3I2 
Current  Literature. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1919. 
CURRENT  LITERATURE. 
SCIENTIFIC  AND  TECHNICAL  ABSTRACTS. 
Staining  Diphtheria  Bacillus  with  Toluidine  Blue  Mix- 
ture.— The  staining  solution  which  Sutherland  has  used  for  eight 
years  has  the  following  composition:  Toluidine  blue,  0.1  Gm. ; 
glacial  acetic  acid,  0.5  Cc. ;  distilled  water,  100  Cc.  The  smears 
are  made  on  slides  and  fixed  with  heat  in  the  usual  way.  When 
large  numbers  of  cultures  have  to  be  examined,  it  is  the  most  con- 
venient to  make  the  smears  in  a  series  of  ten  or  twelve  at  one  time. 
A  drop  of  the  stain  is  placed  on  each  film  and  a  cover  glass  is  then 
placed  over  the  preparation.  The  excess  of  stain  is  removed  by 
blotting  each  slide  between  two  layers  of  blotting  paper  immediately 
before  being  examined.  The  first  slide  is  ready  for  examination 
about  one  minute  after  the  stain  is  applied,  and  the  others  are  taken 
in  rotation.  The  best  results  are  obtained  by  using  strong  artificial 
light.  When  slides  are  stained  in  this  way  the  polar  granules  of 
B.  diphtheric?  are  of  a  deep  reddish  purple,  while  the  bodies  of  the 
bacilli  appear  faintly  blue.  Most  of  the  organisms  found  in  diph- 
theria swabs,  including  Hoffman's  bacillus,  are  more  faintly  stained, 
so  that  B.  diphtheria  is  readily  detected  when  present  only  in  small 
numbers.  The  stain  may  also  be  used  in  a  similar  manner  for 
demonstrating  the  bacillus  in  smears  made  direct  from  the  swabs, 
in  which  case  the  film  should  be  allowed  to  stand  in  the  stain  for 
from  two  to  three  minutes  before  removing  the  excess.  (From 
Lancet,  London,  February  8,  19 19,  through  Jour.  Amer.  Med.  Asso., 
March  15,  1919.) 
Opium  Analysis. — D.  B.  Dott.  The  author  criticises  and  dis- 
cusses the  paper  by  Annett  and  Singh  {Analyst,  1918,  43,  205),  in 
which  these  writers  contend  that  the  B.  P.  method  of  morphine  esti- 
mation in  Indian  opium  gives  low  results,  mainly  owing  to  the  pres- 
ence of  codeine  exerting  a  solvent  action  on  the  morphine  and  pre- 
venting its  precipitation  by  ammonia  from  a  solution  of  the  lime 
compound.  The  author  contends  that  it  is  hardly  correct  to  speak 
of  precipitation  by  ammonia,  the  morphine  being  really  precipitated, 
because  the  chlorine  of  the  ammonium  chloride  combines  with  the 
calcium,  and  the  morphinate  of  lime,  being  decomposed,  causes  the 
precipitation  of  the  morphine  in  the  saline  solution  in  which  it  is 
