926 
Reports  on  Benzyl  Benzoate. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(      December,  1920. 
taxed,  according  to  information  given  by  the  Japanese  consulate  in 
F'oochow. 
The  Government  bureau  which  markets  the  Government  camphor 
announces  that  it  sells  at  Hongkong  market  rates. 
At  present  camphor  is  cheap  and  there  are  fairly  large  stocks  on 
hand,  but  not  much  is  coming  in  from  the  interior.  Local  firms  are 
ready  and  anxious  to  do  business  with  Americans. 
FURTHER  REPORTS  ON  BENZYL  BENZOATE.* 
Since  benzyl  benzoate  was  introduced  into  medicine  little  over 
a  year  ago,  it  has  come  into  very  general  use  in  the  treatment  of 
diseases  in  which  there  is  spasm  of  unstriped  muscle. 
T.  E.  McMurray  (A^.  Y.  Med.  Jour.,  July  24,  1920,  p.  122)  re- 
ports on  its  use  in  whooping  cough,  in  which  he  obtained  satisfactory 
and  immediate  results.  The  dose  given  was  from  5  to  30  minims 
every  four  hours,  depending  on  results.  In  some  cases  the  smaller 
dose  was  sufficient,  and  in  almost  every  case  the  paroxysms  sub- 
sided. The  effect  was  ususally  felt  within  48  hours,  and  in  one 
instance  there  was  relief  after  the  second  dose.  As  a  rule  the  relief 
is  immediate  and  complete,  and  the  treatment  seems  to  lengthen 
the  interval  between  attacks.  No  undesirable  results  were  exper- 
ienced; in  one  case  a  child  of  12  months  received  20  minims  without 
showing  any  evidence  of  gastric  or  other  disturbance. 
D.  I.  Macht  {Johns  Hopkins  Hosp.  Bull.,  July  1920,  p.  236) 
found  it  acted  as  a  valuable  palliative,  though  not  exactly  curative, 
in  a  large  number  of  cases  of  whooping  cough  that  had  resisted  other 
treatment.  He  used  a  20  per  cent,  alcoholic  solution,  giving  from 
5  to  40  drops  in  water  three  or  four  times  a  day  or  oftener,  according 
to  the  age  of  the  patient,  and  the  severity  of  the  disease.  A  few 
drops  of  benzaldehyde  (essential  oil  of  bitter  almonds  sine  HCN) 
added  to  the  solution  not  only  makes  the  dose  more  palatable  to 
children,  but  seems  to  increase  the  palliative  effect. 
D.  I.  Macht  {Med.  Record,  July  24,  1920,  p.  146)  has  found  the 
drug  most  valuable  in  hiccough,  not  only  in  the  mild  form  so  com- 
mon in  infants,  but  in  the  more  persistent  forms  which  last  for  long 
periods  of  time.  He  cites  several  cases  of  persistent  hiccough  in 
adults  in  which  relief  was  obtained  with  one  or  at  most  a  few  doses. 
Macht  thinks  that  benzyl  benzoate  may  also  be  of  diagnostic  value 
*  From  The  Presenter,  October,  1920, 
