474 
Leaves  of  Juglans  Nigra. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1886. 
of  solvent  was  added  and  a  little  afterwards  evaporated  on  platinum 
foil,  a  decided  residue  remained.  This  proved  that  the  seven  or  eight 
days  maceration  suggested  by  Dragendorff  does  not  exhaust  this  plant. 
For  relative  results  this  time  may  be  sufficient. 
II.  The  qualitative  results  in  (a)  the  two  preliminary  microchemi- 
cal  examinations  gave  similar  results.  Four  bases,  calcium,  magnesium, 
potassium  and  iron.  Five  acids,  sulphuric,  hydrochloric,  phosphoric, 
silicic  and  carbonic.  Also,  chlorophyll,  volatile  oil,  a  volatile  acid, 
resin,  a  fat  of  the  higher  acid  series  or  a  wax,  tannin,  glucoside,  mucil- 
age, organic  acids  and  allied  substances,  glucose,  albuminoids,  lignin 
and  cellulose;  of  these  tannin  seems  to  be  the  controlling  principle 
in  the  plant. 
(6)  The  preliminary  microchemical  examination  gave  chlorophyll, 
resin,  probably  tannin,  albuminoids,  starch,  calcium  oxalate,  lignin  and 
cellulose. '  It  will  be  observed  that  about  half  as  many  substances  were 
identified  by  the  microscope  as  by  putting  the  plant  through  a  regular 
course  in  proximate  analysis.  This  number  is  sufficiently  large  to 
emphasize  the  value  of  a  preliminary  microchemical  examination  of 
any  plant  taken  up  for  study,  since  it  furnishes  information 
that  enables  one  to  work  to  better  advantage.  The  information  too 
that  might  be  obtained  as  to  the  position  of  the  various  compounds  in 
the  plant,  would  be  valuable.  In  that  case,  however,  the  mode  ot 
procedure  would  be  different.  It  would  then  be  necessary  to  make 
sections  of  the  plant,  and  treat  them  as  the  powder  is  treated,  making 
similar  tests  at  every  step.  While  the  microscope  is  of  much  value  in 
chemical  work,  it  can  in  its  present  state  of  perfection,  in  no  way  sup- 
ply the  place  of  a  careful  chemical  examination.  It  bears  the  same 
relation  to  the  preliminary  proximate  analysis  of  a  plant,  as  the  gen- 
eral tests  that  precede  the  regular  qualitative  examination  of  a  substance 
in  inorganic  chemistry. 
This  work  was  done  in  the  chemical  laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  Col- 
lege op  Pharmacy,  during  July,  1886. 
Oxalic  Acid  as  an  Emmena^o^ue.-M.  V.  Poulet  (Gaz.  hebdom.  de 
med.  et  de  chir.,  May  14, 1886),  has  used  oxalic  acid  for  amenorrhcea  from  various 
causes,  and  regards  its  effects  as  marvelous,  including  an  amelioration  of  the 
pain  in  cases  of  dysmenorrhcea.    He  gives  it  according  to  the  following  formula  : 
Oxalic  acid   2  parts. 
Warm  water  200  " 
Syrup  of  bitter-orange  peel   60  " 
A  teaspoonful  is  to  be  taken  every  hour. — N.  Y.  Med.  Jour. 
