Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
February,  1915.  J 
Arsenic  Antidote. 
59 
Synthetic  camphor  has  had  other  enemies  besides  its  Oriental 
rival.  The  price  and  supply  of  turpentine  have  been  subject  to  con- 
siderable variation.  The  American  manufacturer  should,  however, 
have  less  reason  than  his  European  competitors  to  fear  a  shortage  of 
turpentine. 
Then  again,  a  substance  may  be  found  capable  of  replacing  cam- 
phor in  celluloid,18  or  a  substitute  may  be  found  for  celluloid  itself. 
A  great  many  experiments  have  already  been  made  in  this  direction, 
largely  on  account  of  the  inflammable  nature  of  celluloid,  and  the 
work  of  Cross  and  Bevan,  Knoll  and  Knoevenagel  and  others,  on 
the  non-inflammable  esters  of  cellulose,  may  supply  a  satisfactory 
substitute  for  celluloid  in  the  near  future. 
All  of  these  questions  are  matters  of  speculation,  which  time  will 
answer.  In  any  case,  synthetic  camphor,  whatever  its  commercial 
future  may  be,  stands  as  a  splendid  example  of  achievement  in  the 
field  of  chemical  synthesis. 
Philadelphia,  November,  1914. 
ARSENIC  ANTIDOTE. 
By  Joseph  W.  England. 
At  the  191 2  annual  meeting  of  the  New  York  Pharmaceutical 
Association,  Mr.  Otto  Raubenheimer  suggested  (Proc.  N.  Y.  Pharm. 
Assoc.,  1912,  321,  vide  Journ.  A.  Ph.  A.,  1913,  529)  the  use  of 
magma  magnesia,  N.  F.,  or  milk  of  magnesia,  in  place  of  magnesium 
oxide  in  the  present  official  formula  for  making  "  Ferric  Hydroxide 
with  Magnesium  Oxide,"  and  the  importance  of  the  suggestion  de- 
serves much  more  attention  than  it  has  so  far  received. 
To  furnish  an  antidote  against  arsenic  trioxide  or  arsenous  anhy- 
dride (As2Os),  commonly  called  arsenous  acid  or  arsenic,  the  U.  S. 
Pharmacopoeia  (VIII)  recognizes,  under  the  exceedingly  cumber- 
some title  of  "  Ferri  Hydroxidum  Cum  Magnesii  Oxido,"  a  prepara- 
tion containing  ferric  hydroxide,  magnesium  hydroxide,  and  mag- 
nesium sulphate.  It  is  almost  identical  in  composition  with  the 
"  Antidotum  Arsenici  "  of  the  German  Pharmacopoeia,  which  title, 
by  the  way,  is  much  more  descriptive  than  that  of  our  Pharmacopoeia. 
18  e.g.,  German  Patent  219918,  1908  (Chem.  Fabrik  Griesheim  Elektron), 
which  covers  the  use  of  dioxydiphenylsulphone. 
