106  Pancreatic  Emulsions  of  Solid  Fats.  {An£™i,wT' 
Oregon  Balsam  of  Fir. — Under  this  name  an  oleo-resin  has  ap- 
peared in  our  commerce  during  the  last  year,  which  is  rather  suspi- 
cious in  appearance.  As  far  as  could  be  ascertained,  it  comes  from 
New  York,  and  the  writer  has  not  been  able  to  trace  it  beyond  that 
city.  It  is  a  thick  liquid,  perfectly  transparent,  of  a  bright  brownish 
color  and  a  distinct  terebinthinate  and  aromatic  odor.  On  rubbing  a 
little  of  it  between  the  fingers,  different  odors  become  quite  evident, 
the  last  one  remaining  being  that  of  nutmegs.  It  has  the  appearance 
of  being  merely  a  solution  of  common  rosin  in  oil  of  turpentine  flav- 
ored perhaps  with  a  little  of  the  oil  of  Eucalyptus  globulus  and  a 
somewhat  larger  quantity  of  the  volatile  oil  of  nutmegs.  Is  such  an 
article  known  on  our  Pacific  coast,  and  if  so,  what  is  its  source  and 
how  is  it  obtained  ? 
Adulterated  Serpentaria. — Recently  a  rhizome  with  its  rootlets  was 
handed  to  me,  with  the  statement  that  several  bundles  of  it  had  been 
found  in  a  bale  of  serpentaria  obtained  from  a  Western  State.  The 
adulteration  was  promptly  recognized  as  the  underground  portion  of 
Cypripedium  pubescens,  Lin.  (not  0.  parviflorum)*.  This  differs  so 
considerably  from  Aristolochia  serptentaria  and  reticulata,  that  the 
former  can  never  be  mistaken  for  the  latter,  and  the  adulteration  can 
therefore  be  practised  successfully  only  when  Virginia  snake  root  is 
sold  in  bulk.  The  rhizome  of  the  latter  is  quite  thin,  rarely  exceed- 
ing one-tenth  inch  in  diameter,  the  remnants  of  the  over-ground  stems 
are  invariably  projecting  as  short  branches  from  the  rhizome,  which 
terminate  by  a  scarcely  concave  scar.  The  rhizome  of  Cypripedium 
is  much  coarser,  the  stems  die  off  to  the  rhizome,  leaving  large  deeply 
cup-shaped  scars,  the  older  ones  penetrating  deeply  into  the  rhizome. 
Oypripedium,  moreover,  is  a  monocotyledonous  plant,  while  serpen- 
taria is  dicotyledonous  and  the  difference  in  the  characteristic  dispo- 
sition of  the  ligneous  bundles  is  quite  evident. 
PANCREATIC  EMULSIONS  OF  SOLID  FATS. 
By  Richard  V.  Mattison. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  Feb.  17th. 
Emulsions  may  be  divided  into  those  of  solid  and  liquid  fats.  Since 
the  publication  of  my  former  papers  upon  the  subject  of  Pancreatin 
(see  Amer.  Journ.  Pharm.,  Dec,  1873,  and  Feb.,  1874),  and  indeed 
*For  a  description  of  these  rhizomes  refer  to  Amer.  Jour,  of  Pharm.  1872,  p. 297. 
