Am'rJe°bU^8P86arm"}       Gleanings  from  Foreign  Journals.  101 
merized  into  a  dark  oil.  Various  details  of  great  interest  are  contained 
in  the  paper,  but  these  cannot  here  be  produced  in  an  intelligible  way. 
To  pharmacists  the  publication  of  Mr.  YoshidVs  results  is  at  the 
present  time  peculiarly  opportune,  but  this  circumstance  is  of  small 
value  compared  to  the  important  effect  which  it  will  have  upon  the 
camphor  industry.  There  are  indications  that  the  camphor  forest  are 
suffering  to  a  degree  not  far  short  of  devastation,  and,  as  a  tree  is  not 
fit  for  camphor-making  until  it  is  nearly  two  centuries  old,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  the  most  should  be  made  of  present  resources.  We  under- 
stand that  very  large  stocks  of  camphor  oil  are  held  in  this  country, 
different  samples  varying  greatly  in  their  characteristics,  as  was  pointed 
out  by  Mr.  Moss.  It  is  possible  that  the  dark  oils  are  nothing  else 
than  the  residuum  containing  polymerized  camphorogenol.  The 
lighter  oils,  on  the  other  hand,  generally  exhibit  a  preponderance  of 
the  lower  boiling  bodies.  We  understand  that  several  pharmacists 
are  engaged  in  the  examination  of  commercial  supplies ;  it  is  desirable 
that  they  should  pursue  their  researches  to  the  determination  of  what 
oils  are  useful  and  what  are  not,  from  a  medicinal  point  of  view, 
camphor  and  camphorogenol  being  taken  as  the  basis  of  value.  It 
is  obvious,  also,  that  oils  which  contain  the  maximum  of  terebinthene 
and  citrene,  will  be  best  adapted  for  varnish  making. — Phar.  Jour, 
and  Trans.,  Nov.  21,  1885. 
GLEANINGS  FROM  FOREIGN  JOURNALS. 
By  George  H.  Ochse,  Ph.G. 
Lanolin. — Under  the  name  of  Lanolin,  Prof.  Liebreich  introduced 
the  fat  obtained  from  sheep-wool.  One  of  its  properties  is  to  take 
up  more  than  its  own  weight  of  water.  Unna  states  that  cooling 
ointments  should  contain  large  quantities  of  water.  Dieterich,  with 
a  view  of  determining  the  quantity  of  water  taken  up  by  different 
salve  bases,  experimented  with  21  different  bases  at  a  temperature  of 
15°  C,  taking  for  each  experiment  100  parts  of  the  base;  his  results 
were  as  follows:  Cosmoline  took  up  4  parts  of  water,  lard  15,  ben- 
zoinated  lard  17,  and  lanolin  105.  The  remaining  bases  were  mix- 
tures of  either  almond  oil,  olive  oil,  linseed  oil,  cod  liver  oil,  or  oleic 
acid  with  either  lard,  wax,  resin,  suet,  or  spermaceti.  White  wax 
took  up  more  water  than  yellow  wax,  probably  due  to  the  acid  it 
contains.    A  mixture  of  70  parts  of  oleic  acid  and  30  parts  of  white 
