444  Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  {Ams^t''i£7.arini 
Maintained  in  suspension  in  a  convenient  vehicle,  its  own  action  i& 
still  more  caustic.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  use  pills,  and  these 
should  contain  10  to  20  centigrammes.  The  daily  dose  of  30  to  40 
centigrammes  is  very  well  supported  by  patients.  4.  Despite  the 
opinion  of  writers  who  have  studied  this  substance,  we  believe  that  it 
should  not  be  classed  among  our  best  analgesics.  5.  Its  high  price, 
its  want  of  uniformity  of  action,  and  the  high  doses  that  it  is  necessary 
to  prescribe  do  not  permit  us  to  counsel  its  use  as  an  analgesic.  (See 
also  Am.  Jouk.  Phar.  1887,  p.  102. 
Influence  of  Calomel  upon  the  Decomposition  of  Bile. — 
Zawadsky,  after  a  long  and  carefully  made  series  of  laboratory  re- 
searches, cites  the  following  conclusions  :  1.  Calomel  has  an  antiseptic 
action  upon  the  bile  and  the  contents  of  the  intestine.  2.  This  is  ex- 
plained by  the  transformation  of  the  calomel  in  the  bile  and  in  the 
intestine,  into  Hg20,  a  transformation  favored  by  the  alkaline  reaction 
of  the  contents  of  the  intestine.  3.  The  characteristic  color  of  the- 
excrements — observed  after  the  administration  of  the  calomel — de- 
pends: a,  on  the  one  hand,  upon  the  transformation  of  bilirubin 
(perhaps  of  hydro-bilirubin)  into  biliverdin,  under  the  influence  of" 
Hg20,  as  per  the  formula  : 
C16H18NA+2Hg20=C16H18NA  +Hg  0+3Hg 
Bilirubin  Biliverdin 
with  the  liberation  of  metallic  mercury  ;  and  6,  on  the  other  hand,  of 
the  presence  of  biliverdin  (a  normal  constituent  of  bile)  which  was  pre- 
vented from  decomposition  on  account  of  the  antiseptic  action  of  the 
calomel  and  of  Hg20.  4.  The  acid  reaction  of  the  medium,  as  also 
the  other  unfavorable  conditions  of  the  juice,  explain  probably,  the 
absence  of  color  in  the  excrements  characteristic  in  some  cases  after 
taking  calomel.  Laboratoire  pharmacolog.  du  Prof.  Toumass, 
Wratsch,  Nos.  15  and  16, 1887;  Bull  Gen.  de  Therap.  July  15,  1887. 
Sulphurous  acid  in  whooping  cough.— A  Norwegian  physician 
named  Mohn  discovered  after  disinfecting  the  bedding  of  one  of  his  own  chil- 
dren who  had  suffered  from  scarlet  fever,  that  another  child  who  had  whoop- 
ing cough  and  who  accidentally  inhaled  some  of  the  fumes  of  the  sulphur, 
was  suddenly  cured  of  the  disease.  Acting  on  this  suggestion,  he  has 
treated  other  cases  of  pertussis  by  placing  the  patients  in  a  room  where 
sulphur  had  been  burned  in  the  usual  manner  in  which  it  is  employed  for 
disinfectant  purposes.  He  claims  that  after  being  put  to  bed  in  such  a 
room,  the  patients  awake  the  next  morning  cured. — N.  E.  Med.  Monthly. 
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