Am'jJan.Vif94arilJ-}   Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  31 
stantive  endings  as,  atis,  are  used  exclusively  in  the  names  of  a  few 
peoples  and  the  inhabitants  of  cities,  and  that  these  are  consid- 
ered fundamentally  masculine,  although,  of  course,  women  as  well 
as  men  were  included.    Romani  meant  both  men  and  women. 
There  is,  therefore,  no  good  reason  for  departing  from  the  custom 
in  the  mascuiine  designation  of  salts,  which  was  introduced  by  Ber- 
zelius,  but  to  write  exclusively  phosphas  zlbus  and  not  alb<2,  and 
the  more  so  as  the  word  Sal  is  used  in  the  masculine  as  well  as  the 
neuter  gender,  but  never  in  the  feminine.  In  French,  also,  it  is  le 
sulfate. 
The  spelling  of  sulfur  with  an  /instead  of  ph  is  justified  by  the 
fact  that  ph  is  of  Grecian  origin  and  was  not  adopted  by  the  Romans, 
and,  in  fact,  all  modern  languages  of  Roman  origin  have  continued 
in  this  course,  and  always  use/ instead  of  ph,  as  sulfate,  sulfato,  etc. 
The  etymology  of  phosphorus  is  uncertain;  therefore,  in  that  the//* 
may  stand. 
GLEANINGS  FROM  THE  GERMAN  JOURNALS. 
By  Frank  X.  Moerk,  Ph.G. 
Creosote  pills. — ro  magnesia  and  2-0  glycerin  are  triturated  and 
io-o  creosote  gradually  added ;  the  following  substances  are  then  incor- 
porated in  the  order  named  :  5  -o  magnesia,  5  *o  powdered  licorice  extract 
and  q.  s.  (160-1 8-o)  powdered  licorice  root;  the  mass  is  divided  into 
100  pills.  The  pills,  when  pressed  on  a  piece  of  white  paper,  do 
not  cause  an  oily  stain  ;  immersed  in  water  they  readily  soften  and 
disintegrate.  Tar  pills,  which  have  recently  been  prescribed  to 
some  extent,  can  be  made  by  the  above  formula,  substituting  100 
tar  for  the  creosote. — E.  Dieterich,  Pharm.  Centralhalle,  1893,  ^33* 
Thiosapol preparations  are  soaps  containing  sulphur  in  chemical 
combination.  Thiosapol  cocoa-nut  oil  soap  (containing  about  five 
per  cent,  sulphur)  is  made  by  heating  1  kg.  linseed  oil  with  166 
gm.  sulphur  to  120-1600  C.  until  solution  is  effected  and  no  sepa- 
ration of  sulphur  occurs  on  cooling  ;  one  kg.  of  this  product  is 
melted  with  one  kg.  cocoa-nut  oil,  and  when  cooled  to  25 0  C,  is 
incorporated  with  one  kg.  of  solution  of  soda  (35  per  cent.)  and 
allowed  to  stand  until  complete  saponification  takes  place.  Thio- 
sapol-sodium,  containing  10  per  cent,  sulphur,  can  be  made  by  heat- 
ing one  kg.  oleic  acid  and  120  gm.  sulphur,  the  resulting  product  is 
