640 
Tests  for  Albumen  in  Urine. 
Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
Dec,  1884. 
that,  with  caustic  potash,  it  is  an  infallible  qualitative  and  quantitative 
test  for  sugar,  may  be  said  to  more  than  double  its  value  as  an  urinary 
test.  For  bedside  use,  Mr.  Hawksley,  357  Oxford  Street,  makes  a 
waistcoat-pocket  test-case,  consisting  of  a  test-tube  four  inches  long, 
in  which  are  packed  two  smaller  tubes,  one  containing  picric  acid  pow- 
der, the  other  grain-lumps  of  caustic  potash,  and  also  a  small  spirit 
lamp.  These  are  enclosed  in  a  metal  case,  not  much  larger  than  a 
pencil-case. 
Another  small  case  contains  a  nipple-pipette  which,  amongst  other 
uses,  is  convenient  for  conveying  urine  from  the  vessel  to  the  test-tube. 
The  picric  acid  which  is  used  for  sugar-testing  should  be  purified  by 
recrystallization.  The  commercial  samples  usually  give  a  red  color 
when  boiled  with  liquor  potassae;  and  I  lately  saw  an  impure  sample 
which  not  only  gave  this  red  color,  but  the  liquid  was  rendered 
turbid  by  fine  granules.  The  impurity  was  removed  by  solution  and 
recrystallizations.  A  simple  test  of  the  purity  of  picric  acid  for 
chemical  purposes  is  to  boil  a  mixture  of  one  volume  of  the  saturated 
solution  with  half  its  volume  of  liquor  potassse.  The  resulting  liquid 
should  be  quite  pellucid,  and  of  a  pale  lemon-yellow  color,  with  no 
red  tinge. — Pharm.  Journ.  and  Trans.,  October,  1884,  p.  329. 
Resorcin.— Recent  investigations  have  demonstrated  that  the  disagreea- 
ble side-effects  of  resorcin,  the  nausea  and  vomiting  are  by  no  means  due 
to  the  remedy  itself,  but  to  the  impurities  accompanying  it.  Since  the 
resorcinum  purissimum  vel  resublimatum  has  been  in  the  German  market 
the  reports  of  reliable  authors  have  accumulated,  which  prove  that  resorcin, 
if  pure,  is  the  most  reliable  remedy  for  vomiting  we  probably  possess,  and 
not  only  in  adults,  but  also  in  children.  Besides  its  prompt  effect  in  this 
regard,  it  is  said  also  to  stimulate  and  to  strengthen  to  an  extraordinary 
degree  the  digestive  functions  of  the  stomach  and  of  the  upper  part  of  the 
small  intestines. 
Dr.  Justus  Andeer,  in  Munchen  {Allg.  Med.  Centr.  Zeit.,  July  5,  1884), 
recommends  resorcin  in  these  cases,  in  doses  varying  from  sixteen  to  forty- 
eight  grains,  and  draws  the  attention  of  the  profession  to  the  effect  which 
the  remedy  exerts  in  very  large  doses,  such  as  employed  in  anaemia  and 
chlorosis.  Symptoms  of  intoxication  set  in,  and  the  individual  under  its 
influence  acts  like  a  drunken  person.  A  good  old  red  wine  (Bordeaux, 
Macon,  etc.,)  acts  like  a  specific  ;  a  few  glasses  of  it  putting  at  once  an  end 
to  the  symptoms  mentioned.  This  action  of  the  red  wine  is  probably  due 
to  its  containing  iron  in  considerable  quantities. — Med.  and  Surg.  Reporter, 
September  13. 
