ADecirerPi9i5m' }  Advances  in  Materia  Medica  and  Pharmacy.  559 
cyrrhizin  is  exceedingly  sweet,  a  dilution  of  1  in  20,000  still  having 
a  lasting  pure  sweet  taste.  This  property  should  make  it  a  valuable 
substitute  for  saccharin  as  a  sweetening  agent. 
3.  To  the  pure  food  chemist  it  is  of  value  to  know  that  it  is 
practically  impossible  to  distinguish  by  biological  tests  the  true 
saponins  from  preparations  made  from  unpeeled  glycyrrhiza.  There 
is,  however,  a  chemical  test ;  namely,  the  aglykones  of  glycyrrhizin 
yield  on  zinc-dust  distillation  naphthol  derivatives,  while  those  of  the 
true  saponins  appear  to  be  cholesterin  derivatives,  giving  color 
reactions  similar  to  those  of  the  cholesterins. 
4.  The  fact  that  the  different  saponins  differ  physiologically  from 
each  other  is  of  significance  to  authorities  and  legislatures.  The 
position  taken  by  the  Austrian  Government,  that  saponins  must  be 
excluded  from  all  foodstuffs,  has  become  untenable,  since  saponins 
have  been  found  to  exist  in  spinach,  lettuce,  caraway,  etc.  Present 
laws  concerning  saponins  should  be  so  amended  as  to  require  that  in 
every  case  the  name  of  the  plant  which  yields  the  saponin  entering 
into  the  foodstuffs  should  be  printed  on  the  label. 
Since  our  knowledge  concerning  the  individual  saponins  is  stead- 
ily growing,  it  is  possible  that  before  long  all  non-poisonous  saponins 
will  definitely  be  separated  from  the  poisonous  saponins. 
QUARTERLY  REVIEW  ON  THE  ADVANCES  IN  MATERIA 
MEDICA  AND  PHARMACY. 
By  John  K.  Thum,  Ph.  G.,  Pharmacist  at  the  German  Hospital, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 
The  chemical  industry  in  this  country  continues  to  be  in  a  some- 
what chaotic  state.  Immediately  after  the  beginning  of  the  war 
there  was  a  veritable  panic,  with  everybody  "  up  in  the  air  "  and 
everything  up  in  price.  This  was  subsequently  followed  for  a  while 
— a  very  short  while — by  a  period  of  comparative  quietness  and  as- 
surances that  everything  would  work  out  all  right.  But  at  the  pres- 
ent time  the  chemical  market  is  causing  everybody  to  wonder  what 
will  happen  next.  Some  chemicals  are  unobtainable,  of  some  there 
is  a  great  shortage,  and  nearly  all  are  soaring  in  price. 
When  one  considers  the  fact  that  nearly  all  plant  life  contains 
potash  in  some  form  it  is  hard  to  realize  that  there  should  be  a 
shortage  of  potassium  salts  in  this  country. 
