180  Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  {Am'i^;SSrm- 
ABSTRACTS  FROM  THE  FRENCH  JOURNALS. 
Translated  for  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy. 
Extract  of  Malt  as  a  Solvent  of  Cod  Liver  Oil. — M.  Adrian, 
{J.  de  Ph.  et  de  Ch.,  Jan.),  writes  that  the  mixtures  of  cod  liver  oil 
and  extract  of  malt  of  which  considerable  has  been  said  of  late, 
should  not  be  regarded  as  solutions,  for  they  are  simply  "  com- 
menced emulsions"  to  which  the  water  has  yet  to  be  added.  M. 
Adrian  says,  moreover,  that  the  preparation  does  not  constitute  a 
practical  mode  of  giving  cod  liver  oil,  because  it  forms  a  sort  of  jelly 
in  which  the  taste  of  the  oil  is  not  disguised,  while  the  material 
remains  too  long  in  the  mouth.  If  the  jelly  be  diluted  in  milk,  as 
has  been  proposed,  the  taste  is  quite  disagreeable  and  the  medicament 
becomes  too  bulky.  M.  Adrian  adds  :  "  This  mode  of  administra- 
tion is  not  new  ;  it  was  signalized  in  1876  by  the  American  Journal 
of  Pharmacy  (page  534)." 
Administration  of  Kermes. — M.  Corivaud,  R'epert.  de  Phar., 
Feb.  10),  claims  that  some  physicians  are  opposed  to  the  trituration 
of  kermes  (oxysulphuret  of  antimony)  to  be  used  in  potions,  on  the 
ground  that  the  process  disengages  sulphuretted  hydrogen  and 
makes  the  preparation  disagreeable  to  take.  At  the  same  time,  not 
to  pulverize  the  kermes  is  to  invite  precipitation.  M.  Corivaud 
gets  over  the  difficulty  by  performing  the  pulverizing  process  in  a 
wedgewood  mortar,  adding  to  the  kermes  five  times  its  weight  of 
gum  arabic. 
Antiseptic  Powders  for  Midwives. — M.  Budin  has  requested  the 
Paris  municipal  authorities  to  permit  pharmacists  to  dispense  upon 
the  prescriptions  of  midwives  an  antiseptic  preparation  composed  as 
follows:  Bichloride  of  mercury,  25  cgm.;  tartaric  acid,  I  gm.;  mark, 
"  corrosive  sublimate,  25  cgm.;  poison ;  for  one  litre  of  water." 
Professor  Budin  also  advises  the  use  by  midwives  of  a  1  per  cent, 
ointment  of  bichloride  of  mercury  with  vaselin.  Acad,  de  Med., 
Feb.  1 1  ;  Monde  phar.  Feb.  20. 
Artificial  Balsam  of  Peru. — "This  balsam  is  so  frequently 
adulterated  that  it  is  proper  to  consider  the  feasibility  of  making  a 
chemically  pure  substitute  for  it  by  employing  only  its  active  con- 
stituents. The  drug  contains  upward  of  60  per  cent,  of  cinnamein, 
that  is  to  say,  of  the  benzylic  ethers  of  cinnamic  acid  C7H7,  C9H702, 
and  of  benzoic  acid  C.H.,  C7H502 ;   10  per  cent,  (about)  of  free 
