"Noven!ber,hia899U'}    Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  547 
drochloric  acid  converts  aloin  into  aloe-emodin  and  not  into  rottlerin 
as  Rochleder  thought. 
Hydrolysis  of  aloin  was  next  tried,  but  no  sugar  resulted,  thus 
contradicting  Kosman's  statement  that  aloin  was  a  glucoside. 
The  oxidation  products  of  aloin  were  next  studied,  and  results 
obtained  were  not  in  accordance  with  Tilden's  investigations.  The 
latter  obtained,  on  oxidation  with  chromic  acid  mixture,  a  body 
melting  at  26o°-265°  C.,  which  he  called  aloxanthin,  and  which  he 
supposed  was  tetraoxymethyl  anthraquinone,  C15H10O6.  Oesterle, 
by  same  method,  obtained  a  product  melting  at  223°-224°  C,  the 
analysis  of  which  approximated  C15H805.  This  body  he  called  alo- 
chrysin. 
H.  V.  A. 
ETHER  INHALATION. 
Rushmore  (Annals  of  Surgery,  October,  1898)  has  found  that  the 
dangers  and  disagreeable  symptoms  resulting  from  ether-inhalation 
may  be  materially  diminished,  if  not  altogether  abolished,  by  care- 
ful preparation  of  the  patient  and  careful  administration  of  the 
anesthetic.  Six  minims  of  Magendie's  solution,  with  atropine  sul- 
phate, gr.  are  injected  hypodermically,  as  a  routine  procedure 
from  half  an  hour  to  an  hour  before  the  anesthetization.  The  ad- 
vantages of  this  treatment  are  pronounced.  The  morphine  quiets 
the  nervous  system,  renders  the  patient  more  susceptible  to  the 
ether,  less  of  which  will  thus  be  required,  and  insures  a  more  quiet 
recovery  from  the  anesthetic ;  furthermore,  it  lessens  the  disposition 
to  nausea  and  forestalls  pain  that  the  patient  might  otherwise  suffer. 
The  atropine  limits  the  amount  of  secretion  from  the  bronchi,  larynx 
and  pharynx,  stimulates  the  heart,  prevents  undue  leakage  from  the 
skin  and  thereby  lessens  or  prevents  shock.  With  regard  to  the 
method  of  administration,  the  so-called  open  method  is  much  to  be 
preferred.  If  the  ether  is  administered  drop  by  drop,  not  more 
than  7  minutes,  on  an  average,  are  required  to  induce  complete 
anesthesia,  and  but  3  or  4  ounces  will  be  necessary  for  the  entire 
operation.  With  this  mode  of  administration  ether  may  be  safely 
used  in  pulmonary,  cardiac  or  renal  diseases,  without  undue  risk. 
Less  than  10  per  cent,  of  cases  personally  so  treated  by  Rushmore 
were  troubled  with  nausea,  and  these  only  to  a  slight  degree. — 
Phila.  Med.  Jour.,  1898,  p.  1059.  J.  L.  D.  M. 
