GLEANINGS  FROM  GERMAN  JOURNALS. 
35 
alcohol  and  ether.  The  wood  left  4>5  to  5  per  cent,  ashes  con- 
sisting of  carbonate  of  lime  with  little  chloride  of  magnesium 
and  sulphate  of  lime. 
Protosulphate  of  manganium,  free  from  iron,  is  prepared 
by  Delffs,  by  treating  black  oxide  of  manganium  with  washed 
sulphurous  acid  gas,  which  does  not  take  up  a  trace  of  iron. 
Other  bases  besides  iron  must  be  removed  by  treating  pre- 
viously with  dilute  nitric  acid. — (Zeitschr.  f.  Ch.  und  Pharm. 
in.) 
Aspidine  is  the  name  given  by  Pavesi,  of  Mortara,  to  the 
following  preparation  containing  the  active  principle  of  the 
root  of  male  fern.  1  kilogr.  of  recently  dried  powdered  root  is 
displaced  by  alcohol  and  then  by  water ;  the  two  liquids  are 
mixed,  the  alcohol  distilled  oif  and  the  residue  boiled  for  a  few 
minutes  with  75  grm.  slacked  lime.  After  24  hours  rest,  the 
precipitate  is  washed  with  water,  dried  and  exhausted  by  boiling 
alcohol ;  the  solvent  is  evaporated  when  an  oleo-resinous  sub- 
stance is  left  possessing  an  acrid  bitter  and  nauseous  taste.  It 
may  be  given  in  pills  or  in  alcoholic  and  ethereal  solution. — 
(Giorn.  di.  farmac.  c  di  chim.  di  Torino  Archiv  d.  Ph.  cvii. 
231.) 
Borax  in  milk. — Prof.  Kletzinsky  states  that  borax  is  often 
employed  to  prevent  milk  from  turning  sour  and  to  impart  to  it 
more  consistence  so  as  to  make  it  appear  more  cream-like. 
This  addition  is  detected  in  the  ashes  by  boiling  them  with 
alcohol  acidulated  with  sulphuric  acid  ;  the  presence  of  boracic 
acid  is  ascertained  from  the  brown  color  of  curcuma  paper  and 
from  the  green  flame  of  the  burning  alcohol. — (Polyt.  Centr. 
bl.  1861,  224.) 
Detection  of  paraffine  in  wax  Prof.  Landolt,  of  Bonn,  recom- 
mends to  warm  the  wax  with  an  excess  of  fuming  sulphuric  acid, 
(Nordhausen  oil  of  vitriol  ;)  a  complete  destruction  of  the  wax 
takes  place,  leaving  a  black  gelatinous  residue  ;  paraffine  is 
under  the  same  circumstances  very  slowly  attacked  and  remains 
as  a  transparent  layer,  readily  separated  from  the  fluid  portion. 
Wax  containing  50  and  75  per  cent,  parafiine,  yielded  45  and 
68  per  cent— (Schweiz.  Zeitschr.  f.  Ph.  vi.  170-171.) 
