246  Geography  and  Materia  Medica.  {AmMaFjm?rmL 
their  part,  and,  their  work  ended,  again  return  to  the  primitive 
form  of  NaCl.  According  to  this  hypothesis,  as  long  as  there  is 
albumen  to  digest,  this  NaCl  regenerated,  recommences  the  same 
cycle,  till  all  food  being  digested  it  becomes  useless.  Thus  a  mini- 
mum quantity  of  chlorine  may  suffice  for  the  transformation  of  a 
considerable  quantity  of  albuminoid  matter.  The  figures  below  are 
the  averages  of  different  values  obtained  at  the  end  of  one  hour. 
They  are  expressed  in  milligrammes  of  HC1  in  man,  and  relate  to 
100  ccm. 
Total  acidity,  A  =  189  per  100  (may  oscillate  and  be 
still  normal  from  180  to  200). 
Total  chlorine,  T  =  321 
Fixed  chlorine,  F  =  109 
Combined  chlorine,  .  .  .    C  =  168  (varies  from  155  to  180). 
Free  HC1,  H  =  44  (varies  from  25  to  50). 
H  +  C  =  212 
.The  average  figure  for  a  is  o*86,  and  varies  from  o-86  to  0*92. 
The  authors  use  Ewald's  test  meal.  They  give  the  meal  in  the 
morning,  and  in  case  there  is  any  suspicion  of  the  stomach  not  being 
empty,  it  is  first  washed  out,  and  the  meal  given  one  hour  and 
a  half  to  two  hours  later.  When  the  liquid  is  extracted  its  quantity,, 
color,  and  odor  are  noted,  and  it  is  then  allowed  to  settle,  when  the 
different  layers  and  their  character  are  noted.  The  liquid  is  next 
filtered,  and  if  it  contains  much  mucus  it  passes  through  very  slowly. 
The  latter  is  examined  from  a  small  portion  of  the  upper  layer  before 
filtration,  a  small  quantity  of  the  liquid  is  used  for  testing  for  pep- 
tone and  ttie  color  reactions. —  The  Medical  Chronicle,  April,  1892, 
p.  30-34-  
THE    RELATION    OF    GEOGRAPHY    AND  MATERIA 
MEDICA. 
By  E.  M.  Holmes,  F.L  S. 
Curator  of  the  Museum  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain. 
During  the  last  few  years  my  attention  has  been  repeatedly  drawn 
to  the  necessity  for  a  more  accurate  and  more  widely  spread  know- 
ledge of  the  geographical  sources  of  drugs.  The  importance  of  this 
knowledge  is  thoroughly  recognized  by  Hanbury  and  Fliickiger  in 
"  Pharmacographia,"  where  the  districts  in  which  drugs  are  produced 
are  very  carefully  and  precisely  laid  down.  In  drug  brokers'  lists 
also  the  port  from  which  a  drug  arrives  and  the  ship  which  carries 
