520  Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  { %^^arm- 
30 — 40  centimeters  in  length.  The  leaves  are  the  medicinal  portion 
of  the  plant,  and  are  used  as  tea  for  liver  complaint  and  kidney  diseases 
with  excellent  success.  Their  efficacy  seems  to  be  due  to  Sparatto- 
spermin,  which  is  obtained  by  extracting  the  leaves  or  twigs  with  water, 
boiling,  refiltering,  evaporating  to  the  consistence  of  an  extract,  treat- 
ing this  repeatedly  with  boiling  alcohol  (spec.  grav.  O  833),  evaporating 
the  alcoholic  solution  to  dryness,  treating  this  residue  with  cold  water, 
and  purifying  the  crystalline  powder  by  recrystallizing  from  boiling 
alcohol.  Sparattospermin  possesses  no  odor,  but  a  bitter  alkaline  taste, 
and  has  the  composition  C19H24Ol0.  It  is  not  a  glucoside,  and  is 
colored  yellow  by  sulphuric  acid. — Ztscbr.  Oest.  Apoth.  Ver.,  Aug.  10, 
1878,  p.  361. 
Copper  in  Ammonia. — On  passing  sulphuretted  hydrogen  into 
commercial  ammonia  water,  A.  Schwalm  obtained  a  blackish-brown 
precipitate,  which  on  further  examination  was  found  to  be  sulphide  of 
copper.  The  presence  of  copper  was  not  indicated  by  any  change  of 
color  in  the  ammonia  water. — Pbar.  Zeitsohr.,/.  Russland,  Aug.  15, 
p.  483. 
Ammoniated  Citrates.  —  Ed.  Landrin  reports  as  the  result  of  a 
series  of  experiments,  made  to  determine  whether  the  ammonium  salt 
only  serves  as  a  solvent,  or  combines  with  metallic  oxides,  forming 
double  salts,  that  the  citrates  of  calcium,  barium  and  strontium,  being 
insoluble  in  water,  are  soluble  in  any  aqueous  solution  of  ammonium 
citrate,  while  magnesium,  aluminium,  iron,  manganese,  nickel,  cobalt 
and  copper  form  definite  double  salts  with  citric  acid  and  ammonium. 
—  Chem.  Centralhl,  No.  32. 
Oxalic  Acid  as  an  Absorbent  of  Ozone.— Jeremin  finds  that  a 
considerable  quantity  of  ozone  is  absorbed  by  an  aqueous  solution  of 
oxalic  acid,  and  will  keep  in  this  solution  for  any  length  of  time, 
becoming  more  efficient  with  age  as  a  disinfectant.  Gaseous  ozone 
keeps  better  in  contact  with  air  than  in  the  dark.  The  author  prepares 
a  cement  from  pumice-stone,  praffin,  wax  and  rosin,  which  he  claims 
to  be  proof  against  ozone. — lbid.y  No.  33. 
Vagina  globules,  frequently  prescribed  in  Germany,  consist  of  a 
jelly  prepared  from  1  part  of  gelatin  and  6  parts  of  glycerin,  medicated 
with  potassium  iodide,  sulphate  of  zinc,  sulphate  of  copper,  etc.,  and 
