Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  > 
September,  1909.  / 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
425 
Mercuric  Salicylate. — A  description  for  this  substance  has  been 
published  by  the  Council  on  Pharmacy  and  Chemistry  of  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association  (/.  Amer.  Med.  Assoc.,  1909,  v.  53,  p.  33). 
This  article  has  been  quite  widely  used  and  pharmacists,  unless  they 
have  had  access  to  foreign  pharmaceutical  literature,  have  had 
difficulty  in  finding  the  desired  information  regarding  its  properties 
or  tests  for  identity  and  purity. 
Nux  Vomica.— Planchon  and  Juillet  have  examined  a  number  of 
samples  of  powdered  nux  vomica  and  found  many  of  them  grossly 
adulterated.  The  adulterants  were  mainly  olive  pits  and  vegetable 
ivory,  Phytelephas  macrocarpa,  which  they  describe  at  some  length. 
— Nouv.  Remedy  1909,  v.  21,  pp.  241-250. 
Oleate  and  Stearate  of  Mercury. — D.  B.  Dott  points  out  that  the 
oleate  of  mercury  of  the  Ph.  Brit,  is  an  unsatisfactory  preparation 
and  suggests  that  a  stearate  of  mercury  be  introduced  into  the 
Pharmacopoeia  to  take  its  place.  He  outlines  a  formula  for  stearate 
of  mercury  to  be  made  by  decomposing  sodium  stearate  with  a  solu- 
tion of  mercuric  chloride,  washing  the  resulting  precipitate. — Chem. 
and  Drug.,  1909,  v.  74,  p.  785. 
Opium. — The  reports  from  Turkey  indicate  that  the  opium  crop 
this  year  will  amount  to  from  7000  to  8000  cases.  This  is  considered 
a  good  average  as  the  world's  annual  requirements  are  estimated 
to  be  6000  cases. — Chem.  and  Drug.  (Lond.),  1909,  v.  74,  p.  948. 
Tincture  of  Opium  by  Percolation. — Moller  discusses  the  inter- 
national requirement  that  tincture  of  opium  be  made  by  percolation 
and  points  out  that  he  has  been  instrumental  in  having  included  in 
the  Danish  and  the  new  Swedish  Pharmacopoeias  a  method  that 
directs  the  addition  of  clean  sand  and  percolation  without  previous 
maceration.  He  asserts  that  this  method  is  practicable  and  has 
proven  to  be  uniformly  successful. — Ber.  d.  deut.  pharm.  Gesellsch., 
1909,  pp.  240-243. 
Physostigmine. —  C.  Reichard  reviews  the  characteristic  reactions 
for  the  alkaloid  of  the  West  African  calabar  bean.  He  describes 
at  some  length  the  reactions  produced  with  acids  and  salts  of  molyb- 
denum, vanadium,  tungsten,  and  titanium.  The  reactions  with  other 
reducing  as  well  as  oxidizing  agents  are  described  and  compared 
with  the  reactions  given  with  other  alkaloids.^ — Pharm.  Zentralb., 
1909,  v.  50,  pp.  375-384- 
Sabromin.— Dibrombehenate  of  calcium  is  prepared  from  erucic 
acid  by  the  addition  of  bromine  and  the  transformation  of  the 
