402 
GLEANINGS  FEOM  THE  GERMAN  JOURNALS. 
avoidably  inhaled  a  portion  of  its  vapor  ;  his  symptoms  were 
described  as  first  a  pressure  on  his  eyes,  then  pain  in  the  tem- 
ples, gradually  ascending  to  the  top  of  the  head,  where  he  con- 
tinued to  experience  its  unpleasant  effects  till  relieved  by  a 
night's  rest.  In  a  second  instance  he  had  similar  symptoms, 
though  not  so  severe  or  persistent,  leaving  him  in  less  than  three 
hours. 
In  this  connection  I  may  advert  to  a  curious  discrepancy 
between  Gmelin's  Hand-book  of  Chemistry,  as  originally  pub- 
lished in  German,  and  Watt's  English  translation,  published  by 
the  Cavendish  Society.  In  the  original,  an  observation  of  Snow 
is  recorded  that  benzine  vapor  is  narcotic  (narkatisviend),  while 
in  the  translation,  vol.  xi.  p.  137,  the  observation  is  stated  thus, 
''Its  vapor  does  not  produce  narcotic  effects  when  inhaled." 
GLEANINGS  FROM  THE  GERMAN  JOURNALS. 
By  Jno.  M.  Maisch. 
Urate  of  Soda  was  obtained  by  Dr.  Baumgarten,  of  St.  Louis, 
in  microscopical  transparent  globules,  resembling  oil  globules, 
by  boiling  soda  with  excess  of  uric  acid,  cooling,  filtering  and 
mixing  the  filtrate  with  a  cold  saturated  solution  of  phosphate, 
bicarbonate,  acetate,  nitrate  or  sulphate  of  soda,  or  of  chloride 
of  sodium.  After  the  removal  of  the  salt  by  washing,  the  urate 
changes  from  its  utricular  condition  into  needles,  both  of  the 
composition  NaO,CioH2N40^+3HO. — (Ann.  d.  Ch.  und  Pharm. 
xli.  106-109.) 
Inosite. — Dr.  L.  Cooper  Lane,  of  San  Francisco,  California, 
evaporates  the  infusion  of  the  organs  to  a  thickish  liquid,  mixes 
while  boiling,  with  3  or  4  volumes  of  alcohol,  decants  or  filters, 
and  sets  aside  to  crystallize.  If  no  crystals  appear,  the  clear 
tincture  is  mixed  with  ether  until  a  permanent  turbidity  remains. 
After  24  hours,  all  the  inosite  has  crystallized  in  pearly  scales. 
The  alcoholic  precipitate  in  the  aqueous  liquid  on  redissolving 
in  water  and  treating  with  alcohol,  will  yield  more  inosite.  If 
many  other  substances  are  present,  it  is  advisable  to  precipitate 
first  with  acetate,  then  with  subacetate  of  lead,  decompose  the 
latter  precipitate  by  sulphuretted  hydrogen  or  oxalic  acid,  and 
