^"^■juiy'^isS^"™  }    Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  347 
ing  one  of  the  characteristics  of  this  substance.  Nouv.  Rem.,  May 
24th,  1888. 
Strophanthus  as  a  Diuretic.  Dr.  Lemoiae  stated  to  the 
SocUtS  de  Biologie,  May  26,  that  from  clinical  and  experimental  re- 
searches he  had  found  strophanthus  to  be  a  powerful  diuretic  which, 
in  elevated  doses,  would  easily  induce  albuminuria.  Le  Prog,  med.y 
June  2,  1888. 
Oleum  Kos^. — In  a  paper  by  Bonkowski  Bey,  the  sultan's  chem- 
ist, the  percentage  of  the  product  obtained  from  a  given  number  of 
roses  is  definitely  stated.  It  has  been  hitherto  considered  a  manufac- 
turers' secret.  The  number  of  roses  required  for  one  ocque  (1284 
gm.)  of  distilled  rose-water  of  good  quality  is  given  at  700.  About 
3000  kilogm.  of  roses  are  required  to  make  one  kilogm.  of  the  oil.  By 
hurrying  the  distillation,  1  kilogm.  of  oil  may  be  had  from  2,500  kil- 
ogm. of  flowers,  but  the  oil  is  not  so  fine  as  the  first. — Rev.  med, 
phar.y  Constantinople;  Arch,  de phar.,  June  5,  1888. 
Batjentjor,  Batiatior,  or  Yernonia  Nigritiana. — Heckel 
and  Schlagdenhauffen  (Compt.  Rend.;  Acad.  Sd.,  May  14,  1888)  de- 
scribe the  plant  as  indigenous  in  parts  of  Western  Africa,  where  the 
root  is  sold  as  a  febrifuge.  Emetic  properties  are  attributed  to  it, 
though  the  authors  do  not  find  emetine  ;  indeed,  they  find  no  alkaloid 
in  it,  only  a  glucoside,  which  they  name  vernonin,  and  which  decom- 
poses into  glucose  and  a  resin  insoluble  in  water  and  weak  acids.  The 
glucoside  appears  as  a  slightly  hygroscopic  white  powder,  having  a 
yellow  tint  in  solution.  It  is  slightly  soluble  in  ether  and  chloroform  ; 
with  sulphuric  acid  it  turns  brown,  and  then  violet-purple.  The  resin 
gives  the  same  coloration  with  sulphuric  acid.  Injected  under  the  skin 
of  the  frog,  in  doses  of  "a  few  centigrammes,''  vernonin  arrests  the 
movements  of  the  heart.  Its  action  may  be  compared  to  that  of  digi- 
talis, but  it  is  "  twenty-four  times  less  strong  than  digitalin." — Arch, 
de  phar.,  June  5,  1888. 
Medicinal  Plants  of  Algeria. — At  the  Congress  of  the  Asso- 
ciation Frangaise  pour  Vavancement  des  Sciences,  Mr.  Bertherand  of 
Algiers  mentions  a  number  of  plants  which  that  province  offers  to  the 
Pharmacopoeia,  among  them  the  following :  Arabian  fraham  (Aceras 
anthrophora)  gives  good  results  as  a  sudorific  and  a  stimulant.  Ara- 
bian taubra  (Globularia  Alypum)  is  the  usual  purgative  of  the  natives ; 
