Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  i 
Mar.,  1879.  J 
Varieties, 
167 
A  New  Remedy — With  the  coming  summer  we  are  threatened  with  the  intro- 
duction of  a  new  remedy,  for  which  is  claimed  a  wonderful  efficacy  in  cystic  and 
nephritic  affections.  The  stigmata  of  maize,  or  corn-silk,"  is  the  substance  which,, 
for  our  sins,  is  to  be  added  to  the  list  of  new  drugs  already  unconscionably  longer 
than  the  list  of  benefits  derived  from  their  use.  The  mode  of  administration  of  the 
maize  stigmata  is  to  be  the  extract  or  syrup,  the  decoction  being  *' unieliable."  The 
results  already  obtained  with  the  drug  are  rapid  suppression  of  the  painful  symptoms 
of  vesical  catarrh  and  chronic  cystitis.  In  cystitis  subsequent  to  gonorrhoea,  or  when 
traumatic  in  origin,  though  the  medicine  produces  marked  diuresis,  it  excites  increased 
pain.  It  may  possibly  be  that  the  stigmata  of  maize  do  contain  a  product  that  will 
prove  of  therapeutic  value,  but  the  experience  of  recent  so-called  "new  remedies" 
is  not  encouraging  to  the  hopeful. — Med.  Press  and  Circular,  Jan.  14. 
Senecio  Aureus  in  Rheumatism. — For  removing  the  rheumatic  diathesis,  Dr. 
N.  S.  Davis  (Chicago  "  Med.  Journ.  and  Exam.,"  Sept.)  extols  the  life-root  plant, 
Senecio  aureus.    In  a  typical  case  of  chronic  rheumatic  carditis  he  perscribes  : 
R    Acid  carbolic  (crystal),         .  .  .      0*40  gram. 
Glycerin  (pure),  .  .  .  i6'oo 
Tinct.  gelsemium,  .  .  .  i6'oo 
Tinct.  digitalis,  .  .  .  32*00 
Fl.  ext.  senecio  aureus,         .  .  .    96*00  M. 
SiG. —  Give  5  grams,  or  an  ordinary  teaspoonful,  in  a  little  water,  just  before  each 
meal  and  at  bed-time. 
The  steady  use  of  this,  with  due  attention  to  diet  and  exercise,  and  the  avoid- 
ance of  all  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  and  tobacco,  will  probably  do  as  much  to  coun- 
teract the  rheumatic  diathesis,  regulate  the  action  of  the  heart,  improve  digestion, 
and  thereby  prolong  the  life  and  usefulness  of  the  patient,  as  any  course  of  treat- 
ment we  could  suggest. — Med.  and  Surg.  Rep.,  November. 
Formiate  of  Sodium  as  a  Defervescent  M.   Arloing,  of  Paris,  recently 
reported  to  the  Academy  of  Medicine  some  experiments  with  this  salt,  showing 
that  it  lowers  the  animal  temperature  in  a  marked  manner.  It  is  poisonous  when 
the  dose  exceeds  i  gram  to  the  kilogram  of  the  living  weight  of  the  animal.  The 
effects  he  describes  assign  to  formiate  of  sodium  a  place  among  defervescent  remedies. 
This  compound  is  therefore  pointed  out  by  M.  Arloing  to  the  attention  of  physi- 
cians, who  might  employ  it  in  a  certain  number  of  cases  where  the  action  of  salicy- 
late of  sodium  is  feared,  for  the  formiate  does  not  congest  the  kidneys  like  the  salicy- 
late, and  does  not  modify  the  heat  so  profoundly  as  this  latter  substance. — Ibtd..^ 
Jan.  10. 
Administration  of  Creasote. — Reuss  prepares  capsules,  each  containing  5  centi- 
grams of  creasote,  combined  with  balsam  of  tolu  as  an  excipient,  for  which  pur- 
pose the  balsam  is  admirably  adapted. — ArchlVw  di  Farmacia,  1880,  p.  37. 
Protagon,  discovered  by  Liebreich  in  the  brain  substance  ("Annalen,"  1 34,  p.  24  to 
44),  has  been  regarded  by  some  authors  as  a  mixture  of  lecithin  and  cerebrin.  A. 
Gamgee  and  E.  Blankenhorn  ("  Ber.  d.  Chem.  Ges,,"  1879,  P-  ^^^9      1234)  con- 
