Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
March,  1914.  / 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
139 
/.  Medical  Research,  1913,  v.  I,  No.  2.) — /.  Am.  M.  Assoc.,  1914, 
v.  62,  p.  413. 
Quinine  and  Urea  Hydrochloride. — Cables,  H.  A.,  reports 
eight  cases  of  sciatica  treated  by  hypodermic  injections  of  a  four 
per  cent,  solution  of  quinine  and  urea  hydrochloride  in  normal  salt 
solution.  There  were  50  injections  in  all,  but  no  untoward  results 
other  than  a  little  soreness  that  always  follows  hypodermic  injections. 
Seven  patients  received  six  injections  each  and  one  received  eight. — 
/.  Am.  M.  Assoc.,  1913,  v.  61,  p.  2303. 
Rabies  and  the  Pasteur  Treatment. — Anon.  The  work  of 
Pasteur  drew  the  attention  of  the  medical  profession  and  the  laity 
to  rabies,  which  up  to  that  time  had  apparently  been  neglected.  The 
fatality  among  Pasteur-treated  patients  is  less  than  1  per  cent.,  while 
the  death-rate  for  all  persons  bitten  by  rabid  animals  is  considered 
to  be  from  15  to  20  per  cent. — /.  Am.  M.  Assoc.,  1913,  v.  61,  p.  1923. 
Radium. — A  recent  census  of  the  quantity  of  radium  salts  at  pres- 
ent in  the  various  laboratories  of  the  world  shows  that  this  does  not 
exceed  the  equivalent  of  7  gms.  of  metallic  radium.  From  1899  to 
1904,  from  13  tons  of  pitch-blende  residuum,  it  was  possible  to 
extract  only  2  or  3  gms.  of  radium.  Then  a  stop  was  put  by  law 
to  the  export  of  radiferous  material  from  Austria.  Radium  has 
since  been  extracted  in  France  from  much  poorer  ores  containing 
only  from  y2  to  2  mgms.  per  ton,  whereas  the  Austrian  pitch-blende 
contained  quite  100  times  as  much.  Besides  its  use  in  medicine,  its 
application  in  the  industries  is  spreading.  Radium  has  been  used  in 
silk  factories  for  de-electrifying  the  material  and  the  machines.  It 
is  possible  to  realize,  with  radium,  an  apparatus  for  measuring  from 
a  distance  the  potential  of  a  conductor,  without  contact. — Pharm.  J., 
1913,  v.  91,  p.  938. 
Radium  in  Australia. — Anon.  Important  radio-active  minerals 
are  stated  to  have  been  discovered  at  two  places  in  South  Australia. 
In  one  of  these  cases  the  material  as  a  whole  did  not  contain  sufficient 
uranium  and  vanadium  to  be  of  commercial  importance  in  the  crude 
state,  but  results  of  considerable  scientific  interest  are  said  to  have 
been  obtained  in  the  course  of  the  inquiry.  The  composition  of  an- 
other radio-active  ore  in  South  Australia  has  also  been  determined. — 
Pharm.  J.,  1914,  v.  92,  p.  115. 
Saffron. — Holmes,  E.  M.,  in  a  review  of  the  varieties  of  saf- 
fron, points  out  that  although  this  plant  is  cultivated  in  most  of  the 
large  countries  for  home  use,  it  is  exported  from  very  few  and  its 
adulteration  from  the  time  of  Pliny  to  the  present  day  expresses 
