Aj'anXi872RM'}       Opium  Production  in  Europe.  13 
(gr.  ix),  lycopodium  0*06  (gr.  j),  powd.  tragacanth  q.  s.,  to  make  six 
pills.  The  two  first  ingredients  form  a  semifluid  mass,  which  the 
lycopodium  does  not  absorb,  but  which  thickens  with  the  tragacanth.. 
— Ibid. 
Emulsion  of  tar  by  saponin.  Lucien  Lebeuf  recommends  this 
preparation  as  superior  to  the  water  and  other  liquid  preparations  of 
tar ;  100  parts  of  it  contain  two  parts  of  tar  and  one-fifth  of  saponin,, 
the  latter  too  insignificant  in  quantity  to  be  of  any  medicinal  im- 
portance, but  sufficient  to  suspend  in  water  all  the  constituents  of  the 
tar,  without  exerting  any  chemical  action  upon  them.  The  emulsion 
is  very  staple,  presents  the  tar  in  the  most  favorable  condition  for  ab- 
sorption, and  is  miscible  with  water  in  all  proportions.  The  author 
believes  this  emulsion  to  be  by  far  the  best  form  for  the  external  ap- 
plication of  tar,  which  may  thus  be  employed  in  lotions,  injections, 
gargles,  &c,  for  which  the  preparations  hitherto  employed  were  not 
adapted.— Ibid.,  p.  279—281. 
Sulphate  of  eserina  (physostigmia)  is  prepared  by  A.  Petit,  by  dis- 
solving one  part  of  the  hydro-alcoholic  extract  of  the  calabar  bean  in 
four  parts  of  water,  filtering  from  the  slight  residue  which  contains  na 
alkaloid,  and  adding  one-twentieth  part  bicarbonate  of  potassa ;  the 
liberated  alkaloid  is  then  removed  by  agitation  with  ether,  from  which 
solution  it  is  converted  into  sulphate  by  agitation  with  dilute  sul- 
phuric acid,  which  passes  into  aqueous  solution  and  may  be  obtained 
by  evaporation.  The  ether  is  used  three  or  four  times  for  removing 
the  alkaloid.  If  the  sulphuric  acid  is  diluted  40  grms.  to  one  litre, 
each  drop  =  0*05  grm.  dilute  acid,  will  correspond  to  and  neutralize 
0*01  grm.  eserina  ;  if  the  alkaloid  is  just  neutralized,  the  amount  of 
acid  required  will  indicate  the  amount  of  alkaloid  present,  and  by 
evaporation  to  a  given  weight,  solutions  of  the  sulphate  of  any  de- 
sired strength  may  be  obtained,  without  the  necessity  of  previously 
preparing  the  dry  salt. — Ibid.,  p.  277. 
OPIUM  PRODUCTION  IN  EUROPE. 
By  Dr.  O.  O.  Harz. 
Some  fifty  years  ago  experiments  to  produce  opium  in  Europe  were 
made  which  were  so  successful  as  to  strongly  recommend  to  the  farmer 
the  cultivation  of  poppy. 
In  Germany  and  Austria  the  idea  did  not  find  much  favor,  and  was 
