698 
Current  Literature. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
<•     October,  1919. 
Sugar  Treatment  of  Tuberculosis. — In  the  last  issue  we  printed 
several  abstracts  on  the  treatment  of  tuberculosis  by  means  of  sugar 
injections,  a  subject  that  is  at  present  exciting  lively  interest  in  Con- 
tinental practice.  From  there  it  has  spread  to  America,  where  it  is 
being  given  a  thorough  trial  by  several  National  Boards  of  Health. 
The  treatment  has  been  under  trial  by  Prof.  Le  Monaco  of  Rome 
since  1907,  and  the  following  comment,  which  appears  in  a  recent 
issue  of  Riforma  Medica  (Naples),  is  interesting:  "The  advantages 
of  this  new  medication  of  the  bronchi  are  truly  notable,  in  addition 
to  the  fact  that  it  avoids  disturbing  the  gastro-intestinal  functions, 
which  is  such  a  frequent  drawback  to  the  administration  of  drugs  to 
act  on  the  expectoration.  The  sugar  treatment  can  be  continued  as 
long  as  desired,  because  it  is  harmless,  to  say  nothing  of  the  advan- 
tages of  the  sugar  as  a  source  for  energy,  developing  a  goodly  num- 
ber of  calories  in  the  intra-organic  metabolism.  In  the  tuberculous 
this  method  treatment  is  of  preeminent  importance,  because  even  in 
the  gravest  cases  it  reduces  the  bronchial  secretion,  and  thus  dimin- 
ishes the  cough  and  the  annoying  night  sweats.  On  the  side  of 
prophylaxis,  this  new  remedy  is  destined  to  prove  useful  likewise, 
as,  if  the  expectoration  is  diminished,  there  will  not  be  so  much 
sputum  scattered  about,  and  hence  there  will  not  be  so  much  chance 
of  contagion  from  this  vehicle  of  infection,  the  most  dangerous  and 
the  most  certain  of  all."  Further  developments  of  this  promising 
method  will  be  awaited  with  interest.  (From  The  Prescriber,  July, 
19x9.) 
Incompatibility  of  Mercuric  Benzoate  and  Sodium  Chlo- 
ride.— Gaucher  and  other  Continental  physicians  have  prescribed 
mercuric  benzoate  dissolved  in  dilute  sodium  chloride  solution  for 
administration  by  hypodermic  injection  for  the  treatment  of  syphilis. 
At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Academie  de  Medicine,  E.  Seger  pointed 
out  that  such  a  combination  was  incompatible,  and  that  mercuric 
chloride  and  sodium  benzoate  resulted  from  the  double  decomposi- 
tion of  these  salts.  M.  Delepine  fully  confirms  this.  He  prepared 
two  solutions,  one  with  mercuric  benzoate  and  sodium  chloride,  ac- 
cording to  Gaucher 's  formula;  the  other  with  equivalent  quantities 
of  mercuric  chloride,  sodium  benzoate  and  sodium  chloride.  The 
ultimate  composition  of  the  two  products  was  identical.  On  shak- 
ing out  with  ether,  that  solvent  contained  the  same  amount  of  mer- 
curic chloride  in  each  case.    This  proves  that  the  original  formula 
