108 
Varieties. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Feb.,  1888. 
VAEIETIES. 
Physiological  action  of  oil  of  turpentine. — Dr.  Hare  gives  the  following  summary 
of  his  observations  :  / 
1.  Oil  of  turpentine  in  small  doses,  resembling  those  ordinarily  given  in  prac- 
tical medicine,  produces  an  increase  in  the  number  of  the  cardiac  beats  due  to 
a  direct  stimulant  action  on  the  heart. 
2.  In  larger  doses  it  produces  distinct  slowing  of  the  pulse,  due  to  a  stimula- 
tion of  the  pneumogastric  or  inhibitory  centre. 
3.  Its  influence  on  the  vaso-motor  system,  if  at  all,  is  very  shght,  either  with 
large  or  small  doses. 
4.  Poisonous  doses  (5  c.c.  to  10  c.c.)  (ttl.  80  to  160)  produce  death  by  cardiac 
failure  w^hen  injected  directly  into  the  jugular  vein. 
5.  The  drug  in  small  doses  increases  reflex  action  somewhat,  but  in  large  doses 
decreases  it,  the  increase  being  due  to  a  stimulation  of  the  spinal  cord,  and  the 
decrease  due  to  depression  of  the  sensory  side  of  the  cord  and  afierent  nerves. — 
Medical  News,  November  19,  1887. 
Effects  of  salicylic  acid  on  the  health. — The  question  whether  the  continuous  use 
of  salicylic  acid  is  injurious  was  attacked  by  Kolbe,  who  took  for  nine  months 
at  least  fifteen  grains  of  salicylic  acid  daily  in  his  drink  without  the  least  symp- 
tom of  injury.  Dr.  Lehmann  {Arch.  f.  Hygiene,  V.)  has  further  experimented  on 
two  Munich  laborers,  one  of  whom,  aged  forty-nine,  for  ninety-one  days,  except- 
ing Sundays  and  holidays,  i.  e.  for  seventy-five  days,  took  altogether  in  his  beer 
five  hundred  and  seventy-eight  grains.  The  other,  aged  thirty-seven,  consumed 
in  the  same  time  over  seven  hundred  grains.  Neither  of  these  suflered  in  the 
least.  Now  this  amount  is  immensely  in  excess  of  what  could  possibly  have 
been  put  in  the  exported  beer  alleged  to  have  contained  salicylic  acid.  It  should 
be  further  said  that  the  best  brewers  repudiate  both  the  allegation  of  using  sali- 
cylic acid  and  the  necessity  of  using  it. — Med.  Chronicle,  October  6,  1887. 
Pyridine  in  asthma. — In  the  course  of  former  experiments  Renzi  observed 
that,  besides  lessening  the  number  of  respirations,  pyridine  also  increased  the 
energy  of  the  heart's  systole.  He  therefore  tested  it  in  severe  cases  of  heait 
disease.  He  first  gave  the  pyridine  in  doses  of  fi:'om  six  to  ten  drops,  diluted 
wdth  two  or  three  drachms  of  water,  and  gradually  increased  the  dose  to  twenty- 
five  drops.  In  the  cases  of  nephritis  and  mitral  stenosis  there  was  no  improve- 
ment, but  in  the  others  there  was  a  strengthening  of  the  systolic  impulse,  and 
the  number  of  beats  was  lessened.  The  blood-pressure  was  increased.  A  systo- 
lic action  was  allayed  more  readily  by  pyridine  than  by  digitalis,  and  it  has  no 
cumulative  efiects.  Angina  pectoris,  that  often  complicates  such  cases,  was  more 
benefited  by  pyridine  than  by  anything  else. —  Centralbl.f.  klin.  Med.;  Jour.  Am. 
Med.  Assoc.,  Dec.  10,  1887. 
Ether  as  a  parasiticide.— Tho.  killing  of  pediculi  pubis  by  one  single  application 
of  ether,  has  first  been  suggested  by  Dr.  G.  P.  Thomas,  of  Alameda,  in  California. 
Ether  recommends  itself  in  preference  to  chloroform,  w^hich  has  been  employed 
for  the  same  purpose,  as  causing  less  pain  and  irritation  to  the  skin  of  this  very 
tender  region. — London  Medical  Record. 
Coea  extract  in  painful  affections  of  the  stomach. — In  the  last  two  years  and  a 
half  D'Ardenne  has  treated  many  cases  of  painful  afiections  of  the  stomach  with 
coca  extract,  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  the  pain.   In  the  cases  associated  with 
