Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1890. 
Antiseptic  Materials. 
553 
berberine  exists  in  plants  of  the  ranunculacese,  anonaceae,  meni- 
spermaceae,  berberidaceae,  rutaceae  and  leguminosae ;  and  caffeine  in 
the  orders  of  rubiaceae  (coffee),  ternstroemiaceae  (tea),  sapindaceae 
(guarana),  sterculiaceae  (cola  and  cacao)  and  in  ilicineae  (mate,  etc.). 
But  colchicine  has  only  been  observed  in  colchicum  ;  veratrine  and 
jervine  in  veratrum  ;  piperine  in  certain  peppers ;  quinine  and  allied 
alkaloids  in  cinchona  and  remijia  ;  strychnine  and  brucine  in  strych- 
nos ;  morphine  and  congeners  in  opium,  and  one  or  two  of  these 
compounds  also  in  other  poppies ;  sanguinarine  in  a  few  papaveraceae  ; 
pilocarpine,  physostigmine  and  cocaine,  each  only  in  a  single  species  ; 
aconitine  and  its  near  relatives  in  several  aconites;  nicotine  in 
species  of  tobacco,  etc.  A  most  interesting  group  are  the  mydriatic 
alkaloids  of  the  solanaceae,  which  are  widely  distributed  throughout 
this  order,  are  very  similar  or  identical  in  elementary  composition, 
and  may,  in  part  at  least,  be  converted  one  into  the  other. 
I  have  dwelled  upon  a  few  only  of  the  relations  between  plants 
and  their  constituents  and  properties,  and  have  merely  hinted  at 
some  of  the  structural  causes.  Enough  has  been  said,  I  trust,  to 
show  the  intense  interest  attached  to  the  questions  involved.  As 
we  proceed  with  the  work  beginning  this  evening,  we  shall  have 
frequent  occasions  to  note  some  facts  of  the  kind  spoken  of,  and  it 
has  been  my  object  to  enlist,  in  advance,  your  earnest  attention  to 
their  importance — important  to  the  pharmacist  and  to  the  physi- 
cian, and  not  less  so  to  the  student,  both  junior  and  senior. 
ANTISEPTIC  MATERIALS. 
By  Joseph  W.  England,  Ph.G. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  before  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy, 
Oct.  21. 
With  the  advent  of  antiseptic  surgery,  there  has  arisen  a  demand 
for  certain  new  products  in  the  form  of  medicated  solutions,  gauzes, 
cottons,  etc.,  necessary  for  the  successful  prosecution  of  that  form  of 
treatment. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  preparation  of  these  products,  owing 
to  their  comparatively  limited  demand  in  the  past,  has  fallen  almost 
entirely  into  the  hands  of  special  manufacturers,  when,  by  their 
preparation,  a  perfectly  legitimate  source  of  revenue  could  be  added 
to  the  pharmacist's  fast  diminishing  list.  Their  preparation  requires 
no  special  machinery  nor  demands  any  special  skill,  save  only  the 
