Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
May,  1885.  | 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica, 
247 
GLEANINGS  IN  MATERIA  MEDICA. 
By  the  Editor. 
A  new  cotton  plant.  The  account  of  Avhich  we  published  an  abstract 
on  page  116  of  our  February  number,  had  been  communicated  by  a 
correspondent  residing  in  one  of  the  Gulf  States.  From  more  recent 
correspondence  we  have  become  satisfied  that  a  hybrid,  as  there 
described,  between  the  cotton  and  okra  plants  has  not  been  produced. 
Herniay^ia  glabra,  Limie,  is  recommended  by  Zeissl  in  catarrh  of  the 
bladder;  it  is  given  in  the  form  of  infusion,  1  gram  being  used  with 
the  same  quantity  of  Chenopodium  ambrosioides,  Linne,  to  1  liter  of 
boiling  water.  The  addition  of  milk  renders  the  infusion  more  agree- 
able.—J  %.  Med.  Ztg. 
Herniaria  belongs  to  the  order  Caryophyllacea?,  tribe  Paronychiece, 
and  grows  in  sandy  fields  throughout  the  greater  portion  of  Europe 
and  Northern  Asia.  It  is  inodorous,  has  a  saline,  somewhat  astrin- 
gent and  slightly  bitter  taste,  and  was  formerly  employed  in  dropsy, 
in  diseases  of  the  bladder  and  kidneys,  and  in  hernia ;  it  has  long 
since  fallen  into  disuse. 
Conium  macukitiim,  Linne. — Lepage  corroborates  the  observations 
made  by  Orfila,  that  the  root  of  this  plant  contains  very  little  alka- 
loid. During  the  spring  and  summer  of  the  first  year,  the  quantity 
of  alkaloid  was  very  minute,  but  in  September  the  root  contained  a 
larger  proj^ortion  than  could  be  obtained  from  roots  of  the  second 
year's  growth. — Jour.  Phar.  Chim,  Jan.,  1885,  p.  10. 
Guaiacum  Resin. — J.  S.  Ward  examined  three  samples  of  this  resin 
and  reported  his  results  to  the  Liverpool  Chemists'  Association,  at  the 
meeting  held  Nov.  6  last.  Petroleum  spirit  had  no  solvent  action. 
Alcohol  dissolved  96-22,  92-96  and  87-28  per  cent;  ether  took  up 
88-89,  89-91  and  84-12  per  cent.,  and  water  between  3-00  and  4-66 
per  cent.  The  alcoholic  and  etherial  extracts  were  found  to  be  soluble 
in  glacial  acetic  acid,  and  in  liquor  potass?e,  but  only  partly  soluble  in 
chloroform  and  in  ammonia.  Two  samples  of  the  resin  yielded  -299 
and  -334  per  cent,  of  ash,  consisting  ahnost  wholly  of  calcium  salts, 
while  the  third  sample,  Avhich  had  yielded  least  to  alcohol  and  ether, 
and  most  to  water,  gave  6-55  per  cent,  of  ash. — Phar.  Jour,  and 
Trans.,  Nov.  2 2d,  p,  413. 
Rasa.malas. — Mr.  E.  M.  Holmes  states  that  the  information  obtained 
