426 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1  September,  1907. 
Paraxine,  dimethyl  amino  para  xanthine,  is  a  new  diuretic  that  is 
allied  in  constitution  to  theobromine  and  theophylline.  It  occurs  as 
long  fine  needles  melting  at  1 26°. 
Paraxine  is  but  sparingly  soluble  in  cold  water,  more  soluble  in 
alkaline  and  feebly  acid  solutions.  It  has  been  given  in  doses  of 
from  05  to  4-00  in  24  hours.  The  administration  of  this  substance 
is  said  to  be  often  accompanied  by  a  sensation  of  weight  in  the 
stomach,  or  nausea  in  some  cases.  Nervous  troubles  and  vertigo 
have  also  been  observed.    (Phar.  Jour.,  July,  1907,  page  9.) 
Silver  Acetate. — This  preparation  is  being  recommended  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  other  silver  salts  for  use  in  the  eye.  One  of  the  advan- 
tages that  are  claimed  for  it  is  the  fact  that  it  is  comparatively 
insoluble  in  water  and  that  even  when  exposed  it  is  not  possible  to 
have  more  than  1  or  2  per  cent,  of  the  substance  in  solution.  In 
actual  practice  it  is  recommended  that  the  use  of  the  solution  in 
the  eye  be  followed  by  a  rather  liberal  rinsing  with  physiologic  salt 
solution.    [Phar.  Zentralh.,  1907,  page  319.) 
Use  of  Silver  Compounds  in  Great  Britain. — The  replies  that  have 
been  received  by  the  Therapeutic  Committee  of  the  British  Medical 
Association,  in  answer  to  a  widely  disseminated  inquiry,  appear  to 
indicate  that  only  three  silver  compounds  are  much  used,  namely, 
silver  nitrate,  argyrol  and  protargol. 
The  objection  to  silver  nitrate  is  the  amount  of  pain  that  it 
frequently  produces,  but  it  is  considered  to  be  uniformly  reliable 
even  when  employed  in  dilute  solutions. 
The  reports  relating  to  argyrol  and  protargol  are  contradictory  in 
many  important  particulars,  and  the  only  generally  expressed 
advantage  that  these  compounds  possess  is  that  they  usually  cause 
less  pain  than  silver  nitrate.     [Phar.  Jour.,  June  29,  1907,  page 
829.) 
Synthetic  Suprarenin. — A  German  firm  is  said  to  be  marketing  a 
synthetic  product  that  has  all  of  the  pharmacologic  properties  and 
uses  of  the  active  principle  of  the  suprarenal  gland.  The  synthetic 
product  is  said  to  be  more  uniform  in  composition  than  the  product 
obtained  from  the  suprarenal  gland,  and  solutions  of  the  former  are 
said  to  be  more  stable.    [Phar.  Zeitg.,  1907,  page  467.) 
Tannothymol. — Tannin  thymol  methane  is  a  condensation  product 
of  formaldehyde,  thymol  and  tannin,  that  occurs  as  a  white,  tasteless 
powder  melting  at  235 °.     It  is  insoluble  in  water,  but  soluble  in 
