Am.  Jour,  PViarm., 
Dec,  1885. 
Solubility  of  Mercuric  Iodide  in  Fats. 
613 
Upon  lowering  the  proportion  of  biniodide  to  1  in  4,000,  the  cool 
liquid  no  longer  deposits  the  least  trace  of  biniodide. 
Carbolic  Acid. — Heated  to  about  100°C.  carbolic  acid  dissolves  a 
little  more  than  20  grams  of  biniodide  of  mercury  in  1,000  grams. 
Left  to  cool  the  solution  deposits  more  than  half  the  biniodide  it  con- 
tained ;  the  exact  determination  of  the  quantity  is  hardly  practicable 
in  consequence  of  the  solid  condition  of  the  cold  mixture. 
Benzin, — One  thousand  grams  of  rectified  commercial  benzin  dis- 
solv^es  20  grams  of  biniodide  of  mercury  at  a  temperature  near  100°C. 
At  the  ordinary  temperature  benzin  retains  in  solution  only  4  grams 
of  the  biniodide  in  1,000  grams. 
Various  Mercmic  Compounds. — In  England  and  the  United  States 
the  oleate  of  mercury  in  solution  in  oils  is  frequently  employed.  It 
is  obtained  by  triturating — preferably  in  the  cold  during  twenty-four 
hours,  or  heating  to  a  temperature  exceeding  70°C. — a  mixture  of  10 
parts  of  yellow  oxide  of  mercury  and  90  parts  of  purified  oleic  acid. 
Such  a  preparation  keeps  badly  in  proportion  as  it  is  weaker  in  mer- 
<iury;  it  deposits  metallic  mercury  as  the  oleic  acid  becomes  trans- 
formed into  oxyoleic  acid.  An  oleate  with  20  per  cent,  of  oxide  of 
mercury  has  also  been  recommended  as  keeping  better,  it  being  diluted 
with  oleic  acid  or  olive  oil  as  required.  The  observations  of  Squibb,^ 
Parsons^  and  Tichborne^  have,  however,  demonstrated  the  great  insta- 
bility of  these  mixtures,  which  are  in  no  way  comparable  to  definite 
and  stable  officinal  preparations,  such  as  the  solutions  of  biniodide  of 
mercury  in  oils  that  I  have  here  described. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans. ^ 
Oct.  17,  1885,  p.  327. 
Coca  Leaf  Cigars  and  Cigarettes.— Dr.  Lewis  Lewis,  Philadelphia, 
has  been  using  cigarettes  composed  in  part  of  coca  leaf  and  partly  of  tobacco, 
for  about  nine  years,  in  the  treatment  of  throat  affections.  Dr.  F.  E. 
Stewart  ("  Phil.  Med.  Times,"  Sept.  19,  1885,)  has  employed  a  cigar  made 
of  coca  leaf  with  a  wrapper  of  mild  imported  tobacco  ;  also  a  cigarette  of 
coca  wrapped  with  rice  paper,  and  a  "smoking  tobacco"  made  of  coca 
without  admixture  of  any  kind,  which  may  be  smoked  in  a  pipe.  By  the 
use  of  these  preparations  the  peculiar  effects  of  coca  were  obtained,  though 
in  a  milder  degree  than  after  taking  it  internally. 
1  "Pharmaceutical  Journal"  [3],  xiii,  530. 
2  Ibid.  [3],  XV,  656.  -"^  Ibid.  [3],  xv.,  576 
