* 
404  The  Ptomaines.  { ^  August  issT* 
cannot   be   used.  —  Berliner   Medizinal  Zeitung ;   Minnesota  Med» 
Mirror. 
Medicated  Gelatin,  in  local  treatment  of  skin  diseases,  is  highly 
spoken  of  by  Prof.  Pick,  of  Prague  Wien.  Med.  Zeit.")  The  gela- 
tin is  dissolved  in  double  its  weight  of  distilled  w^ater,  in  a  bath,  and 
the  desired  medicine  stirred  in.  This  is  cooled  in  any  convenient 
shape.  The  patient  is  instructed  to  melt  a  piece  of  this  in  a  saucer  set 
in  hot  water  and  apply  with  a  brush  to  the  diseased  surface.  After 
this  is  dry  it  should  be  occasionally  painted  with  a  thin  coat  of  glyce- 
rin, which  prevents  its  getting  too  dry  and  peeling  off,  and  also  makes 
it  flexible,  so  that  motion  at  the  joints  is  not  prevented.  It  is  a  most 
clean  and  convenient  dressing,  and  should  come  rapidly  into  favor. 
It  is  easily  removed  in  the  warm  bath. —  Weekly  Med.  Rev.,  May  12, 
1883. 
Unguentum  i^lumhi,  made  with  benzoinated  lard,  according  to  E. 
Dietrich,  keeps  unaltered  for  many  weeks  after  the  ointment  made 
with  fresh  lard  has  become  discolored. — Phar.  Post,  1883,  No.  20. 
This  ointment  is  similar  to,  but  weaker  and  softer  than  the  cerat. 
plumbi  subacet.,  U.  S.  (see  July  number,  p.  347).  That  benzoinated 
lard  will  prevent  this  preparation  from  becoming  rancid  was  stated  in 
this  journal,  1873,  p.  86,  where  a  formula  for  it  by  Mr.  A.  P.  Brown 
is  published.  This  w^as  again  recommended  in  the  volume  for  1875, 
p.  386.  At  that  time  yellow  wax  was  one  of  the  ingredients ;  the 
fresh  cerate  being  colored,  it  was  soon  ascertained  that  the  surface 
became  white  from  'the  formation  of  lead  carbonate,  and  it  became 
evident  that,  while  the  fatty  base  was  preserved  by  the  benzoin,  the 
lead  salt  was  decomposed  by  the  carbonic  acid  of  the  atmosphere. 
The  new  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  very  properly  gives  a  process  for  the 
extemporaneous  preparation  of  this  well-known  and  much-used 
remedy. 
THE  PTOMAINES  (CADAVER  POISONS)  BEFORE  THE 
TRIBUNALS. 
By  L.  Garnier. 
Translated  from  Annates     Hygiene  through  the  Journ.  de  Pharm.  et  de 
Chim.,  Tome  vii,  1883,  pp.  377-382,  by  Dr.  Fred.  B.  Power. 
The  question  of  the  ptomaines  being  the  order  of  the  day,  and  the 
discussion  to  which  it  has  previously  given  place  being  reproduced  in 
every  case  of  fatal  poisoning  by  a  vegetable  product,  we  propose  to  treat 
the  subject  here  from  a  more  extended  point  of  view,  entirely  general, 
