^'^•jJo^g^ifs^g^^^-}    Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  287 
ing  the  substances  separately  with  the  excipient.  But  the  mixture 
turns  brown  in  a  few  minutes,  with  disengagement  of  hydrocyanic 
acid.  Unguents  of  this  nature  should  be  rejected  absolutely  from 
therapeutic  uses.  Bui.  de  la  Soc.  de  ph.  de  Bordeaux;  Arch,  de  phar., 
May  5,  1888. 
Cyanide  of  Mercury.  Stellden,  a  Swedish  doctor  has  used  the 
following  formula  in  1400  cases  of  diphtheria  (since  the  year  1882),  and 
claims  that  the  number  of  deaths  has  been  only  69,  or  less  than  5  per 
cent.,  while  the  mortality  in  the  same  district  had  been  over  92  per 
cent. ;  Cyanide  of  mercury,  0.02  gm. ;  tinct.  aconite,  2  gm. ;  honey, 
50  gm. ;  mix.  Dose,  a  teaspoonful  every  15,  30  or  60  minutes  accord- 
ing to  the  age  of  the  patient.  The  throat  should  not  be  scraped,  but  a 
gargle  of  cyanide  of  mercury  of  1  to  10.000  aq.  menth.  should  be  used 
every  15  minutes.  The  frequent  small  doses  create,  according  to  the 
author,  a  medium  in  which  the  diphtheritic  bacillus  cannot  live. 
L'  Union  phar.,  April,  1888. 
Commercial  Glucose  in  Italy.  Alessandri  of  the  Pavia  Uni- 
versity analyzed  six  samples  and  gives  the  average  of  his  results  as 
follows:  Water  15.216;  chloride  of  calcium,  6.436;  pure  glucose,  56. 
764;  foreign  organic  matter,  21.314;  insoluble  mineral  matter  and 
loss,  .270  =  100.000.  He  suggests  that  a  law  be  passed  compelling 
the  use  of  sulphuric  instead  of  hydrochloric  acid  in  effecting  sacchari- 
fication.    Boll.  farm. ;  Bepert.  dephar.,  April,  1888. 
Sugars  of  Hesperidin  and  Naringin. — Mr.  Will  in  a  com- 
munication to  the  Societe  Chimique,  says :  In  heating  hesperidin  or 
naringin  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid  we  obtain  insoluble  products  which 
are  identical.  The  first  gives  the  phloroglucinic  ether  of  paraoxy- 
cinnamic  acid  and  the  second  that  of  oxypara-methoxy-cinnamic.  As 
to  the  soluble  products  remaining  in  the  water,  they  were  supposed  to 
be  different,  the  sugar  of  hesperidin  being  considered  as  glucose,  and 
that  of  naringin  being  regarded  as  isodulcit.  The  syrup  obtained 
from  hesperidin  is  not  pure ;  we  only  verify  the  existence  of  the  glu- 
cose by  reduction  and  fermentation.  But  the  syrup  of  naringin  gives 
the  same  reactions  and  the  extraction  of  isodulcit  from  this  product  is 
difficult  to  effect.  The  author  has  succeeded  in  isolating  isodulcit 
from  the  syrup  of  hesperidin.  He  used  Fischer's  process,  treating 
the  syrup  with  phenylhydrazine.  A  composite  mixture  of  isodul- 
citic  acid  and  phenylglucosazone  was  produced,  which  was  separated 
