XX 
Notes  and  News. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  I8f9. 
Vasogen. — As  regards  the  nature  of  Vasogen,  it  will  suffice  to  state  briefly, 
that  it  is  an  oxygenated  hydrocarbon,  i.  e.  a  partly  oxydized  hydrocarbon,  and 
that  it  has  the  power  of  rendering  drugs  which  are  incorporated  with  it  solu- 
ble in  water  or  emulsifiable  with  it.  Owing  to  this  property,  vasogen  employed 
externally  forms  emulsions  with  the  secretions  of  the  body,  and  thus  becomes 
rapidly  absorbed.  This  fact  has  been  proved  beyond  question  by  the  demon- 
stration of  the  drug  in  the  urine  after  inunction  with  iodine,  iodoform,  creosote 
and  mercury  vasogen.  Medicaments  like  iodine,  creosote,  etc.,  when  dissolved 
in  vasogen,  do  not  irritate  the  skin  or  mucous  membranes,  and  consequently 
can  be  used  extensively  both  internally  and  externally. 
For  external  use,  liquid  vasogen  preparations  are  poured  into  wounds  or  are 
applied  to  them  on  cotton  or  lint ;  they  are  also  painted  upon  the  intact  skin 
or  rubbed  into  it  with  the  hand.  In  the  latter  case  they  should  be  plentifully 
applied,  10  drops  to  half  a  teaspoonful  at  a  time  and  rubbed  in  gently  until 
the  vasogen  has  penetrated  into  the  skin.  Internally,  the  vasogens  are 
taken  in  gelatine  capsules  (Caps.  dur.  Iodine  vasogen,  6  per  cent.,  Creosote 
vasogen,  20  per  cent.),  or  mixed  with  milk,  coffee,  tea,  wine  or  cognac. 
Liquid  vasogen  preparations  which  have  become  thick  by  exposure  to  cold, 
rapidly  regain  their  former  consistency  at  a  temperature  of  about  700.  Cold 
has  no  injurious  effect,  but  marked  heating  is  to  be  avoided.  The  bottles 
should  always  be  kept  well  stoppered. 
The  following  preparations  are  largely  used  in  clinics,  hospitals,  etc.,  and 
are  prescribed  by  physicians  : 
Per  Cent. 
Iodoform  vasogen   3 
Iodine  vasogen  6  and  10 
Creosote  vasogen  .   20 
Menthol  vasogen   2 
P  Naphthol  vasogen   1   10 
Camphor-chloroform  vasogen 
Ichthyol  vasogen  10 
Guaiacol  vasogen  20 
Sulphur  vasogen   3 
Tar  vasogen  25 
These  preparations  are  made  by  dissolving  the  various  medicaments  in  the 
liquid  vasogen  during  its  process  of  manufacture. 
"Hopein"  in  New  Zealand. —  The  Australasian  Medical  Gazette  has 
published  a  warning  to  New  Zealand  againtthe  advent  of  "  Hopein  " — a  bogus 
remedy  for  cancer — which  it  states,  on  the  authority  of  the  Brit.  Med.  Gaz., 
contains  99  per  cent,  of  morphine. — The  Pharm.  Jour,  of  Australasia,  Vol.  II, 
p.  242. 
Professor  Alphonso  HerrERA,  one  of  the  most  prominent  botanists  of 
Mexico,  and  for  many  years  professor  of  medical  botany  in  the  National  School 
of  Medicine  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  has  just  been  pensioned,  according  to  Egeling, 
in  Meyer  Brothers"  Druggist,  with  a  salary  of  $200  per  month.  Professor 
Herrera  was  born  in  the  City  of  Mexico  on  February  7,  1838.  He  graduated  in 
pharmacy  when  twenty  years  of  age  and  for  the  past  thirty  years  has  filled  the 
chair  of  professor  of  medical  botany.  His  works  on  native  medicinal  plants 
are  too  numerous  to  mention. 
