Notes  and  News. 
JAni.  Jour.  Pharro. 
(      August,  1909. 
soluble  poison  which  he  considered  to  be  an  alkaloid.  Ford  and  his 
co-workers  (Drs.  Abel  and  Schlesinger)  for  the  most  part  confirm 
the  observations  of  Kobert,  but  with  some  sharper  distinctions  as 
to  the  true  nature  of  the  toxic  principles.  They  have  shown  "  that 
aqueous  extracts  of  Amanita  phalloides  contain  two  poisons  which 
may  be  separated  by  concentration  to  a  small  bulk  and  precipitation 
by  ethyl  alcohol."  The  precipitate  contains  the  hemolysin  (phallin 
of  Kobert),  or  aniamta-hemolysin  as  Ford  designates  it.  The 
filtrate .  contains  a  toxin  which  Ford  classifies  as  amanita-toxin. 
The  hemolysin  is  destroyed  by  heating  to  70  °  C,  and  by  the  digestive 
ferments,  and  has  been  shown  to  be  a  "  very  sensitive  glucoside,  con- 
taining in  its  molecule  fixed  amounts  of  carbon,  nitrogen,  hydrogen, 
and  sulphur."  The  amanita-toxin  in  its  pure  state  has  proven  to  be 
one  of  the  most  powerful  poisons  known,  "  four-tenths  of  I  milli- 
gramme killing  a  guinea-pig  within  24  hours."  Other  poisons  are 
found  in  other  fungi,  as  muscarine  in  A.  muscaria,  which  appear 
to  differ  in  their  chemical  constitution. 
The  American  Institute  of  Chemical  Engineers  held  its 
first  semi-annual  meeting,  June  24-26,  1909,  at  the  Polytechnic  In- 
stitute, Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  with  Prof.  Samuel  P.  Sadtler  as  presiding 
officer. 
American  Conference  of  Pharmaceutical  Faculties. — The 
proceedings  of  the  9th  annual  meeting  held  at  Hot  Springs,  Ark., 
September  7-12,  1908,  have  just  been  issued.  In  all,  thirty-three 
institutions  now  hold  membership  in  the  conference.  The  address 
of  the  President,  J.  T.  McGill,  while  entitled  "  The  Increasing  Re- 
sponsibilities of  the  Pharmacist,"  deals  largely  with  the  question  of 
preliminary  education. 
The  Wellcome  Research  Laboratories,  Khartoum. — The 
third  Report  of  these  Laboratories  has  been  issued,  and  includes  the 
results  of  fresh  researches  on  a  large  number  of  scientific  subjects, 
presenting  valuable  knowledge  on  certain  branches  of  tropical  medi- 
cine, entomology,  chemistry,  etc.  Of  special  interest  to  pharmacists 
are  the  reports  of  the  chemical  section  on  the  occurrence  and  collec- 
tion of  Sudan  gums,  the  investigations  into  the  bacterial  origin  of 
gums,  and  those  on  the  composition  of  the  fats  and  oils  of  Sudan 
fruits.  The  report  contains  477  pages  of  text  and  361  illustra- 
tions, many  of  which  are  colored,  and  may  be  had  by  addressing 
the  Toga  Publishing  Co.,  45  Lafayette  St.,  New  York.  Owing  to 
the  cost  of  production,  a  charge  of  $5.00  has  been  fixed  for  it. 
