404  Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  {Aml^r;^Ta- 
being  mixed  with  water  or  milk.  Gautrelet  analyzed  the  fruits,  his 
results  being  as  follows  :  The  envelope  and  kernel  make  up  about 
one-half  of  the  fruit.  The  pulp  contains  glucose  11-44,  sorbine 
13-56,  nitrogenous  matter  685,  cellulose  6  05,  fat  0  50,  carbonates, 
chlorides  and  phosphates  of  alkaline  earths  3-41,  water  8  00,  the 
percentages  being  taken  on  the  whole  fruit. 
Action  of  the  pancreatic  liquid  on  the  decomposition  of  salol — 
According  to  Nencki  the  antiseptic  virtues  of  salol  are  due  to  the 
decomposition  into  phenol  and  salicylic  acid.  According  to  this 
author  the  pancreatic  liquid  plays  the  principal  role  in  this  reaction. 
Dr.  Gley  [Soc.  de  biologic,  through  Rep.  de  Pharm.,  1892,  230) 
experimented  with  dogs  from  which  the  pancreas  had  been  taken. 
He  found  in  the  urine  from  such  animals  after  exhibiting  salol,  sali- 
cylic acid.  These  results  confirm  the  conclusions  of  Perrier  and 
Patein  who  stated  that  the  decomposition  is  due  to  alkalies  which 
are  found  in  the  blood  from  wounds  or  in  the  intestinal  track. 
Adulteration  of  iodoform  gauze. — In  an  article  signed  L.  &  D.  [Bull, 
commerc,  1892,  186)  attention  is  called  to  a  peculiar  sophistication 
of  iodoform  gauze.  The  gauze  examined  was  marked  30  per  cent., 
but  on  analysis  showed  only  8  per  cent.;  the  deficiency  in  color  was 
made  up  with  a  nitro  derivate  of  phenol.  To  look  for  this  adulter- 
ant it  suffices  to  treat  the  gauze  with  water  when,  if  it  be  present,  a 
yellow  colored  solution  results,  yielding  on  evaporation  a  golden 
yellow  residue  which,  after  being  fused  over  charcoal,  will  not  color 
ether  and  has  lost  its  bitter  taste.  Properly  prepared  iodoform 
gauze  should  yield  no  coloring  matter  to  water. 
Fumarine  in  a  papaveraceous  plant. — Dr.  Battandier  (Compt. 
rendus,  May  16,  1892)  having  studied  for  some  time  the  extraction 
of  glaucine  from  the  leaves  of  Gtaucium  luteum,  L.,  endeavored  to 
obtain  the  same  alkaloid  from  G..  comiculatum,  L.,  var.  phceniccum. 
He  did  not  find  glaucine,  but  papaverine.  This  latter  alkaloid  was 
characterized,  (1)  by  the  violet  color  "produced  by  cold  mono- 
hydrated  sulphuric  acid,  which  oxidizing  agents  change  to  brown, 
heat  to  grayish  green,  and  which  is  destroyed  by  water ;  (2)  by 
the  chloroplatinate  crystallizing  inoctahedfa,  and  (3)  by  its  behavior 
towards  solvents.  The  alkaloids  of  Hypecoum ,  Bocconia  frutescens 
and  Eschscholtzia  calif ornica  give  with  sulphuric  acid  a  color  similar  to 
that  of  papaverine,  but  the  chloroplatinates  could  not  be  crystallized. 
