Am'ja°n.!'i£iaim'}  Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  19 
Examination  of  powdered  spices. — As  a  preliminary  examination, 
Borgmann  recommends  that  one  gram  of  the  sample  be  agitated 
with  10  cc.  water  and  the  mixture  poured  upon  an  unglazed  porcelain 
plate  ;  the  water  is  rapidly  absorbed,  leaving  the  isolated  parti- 
cles so  that  they  can  easily  be  examined  with  a  magnifying  glass. — 
Pharm.  Centralhalle,  1890,  707. 
Professor  Koch's  lymph.— L.  Reuter,  coming  into  possession  of  a 
few  drops  of  this  remarkable  fluid,  describes  it  as  being  transparent, 
of  a  pale  brown  color,  completely  soluble  in  water  ;  the  liquid  is 
neutral ;  after  acidifying  with  hydrochloric  acid,  auric  chloride  and 
solution  of  iodine  in  potassium  iodide  produce  heavy  precipitates ; 
after  acidifying  with  nitric  acid,  silver  nitrate  produces  a  white  pre- 
cipitate of  silver  chloride,  soluble  in  ammonia.  The  indications  are 
that  the  lymph  is  a  neutral  solution  of  the  hydrochlorate  of  an 
alkaloidal  body,  possibly  a  ptomaine. — Pharm.  Ztg.,  1890,  747. 
Cytisine,  the  alkaloid  of  Cytisus  Laburnum,  had  been  given  the 
formula  C20H27N3O  by  Husemann  and  Marme,  but  recent  analyses 
of  the  double  chlorides  with  platinum  and  gold  give  the  formula 
CnH14N20  identical  in  composition  with  ulexine  obtained  from  the 
seeds  of  Ulex  europaeus  by  Gerrard  (see  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1890, 
454).  The  method  of  separating  cytisine  was  as  follows  :  The 
coarsely  powdered  seeds  were  extracted  with  alcohol  containing 
HC1,  the  solvent  distilled  off,  the  residue  dissolved  in  water  and 
filtered  through  a  wet  filter  to  remove  oil,  the  filtrate  was  freed  from 
coloring  matter  by  addition  of  lead  acetate  and  filtration  ;  after 
making  alkaline  with  KOH  the  alkaloid  was  removed  from  the  solu- 
tion by  agitating  with  amyl  alcohol,  which,  in  turn,  was  agitated 
with  acidulated  water  ;  this  latter  solution  on  evaporation  yielded  the 
hydrochlorate.  To  remove  the  still  adhering  coloring  matter,  cold 
absolute  alcohol  was  used,  and  the  salt  recrystallized  from  aqueous 
solution. — Dr.  A.  Partheil,  Apoth.  Ztg.,  1890,  691. 
Larixolin  is  the  name  given  to  a  patented  imitation  of  French 
turpentine  oil ;  it  is  a  mixture  of  2  parts  of  a  petroleum  fraction 
(specific  gravity  0-8224  at  150  C.)  and  one  part  camphor  oil  (specific 
gravity  0-9149).  The  odor  and  specific  gravity  are  those  of  the 
natural  oil,  the  flash  test  is  obtained  at  55 0  C,  while  in  the  natural 
oil  this  is  at  45  0  C. — L.  Reisberger,  Pharm.  Centralhalle,  1890,669. 
To  remove  rust  from  iron  or  steel  utensils,  the  following  solution 
