GLEANINGS — CHEMICAL  AND  PHARMACEUTICAL.  521 
hoi  and  water,  moisten  the  powder  with  half  a  fluidounce  of  this 
menstruum,  pack  it  in  a  conical  tube  (the  neck  of  a  broken  re- 
tort), and  pour  on  the  remainder  of  the  liquid  until  eight  fluid- 
ounces  have  passed.  Should  the  menstruum  indicated  not  be 
sufficient,  add  more,  until  the  measure  of  half  a  pint  is  obtained. 
When  needed  to  calabarize  paper,  evaporate  two  fluidounces 
to  the  measure  of  three  fluidrachms  with  a  gentle  heat,  and  when 
cold  filter.  This  solution  is  about  equal  to  that  recommended 
by  Mr.  Hanbury  (Pharm.  Journ.,  July,  1863),  and  the  paper 
(which  should  be  thin  letter  paper  deprived  of  its  size  by  boiling 
in  water)  is  dipped  in  it  and  dried  three  or  four  times,  which  will 
impregnate  the  paper  with  a  sufficient  amount  of  the  extract  to 
perform  the  needed  service  when  applied  within  the  eyelid. 
GLEANINGS— CHEMICAL  AND  PHARMACEUTICAL. 
By  the  Editor. 
Production  of  an  alkaloid  during  the  alcoholic  fermentation. 
By  M.  Oser. — In  fermenting  sugar  with  washed  yeast  M.  Oser 
obtained,  besides  alcohol,  an  alkaloid  to  which  he  attributes  the 
formula  C26H20N4. 
The  chlorohydrate  of  this  alkaloid  crystallizes  in  hygroscopic 
scales,  becomes  brown  in  the  air,  and  possesses  a  pungent  bitter 
taste. 
The  author  is  assured  that  this  alkaloid  does  not  pre-exist  in 
the  yeast,  but  that  it  is  formed  during  the  fermentation.  Attention 
has  already  been  directed  to  the  presence  of  trimethylamin  in 
wine  (see  page  333). — Journ.  de  Pharm.,  from  Journ.  Prompt. 
Chem. 
Atropia  an  antidote  to  Opium  Poisoning : — Dr.  M.  S.  Buttles, 
of  N.  York,  notices  a  case  in  the  N.  Y.  Medical  Record,  for 
Aug.  15,  in  which  opium  poisoning  was  caused  by  the  sub-cuta- 
neous injection  of  half  a  grain  of  sulphate  of  morphia  in  a  bad 
neuralgia.  The  lips  became  purple,  the  respiration  seven  p-er 
minute,  no  pulse  at  the  wrist,  but  one  sound  at  the  heart ; 
pupils  contracted  to  a  fine  point,  frothing  at  the  mouth  and  cold 
extremities.  The  usual  resuscitating  remedies  were  tried,  and 
among  them  artificial  respiration,  without  avail,   when  Dr. 
