320 
Agrostcmma  Git  ha  go. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
(.       June,  1892. 
AGROSTEMMA  GITHAGO  (CORN  COCKLE).1 
By  N.  Kruskal  and  R.  Robert. 
The  sapotoxin  of  Agrostcmma  has  the  same  composition  as  those 
of  radix  saponaricz  albce  and  of  quillaja  bark,  but  differs  from  them 
in  its  physiological  properties.  Hydrolysis  with  acids  causes  the 
formation  of  glucose  (4  mols.)  and  sapotoxin  (1  moL).  The  corn 
cockle  contains  about  6  17  per  cent,  on  the  average. 
Agrostemma -sapotoxin  has  an  irritating  action  on  the  mucous 
membrane  of  the  nose,  mouth  and  eyes  ;  it  affects  the  nerves  simi- 
larly to  that  of^the  quillaja  bark.  When  in  solution  (1  :  15,000),  it 
dissolves* brood  corpuscles  of  both  carnivorous  and  herbivorous 
animals.  It  appears  to  act  differently  on  animals  when  taken 
inwardly,  the  Herbivorae  being  relatively  unaffected,  provided  that 
the  doses  are  not  too  large  and  not  taken  for  too  great  a  length  of 
time,  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Carnivorae  are  seriously  affected 
and  readily  succumb  to  its  action.  On  man  it  has  an  intermediate 
effect,  but  doses  of  o-i  gram  are  sufficient  to  cause  illness.  The 
author  points  out  that  bread  which  the  Russian  military  authorities 
provide  for  the  soldiers  may  contain  as  much  as  0-5  per  cent,  of 
corn  cockle,  and  this  corresponds  with  a  dose  of  about  6  grams  of 
corn  cockle  per  day,  a  quantity  which  may  readily  produce  serious 
toxical  effects. 
Robert  points  out  that  the  simple  term  "  saponin"  is  not  sufficient, 
and  the  source  from  which  it  has  been  obtained  should  be  stated,, 
since  the  several  different  saponins  have  such  varying  physiological 
actions.  The  several  saponins  appear  to  belong  to  series  of  com- 
pounds which  have  different  generic  formulas.  Stiitz's  saponin 
C19H05(OH)505,  belongs  to  a  series  the  formula  of  which  would  be 
C  H     JO  A.     The  lowest  member  of  the  series  is  isomeric  with 
2n— 5  10 
syringin,  and  has  the  formula  C17H;?0llV 
A  SIMPLE   METHOD   OF   DRAWING  MICROSCOPICAL 
PREPARATIONS.2 
By  A.  Hopewell  Smith,  M.R.C.S.,  L.R.C.P.,  L.D.5. 
There  has  always  been  a  certain  amount  of  difficulty  attending 
the  use  of  the  camera  lucida,  or  Beale's  neutral  tint  reflector  for  the 
1  Chem.  Centr.,  1S91,  ii,  545-546;  Arb.  pharm.  Inst.  Dorpat,  6,  S9-145, 
146-148.    Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  March,  p.  350. 
2  Journal  of  the  British  Dental  Association;  Pharmaceutical  Journal  and 
Transactions,  March  26,  1S92,  p.  797. 
