AnDe°cUri£narm  }     Scientific  and  Technical  Abstracts.  873 
tion.  This  last  solution  should  be  not  over  twenty-four  hours  old 
as  it  does  not  seem  to  keep  well.  The  contents  of  the  tube  are  well 
mixed  and  promptly  placed  in  boiling  water.  The  acetone  solution 
should,  therefore,  be  added  just  before  the  immersion  is  made,  and 
all  solutions  should  be  added  so  that  no  portion  falls  on  the  side  of 
the  tube.  The  heating  continues  for  about  fifteen  minutes.  A  com- 
parison solution  is  prepared  by  heating  simultaneously  a  solution  of 
pure  glucose  (presumable  dextrose  is  intended),  using  3  cc.  of  such 
solution  containing  0.001  of  the  sugar.  Such  a  solution  will  keep 
indefinitely  if  mixed  with  little  toluene. 
The  bone  black  is  prepared  by  boiling  250  grams  of  commer- 
cial bone  black  in  1 500  cc.  of  dilute  hydrochloric  acid  ( 1  to  4  volumes 
water),  for  thirty  minutes,  filtering  off  hot  and  washing  until  the 
filtrate  is  not  acid.  The  material  is  then  dried  and  powdered.  The 
highly  absorbant  animal  charcoals  are  not  suitable.  The  purified 
bone  black  should  be  tested  to  prove  that  it  has  no  sugar  absorbing 
power.  The  standard  and  sample  must  correspond  in  sugar  content 
within  close  limits,  so  that  with  samples  containing  very  small 
amount  of  sugar  a  more  dilute  standard  will  be  found  more  satis- 
factory. H.  L. 
Antidotes  to  Cocaine  Poisoning. — A  child,  ten  years  of  age, 
who  had  been  poisoned  with  a  10  per  cent,  solution  of  cocaine  ap- 
plied to  the  nose,  exhibited  strong  motor  excitation  accompanied  by 
pupil  dilatation,  with  very  frequent  pulse,  and  numbness.  Hoping 
to  counteract  the  effects  of  the  cocaine,  the  author  injected  0.0 1  gm. 
of  pilocarpine  with  the  idea  of  compensating  the  cocaine  effect  and 
also  to  produce  a  rapid  sweating  and  diuresis  which  would  be 
likely  to  remove  the  poison  rapidly.  The  result  was  apparently  very 
rapid ;  in  a  few  minutes  the  patient  became  quieter,  and  in  ten  min- 
utes was  conscious.  A  repetition  of  the  procedure  upon  dogs  was 
not  successful.  It  appeared  that  the  conditions  of  sweating  were  not 
comparable,  nor  were  the  symptoms  of  cocaine  poisoning  in  dogs 
controlled  by  amyl  nitrite  and  physiological  saline.  The  trial  of 
sleeping  drugs  was  then  resorted  to — chloral  hydrate,  veronal,  and 
scopolamine  hydrobromide.  Of  these,  veronal  proved  to  be  the  best, 
especially  when  given  intravenously. — A.  Hofvendahl  (Biochem. 
Zeitschr.,  1921,  117,  55,  through  The  Pharm.  Journ.  and  Pharm., 
192 1,  287.) 
