PHARMACEUTICAL  GLEANINGS. 
Artificial  formation  of  Taurine.  The  formula  of  taurine  is 
C4  H7  N06  S2.  M.  Strecker  after  several  courses  of  experiment 
to  form  this  body  artificially,  finally  succeeded  in  making  it  from 
the  isathionate  of  ammonia,  which  salt  contains  the  elements  of 
taurine,  plus  2  equiv.  of  water,  thus 
m¥  0,  C4  H5  S2  07  =04  H7  N06  S2  +  2H0. 
Isathionic  acid  is  obtained  from  olefiant  gas  and  anhydrous 
sulphuric  acid,  or  from  the  same  acid  with  alcohol  or  ether.  To 
isolate  it,  the  mixture  is  saturated  with  baryta,  and  the  barytic 
salt  precipitated  by  alcohol,  and  this  decomposed  by  carbonate 
of  ammonia.  The  ammoniacal  isathionate  crystallizes  in  rhombic 
tables.  The  author  found  that  taurine  could  be  heated  to  461°  F. 
without  decomposition.  Isathionate  of  ammonia  fuses  at  266°  F., 
and  can  be  heated  to  392°  without  alteration  ;  at  410°,  it 
evolves  water ;  and  after  being  continued  at  428°  it  loses  10  to  12 
per  cent,  and  undergoes  change,  becoming  solid  and  colored. 
The  changed  salt  dissolves  in  water  readily,  and  was  precipitated 
from  it  by  alcohol  in  colorless  crystals,  possessing  completely  the 
crystalline  form  and  characteristics  of  taurine  obtained  from 
bile. — [Annals  of  Pharm.) 
How  to  take  Quinine  without  tasting  it.  Dr.  W.  H.  Edwards 
says,  that  quinine  may  be  taken  without  tasting  its  bitterness,  by 
putting  the  salt  in  powder  in  the  middle  of  a  tablespoonful  of  thick 
mucilage  of  slippery  elm,  so  as  not  to  touch  the  spoon,  and  im- 
mediately swallowing  it.  The  mucilage  is  obtained  by  macerating 
several  long  slips  of  the  bark  in  a  tumbler  of  water,  and  after  the 
bark  has  swollen  and  become  surrounded  by  mucilage,  strip  this  oft* 
into  the  spoon  by  drawing  the  bark  between  the  thumb  and  fore- 
finger. If  the  quinine  is  dextrously  enveloped  in  the  mucilage, 
the  patient  is  unconscious  of  having  taken  a  bitter  dose. — 
(Annals.) 
Valerian  root  adulterated  with  Scabious  root.  M.  0.  Reveil, 
(Jour,  de  Chimie  Med.  Oct.  1854.)  states  that  he  has  detected 
the  roots  of  Scabiosa  succisa  and  S.  arvensis  .to  the  extent  of 
22  per  cent,  in  the  Valerian  in  the  shops  of  the  herborists  of  Paris. 
The  caudex  of  the  scabious  is  shorter,  truncated  at  its  base  ;  the 
radicles  a  little  larger  and  smoother,  having  but  little  evidence  of 
longitudinal  strioe,  are  very  fragile,  fracturing  with  great  facility, 
presenting  a  whitish  amylaceous  surface.  These  roots  are  inodor- 
ous, but  soon  acquire  the  odor  of  valerian  by  association. 
