Am aS So™'}        Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica.  179 
of  fat  and  resin  was  obtained ;  also  some  cane-sugar,  coloring 
matter,  gum,  a  little  tannin  and  probably  asparagin.  The  presence 
of  considerable  starch  was  demonstrated  by  the  micro-chemical  test > 
but  a  decoction  of  the  bark,  after  cooling,  is  merely  colored  brown** 
the  principle  preventing  the  appearance  of  the  blue  color  has  not 
been  determined.  The  bark  contains  a  small  amount  of  an  alkaloid, 
which  was  shown  to  be  identical  with  choline.  Neurine  was  not 
present,  and  when  a  kilogram  of  the  bark  had  been  allowed  to 
undergo  fermentation,  a  sufficient  amount  of  basic  substances  could 
not  be  obtained  to  determine  their  character.  The  authors  then 
turned  their  attention  to  the  albuminoid  substances  and  succeeded 
in  isolating  a  globulin  and  an  albumose,  of  which  the  latter  pro- 
duced purging  and  vomiting.  This  phyt-albumose  is  tasteless, 
soluble  in  water,  and  coagulated  and  rendered  inert  by  heat.  It  is 
precipitated  by  potassium-bismuth  iodide  and  by  tannin,  and  from 
its  acidulated  solutions  by  potassium  ferrocyanide. 
Euphrasia  officinalis,  Linn'e,  has  been  recommended  by  Dr.  G.  M. 
Garland  {Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Journ.,  Nov.  7,  1889)  as  a  valuable 
remedy  in  coryza,  it  exerting  a  powerful  action  upon  the  recently- 
inflamed  mucous  membrane  of  the  nose  and  pharynx,  but  it  seems 
to  be  of  no  effect  in  nasal  discharges  which  have  advanced  to  a 
purulent  or  muco-purulent  condition.  Ten  drops  of  the  tincture 
were  given  in  a  little  water  every  two  hours.  While  works  of  refer- 
ence, mentioning  this  drug,  usually  refer  to  its  use  in  ophthalmic 
complaints,  in  which  it  had  attained  much  celebrity  in  former  cen- 
turies, the  National  Dispensatory  states  that  it  was  also  esteemed  in 
toothache,  and  was  given,  as  a  distilled  water  or  a  tincture,  in  chrome 
catarrhs. 
Papaver  Rhceas,  Linn'e. — The  petals  have  again  been  examined 
by  O.  Hesse,  who  could  not  obtain  any  alkaloid  from  one  kilo  of  the 
dry  and  old  drug.  But  the  expressed  juice  of  300  gm.  of  fresh 
petals,  when  carefully  concentrated,  mixed  with  ammonia  and  agi- 
tated with  acetic  ether,  yielded  a  few  milligrammes  of  crystals  which 
were  not  morphine.  They  are  insoluble  in  dilute  soda,  dissolve  in 
dilute  sulphuric  acid,  and  the  solution  is  colored  red  on  boiling,  but 
less  intensely  than  a  solution  of  rhceadine.  The  crystals  contained 
a  little  rhceadine,  but  appear  to  consist  mainly  of  a  new  alkaloid, 
which  has  as  yet  not  been  further  examined  for  want  of  material. — 
Archiv  d.  Phar.,  1890,  p.  7. 
