376 
Varieties, 
\m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  i£8o. 
Pharao's  Serpents. — A  new  mass  for  this  chemical  toy  is  made  by  mixing 
together  2  parts  potassium  bichromate,  i  part  saltpetre  and  3  parts  sugar,  all  in  a 
dry,  fine  powder,  and  making  into  a  mass  with  .sufficient  balsam  Peru. — Pharm. 
Centralh.,  February  5,  1880,  p.  52,  from  Polyt.  Notizbl. 
The  cause  of  large  blackish-gray  stains  formed  on  silver  spoons  when  immersed 
in  beef  soup,  which  was  subsequently  eaten  with  impunity,  was  investigated  by 
Torquato  Gigli,  whose  investigations  prove  that : 
1.  Powdered  sulphur  dissolves  in  the  fat  of  meat  without  imparting  to  the  soup  a 
peculiar  taste  or  odor,  unless  the  quantity  of  sulphur  is  large. 
2.  In  this  condition  of  solution,  and  at  a  temperature  very  near  that  of  boiling 
water,  the  sulphur  readily  combines  with  silver,  forming  black  silver  sulphide.  In 
this  particular  case  the  stains  on  the  silver  spoons  consisted  of  black  silver  sulphide, 
and  were  caused  by  powdered  sulphur  which,  through  carelessness  or  otherwise,  had 
fallen  into  the  kettle,  or  had  in  some  manner  been  mixed  with  the  meat  used  in  the 
preparation  of  the  soup. — Schnv.  Wochenschr.y  Feb.  20,  1880,  p.  59,  from  Orosi, 
August,  1879. 
So-called  "Fluid-  Meat,"  an  English  nostrum  recently  introduced  into  the  Ger- 
man market,  is  said  to  contain  all  the  nutritive  constituents  of  meat  without  the  fat 
in  a  liquid  form,  to  be  very  nutritive  for  this  reason  without  requiring  digestion,  and 
is  therefore  particularly  recommended  in  all  cases  in  which  the  stomach  is  supposed, 
on  account  of  want  of  gastric  juice,  no  longer  to  be  able  to  transform  the  albumin- 
ous substances  into  soluble  combinations.  Two  tablespoonfuls  of  it  are  said  to  con- 
tain the  nutritive  constituents  of  625  grams  of  meat.  M.  Rubner's  analysis  proved, 
however,  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  a  patient  to  consume  3  36  grams  "  fluid 
meat"  daily  in  order  to  get  80  grams  albumen  or  pepton,  which  would  make  it 
altogether  too  expensive,  and  therefore  objectionable  as  nutriment. — Phar.  Centralh., 
Feb.  19,  1880,  p.  67,  from  Dingl.  Journ.^  from  Ztschr.f.  Biologies  1879. 
Influence  of  Vichy  Water  on  Digestion. — M.  Leven  read  before  the  Societe  de 
Biologize  of  Paris  an  account  of  certain  experiments  which  he  had  recently  made  in 
conjunction  with  M.  Semerie  in  regard  to  the  action  of  Vichy  Water  upon  the  diges- 
tion. The  first  effect  of  the  injection  of  Vichy  Water  was  found  to  be  a  very  marked 
congestion  of  the  liver.  In  an  animal  which  had  drunk  300  grams  of  the  water  the 
weight  of  the  liver  was  found,  after  a  short  time,  to  have  increased  by  80  grams. 
Experiments  were  also  made  to  determine  whether  Vichy  Water  aids  the  digestion 
of  foods.  A  dog  was  fed  upon  200  grams  of  cooked  beef  and  150  grams  of  pure 
water,  and  was  killed  at  the  end  of  three  hours,  when  all  the  food  was  found  in  the 
stomach.  A  second  dog  was  then  fed  with  the  same  quantity  of  meat,  but  the  fluid 
was  replaced  by  150  grams  of  Vichy  Water,  and  it  was  found  that  at  the  expiration 
of  three  hours  76  grams  of  the  food  had  disappeared  from  the  stomach.  Experi- 
ments upon  the  digestion  of  bread  gave  analogous  results.  Thus,  the  stomach  of  a 
dog  who  had  eaten  200  grams  of  bread  contained  three-fourths  of  the  whole  quan 
tity  at  the  end  of  five  hours,  while  a  dog  who  had  eaten  200  grams  of  bread,  and  had 
drunk  150  grams  of  Vichy  Water,  had  almost  finished  its  gastric  digestion  in  five 
hours,  since  only  50  grams  remained. — Le  Progres  Medical. 
