Am.  Jour.  Pharra. 
October,  1899. 
}    Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  483 
packed  in  barrels,  each  of  which  holds  about  I OO  pounds.  It  is  es- 
timated that  about  10,000  pounds  are  gathered  at  Seituate,  and  that 
they  realize  about  5  cents  per  pound. 
When  making  some  studies  on  Chondrus  at  the  Marine  Bio- 
logical Station  at  Wood's  Holl,  the  writer  was  told  that  Gigartina 
marnillosa  grew  only  further  north.  A  little  later  I  journeyed  north 
to  the  fields  where  Chondrus  was  gathered,  and  I  was  much  im- 
pressed with  the  fact  that  all  of  the  Irish  moss  that  was  collected 
was  really  Chondrus  crispus(L.),  Stack,  chiefly,  if  not  entirely.  I  sub- 
sequently obtained  specimens  of  Gigartina  marnillosa,  Ag.,  from  Na- 
hant,  Mass.  On  turning  to  Dr.  Farlow's  "  The  Marine  Algse  of 
New  England,"  I  find  that  he  says  that  Gigartina  marnillosa,  Ag., 
resembles  and  grows  usually  with  Chondrus  crispus  (L.),  Stack., 
but  that  it  is  common  from  Boston  northward.  I  have  examined  the 
collections  of  those  who  gather  moss  on  the  Massachusetts  coast, 
as  well  as  that  in  the  shops,  and  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the 
Chondrus  sold  is  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  Chondrus  crispus  (L.), 
Stack. 
RECENT  LITERATURE  RELATING  TO  PHARMACY. 
LAURO  TETANIN. 
J.  D.  Filippo  publishes  {Arch,  de  Pliarm.,  1898,  601)  a  painstak- 
ing dissertation  on  the  above-mentioned  alkaloid  found  in  the  bark 
of  letranthera  citrata,  Nees,  and  in  other  plants  of  the  N.  O.  Laura- 
cese.  After  describing  plant  and  process  of  extraction  of  alkaloid, 
which  is  performed  by  dissolving  an  aceto-alcoholic  extract  of  the 
drug  in  water  containing  acetic  acid,  clearing  of  this  solution  with 
lead  acetate,  making  the  filtrate  alkaline  with  sodium  carbonate  and 
extraction  of  freed  alkaloid  by  agitation,  he  reports  on  the  chemical 
characteristics  of  the  alkaloid,  which  was  first  isolated  and  named 
by  Greshoff  in  1890. 
The  substance,  present  in  the  bark  just  mentioned,  in  quantities 
of  0-2  per  cent,  to  0-4  per  cent,  melts  at  about  1340  C,  blues  litmus 
paper  and  is  feebly  basic.  It  changes  color  with  most  of  the  alka- 
loidal  reagents,  the  most  sensitive  (-^-i-^)  being  the  precipitate 
with  Lugol's  solution.  Elemental  analysis  showed  its  composition 
as  QgH^NOg,  which  was  confirmed  by  molecular  weight  estimations. 
It  forms  double  salts  with  the  chlorides  of  gold,  platinum,  zinc  and 
