278 
Aconite  Root. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1884. 
is«comnionly  tough  enough  to  be  cut  across  with  a  sharp  knife  without 
going  to  dust  as  it  does  when  dry.  A  very  thin  slice  cut  across  from 
the  middle  of  the  root  will  weigh  about  a  centigramme,  or  a  little  over 
one-sixth  of  a  grain.  This,  if  cut  in  ten  pieces  of  nearly  equal  size, 
each  will  weigh  about  a  milligramme,  or  the  sixty-fifth  of  a  grain. 
One  of  such  pieces,  taken  between  the  front  teeth  and  chewed  in  contact 
with  the  tip  of  the  tongue  with  saliva  enough  to  wet  it,  for  about  one 
minute,  should  give  the  aconite  impression,  not  strongly,  and  not 
amounting  to  tingling,  but  yet  a  distinct  impression  which,  when  real- 
ized a  few  times,  will  always  be  recognized.  There  is  no  need  of  this 
cutting  and  weighing  more  than  once,  and  that  only  to  see  how  small 
a  piece  to  take  for  the  test,  and  there  is  a  great  advantage  in  taking  so 
very  small  a  piece,  because  the  impression  from  it  is  so  faint  that  it 
soon  passes  away,  and  admits  of  another  root  being  tested  in  the  same 
way  in  half  an  hour  or  so.  If  the  piece  be  larger  and  the  impression 
strong,  it  will  last  for  two  hours  or  more,  and  thus  only  a  very  few 
pieces  can  be  tested  in  a  day.  At  best  it  is  a  slow  process,  but  well 
worth  applying  in  the  interest  of  accurate  medication  by  a  drug  so 
important.  Few  pharmacists  or  physicians  ever  see  the  root,  but  only 
get  the  powdered  root.  The  powder  should  be  tested  in  the  same  way, 
taking  about  the  same  quantity  on  the  tip  of  the  tongue,  and  bruising 
and  softening  it  with  the  teeth  so  as  to  get  out  the  active  principle. 
Aconite  root  is  not  sweetish  as  described  by  the  Pharmacopoeia  but 
is  distinctly  bitterish,  but  the  taste  proper  is  always  faint.  Some  roots 
are  tasteless,  or  so  nearly  so  that  no  very  distinct  taste  is  recognized, 
and  yet  such  roots  may  in  a  few  minutes  give  a  very  decided  impres- 
sion.— Ephemeris,  March,  1884,  p.  502. 
Artificial  Food  for  Children.— There  has  been  great  discussion  as 
to  the  qualifications  of  condensed  milk  as  a  substitute  for  the  human  arti- 
cle. Rome  men  strongly  advocate  its  use,  while  others  bitterly  condemn 
it.  After  reporting  a  case  of  infantile  scurvy,  in  a  foreign  exchange,  Dr. 
Edmund  Owen  says  : 
"The  opinion  which  I  have  been  compelled  to  form  in  my  work  in  the 
out-patient  rooms  of  the  Children's  Hospital,  is  that  the  worst  nourished  of 
the  hand-fed  infants  are  those  that  have  been  reared  upon  condensed  milk 
and  the  various  patent  food  stuffs ;  and  that  whenever  an  infant  cannot 
have  human  breast-milk,  the  best  substitute  will  be  found  in  fresh  cow's 
milk  prepared  and  administered  secundum  artem. — Med.  and  Surg.  Rep., 
March  29,  1884. 
