Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1877. 
Varieties. 
189 
Gilding  and  Silvering  of  Glass  and  Porcelain — E.  Hansen  has  patented  the 
following  process:  Sulphur  is  dissolved  in  oil  of  spike  lavender  until  it  has  a  semi- 
liquid  consistence  ;  this  is  mixed  with  an  etherial  solution  of  chloride  of  gold  or  of 
platinum,  and  the  mixture  evaporated  to  the  consistence  of  paint.  The  surface  to 
be  gilt  or  silvered  is  then  covered  with  the  mixture  and  the  object  carefully  heated 
in  a  muffle,  whereby  the  volatile  substances  are  expelled  and  the  metallic  gold  or 
platinum  fastened  upon  the  glass  or  porcelain.  The  surface,  thus  metallized,  is 
afterwards  plated  in  the  usual  manner  with  solutions  of  gold,  silver  or  copper,  and 
with  the  aid  of  a  galvanic  battery. — Chem.  Centralbl.,  1876.  No.  50. 
The  coloring  for  butter  and  cheese,  which  is  very  extensively  employed  in  Den- 
mark, is  made  by  intimately  mixing  one  part  of  annatto  with  half  its  weight  of  alco- 
hol, digesting  for  a  week,  and  then  boiling  with  three  to  five  parts  of  oil,  until  the 
annatto  forms  dark-brown  granules  and  ceases  to  impart  color  to  the  oil.  The  price 
depends  in  part  on  the  kind  of  oil  employed — rapeseed,  olive  and  other  oils  being 
used.  To  the  cheese  coloring  a  little  turmeric  is  usually  added.  This  coloring  was 
first  made  by  N.  Blumensaadt,  of  Odense,  but  is  now  largely  manufactured  at 
Copenhagen. — Phar.  Zeitung.  No.  5. 
Ustilago  maidis,  the  corn-smut  or  corn  ergot,  which  has  been  chemically  ex- 
amined by  Mr.  Ch.  H.  Cressler  ("Am.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1861,  p.  306),  has  been 
repeatedly  recommended  for  medicinal  use,  and  is  again  brought  forward  by  Dr.  C. 
Henri  Leonard,  who  has  used  it  in  the  form  of  fluid  extract  in  a  case  of  labor,  and 
contrasts  its  action  with  that  of  ergot  j  the  uterine  contraction  of  the  latter  is  regarded 
as  tonic,  that  from  Ustilago  seems  to  be  regularly  intermittent.  If  this  should  be 
proven  to  be  a  characteristic  of  its  action,  it  will  prove  even  more  serviceable  in 
labor  than  ergot.  It  was  given  in  the  dose  of  a  teaspoonful,  repeated  in  ten  minutes  ; 
and  in  spermatorrhoea  it  proved  serviceable  in  doses  of  10  to  20  drops. — Ne-iv  Prep. 
The  Hypnotic  Action  of  Lactic  Acid  and  Lactate  of  Soda. — Jeruselimsky  has 
tried  tried  the  effect  of  these  substances  in  animals  and  in  well  and  sick  human 
beings.  The  experiments  in  animals  (nine  dogs  and  nine  rabbits)  gave  no  definite 
results,  as  these  animals  are  not  good  subjects  for  the  purpose.  In  himself,  two 
healthy  women  and  three  men,  the  author  has  obtained  only  moderate  effects  with 
doses  varying  from  2  drachms  to  £  ounce.  Lactic  acid  was  administered  in  twenty- 
two  cases  of  insomnia  in  the  course  of  the  most  different  diseases,  but  especially  in 
hysteria,  and  the  effect  was  incomplete  in  only  a  few  cases.  In  most  cases  quiet 
sleep  occurred  a  half  to  one  hour  after  administration.  The  remedy  was  continued 
from  two  weeks  to  two  and  one  half  months  (two  or  three  times  weekly).  In  com- 
bination with  morphia,  a  much  smaller  quantity  of  the  latter  is  required.  Thus, 
an  hysterical  woman,  who  had  been  taking  as  much  as  two  grains  of  morphia  per 
day,  slept  five  hours  after  taking  one  half  grain  of  morphia  with  one-half  ounce- 
