326 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
(  Am.  JoTir.  Pharm„ 
\      June,  1883. 
soft  and  comfortable  surgical  dressing,  and  that  the  powder  it  contains 
seems  to  contain  antiseptic  and  anodyne  properties.  The  mature  plant 
is  about  the  size  of  a  child's  head,  and  is  covered  with  a  thin  skin ;  the 
latter  is  removed,  and  capillitium  and  spores  which  form  a  dusty  mass 
are  used.  Mr.  Fagan,  a  leading  surgeon  of  Belfast,  found  that  it  at  once 
restrained  the  bleeding  from  arteries  in  the  bone,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  orbit,  after  the  failure  of  other  means.  The  researches  of  Hagan 
show  that  the  haemostatic  action  of  the  puff-ball,  as  well  as  of  all  other 
spongy  or  powdery  substances,  depends  upon  the  fact  that  healthy 
blood  deposits  hsemato-blasts  or  minute  corpuscles  on  any  foreign  snb- 
stances  introduced  into  a  vein,  which  Ijecome  adhesive  points  for  the 
subsequent  attachment  of  particles  of  fibrin.  This  action,  however^ 
also  takes  place  when  the  vessels  themselves  assume  abnormal  conditions^ 
as  when  cut  or  altered  by  disease.—  Wm.  Elbornein  Phar.  Jour.  Trans. ^. 
February  24,  1883,  p.  688. 
The  fumes  produced  by  the  burning  of  this  fungus  have  been  used 
for  stupefying  bees  and  other  insects,  and  for  the  anaesthesia  of  other 
animals,  effects  which  are  due  to  the  presence  in  the  fumes  of  carbonic 
oxide. — See  Am.  Jour.  Phar.,  1855,  pp.  376  and  464. 
Adulteration  of  Powdered  Pepper. — Prof.  Charbonnier  directs  atten- 
tion to  an  adulterant,  which  is  not  a  new  one,  but  at  present  appears 
to  be  very  extensively  employed  in  France,  particularly  for  white 
pepper.  This  is  the  putamen  of  olives  known  in  commerce  as  grignons 
d^ olive  (olive  pits),  cr  as  poivreite  (little  pepper),  a  name  probably  given 
to  it  to  create  the  belief  as  if  it  contained  some  of  the  properties  of 
pepper.  These  olive  pits  were  formerly  burned  up  and  used  as  manure 
(engrais) ;  now  it  is  found  more  advantageous  to  sell  them  at  25  or  30 
francs  for  100  kilos,  and  to  use  them  for  the  adulteration  of  pepper. 
According  to  the  treatment  to  which  they  are  subjected,  a  gray  or 
white  powder  is  obtained  adapted  for  the  adulteration  of  powdered 
black  or  white  pepper.  The  hard  sliell  consists  of  elongated  stone 
cells  resembling  those  found  in  the  epicarp  of  black  pepper ;  but  since 
white  pepper  is  deprived  of  the  pericarp,  the  adulteration  of  its  powder 
with  ground  olive  pits  is  readily  detected  under  the  microscope  by  the 
large  number  of  stone  cells. — Rep.  de  Phar.  1883,  pp.  19-21. 
The  adulteration  of  pepper  with  olive  pits  is  readily  detected,  accord- 
ing to  Dupre,  by  dusting  the  powder  upon  a  liquid  composed  of  equal 
parts  of  glycerin  and  water,  upon  which  the  powdered  pepper  will 
float,  while  the  powdered  olive  pits  will  sink. — Monit.  Prod.  Ckim. 
xiii.  34. 
