Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
April,  1878.  J 
Various  Notes. 
11S 
Pistacia  Terebinthus. — A  strong  decoction  of  the  leaves  of  this 
tree  has  been  found  very  useful  in  albuminuria,  and  I  have  known  a  patient 
whose  urine  was  so  much  loaded  with  albumen  as  to  give  quite  a  con- 
sistent milk  on  the  addition  of  nitric  acid  ;  but  after  several  weeks'  per- 
sistent use  of  the  above-named  decoction,  did  not  show  even  a  trace  of 
albumen.  Pistacia  terebinthus  yields  by  incision  Chian  turpentine,  and 
is  not  to  be  confounded  witji  Pistacia  lentiscus,  which  yields  mastix, 
nor  with  Pistacia  vera,  from  which  come  the  well  known  pistachio 
nuts  of  the  confectioners. 
Adulterations. —  Powdered  drugs  are  generally  imported  into  Greece 
from  France,  and  are  not  unfrequently  adulterated.  Powdered  jalap 
has  been  found  mixed  with  various  powders,  amongst  them  with  the 
residue  from  the  preparation  of  the  resin  ;  lycopodium  with  over  50  per 
cent,  pollen  of  pinus  ;  cubebs  with  the  residue  from  the  preparation  of 
the  extract,  and  flavored  with  oil  of  pennyroyal;  rhubarb  with  powdered 
rhapontic  and  other  allied  roots,  etc. 
Orobanche  (grandiflora  and  caryophyllacea)  is  one  of  the  greatest 
nuisances  the  Greeks  and  the  Eastern  people  generally  have  to  con- 
tend with,  since  it  is  a  parasite  and  eventually  destroys  leguminous 
plants,  which,  particularly  beans,  form  the  staple  food  of  these  people. 
The  ancients  called  all  leguminous  fruits  kyamos  or  orobos,  and  a  temple 
was  dedicated  to  Apollo  Kyametes.  The  name  orobanche  is  derived 
from  orobos  (leguminous  fruit),  and  ancheln  to  choke;  English  broom-rape. 
Shell-fish. — In  probably  few  countries  are  there  consumed  in  lent 
more  shell -fish,  chiefly  Pinna  nobilis,  than  in  Greece.  In  each  pinna 
is  to  be  found  a  kind  of  silken  appendage  which  in  Italy  is  made  use  of 
by  the  poorer  girls  arid  women  to  make  purses,  necklaces,  ear-rings, 
etc.,  and  thus  proves  no  mean  source  of  income  to  hundreds  of  families. 
In  Greece,  on  the  contrary,  these  silken  tissues  are  thrown  away  ; 
the  pearls  which  are  occasionally  found  with  it,  however,  being  col- 
lected ;  otherwise  the  pinna  is  only  used  for  its  meat.  The  shell  would 
yield  excellent  lime  on  being  calcined. 
Terra  sigillata,  T.  Lemnia  and  T.  miraculosa  Saxoniae,  are  argil- 
laceous earths  which  were  well  known  to  the  older  pharmacists.  The 
Lemnian  earth  is  still  largely  used  in  the  Orient  as  an  absorbent,  and 
comes  in  the  form  of  troches,  sometimes  gilded  and  bearing  the  impres- 
sion of  a  Turkish  seal.    They  are  much  used  together  with  a  decoc- 
V 
