200  Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  {^'^ApXisso^''™' 
retorts.  This  tube,  after  each  charging,  is  stopped  with  a  ball  of  plas- 
tic clay.  The  escaping  bisulphide  vapors  pass  through  wide  sheet-iron 
tubes  into  large  closed  iron  receivers,  which  are  cooled  from  the  exte- 
rior and  have  an  exit  tube  for  the  uncondensed  vapors.  These  pass 
into  a  second  receiving  chamber,  which  is  provided  with  partition  walls, 
and  a  circulation  of  the  vapors  is  thus  brought  about,  so  that  further 
condensation  takes  place.  The  uncondensed  vapors  then  pass  through 
water  and  out  into  the  chimney.  Each  retort  yields  lOO  kilograms  car- 
bon disulphide  per  24  hours,  and  of  the  sulphur  used  90  per  cent,  is 
converted  into  disulphide.  The  product  is  shipped  in  iron  casks  of 
different  sizes  and  special  directions  for  emptying  these  are  sent  with 
them.  The  present  price  is  40  francs  per  100  kilograms.  The  cur- 
rent production  is  1,200,000  kilograms  annually,  but  a  considerable 
enlargement  of  the  works  is  under  way. — Ih'id..^  p.  8. 
GLEANINGS  FROM  THE  GERMAN  JOURNALS. 
By  Louis  von  Cotzhausen,  Ph.G. 
Mercurial  Ointment  (see  "Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.,"  March,  1880,  p. 
138  to  142). — Dieterich  states,  as  an  addition  to  his  numerous  experi- 
ments, that  the  ointment  may  also  be  prepared  readily  without  using 
old  ointment,  or  any  other  addition,  by  first  extinguishing  a  minute 
quantity  of  the  mercury  with  the  lard,  and  then  adding,  very  slowly 
and  gradually,  larger  quantities  of  the  mercury.  This  method  proved 
so  successful  that  the  author  thinks  it  ought  to  be  made  officinal.  He 
also  endeavored  to  utilize  Collier's  method  of  separating  mercury  into 
minute  particles  with  tincture  of  quillaia  (see  "Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.," 
Jan.,  1880,  p.  41),  but  was  unsuccessful,  the  metal  running  together 
again  as  soon  as  an  endeavor  is  made  to  mix  with  the  lard.  —  Pharm. 
Centralh.^  Jan.  29,  1 880,  p.  39. 
Extinction  of  Mercury  with  Soft  Paraffin.— Dr.  E.  Weber  cor- 
roborates Godeffroy's,  and  contradicts  E.  Dieterich's  statements  in 
regard  to  the  use  of  vaselin  for  extinguishing  mercury  (see  "  Amer. 
Jour.  Pharm.,"  March,  1880,  p.  141).  He  prepared  1,500  grams  of 
dark  and  uniformly  colored  ointment  in  less  than  one-half  hour.  He 
first  triturated  500  grams  of  mercury  with  160  grams  of  vaselin  for 
five  minutes,  when  globules  of  mercury  were  no  longer  visible  either 
with  the  naked  eye  or  by  means  of  a  magnifier,  and  then  added  grad- 
ually the  almost  cool  mixture  of  280  grams  of  suet  and  560  grams  of 
lard. — Pharm.  Ztg..,  Feb.  7,  1880,  p.  79. 
