20 
Sterculia  Gum. 
Ana.  Jour.  Pbarm. 
Jan.,  1890. 
Dr.  Mascarel  reduces  the  dried  plant — stems,  leaves  and  flowers — to  a 
coarse  powder,  and  gives  it  in  doses  of  one  tablespoon ful,  beaten  with 
an  entire  egg  (yelk  and  white).  He  gives  but  one  dose  on  the  first 
day ;  but  on  each  of  the  following  days  he  adds  a  tablespoonful  until 
seven  or  eight  doses  are  being  taken  during  the  twenty-four  hours. 
The  diuresis  is  said  to  continue  until  oedema  permanently  disappears. 
Guaiacum  as  an  Emmenagogue. — The  formula  of  Dr.  Meniere's 
mixture  is  given  in  the  Rev.  med.-chir.  des  mal.  des  femmes,  as  fol- 
lows :  Res.  guaiac,  250  gm. ;  carbonate  of  sodium,  12  gm. ;  pitnenta,  60 
gm. ;  alcohol  of  60  per  cent.,  100  gm. ;  macerate  for  8  days  in  a  dark  cool 
place,  filter,  and  add  spirit  of  ammonia,  4  gm. ;  volatile  oil  of  mint, 
1  gm.  Keep  in  yellow  bottles  perfectly  sealed.  The  dose  is  one 
teaspoonful  in  good  wine,  three  times  a  day,  before  eating.  It  is  said 
to  have  a  more  reliable  action  than  the  other  eininenagogues  in  use. 
Derivatives  of  Acetylphenylhydrazixe. — M.  Petit  (Soc.  de 
pliar.  de  Paris,  Oct.  2)  has  prepared  several  of  these  by  a  less  com- 
plicated process  than  that  usually  employed.  He  causes  sodium  to 
act  directly  upon  acetylphenylhydrazine,  which  he  then  treats  with 
iodide  of  methyl,  thus  obtaining  methylacetylphenylhydrazine.  By 
replacing  the  iodide  of  methyl  with  the  iodide  of  ethyl  he  obtained 
ethylacetylphenylhydrazine.  In  the  same  way  he  prepared  formyl- 
phenylhydrazine. 
STERCULIA  GUM :  ITS  SIMILARITIES  AND  DISSIMI- 
LARITIES TO  TRAGACAjSTTH.1 
OCCURRENCE  OF  PARARABIN  IN  STERCULIA  GUMS. 
By  J.  H.  Maiden,  F.  L.  S.,  F.  C.  S.,  Curator  of  the  Technological  Museum, 
Sydney. 
The  existence  of  a  gum  on  species  of  Sterculiahzs  long  been  known. 
It  has  been  recorded  from  India,  Africa  and  Australia,  but  with  the 
exception  of  Fliickiger's  research  in  regard  to  an  African  species,  and 
some  general  experiments  with  the  India  S.  urens,  nothing  appears  to 
be  known  in  regard  to  them.  The  object  of  the  present  paper  is  to 
record  some  experiments  and  observations  on  the  gums  of  Australian 
and  also  of  an  Indian  species,  in  the  course  of  which  the  author  has 
discovered  that  they  are  composed  essentially  of  pararabin,  and  also 
1  Read  before  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain,  at  an  Evening 
Meeting  in  London,  Wednesday,  November  13  ;  reprinted  from  Phar.  Jour, 
and  Trans.,  November  16,  p.  381. 
