244 
Gleanings  from  the  Medical  Journals,  { 
A.m.  Jour,  Pharm. 
May,  1898. 
AN  OINTMENT  FOR  ACUTE  ARTICULAR  RHEUMATISM. 
R.  Vaselin, 
Salicylic  acid, 
Sodium  salicylate, 
Extract  of  belladonna, 
25  parts. 
4  " 
3  " 
1  part. 
M. — To  be  applied  and  covered  with  cotton. — N.  Y.  Med.  Jour.,  March  26 
Examination  of  recruits  in  Bavaria  and  Sweden  conducted  on  a 
large  scale  have  confirmed  the  assumption  that  the  richer  the  soil 
in  lime  and  magnesia,  the  harder  the  drinking  water,  the  more  per- 
fect the  development  of  the  teeth. — Munch.  Med.  Wock.,  November 
The  above  is  announced  to  have  been  discovered  by  C.  Phisalix, 
in  tyrosin,  found  in  certain  plants,  especially  in  the  tuber  of  the 
dahlia  and  a  mushroom.  Two  or  three  cubic  centimeters  of  a  hun- 
dredth solution  will  confer  immunity  to  the  venom  upon  a  guinea- 
pig  after  twenty-four  hours,  lasting  frequently  for  twenty-five  days.  It 
has  no  antitoxic  power  injected  at  the  same  time  as  the  venom,  nor  any 
effect  as  an  antidote,  but  merely  acts  as  a  chemic  vaccine,  the  first 
known  example  of  the  cellular  juice  of  a  plant  possessing  immu- 
nizing properties  in  regard  to  snake  poison.  The  immunizing  action 
of  the  cholestrin  of  the  bile,  and  also  of  the  vegetable  cholestrin 
found  in  the  carrot  by  Arnaud,  has  already  been  noted  by  Phisalix. 
—  Presse  Med.,  February  12,  1898. 
Dr.  Lauger,  of  Bohemia,  stated  at  the  recent  Congress  of  German 
Naturalists  and  Physicians,  that  he  found  the  majority  of  bee- 
keepers in  his  district  (Ruschowan)  acquire  a  complete  immunity  to 
the  stings  of  those  insects,  while  some  seem  to  enjoy  that  immunity 
from  the  first  possibly  by  inheritance.  Of  153,  9  had  always  been 
insusceptible,  118  had  acquired  the  immunity,  26  had  not.  In 
some  cases  it  was  so  complete  that,  when  intoxicated,  men  had 
been  stung  in  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  places  with  less  suffer- 
ing than  is  felt  by  most  persons  from  flea  bites.  He  found  the 
poison  to  be  an  animal  alkaloid,  and  not,  as  is  commonly  believed, 
formic  acid.    The  best  treatment  is  a  subcutaneous  injection  of  a  2 
1898. 
THE  TEETH  AND  THE  SOIL. 
3,  1898. 
A  CHEMIC  VACCINE  FOR  VIPERS  VENOM. 
IMMUNITY  TO  THE  STING  OF  BEES. 
