336 
Permanganate  of  Zinc. 
/  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t     July  1, 1874. 
The  specimens  were  taken  from  a  bale  of  pareira  brava,  the  con- 
tents of  which  were  professedly  the  root  only  of  Chondodendron 
tomentosum  ;  a  cursory  inspection,  however,  was  sufficient  to  show 
the  presence  of  two  totally  different  structures.  One  of  these, 
which  is  hard,  heavy,  and  of  a  dark-brown  color,  is  plainly  the  root 
described  by  Mr.  Daniel  Hanbury  ;*  the  other,  which  is  lighter  in 
weight,  paler  in  color,  and  much  less  compact  in  texture,  is  as  evidently 
a  stem — for  the  majority  of  pieces  are  covered  with  an  easily  seen 
bark,  the  hue  of  which  is  variegated  by  whitish  patches  of  micro- 
scopic lichens  and  occasional  green  tufts  of  moss.  A  comparison  of 
this  stem  with  an  authenticated  specimen  in  the  museum  of  the 
Pharmaceutical  Society,  leaves  no  doubt  that  it  is  deriveed  from  0. 
tomentosum.  On  the  pieces  of  stem  presented  by  Messrs.  Corbyn 
&  Co.,  the  characteristic  warts  were  shown  in  a  marked  manner. 
The  stem  is  sickly  sweet,  yet  slightly  bitter  in  taste.  In  the  root 
the  bitter  taste  is  very  much  intensified,  and  indeed  predominates 
over  every  other.  This  difference  is  best  noticed  by  appropriate 
comparison  of  the  respective  infusions. 
The  object  of  this  note  is  to  induce  pharmacists  to  examine  their 
stock  of  pareira,  and  so  prevent  the  substitution  for  the  root,  of  the 
much  less  active,  if  not  altogether  inert,  stem.  In  my  opinion,  few 
parcels  will  be  found  free  from  the  admixture  here  described  ;  in  the 
first  place,  the  admixture  occurs  in  the  original  packages,  and  in  the 
second,  it  is  very  unlikely  that  experience  of  this  kind  is  confined  to 
one  house.  I  may  say,  in  conclusion,  that  two  bales,  the  aggregate 
of  which  were  137  pounds,  gave  73  pounds  of  stem — over  50  per 
cent. — London  Pharm.  Journal,  May  16,  p.  911. 
PERMANGANATE  OF  ZINC. 
By  Huskisson  Adrian,  F.  C.  S. 
A  recent  report  of  the  Medical  College  of  Berlin  contains  an  ac- 
count of  the  use  of  this  salt  for  injections.  It  is  stated  to  be  much 
more  effective  than  sulphate  of  zinc.  The  following  is  the  usual 
method  of  preparing  it :  Permanganate  of  silver  is  thrown  down  by 
mixing  hot  concentrated  solutions  of  permanganate  of  potash  and 
nitrate  of  silver,  and  is  afterwards  levigated  with  a  solution  of  chloride 
of  zinc.    The  chloride  of  silver  is  then  separated,  and  the  perman- 
*  Pharm.  Journ.,  Aug.  2,  1873,  p.  81,  and  Aug.  9,  p.  102.  American  Jour. 
Phar.,  1873,  p.  449. 
