450 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Sept.,  1886. 
by  diastase,  and  is  oxidized  by  strong  nitric  acid  to  mucic  acid. 
When  heated  with  dilute  sulphuric  or  hydrochloric  acid,  it  yields 
galactose  and  no  glucose.  This  carbohydrate  very  closely  resembles 
galactin  (or  adopting  Scheibler's  nomenclature  galactan),  obtained 
by  Miintz  from  the  seed  of  the  lucerne  (Medicago  sativa).  The 
author,  therefore,  proposes  to  call  it  s-galactan. 
Itshongwe  is  the  name  of  a  South  African  plant  which,  according  to 
the  Natal  Mercury  of  June  29,  1886,  is  used  by  nearly  all  the  Kafir 
tribes  for  various  diseases,  but  more  especially  for  the  fevers  of  the 
country,  and  also  to  make  dogs  keen  in  hunting.  About  18  months 
ago,  M.  Joscelyn  Cooke,  of  Estcourt,  isolated  from  the  plant  an  alka- 
loid, which  is  stated  to  be  soluble  in  water  and  potassa,  insoluble  in 
ether,  and  soluble  in  hydrochloric  acid ;  this  supposed  hydrochlorate 
does  not  form  a  double  salt  with  platinum  chloride,  and  on  heating  its 
aqueous  solution,  produces  a  precipitate  which  is  soluble  in  diluted 
alcohol.  The  substance  may  possibly  be  a  glucoside.  The  plant  has 
been  sent  to  Europe  for  experimentation. 
Piper  methysticum,  Forster. — Attention  has  been  drawn  to  the 
anaesthetic  effects  of  this  root,  observed  by  Dr.  L.  Lewin  (see  Amer. 
Jour.  Phar.,  March,  1886,  p.  138).  The  acrid  resin,  noticed  by 
Cuzent  in  1860,  seems  to  have  been  separated  by  Lewin  (Berl.  Klin. 
Woeh.,  1886,  Xo.  1)  into  two  resins,  of  which  ,5-resin  is  greasy  and  of 
a  reddish-brown  color,  appearing  in  mass  almost  black.  This  is  less 
active  than  the  a-resin,  which  is  yellowish-brown,  has  the  characteristic 
odor  of  the  drug,  is  freely  soluble  in  alcohol,  and  placed  upon  the 
tongue  produces  a  burning  sensation  followed  by  local  anaesthesia. 
Products  of  Euphorbias. — W.  T.  Thiselton  Dyer  reports  {Phar. 
Jour,  and  Trans.,  April  17,  1886,  p.  879)  that  cuttings  of  the  poison- 
ous oro  plant,  which  is  used  in  Sierra  Leone  for  making  hedges,  have 
been  received  at  the  Royal  Gardens,  Ivew.  They  undoubtedly  belong 
to  a  species  of  Euphorbia,  but  in  the  absence  of  flowers  the  species 
is  indeterminable.  In  the  opinion  of  X.  E.  Brown  it  does  not  agree 
with  any  West  African  species  preserved  in  the  herbarium  of  the 
Royal  Gardens. 
Euphorbium,  obtained  from  Euphorbia  resinifera,  Berg,  is  now 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  a  durable  paint  for  metal  work,  to  which 
it  adheres  with  peculiar  tenacity,  and  which  it  preserves  from  corro- 
sion ;  hence  its  value  for  ships'  bottoms.  This  has  created  a  new  de- 
mand for  euphorbium,  the  collection  of  which  in  Morocco  had  almost 
