424 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1  September,  1907. 
Hallberg  and  Dr.  J.  H.  Salisbury,  both  of  Chicago.  In  addition  to 
the  titles,  definitions  and  average  doses  of  the  official  articles,  the 
book  contains  a  number  of  additional  synonyms,  numerous  sugges. 
tions  for  extemporaneous  prescriptions,  suggestions  on  the  medicinal 
uses  of  the  several  articles,  a  list  of  the  official  preparations  of  each 
drug,  short  but  explicit  definitions  for  the  several  classes  of  official 
preparations,  an  exhaustive  therapeutic  index  and  an  index  to  the 
synonyms  that  have  been  included  in  the  book. 
All  of  this  information  has  been  gathered  together  and  virtually 
compressed  into  204  duodecimo  pages,  thus  making  a  volume  that 
is  designed  as  a  pocket  companion  for  the  busy  practitioner. 
The  book  is  published  by  the  press  of  the  American  Medical 
Association,  103  Dearborn  Avenue,  Chicago,  111.  Single  copies  may 
be  had,  postpaid,  for  fifty  cents,  and  the  publishers  will  no  doubt 
make  a  material  reduction  for  quantity  lots. 
Detection  of  Sulphonal  in  Trional  and  Tetronal. — According  to  E. 
Gambutti  (Jour.  Pharm.  Chem.y  1907,  page  483),  sulphonal  may  be 
separated  from  trional  or  tetronal  by  taking  advantage  of  its  com- 
parative insolubility  in  ether.  10  c.c.  of  ether  will  completely  dis- 
solve 0'5  of  trional,  roo  of  tetronal  and  only  0-07  of  sulphonal. 
Sulphonal  may  subsequently  be  identified  by  suitable  reagents  and 
the  determination  of  its  melting  point,  125^5°  C.  (Phar.  Jour., 
June  15,  1907.) 
Espic  Cigarettes  have  been  examined  by  Mai  and  SchoefTer,  who 
report  that  these  cigarettes  weigh  about  1  gramme  each  and  contain 
a  mixture  of  coarsely  powdered  stems,  leaves  and  seeds  in  which 
microscopic  examination  showed  stramonium  leaves,  hyoscyamus 
leaves  and  seeds  and  belladonna  leaves.  Neither  nicotine  nor  the 
alkaloids  of  opium  could  be  found.  {The  Chem.  and  Drug.,  June  8, 
1907,  page  877.) 
Isopral  and  Hydrated  Chloral. — Dr.  Robert  A.  Hatcher  (Jour. 
A.M. A.,  June,  1907,  page  1849)  has  made  a  comparative  study  of 
isopral  and  hydrated  chloral  and  their  physiologic  action  on  dogs, 
cats  and  rabbits.  He  concludes  that  the  experiments  on  rabbits  indi- 
cate that  there  is  no  essential  difference  between  the  action  of  isopral 
and  hydrated  chloral  in  effective  doses,  on  the  respiratory  centers, 
and  the  experiments  on  dogs  show  that  isopral  is  more  than  twice 
as  active  in  depressing  the  vasomotor  and  respiratory  centers  and 
the  heart. 
