batka  (Chem.  Central-bl. 
