Am.  Tour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1877. 
Varieties. 
33 
Potassium  bichromate  :  yellowish  precipitate. 
Mercuric  chloride  :  white  precipitate. 
Auric  chloride  :  whitish  precipitate. 
Palladic  chloride  :  white  precipitate. 
In  contact  with  manganese  peroxide  and  sulphuric  acid,  it  develops 
a  violet  color  (less  intense  than  that  produced  under  similar  circum- 
stances by  trychnia),  which  soon  changes  to  a  dirty-brown. 
Erythrophleina  possesses  very  marked  toxic  properties,  and  must  be 
placed  amongst  those  poisons  which  act  upon  the  heart. 
Two  milligrams  injected  under  the  skin  of  a  frog's  foot  caused  the 
cessation  of  the  heart's  action  in  five  to  eight  minutes.  The  ventricles 
cease  in  systole,  the  auricles  generally  in  diastole.  The  cessation  of 
the  cardiac  muscle  is  succeeded  by  a  torpor  of  all  the  muscles,  during 
which  death  occurs.  The  double  salt  with  platinic  chloride  produces 
the  same  effect  as  the  base  itself. 
Atropia  does  not  rally  the  action  of  the  heart  paralyzed  by  erythro- 
phleina, but  curare  delays  the  effects. 
E.  Coumlnga  is  a  variety  resembling  E.  guineense.  All  parts  of  it 
are  poisonous,  and  the  poison  consists  of  an  alkaloid,  of  which  the 
physiological  effects  are  similar  to  those  of  erythrophleina. — C.  H.  P. 
in  Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  Nov.,  1876,  from  Bull.  Soc.  Chim.  [2],  ccxxi, 
39-40-   
VARIETIES. 
Student  Life  in  Germany.  By  Frederick  B.  Power. — The  thought  occurred  to 
the  writer  that  a  glimpse  of  student  life  in  Germany  might  not  be  entirely  devoid 
of  interest  to  some  American  students  or  Pharmacists,  and  more  especially  in 
relation  to  those  studies  pursued  by  Pharmacists  in  the  departments  of  science  of 
the  German  Universities. 
The  German  University,  as  is  generally  known,  is  wider  in  its  scope  than  many 
American  Colleges  and  Universities,  and  adopts  a  method  of  instruction  diverging 
considerably  from  the  more  general  collegiate  curriculum  ;  it  also  finds  such  earnest 
recognition  from  the  fact  of  its  liberality,  the  student  not  being  compelled  to  gain 
his  information  from  prescribed  text  books,  or  to  follow  a  contracted  and  mechanical 
course  of  study,  but  such  studies  as  he  may  wish  to  pursue  may  be  selected  by  him 
at  his  option.  The  University  year  is  divided  into  two  semesters  of  about  five 
months  each,  the  winter  semester  beginning  the  latter  part  of  October  and  ending 
the  latter  part  of  March  j  the  summer  semester  beginning  about  the  middle  of 
April  and  ending  about  the  middle  of  August,  a  short  vacation  being  allowed  at 
the  Easter  season  and  a  vacation  of  two  months  during  the  summer. 
3 
