Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
May,  1875,  I 
Editorial. 
of  Yale  College,  was  elected  chairman,  while  Dr.  F.  W.  Clarke,  of  Cincinnati,  was 
deputed  to  make  the  necessary  efforts  to  ensure  a  full  attendance  of  chemists  and 
others  interested  in  the  application  of  chemistry. 
The  next  meeting  of  the  Association  will  be  held  at  Detroit,  August  nth  next, 
and  continue  about  a  week.  Most  of  our  readers  being  interested  in  chemistry,  we 
take  pleasure  in  directing  their  special  attention  to  this  new  section,  in  which,  to 
make  it  a  success  from  the  beginning,  there  should  be  a  full  attendance. 
RiciNus  Communis  against  Vermin. — A  recent  number  of  the  "Pharmaceu- 
tische  Zeitung"  contained  a  correspondence  from  Turin,  Italy,  stating  that  M. 
Mossa,  pharmacist,  has  directed  attention  to  the  use  made  in  Italy  of  the  press- 
cakes  obtained  in  the  manufacture  of  castor  oil  ;  besides  their  use  as  manure,  this 
residuary  product  serves  for  the  destruction  of  the  field  mice  and  certain  insects 
which  are  injurious  to  hemp  5  he  recommends  it  against  Phylloxera  ^astatrixj  which 
has  attracted  much  attention  of  late  years  for  being  very  destructive  to  the  Eu- 
ropean grape-vine,  and  also  against  the  ravages  of  the  Colorado  potato-bug,  Dory- 
phera  decemlineata. 
A  few  years  ago,  we  were  informed  by  Mr.  Chas.  A.  Heinitsh,  that  the  saf- 
fron beds  in  Lancaster  county.  Pa.,  are  protected  against  mice  by  planting  a  small 
variety  of  Ricinus  among  the  crocus^  and  that  this  is  regarded  as  an  effectual  remedy. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  seeds  from  which  the  castor  oil  has  been  expressed, 
contain  an  acrid  poison,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  this  may  be  obnoxious  to  the 
lower  animals.  At  any  rate,  the  proposed  remedy  is  so  far  superior,  in  regard  to 
harmlessness,  to  Paris  green,  which  is  usually  employed  against  the  potato  bug,  that 
it  deserves  a  careful  trial. 
Explosive  Mixtures. — We  have  repeatedly  alluded  to  serious  accidents  which 
occurred  in  the  preparation  of  solid  or  liquid  compounds  put  up  upon  physicians' 
prescriptions.  The  great  majority  of  such  explosions  result  from  the  injudicious 
combination  of  oxidizing  agents  with  substances  readily  combining  with  oxygen 
with  the  elimination  of  gaseous  products.  One  of  these  dangerous  oxidizing  agents 
is  permanganate  of  potassium^  which  parts  very  easily  with  a  portion  of  its  oxygen 
under  various  circumstances.  The  dangerous  nature  of  a  solution  of  this  salt  in 
glycerin  is  well  known  to  many  pharmacists. 
In  the  "  Journal  of  the  Austrian  Apothecaries'  Society,"  1875,  8,  Dr.  Witt-  * 
stein  reports  an  explosion  whereby  a  pharmacist  was  seriously  injured  about  the  eyes, 
and  which  occurred  soon  after  the  vial  had  been  corked,  after  filling  it  with  a  solu- 
tion of  10  grams  of  permanganate  of  potassium  in  15  grams  each  of  distilled  water 
and  alcohol.  Wittstein  states  that  such  a  mixture  will  always  explode  when  kept 
in  a  stoppered  vial.  Permanganate  of  potassium,  whether  intended  for  internal  or 
external  use,  is  best  prescribed,  dissolved  in  distilled  water  and  avoiding  all  com- 
binations, but  more  particularly  with  carbon  compounds. 
The  Stamp  Tax  on  Medicines. — In  our  last  number  we  have  given  the  ruling- 
of  Internal  Revenue  Commissioner  Douglass,  in  relation  to  the  exemption  of  officinal 
and  other  medicinal  preparations  from  stamp  tax.  Since  then  Mr.  Alexander  H. 
Jones,  President  of  the  Philadelphia  Drug  Exchange,  has  addressed  the  Commis- 
sioner on  the  subject,  and  we  are  pleased  to  state  that  this  officer  has  modified  his  ruling 
