110 
PHARMACEUTICAL  GLEANINGS. 
The  quantity  to  be  used  depends  on  the  taste  of  the  operators — 
Jour,  de  Pharm.,  Dec.  1854. 
Process  for  revivifying  Animal  Charcoal,  by  M.  Pelouze  
This  process  is  founded  on  the  property  that  caustic  and  carbon- 
ated alkalies  possess  of  dissolving  the  coloring  matters  contained 
in  animal  carbon  that  has  been  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
sugar. 
The  charcoal,  more  or  less  saturated  with  coloring  matters, 
that  are  not  taken  up  by  either  lime  or  acids,  abandons  them 
with  great  facility  when  treated  with  water,  containing  a  few 
hundredths  of  its  weight  of  caustic  soda  or  potassa,  or  of  their 
carbonates.  The  liquid  is  colored  yellow,  and  the  charcoal  re- 
gains its  decolorizing  properties. 
It  is  necessary  to  wash  the  charcoal  thus  treated  with  great 
care,  first  with  boiling  water,  and  then  with  water  slightly  acidu- 
lated, so  as  to  leave  no  traces  of  the  alkali  or  alkaline  salt,  the 
presence  of  which  greatly  weakens  the  decolorizing  power.  In 
those  cases  where  the  charcoal  contains  a  large  quantity  of  lime 
or  carbonate  of  lime,  it  is  necessary  to  augment  the  proportion 
of  the  acid  in  the  wash  water. 
The  alkali  can  be  regained  from  the  wash  waters  by  evapora- 
tion, if  desirable  Jour,  de  Pharm.,  Dec.  1854. 
Propylammine  in  the  flowers  of  Crataegus  oxycantha. — The 
natural  odor  of  these  flowers  recalls  that  of  putrid  fish,  and  is 
very  persistent.  M.  Wicke,  by  distilling  the  flowers  with  a 
dilute  soda  lye,  obtained  an  alkaline  distilled  water  strongly 
charged  with  the  peculiar  odor  alluded  to,  which  he  saturated 
with  hydrochloric  acid  and  evaporated  to  dryness.  The  saline 
residue,  treated  with  ethereal  alcohol,  yielded  a  solution  affording 
a  yellow  precipitate  with  chloride  of  platinum,  which  he  found 
to  be  chloride  of  platinum  and  propylammine.  The  buds  con- 
tain more  than  the  flowers.  Wittstein  had  previously  detected 
this  alkaloid  (which  is  the  same  that  gives  the  herring  pickle 
its  peculiar  odor)  in  the  flowers  of  the  Pyrus  communis,  Sorbus 
aucuparia,  and  Crataegus  monogyna. — Ibid. 
New  variety  of  Silk  Worm  from  India  M.  Milne  Edwards 
lately  stated  to  the  Academy  that  the  Bombyx  cynthia,  z. 
a  new  variety  of  the  silk  worm,  which  feeds  on  the  leaves  of  the 
castor  oil  plant  (Ricinus  communis)  had  recently  been  imported 
from  India  into  France.     The  silk  it  produces  is  inferior  to  the 
