Am.  Jour.  Pliarm.  \ 
July,  1913.  J 
Current  Literature. 
333 
gather  all  obtainable,  it  being  most  highly  prized  and  quite  unob- 
tainable in  commerce;  in  fact,  to  receive  a  gift  of  this  from  a 
Chinese  towkay  is  considered  to  be  a  mark  of  very  great  esteem. 
In  cultivation  a  "  pepper  garden  "  somewhat  resembles  an  hop  gar- 
den, the  vines  are  planted  on  hillocks  and  are  trained  around  poles 
and  look  very  pretty  with  their  harvest  of  green,  red,  and  black 
berries. 
From  a  letter  by  Ernest  Jenkins,  of  Kew  Gardens,  to  the  writer. 
C.  S.  Braddock,  Jr. 
VOLATILE  ANTISEPTICS  AND  SOIL  ORGANISMS. 
In  an  article  on  "  The  Effect  of  Toluol  and  Carbon  Disulphide 
on  the  Micro-flora  and  -fauna  of  the  Soil,"  P.  L.  Gainey  (Missouri 
Botanical  Garden,  Twenty-third  Report,  1912),  draws  the  follow- 
ing conclusions : 
1.  That  small  quantities  of  carbon  disulphide,  toluol,  and  chloro- 
form, such  as  have  been  used  practically  and  experimentally,  when 
applied  to  the  soils  studied,  exert  a  stimulative  rather  than  a  dimin- 
ishing effect  upon  the  total  number  of  bacteria  present. 
2;  That  an  application  of  such  quantities  of  carbon  disulphide 
and  toluol  does  not  have  an  appreciable  effect  upon  the  number  of 
types  of  protozoa  present  in  such  soils  as  have  been  studied. 
3.  That  a  very  marked  increase  in  yield  may  be  noted  following 
such  an  application  when  no  evident  change  occurs  in  total  number 
of  bacteria  present. 
4.  That,  in  the  light  of  the  recent  work  of  Koch,  Eforoo,  Good- 
sey,  Fred,  and  others,  with  results  presented  in  this  paper,  the 
theory  advanced  by  Russell  and  Hutchinson  to  account  for  the  in- 
creased yield  following  the  application  of  such  chemicals,  appears 
not  tenable  for  general  application. 
THE  SOURCE  OF  SIAM  BENZOIN. 
The  lack  of  information  as  to  the  source  of  Siam  benzoin  has 
been  pointed  out  at  various  times  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  by 
Mr.  E.  M.  Holmes,  and  in  response  to  his  application  for  assistance 
to  trace  the  origin  of  the  product  Dr.  Kerr  was  communicated  with 
on  the  subject.    We  are  much  indebted  to  Dr.  Kerr  for  his  kind 
