Am  jmy,if9b3arnJ'}  Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  339 
are  moistened  with  a  mixture  of  5  gm.  of  66  per  cent,  ether  and  I 
gm.  ammonia  water,  and  placed  in  a  continuous  extraction  appara- 
tus with  50  cc.  chloroform.  The  extraction  is  complete  when  a 
drop  of  the  chloroform,  upon  evaporation,  leaves  no  residue.  The 
solution  is  distilled  and  to  the  dried  residue,  1  cc.  -jL-  sulphuric  acid 
added,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  caffeine  colorless.  The 
acidulated  residue  is  extracted  with  several  small  portions  of  boiling 
water  and  filtered,  keeping  the  filter  covered  with  a  glass  plate,  so 
as  to  prevent  the  crystallization  of  the  caffeine  upon  the  filter.  The 
yellowish  filtrate,  supersaturated  with  ammonia,  is  evaporated  to 
dryness  on  a  water-bath,  when  a  large  portion  of  the  coloring 
matter  forms,  with  the  ammonium  sulphate,  a  kind  of  compound 
insoluble  in  chloroform.  The  dry  residue  is  treated  with  chloroform, 
and  the  solution  filtered ;  the  container  and  filter  are  washed  until 
a  drop  of  the  filtered  liquid  leaves  no  residue  upon  evaporation.  If 
the  chloroformic  solution  is  evaporated  very  slowly,  the  product  is 
colorless  or  nearly  colorless  caffeine,  perfectly  crystallized  and 
entirely  free  from  tannin.  The  process  requires  no  more  than  three 
hours  and  the  following  are  some  of  the  results  obtained  with  it,  in 
the  author's  hands,  for  1,000  parts  of  the  material :  Black  Souchong 
tea  29  parts,  green  coffee  (mixture)  9-88  parts,  roasted  coffee  9 
parts,  and  kola  nut  23  parts  of  caffeine. 
Duboisine. — Belmondo  (Riv.  sper.  di  fren.  e  di  med.  leg.,  through 
Nonv.  Rem.,  May,  1893,  P-  24°)  reports  the  result  of  a  large  number 
of  injections  of  duboisine,  and  considers  it  equal  to  hyoscine  in  its 
sedative  action,  and  superior  to  chloral  as  a  hypnotic.  He  uses 
0  0005-0-0015  gm.;  higher  doses  producing  loss  of  appetite  and 
vomiting. 
Mazzochi  and  Antonini  (Rif  tried,  through  Nonv.  Rem.,  May,  1893, 
p.  239]  use  the  neutral  sulphate  of  duboisine  in  the  treatment  of 
mental  disorders,  in  doses  of  0-0005-0-002  gm.,  and  consider 
both  atropine  and  morphine  inferior  to  this  salt,  in  most  cases  a 
five  hours'  sleep  having  ensued  about  20  minutes  after  the.  injec- 
tion. 
Preparation  of  oxygen. — Achille  Tonneau  uses  the  following 
simple  process  by  which  the  danger  of  explosions  and  the  inconve- 
nience of  having  the  product  contaminated  with  chlorine  are 
avoided.    Into  a  Woulff's  bottle,  of  2  or  3  litres  capacity,  supplied 
