Varieties.  329 
favorable  circumstances,  to  a  permanent  condition  of  quiescence  and  restoration  to 
a  healthy  state  of  mind. 
5.  That  in  chronic  dementia,  associated  with  destructive  tendencies,  bad  habits, 
and  sleeplessnes,  the  condition  of  the  patient  much  improves  after  a  continued 
course  of  small  doses  of  the  drug. 
The  disadvantages  that  have  occurred  in  its  use,  and  which  have  to  be  guarded 
against,  are  :  the  dryness  of  the  tongue  and  pharynx  that  occurs,  especially  after  a 
prolonged  administration.  This  has  been  thought  to  contra-indicate  its  use  in  cases 
of  artificial  feeding,  but  provided  the  tube  be  dipped  into  an  oily  liquid  before  pass- 
ing, I  have  not  found  it  any  inconvenience.  The  attacks  of  vomiting  that  have 
occurred  in  some  cases  after  an  administration  of  some  weeks,  necessarily  lead  to  a 
discontinuance  of  the  drug.  Vomiting  occasionally  occurs  after  one  dose,  even  a 
s?nall  one,  and  in  two  cases  mentioned  by  Dr.  Lawson,  haematemesis  took  place. 
Where  rapid  and  sudden  action  of  the  drug  is  feared  in  feeble  cases,  it  is  better  to 
administer  it  with  the  iooA.-  -Chicago  Med.  Gazet.^  April  5th,  1880. 
Solid,  Crystallized,  Fuming  Sulphuric  Acid,  containing  frequently  as  much  as 
98  per  cent,  anhydride,  is  beginning  to  be  used  extensively  in  the  manufacture  of 
alizarin,  eosin,  etc.,  and  is  at  present  not  only  manufactured  at  Bohemia,  as  for- 
merly, but  also  in  Freiberg,  Ludwigshafen,  Mannheim,  Schlebusch  and  London. 
According  to  Prof.  Stoelzel,  organic  substances  (wood,  saw-dust,  etc.),  brought  into 
contact  with  this  acid,  are  reduced  to  charcoal,  sufficient  heat  being  sometimes  gen- 
erated to  cause  ignition.  If  mixed  with  one-fourth  its  bulk  of  water,  the  acid  will 
immediately  transform  the  latter  into  vapor,  the  transformation  being  accompanied 
by  a  generation  of  light  and  an  explosion.  The  acid  will  also  explode  when  heated 
in  closed  bottles  to  5o°C. — Pharm.  Centralh.y  Dec.  16,  1879,  P-  47o>  from  Han- 
delshl.  d.  Chem.  Ztg. 
An  Innocent  Green  Coloring  Substance,  for  coloring  confectionery,  candy, 
etc.,  can  be  extracted,  according  to  Zech,  from  coffee  beans  by  reducing  them  to 
powder,  extracting  the  oil  with  ether,  allowing  them  to  dry,  and  mixing  with  suffi- 
cient white  of  egg  to  make  a  kind  of  gruel,  which  is  then  exposed  to  the  air  for  a 
few  days,  when  an  emerald-green  color  is  produced.  Another  and  simpler  method 
consists  in  pouring  water  on  the  reduced  beans,  previously  deprived  of  their  oil,  and 
extracting  the  coloring  matter  by  washing  in  (?)  alcohol. — Pharm.  Z/§-.,  Jan.  3,  1880, 
p.  3,  from  Gemeinnuetx.  Wochenschr. 
Preparations  of  Pepsin  and  Iron.— At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Paris  Academy  of 
Sciences,  Vulpian,  Chatin,  Personne  and  Peter  energetically  attacked  all  pharma- 
ceutical specialties,  and  particularly  all  preparations  of  pepsin  and  iron,  which  in 
their  opinion  scarcely  ever  contain  what  their  manufacturers  claim,  and  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  are  entirely  inefficient.  Vulpian  particularly  found  fault  with  the  different 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
June,  1880.  j 
