330 
Current  Literature. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\       July,  1913. 
also  expelled  them  first.  Roentgenoscopy  showed  the  stomach 
apparently  normal  in  every  respect. — Jour,  A.  M.  A.,  March  29, 
1913,  p.  1037. 
MANUFACTURE  AND  USES  OF  DENATURED  ALCOHOL  TO  BE  STUDIED. 
The  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  Department  of 
Commerce,  has  arranged  for  a  report  by  a  special  agent  upon  the 
use  of  tax-free  alcohol  for  industrial  purposes  (denatured  alcohol) 
in  the  principal  countries  of  Europe. 
The  Bureau  published  last  December  a  report  on  this  subject 
made  up  from  letters  received  from  consuls  in  various  foreign 
countries,  but  it  is  considered  desirable  at  this  time  to  have  a  special 
report  by  an  agent  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  manufacture  and 
applications  of  industrial  alcohol  that  will  cover  the  field  of  the 
countries  which  make  the  most  extensive  and  intelligent  use  of  the 
privilege  of  tax-free  alcohol. 
The  report  will  be  based  upon  a  personal  investigation  by  the 
agent  of  the  Bureau  of  the  sources,  manufacture,  governmental  in- 
spection and  encouragement,  and  all  matters  of  interest  in  connec- 
tion with  denatured  alcohol  from  the  standpoint  of  its  production, 
together  with  its  various  applications  in  different  lines  of  industry, 
the  cost  to  consumers,  its  relative  merits  as  a  liquid  fuel  for  internal 
combustion  engines,  etc.  Conditions  will  be  studied  in  Great 
Britain,  France,  Germany,  and  the  other  principal  countries  of 
Europe.  The  investigation  will  be  made  during  the  coming  sum- 
mer, and  the  report  published  in  the  fall. 
THE   CONSTITUTION   OF    CYTTSINE,    THE   ALKALOID   OF  CYTISUS 
LABURNUM. 
The  poisonous  alkaloid  of  the  common  laburnum  was  first 
isolated  in  a  pure  form  by  Husemann  and  Marme,  who  gave  it  the 
chemical  formula  C20H27ON3.  Later  on  the  true  composition  of 
the  alkaloid  was  shown  by  Fartheil  to  be  C^H^ON^  and  this  was 
further  confirmed  by  Buchka  and  Magelhaes  as  well  as  subsequent 
workers.  Dale  and  Laidlaw  have  reported  that  in  its  physiological 
action  it  closely  resembles  that  of  nicotine. 
M.  Freund  elucidated  the  following  main  facts  as  a  result  of  a 
chemical  examination  of  this  alkaloid  by  treatment  with  HI  and 
phosphorus  at  a  temperature  of  2300  ; 
