70  Gleanings  from  the  Foreign  Journals.  }AmF{Ci8P77arm~ 
Doctored  Herbs. — A  writer  in  the  "  Schweiz.  Wochenschr.  f. 
Phar.,"  1876,  No.  51,  reports  having  met  with  some  herbs,  notably 
with  melissa  and  mint,  the  odor  of  which  suggested  a  fraudulent 
impregnation  with  volatile  oil.  To  determine  whether  such  was  the 
case  the  following  experiments  were  made  :  30  grams  each  of  the 
suspected  herb,  of  an  old  herb  sprinkled  with  a  few  drops  of  volatile 
oil  and  of  a  recently  picked  herb  were  macerated  in  a  cool  place  witfe 
half  a  liter  of  water  for  24  hours,  then  strained  and  the  infusions 
mixed  with  a  few  grams  of  ether  and  set  aside  in  a  vessel  covered  with 
a  well-fitting  glass  plate.  After  an  hour  the  under  side  of  the  glass 
cover  of  the  three  liquids  first  showed  the  odor  of  ether,  followed  in 
the  suspected  and  old  herbs  by  the  odor  of  the  essential  oil,  which 
could  not  be  perceived  in  the  case  of  the  fresh  herb. 
Boswellia  serrata  yields  a  gum  resin,  called  gugal  in  India.  It 
occurs  in  irregular  lumps,  to  which  the  papery  or  thick  inner  bark  some- 
times adheres,  greenish-yellow,  occasionally  with  a  red  tinge ;  consistence 
waxy,  becoming  brittle  ;  odor  peculiar,  balsamic,  gradually  diminished  ; 
taste  bitter  and  balsamic  ;  forms  with  water  a  greyish-white  emulsion, 
Gugal  is  principally  used  as  an  incense,  and  has  on  this  account  been 
confounded  with  olibanum. — Pharm.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Sept.  2,  1876, 
Coto  Barks. — Jul.  Jobst  has  received  a  coto  bark  which  was  pro- 
cured from  the  banks  of  the  Mapin  river,  in  Bolivia,  and  showed  some 
differences  from  the  bark  previously  obtained  under  that  name  ("Am. 
Jour.  Phar.,"  1875,  p.  541).  By  the  process  for  cotoin  (ibid.,  1876, 
p.  352),  a  compound  crystallizing  in  yellow  scales  was  obtained,  which 
is  called  paracotoin,  and  differs  from  cotoin  in  not  possessing  a  biting 
taste  ;  in  being  less  soluble  in  water,  alcohol,  ether,  ammonia  and  pot- 
assa  solution  ;  in  being  not  precipitated  by  lead  acetate,  and  in  yielding 
with  nitric  acid  a  yellow  solution.  Dr.  Burkart,  of  Stuttgart,  has 
found  the  new  body  quite  as  valuable  a  remedy  in  diarrhoea  as  cotoin 
only  somewhat  larger  doses  were  required.  It  is  best  given  in  the  form 
of  powder,  triturated  with  sugar,  o*i  gram  being  used  every  three 
hours. — Phar.  Zeitung,  1876,  No.  98. 
Constituents  of  Angelica  Root. — Dr.  C.  Brimmer  has  exam- 
ined some  of  the  constituents  of  this  root,  and  comes  to  the  conclusion 
that  Buchner's  angelicin,  when  purified  by  repeated  crystallizations,  is 
tasteless  and  identical  with  Husemann's  hydrocarotin  ;  the  angelica 
