600  Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  {  Km-£Z'^™' 
unnecessary.  The  mass  first  forms  calcium  lactate  and  then  gradually 
turns  into  a  thin  liquid,  when  soda  solution  is  added,  the  mixture  heated 
to  the  boiling  point  and  the  liquid  separated  from  the  precipitated  cal- 
cium carbonate,  and  evaporated  nearly  to  dryness.  The  dark-brown 
sodium  butyrate  thus  obtained  is  decomposed  in  a  large  flask  by  adding 
gradually  9  kilos  of  sulphuric  acid,  diluted  with  an  equal  weight  of 
water.  The  greater  portion  of  the  crude  butyric  acid  collects  as  a 
black  oily  liquid  in  the  neck  of  the  bottle,  and  is  removed  and  rectified 
by  distilling  from  glass  retorts. — Fharm.  Ztg.,  Oct.  15,  1879,  p.  638. 
The  Citrates  of  Quinia — K.  F.  Mandelin  enumerates  the  follow- 
ing three  different  citrates  of  quinia  : 
Solubility  in  100  parts  of 
Composition.  cold  water.     boiling  water. 
Wittstein's  basic  citrate,    (C20HO4N.,Ov)2.  C6H807,     C1093  parts.     2^25  parts 
Neutral  citrate,  (C20H24N262)3  (C6H807)2,  o'r  1 33     "        2-39  " 
Acid  citrate,  C20H24N2O2.    C6H807,     0-1566    "        260  « 
Their  crystalline  form  is  very  similar,  all  apparently  crystallizing  in 
the  rhombic  system.  The  three  salts  lose  their  water  of  crystalliza- 
tion almost  entirely  over  sulphuric  acid  without  alteration  of  the  crys- 
talline form  or  transparency,  and  this  accounts  for  the  different  amounts 
of  water  of  crystallization  found  in  the  same  citrate  by  different 
authors.  Mandelin  prefers  Wittstein's  basic  citrate  to  the  others, 
because  it  contains  the  largest  precentage  of  quinia  ;  to  obtain  it  of 
uniform  composition  for  medicinal  purposes  it  should  be  dried  at, 
between  90  and  ioo°C. — Archiv  d.  Pharm.,  Aug.,  1879,  p.  129. 
Curare  and  Curarin. — It  has  often  puzzled  practitioners  why  curare 
is  more  efficacious  than  Preyer's  curarinum  sulphuricum  cr)  stallisatum, 
its  supposed  active  principle,  which  is  still  supplied  at  a  high  figure  to 
German  apothecaries.  Sachs'  recent  researches  settle  this  question  by 
proving  that,  instead  of  being  an  active  principle,  in  consists  of  calcium 
phosphate  with  a  trace  of  calcium  carbonate,  contaminated  with  a 
brown  adhering  substance  consisting  of  curare.  Sachs  states  also,  that 
curare  contains  about  75  per  cent,  of  constituents  soluble  in  cold  water, 
and  that  curarin  exists  in  curare  as  sulphate. — Pharm.  Ztg.,  Oct.  15, 
1879,  p.  639,  and  Liebigs  Ann. 
Kinoin,  C28H12012,  was  obtained  by  C.  Etti  in  handsome  colorless 
prisms,  scarcely  soluble  in  cold  water,  readily  soluble  in  alcohol,  and 
less  so  in  ether,  by  boiling  3  parts  powdered  kino  in  a  mixture  of  1  part 
