•266  Gleanings  from  the  European  Journals. 
Medicated  Gelatin. — In  a  paper  read  before  the  Therapeutical  and 
Pharmaceutical  Societies  of  Paris,  Mr.  Limousin  describes  an  apparatus 
constructed  by  him  for  the  exact  preparation  of  medicated  gelatin.  It 
consists  of  a  rectangular  mould,  which  is  divided  by  grooves  into  60^ 
parts,  each  being  10  millimetres  square.  Upon  this  mould  is  fitted  a 
cover  similarly  divided,  but  having  the  sides  of  the  squares  elevated. 
These  plates  are  made  of  copper  plated  with  silver.  In  the  frame  sur- 
rounding the  mould,  metallic  strips  are  inserted,  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
suring a  uniform  thickness  of  the  gelatin  sheets.  After  the  solution  of 
gelatin  in  water  has  been  effected  by  the  heat  of  a  water-bath,  the  exact 
weight  of  a  gelatin  sheet  is  ascertained,  as  follows  :  The  mould  is 
slightly  warmed,  sufficient  gelatin  solution  is  poured  upon  it,  the  cover 
is  put  on,  and  the  apparatus  then  subjected  to  some  pressure.  In  a 
few  moments  the  gelatin  will  have  solidified,  the  sheet  is  removed  from 
the  mould  and  trimmed  with  exactness.  Its  weight  is  then  ascertained^ 
and  from  this  and  the  ascertained  weight  of  the  whole  gelatin  solution,, 
the  amount  of  the  medicament  is  readily  calculated,  which  is  necessary 
to  obtain  gelatin  squares  so  as  to  represent  exactly  any  desired  weight 
of  the  medicament.— ^e/)^r/.  de  Phann.^  1875,  March  25th,  p.  161. 
Rhatanin. — Dr.  Wittstein  discovered  (1854)  in  South  American  ex- 
tract of  rhatany  a  crystallizable  compound,  which  he  stated  to  be  ident- 
ical with  tyrosin.  E.  Ruge  obtained  (1862)  the  same  compound,  which 
he  found  to  be  homologous  with  tyrosin,  and  named  rhatanin.  Dr. 
G'mtX  (see  "  Amer.  Journ.  Pharm.,"  1869,  p.  300)  obtained  the  same 
compound  from  a  Brazilian  resin,  known  as  resina  d'angelim  pedra. 
Dr.  Kreitmair  recently  (1874)  investigated  this  subject,  and  obtained 
that  compound  from  an  old  sample  of  extract  of  rhatany  by  the  follow- 
ing process  :  The  extract  was  treated  with  much  water,  the  solution 
precipitated  with  subacetate  of  lead,  the  filtrate  treated  with  sulphuretted 
hydrogen  and  the  filtrate  concentrated.  The  crystals  now  obtained 
were  freed  from  the  mother-liquor,  dissolved  in  ammonia  containing 
some  ammonium  carbonate,  filtered  from  the  calcium  carbonate  and 
again  crystallized  ;  they  were  obtained  pure  by  dissolving  them  in  hot 
water,  adding  some  subacetate  of  lead,  treating  with  sulphuretted  hydro- 
gen and  filtering  while  boiling  hot.     Its  composition  is  CjoH^.^NOg. 
To  obtain  a  larger  quantity  of  this  body,  the  author  examined  numer- 
ous samples  of  extract  of  rhatany,  obtained  from  different  parts  of  Ger- 
many, one,  at  least,  having  been  imported  from  Peru,  but  rhatanin  could 
not  be  obtained  from  them  or  from  the  root,  nor  could  it  be  found  in 
