476  Farteties.  '  {''V.Z.Z"'^ 
* 
feeble,  but  when  enclosed  in  a  glass  vessel  it  preserves  a  strong,  agreeable  scent 
analogus  to  that  of  fennel  or  elemi.  Prof.  Clay  published  formulae  for  its  adminis- 
tration, as  pills,  ethereal  solution  and  emulsion.  The  pills  consist  of  3  grains  of 
Chian  turpentine  and  2  grains  of  sulphur  in  each.  These  do  not  keep  their  shape 
•well,  but  are  said  to  be  digestible.  The  ethereal  solution  is  made  by  dissolving  i 
ounce  of  the  turpentine  in  2  ounces  of  sulphuric  ether,  and  the  emulsion  is  directed 
to  be  made  with  one-half  ounce  of  this  ethereal  solution,  4  ounces  mucilage  of 
tragacanth,  i  ounce  simple  syrup,  40  grains  of  sulphur  and  water  to  16  ounces.  If 
Dr.  Clay's  discovery  proves  all  that  it  agrees  to,  Chian  turpentine  will  soon  be  worth 
its  weight  in  gold.  The  supply  of  this  particular  turpentine  being  limited,  and  the 
disease  universal,  it  is  difficult  to  say  where  the  price  will  end,  until  other  sources 
of  supply  be  found  or  created.  As  a  discovery  it  should  for  the  present  be  taken 
cum  gram  salis. — Ibid. 
The  Stigmata  cif  Maize. — We  copy  from  the  London  Practitioner's  translation 
from  the  "  Progres  Medicale"  the  following  on  corn-silk  as  a  diuretic.  Some  months 
ago  we  asked  our  readers  to  investigate  this  new  remedy  when  the  roasting  ear  season 
came.  It  is  now  with  us,  and  we  hope  some  of  our  friends  will  report  to  us  the 
results  of  their  trials  with  it  : 
It  is  hardly  a  year  since  this  remedy  was  first  introduced  into  the  ordinary  routine 
of  practice,  and  yet  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  make  an  abstract  of  some  of  the 
papers  which  have  been  published  in  regard  to  it.  Prof.  Castan,  at  the  Montpellier 
meeting,  called  attention  to  the  stigmata  of  maize  as  a  remedy  which  he  h^d  long 
known  and  which  he  had  found  to  be  of  great  use  in  gravel  and  nephritic  colic.  In 
the  latter  disease  there  ensued,  after  the  administration  of  the  drug,  a  marked 
decrease  in  the  painful  symptoms,  and  he  therefore  supposed  that  the  stigmata  acted 
less  as  a  diuretic  than  as  a  local  anesthetic.  Prof.  Denuce,  of  Bordeaux,  obtained 
the  most  favorable  results  from  its  use  in  vesical  catarrh,  in  which  it  appears  to  pos- 
sess an  elective  action  on  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  bladder.  Dr.  Pons,  of 
Nerac,  and  Dr.  Queirel,  of  Marseilles,  had  also  frequently  employed  the  stigmata 
of  maize.  M.  Queirel  observed  that  the  pain  was  greatly  alleviated  in  nephritic  colic 
after  the  use  of  the  remedy,  bu\  the  urine  was  at  the  same  time  markedly  increased 
in  quantity.  At  the  Therapeutic  Society  M.  Constantin  Paul  stated  that  he  was  not 
convinced  of  the  diuretic  properties  of  the  stigmata,  although  one  of  his  colleagues 
had  obtained  some  very  striking  results,  the  quantity  of  urine  being  in  one  case  of 
dropsy  increased  from  five  to  fifteen  hundred  grams  after  the  ingestion  of  three 
spoonfuls  of  the^  syrup.  Dr.  Landrieux  has  arrived  at  the  following  conclusions, 
based  on  a  considerable  number  of  observations: 
1.  The  various  preparations  of  the  stigmata  of  maize  are  of  use  in  modifying 
the  secretions  of  the  urinary  tracts.  They  may  also  be  considered  to  possess  a  dis- 
tinctly diuretic  action. 
2.  Diureses  is  rapidly  produced  and  the  increase  of  urine  is  very  marked  after 
three  or  four  days. 
3.  The  diuretic  effects  are  observed  not  only  in  diseases  of  the  organs  concerned 
in  the  urinary  secretion,  but  also  in  the  affections  of  the  vascular  system  (diseases  of 
the  heart,  blood  vessels,  etc.). 
