502  Gleanings  from  the  European  Journals.  {^"^iTrH^^""^' 
mortar,  and  by  means  of  bisulphide  of  carbon  and  pestle  dissolve  the  phos- 
phorus, which  is  done  very  readily  ;  while  the  mass  is  yet  moist  incorpo- 
rate some  extract  that  will  simply  add  tonic  properties  to  the  mass,  such 
as  extract  of  gentian,  quassia  or  taraxacum,  and  if  the  mass  is  then  too 
soft,  add  a  little  lycopodium. 
In  this  way  i-50th  or  i-iooth  gr.  phosphorus  pills  can  be  made  very 
small,  and  with  no  more  trouble  than  quinia  pills,  and  a  thorough  incor- 
poration of  the  phosphorus  in  all  parts  of  the  mass  is  secured. 
Much  trouble  and  danger  has  been  experienced  by  pharmacists  in 
making  these  pills  by  physicians'  prescriptions,  by  using  sweet  almond 
oil,  melted  wax,  &c.  I  have  found  the  above  quite  satisfactory  and 
giving  less  trouble.  Bisulphide  of  carbon,  being  very  volatile,  soon 
escapes,  and  leaves  the  phosphorus  thoroughly  mixed. 
W.  B.  Addington. 
St.  Louis  J  Mo.y  October,  1875. 
GLEANINGS  FROM  THE  EUROPEAN  JOURNALS. 
BY  THE  EDITOR. 
Occurrence  of  ethylic  alcohol  and  ether  in  Vegetables, — Dr.  H.  Gutzeit 
draws  attention  to  the  fact,  that  this  alcohol  or  its  ethers  have  not  yet 
been  observed  with  certainty  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  while  deriva- 
tives of  methylic  alcohol  have  been  discovered  in  Mercurialis  annua, 
Sorbus  aucuparia,  Crataegus  oxyacantha,  Pyrus  communis,  Chenopodium- 
olidum,  Beta  vulgaris,  Gaultheria  procumbens,  Monotropa  hypopitys, 
ergot,  also  in  coft'ee,  tea,  colanuts  and  guarana  (methyl-theobromina), 
&c.  The  author  examined  the  fruit  of  Heracleum  giganteum  hort., 
and  found  both  ethylic  and  methylic  alcohol  in  the  aqueous  distillates 
of  the  unripe  and  ripe  fruits,  ethylic  alcohol  predominating  in  the 
former  and  methylic  alcohol  in  the  latter  j  the  volatile  oil  of  the  fruit 
contained  ethylic  butyrate.  The  aqueous  distillate  of  the  fruit  of  Pas- 
tinaca  sativa  L.  contained  ethylic  alcohol,  but  none  of  its  ethers  could 
be  found  in  the  volatile  oil.  The  unripe  fruit  of  Anthriscus  cere- 
folium,  Hoffm.,  contains  an  ethyl-compound,  the  ripe  fruit  has  no  odor 
and  contains  no  volatile  oil. — Zeitschr.  d.  Oesterr.  Apoth.  Ver,  1875, 
No.  21. 
The  solubility  of  succinic  acid  in  water ^  is  given  by  E.  Bourgoin,  as 
follows:  100  parts  of  water  dissolve  at  o°C.  2-88p.  j  8*50°,  4*22  p.  ; 
14-5%  5-14  P-  ;  I7°5  574  p.  ;  27°,  8-44  p.  ;  35-5°,  12-29  p.  ;  40-5°, 
