^Si^isit}     Olijcerm  Solutions  of  Pepsin,  etc.  121 
tkan  a  pound.  This  glycerin  has  attracted  attention  by  reason  of 
the  free  use  of  adjectives  on  the  label,  and  on  account  of  a  vigorous 
attack  on  the  propriety  of  using  the  adjectives  by  the  editor  of  a  trade 
journal. 
Sarg's  Pure  Glycerin  is  put  up  in  a  very  attractive  style,  the  blue 
stencilled  label  and  the  refractive  property  of  the  glycerin  contrast 
to  very  good  advantage. 
The  American  glycerins  were  in  a  plainer  and  neater  dress,. 
Bower's,  Gordon's  and  Concentrated  being  put  up  in  the  usual  gly- 
cerin bottle  with  a  plain  label. 
The  result  will  be  found  in  the  foregoing  table. 
— Proc.  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1870. 
GLYCERIN  SOLUTIONS  OF  PEPSIN  AND  OTHER  SUBSTANCES. 
By  Lionel  S.  Beale. 
In  Nature  of  December  29th,  Professor  M.  Foster  calls  attention 
to  the  method  of  making  glycerin  extract  of  pepsin  pursued  by  Von 
Wittich,  and  remarks  with  reason  that  the  means  hitherto  adopted 
for  preparing  pepsin  for  medical  purposes  are  clumsy  and  inefficient. 
There  is,  however,  one  exception,  a  mode  of  preparation  which  has 
long  been  in  use,  and  which  is  by  no  means  inefficient.  This  will  be 
found  to  possess  some  practical  advantages  over  the  process  of  ex- 
tracting the  fresh  mucous  membrane  with  glycerin,  while  from  it  the 
glycerin  solution  can  be  prepared  quite  as  pure  and  clear,  and  as 
strong  as  by  maceration. 
As  long  ago  as  1858,  ("  Archives  of  Medicine,  vol.  i.,  pp.  269 — 
316,)  I  described  a  method  of  obtaining  the  active  digestive  material 
from  the  pig's  stomach,  which  answers  perfectly,  and  has  been  em- 
ployed in  practice  ever  since.  It  simply  consists  in  quickly  drying 
the  mucus  expressed  from  the  stomach  glands  upon  glass  plates.''' 
The  dried  mucus  is  then  powdered  and  kept  in  stoppered  bottles.  It 
retains  its  properties  for  years.  Eight-tenths  of  a  grain  will  dissolve 
one  hundred  grains  of  coagulated  white  of  egg. 
Now,  from  this  powder  is  easily  prepared,  by  solution  in  distilled 
water,  a  perfectly  clear  and  colorless  digestive  fluid  of  great  activity, 
which  can  be  readily  filtered. 
*  This  pepsin  is  prepared  for  medical  purposes  by  Messrs.  Bullock  and  Rey- 
nolds, 3  Hanover  Street,  Hanover  Square. 
