Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
October,  1913.  J 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
465 
p.  126).  The  close  chemical  relationship  and  the  similarity  in 
physical  properties  and  behavior  of  methyl  and  ethyl  alcohol  have 
made  it  difficult  to  believe  that  they  could  be  so  distinct  and  unlike 
in  respect  to  their  toxicity.  A  growing  collection  of  evidence  is 
making  it  manifest,  however,  that  in  small,  frequently  repeated 
doses  methyl  alcohol  is  far  more  poisonous  than  is  ethyl  alcohol. 
A  single  large  dose  of  the  latter  may,  however,  provoke  a  more 
toxic  manifestation  than  does  methyl  alcohol.  It  would  appear  as 
if  methyl  alcohol,  administered  in  small  repeated  quantities,  brings 
about  a  cumulative  effect. 
Antiluetin. — Anon.  (Suedd.  Apoth.  Ztg.,  1913,  v.  53,  p.  440). 
Antiluetin,  the  bitartrate  of  potassium-ammoniunirantimony  oxide, 
is  being  introduced  as  a  substitute  for  salvarsan,  it  being  thought 
that  the  use  of  the  less  poisonous  antimony  in  place  of  arsenic  in 
organic  combination  might  be  of  advantage.  It  has  been  extensively 
experimented  with  in  the  hospitals  of  Japan. 
Aqua  Destillata. — Konig,  F.  (Apoth.  Ztg.,  1913,  v.  28',  p.  383). 
It  has  been  repeatedly  shown  that  sterilized  distilled  water,  even 
within  several  days,  contains  bacterial  vegetation  and  that  such 
germ-laden  water  is  not  safe  for  use  in  connection  with  solutions 
"that  are  to  be  introduced  intravenously  as  the  solutions,  even  after 
sterilization,  will  of  necessity  contain  killed  organisms  and  the 
chemical  products  generated  by  them. 
Argulan  is  mercuric  dimethyl-phenyl-pyrazolone  containing  46.8 
per  cent.  Hg,  and  is  reported  to  be  a  very  useful  antisyphilitic 
(Chem.  &  Drug.,  1913,  v.  82,  p.  945). 
Asafcctida. — Greenish,  Henry  G.  {Pharm.  J.,  1913,  v.  90,  pp. 
729-731).  Asafcetida  is  exported  chiefly  from  the  Persian  Gulf 
ports,  and  from  Bombay.  That  which  reaches  London  comes 
almost  entirely  from  the  Persian  Gulf,  though  small  quantities  may 
be  transshipped  to  London  at  Hamburg.  Much  of  that  sold  on  the 
London  market  is  reexported  to  the  United  States,  Canada,  South 
Africa,  and  the  Continent.  Comparatively  little  of  the  drug  is  in 
fine  tears  with  a  uniform  waxy  fracture. 
Bromides. — Greene,  Charles  W.  (/.  Am.  Med.  Assoc.,  1913,  v. 
61,  pp.  271-273),  reports  a  study  to  determine  the  responses  of  the 
heart  to  bromide  perfusion.  The  inorganic  bromides  are  relatively 
indifferent  to  such  organs  as  the  heart  of  the  cold-blooded  verte- 
brates. On  the  hearts  of  warm-blooded  animals  the  bromides  are 
in  the  long  run  sharply  depressant.    From  a  review  of  the  literature 
