^VemberitoT-}  Progress  in  Pharmacy,  587 
1905,  page  442),  in  commenting  on  the  subject  of  "  Trade  Names  in 
the  US  P.,"  refers  to  a  recently  established  practice,  on  the  part  of 
patentees  of  medicinal  chemicals,  that  should  deserve  the  attention 
of  American  pharmacists  and  medical  men.  He  says  that  in  order 
to  overcome,  if  possible,  the  present  practice  of  relinquishing  the 
trade  names  with  the  expiration  of  the  patent  rights  it  has  become 
customary  for  inventors  to  register  trade-marks  before  taking  out 
letters-patent  for  methods  of  producing  articles  which  are  after- 
wards sold  under  the  trade-mark  brands,  the  object  being,  of  course, 
to  secure  the  continuance  of  trade-mark  rights  after  the  expiration 
of  the  letters-patent.  As  this  is  only  another  way  of  arriving  at  the 
same  goal,  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  greedy  inventors  will  be 
permitted,  in.  such  cases,  to  attach  a  string  to  an  invention  as  a 
trade-mark,  to  pull  it  back  with  after  the  patent  expires. 
Two  New  Aconitines. — Two  new  aconitines  have  been  isolated  at 
the  Imperial  Institute,  from  two  new  varieties  of  Indian  aconite. 
One,  which  has  been  named  Indaconitine,  was  found  in  the  roots  of 
the  Indian  aconite,  called  by  Bruhl  Aconitum  Napellus  var.  hiaus* 
The  other  alkaloid  has  been  named  "  Bikhaconitine,"  being  derived 
from  one  of  the  highly  poisonous  forms  of  aconite  known  in  India 
under  the  vernacular  name  of  "  Bikh."  This  aconite  was  named  by 
Bruhl  Aconitum  fetox  var.  spicatum. 
The  pharmacological  experiments  show  that  the  toxicity  of  Inda- 
conitine is  less  than  that  of  Bikhaconitine  towards  warm-blooded 
animals ;  in  this  respect  the  former  stands  very  near  to  the  aconitine 
of  Aconitum  napellus,  whilst  the  latter  being  somewhat  stronger 
than  Japaconitine,  is  to  be  referred  to  a  position  between  this  al- 
kaloid and  pseudaconitine,  from  forms  of  Aconitum  ferox,  which 
is  much  the  most  active  of  the  series.  {Chem.  and  Drug.,  Septem- 
ber, 1905,  page  278.) 
Manipulated  Opium. — "  Opium  Manipule  "  is  the  basis  of  an 
interesting  report  published  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Journal  de 
Pharmacie  et  de  Ckimie  (1905,  page  529).  Five  samples  were  ex- 
amined, all  of  which  were  guaranteed  to  contain  10  per  cent,  of 
morphine.  Subsequent  investigation  demonstrated  that  while  the 
samples  did  contain  the  required  amount  of  morphine,  they  had  been 
manipulated  otherwise.  All  of  the  samples  indicated  that  they  had 
been  manufactured  by  mixing  extracted  opium  with  morphine,  thus 
suggesting  that  too  much  reliance  should  not  be  placed  on  an  alka- 
loidal  assay  for  morphine  alone. 
