A "Home-made" Distilling Apparatus.

The accompanying illustration shows a distilling apparatus recently improvised by a chemist who found himself suddenly in need, for a special purpose, of a retort larger than the ordinary glass ones. A copper container, such as 25-pound lots of lemon, orange, and other essential oils are marketed in (and which may easily be procured by the druggist from his jobber, probably free of cost) was the starting-point. Flanges were put on both the base and the top, which enabled

the two to be clamped together as seen in the illustration. Then a galvanized tin neck (copper would be better) was made on the top of the can and connected with an ordinary, though large-sized, Liebig condenser,* supported by a standard. A receiving bottle, not shown in the cut, was of course put at the end to receive the distillate as it issued from the condenser. Here is a cheap and efficient apparatus for making distilled water. Any druggist can have it made by a tinsmith.

To Make Glass Cells for Microscope Slides.—

The National Druggist advises that there are several methods for making glass cells for slides of insects, samples of ore, etc., each more or less convenient, according to the depth of the proposed cell. "For cells from one-tenth inch in depth and upward we have found the plan of cutting a ring off a bit of soft glass tubing the easiest and best. This is done very quickly and surely by running a diamond pencil around the tubing at the required distance from the end, and touching the line thus made with the point of a red-hot poker or iron rod. To run the line smoothly and evenly make a little supporter for the tube by nailing a couple of upright strips, notched at the top in V-shape, to a wooden block, six inches long. Let the tube rest in the notches, apply the diamond firmly to the glass, and revolve the tube

*A practical way of operating a Liebig condenser was described in an article published on page 196 of the BULLETIN for May, 1898.-THE EDITORS.

slowly, away from the person. A little practice will enable one to make a clean-cut scratch entirely around the tubing. In the absence of the diamond a little slitting file may be used. After the ring is removed, smooth the edges by grinding with emery powder on a leaden plate. For shallow cells an ordinary. cover-glass may be used, by cementing it to a metallic ring of proper size, and when firmly fixed, punch a hole through the center. Smooth the edge of the hole with a round file. Small irregularities will not be visible when the cell is filled with mounting medium. Another plan is to wet the cover-glass with a little saliva, and press it down on the center of the turntable. Set the plate to revolving, and touch the surface of the glass with a writing diamond. With a little practice this is by far the neatest and most expeditious way."

Are Pepsin and Alcohol Incompatible?

Are pepsin and alcohol incompatible? asks Dr. Wm. J. Robinson. "This question is also answered differently by the chemists and by the clinicians. The chemists say alcohol destroys the action of pepsin; the clinicians say it makes no difference, as they get good results from the elixirs and wines of pepsin. Syme's experiments seem to furnish a satisfactory reason for this difference of opinion. He has shown (Med. Moderne, ix, p. 35) that the alcohol exerts its inhibiting action on the pepsin when both are in a glass or similar inorganic vessel. Something entirely different takes place, however, when the glass vessel is replaced by a moist animal membrane. The alcohol at once begins to diffuse through the membrane, and in a short time the pepsin begins to exert its solvent action on the albumen. In the experiments made the albumen dissolved after two hours was nearly equal to the amount of albumen dissolved by pepsin in a medium containing no alcohol at all. He therefore concludes that pepsin is not incompatible with weak alcoholic media."

Ethyl Alcohol from Wood.

The Druggists Circular reports that Maguier and Braguier have devised a process for obtaining ethyl alcohol from wood. The wood reduced to small fragments is digested for two hours at the boiling point in a vat containing milk of lime, to which chlorinated lime is added; toward the end of the operation sulphuric acid is added in sufficient quantity to give a slightly acid reaction. The matter is transferred to another tank and heated to the boiling point with sulphuric and phosphoric acids; after several minutes the mixture is intro

duced into a closed vessel and heated to a temperature of 150° to 160° C. By this series of operations the cellulose is transformed into dextrin and finally to glucose. The matter is then submitted to the action of an electric current, which renders the saccharine matters susceptible of fermentation under the action of appropriate ferments; it is then placed in fermenting vats, and a certain proportion of albuminoid substances added, and after the process is completed, the resulting alcohol is obtained by distillation. This method of operation is said to give very successful results, and different fibers, such as straw or vegetable stalks, may be thus treated.

Incompatibilities of Heroin and Heroin Hydrochloride.— Heroin and heroin hydrochloride form an essential part of so many formulas for the relief of cough, dyspnea, and pains in the treatment of respiratory affections that it is important to determine in what combination they will prove most effective, and what are their incompatibilities. Owing to the insolubility of heroin in watery solutions it is necessary to add a few drops of some acid, acetic or hydrochloric, in order to effect its solution. This can be entirely obviated by using the hydrochloride, which is freely soluble. The only incompatibilities of heroin and the hydrochloride worthy of special mention are the alkalies, such as bicarbonate of sodium and carbonate of ammonium. On the other hand, salts of neutral reaction, such as iodide of potassium or chloride of ammonium, may be used in the same mixture, and this also applies to acid salts, such as the hypophosphites or acid phosphates. The vegetable expectorants, as ipecac, senega, squill, and sanguinaria, are entirely compatible with heroin and its hydrochloride.

New Sophistications of Pepper.

As everybody knows, pepper is one of the most commonly adulterated substances. It is often difficult, indeed, to get a pure article. A writer in the Pharm. Post reports having seen specimens of powdered pepper adulterated with juniper berries, millet seed, and maize. These sophistications may be detected without the aid of the microscope, the author says, by carefully sifting into various portions. As a rule, the coarser part will contain, besides the pepper hulls, the coarser element of the adulterant, which may be distinguished from the darker pepper hulls. Besides these adulterants, there has recently been employed also the oil-cake left after expressing the oil from poppy seed. This sophistication may also be readily detected by the sifting process. Cleaning of Mortars.—

A very effective means of cleaning mortars is the following (Pharm. Post): A small quantity of potassium bichromate in fine powder is cautiously mixed with sufficient sulphuric acid to make a thin mass, and this mix-.

After a

ture applied to the surface of the mortar. contact of twelve to twenty-four hours it is washed off with water. Soap is usually unnecessary.

The odor of iodoform, musk, creosote, etc., may be removed by first washing with warm water, then, after thoroughly drying, pouring alcohol over the mortar and igniting. If all odor has not disappeared, the treatment with alcohol is repeated. Rubbing with powdered ergot is said to remove iodoform; ammonia water is effective in the case of valerian; and rubbing with powdered mustard and a little water with all odors. To remove odorous substances from the hands it is recommended to wash them with a moderately strong solution of salicylic acid.

G. W. Gaines writes in the New Orleans Medical ana

Surgical Journal that some four years ago acetanilid was prescribed for a negro adult suffering from rheumatism. He found that he was relieved by its administration, but on leaving off the medicine for a few days the pain returned. So he began taking it constantly each day. Now he uses two ounces each week, and has been doing this for some months. It is not stated whether the man suffers any ill effects of his habit.

Aromatic Spirit of Ammonia.—

Do you persist in following the U. S. P. method and as a result find the customary large quantity of precipitate upon the filter? asks John P. Williams. "If you would avoid all that, keep the two solutions apart for twelve hours in a cool place, then mix by slowly pouring one into the other. Practically no precipitate

will result."

Thymol Containing Borax.

A large firm was recently compelled to return to a prominent chemical house thirty pounds of supposedly pure thymol because it was found to contain a considerable proportion of borax. It seems that this impurity is quite frequently found in thymol, particularly that made in Germany.

BOTANY and MATERIA MEDICA

Monthly review by OLIVER A. FARWELL.

A New Gutta-percha.—

The English acting-consul for Zanzibar reports the discovery of a new gutta-percha (Scientific American). The substance is derived from a tree which grows principally at Dunga. When tapped with a knife a white fluid emanates, which, when placed in boiling water, coagulates into a substance which in character bears a very striking resemblance to gutta-percha. As the material cools it becomes exceedingly hard, but while soft it can be molded into any required shape. The fruit of the tree resembles a peach in shape, but grows to the size of a small melon. Experts have experimented with this new product to see if it in any way possesses the qualities of gutta-percha, and although it is not expected to prove equal to the genuine article, it is considered that it will be quite suitable for some purposes for which gutta-percha is at present utilized, and it will thus become a marketable article. It is said to abound in Zanzibar, and will be a very cheap product.

Yerba Mate Cultivated in Paraguay.—

Consul J. N. Ruffin reports to the State Department that a stock company has been organized for the purpose of cultivating this plant. In the River Plata countries the consumption of tea made from the leaves of this shrub is enormous, and Consul Ruffin thinks the cultivation of the plant, Ilex Paraguaiensis St. Hil., will become a paying industry. The company has a paid-up capital of $13,000 gold or about $100,000 paper money. The following notes concerning its cultivation may be of interest:

"In the first place the seeds are passed through an acid bath. This is necessary, because each kernel is surrounded by a hard shell, which must be softened in order that the seed may sprout quickly. If planted in its natural state, from three to four years pass before the plant appears above the ground, while by preparing them in this way only three or four months is required for the growth to begin.

"Seeds from the male and female trees must be planted together to get good results. After eight or ten months, the plants are transplanted, and the company has to-day 2000 ready to be moved. These will be placed in wooded land which has been partially cleared, and in four years the first crop will be ready. The mature plant is about twelve feet high, the branches touching the ground. The leaves and small twigs are cut, dried over slow fires, baled, and then marketed.

"The sorting and refining is done after the arrival of the yerba in town, so that the planter requires nothing in the way of machinery, with the exception of his ovens.

After the first cutting the plant must be left untouched for three years, in which time it reaches its full growth again. A plantation once well started requires comparatively little attention, as the plant is very hardy; but at the beginning great care must be taken to protect the small sprouts from the sun. This is done by placing shades of straw or strong grass over each plant on the side where the afternoon sun falls. It is better to water the plants when they are young, but this is not absolutely necessary if there is the average amount of rain. "Yerba should always be planted in wooded land. It is claimed that by cultivation a much better article of yerba can be produced and the tea will bring a higher price. I am told the managers expect from 20 to 30 per cent on the money invested. It is a business that is bound to increase, as the supply in the Yerbales will give out in time, while the consumption is continually increasing."-Consular Reports.

Decayed Wood as a Source of Yellow Fever.

Dr. W. J. Clarke calls attention (Louisville Journal of Medicine and Surgery) to an old theory that the rotting of wet wood is a cause of yellow fever. In support of this idea the author refers to an outbreak of that disease at Shreveport coincident with the alternate wetting and drying during the hot weather of a huge raft, and ceasing when the raft disappeared. A rotten condition of the wood pavement at Memphis is said by him to have coincided with an outbreak of yellow fever there. Another epidemic in Florida, having hibernated at Plant City, jumped to Jacksonville and extended to a small place about thirty miles west thereof in the pine woods, presumably a most unsuitable focus. A government inspector found at the latter spot that the sawmills were dropping their dust in the shallow water at the edge of a pond. At Jacksonville he found the fever most prevalent on the east bank of the St. John's River, where the sawmills were. At Plant City similar conditions prevailed. At Fernandina a strike of lumbermen leaving the timber to rot at the water's edge was quickly followed by an outbreak of yellow fever. Still other instances are given in support of the theory.

Odor of Valerian Root.

Valerian while in a living state is odorless; the characteristic odor of valerian root is developed by drying. Professor Carles has found that the ash of the carbonized root is rich in manganese. He states in the Journal de Pharmacie that these facts suggest the presence of an oxydase which acts in some way on the contained hydrocarbons, alcohols, and aldehydes, and that some natural manganese compound assists in the oxidation processes. In these facts the author thinks may be found the reasons why essential oil of valerian and artificial valerianates are unfit to replace entirely the galenical preparations of the drug.

NEW REMEDIES.

Mercurol in Gonorrhea.—

The chemical nature of this valuable combination of mercury with nuclein was given in this department of the BULLETIN for September, 1899. Since that time its therapeutic virtues have been put to the test, and much information concerning it has been published. Quite recently Guiteras (the London Lancet) has used it in 100 cases of gonorrhea. In these cases a two-per-cent solution of mercurol was ordered which the patients were directed to inject three times a day, after micturition; the injection to be held within the urethra for five minutes at each operation. The clinical reports of the cases show that frequently in two days after beginning the use of mercurol, gonococci could no longer be found in the discharge. The author discusses at some length the value of the term "practically cured," and sums up his argument by saying that to draw conclusions of value we should consider only cases that have been under treatment for three or more weeks, omitting those making but a few visits. On this basis he eliminates all but sixty-five cases from his report, and tabulates these as follows: Ten of the cases, or 15 per cent, were cured in four weeks; fifteen cases, or 23 per cent, were cured in six weeks; twenty cases, or 30 per cent, were "practically cured," as there was no discharge, though there were some shreds in the urine at the end of from four to eight weeks. Among the observations made by the author in the hundred cases were these, that mercurol quickly destroys the gonococcus, lessens the severity of the inflammation, and tends to prevent the development of complications. From a comparative study of the different methods of treating gonorrhea the author concludes that treatment with mercurol is an advance beyond the older methods with balsamics and astringent injections.

Quinine Lygosinate.—

This new compound of quinine, for which very powerful antiseptic properties are claimed, is obtained by the action of quinine hydrochloride on lygosinate of sodium (Chemist and Druggist). It is a fine orange-yellow powder, with a faint aromatic odor, almost insoluble in water, but more readily soluble in oil or alcohol. It is used especially for antiseptic dressings.

Eubiol.

A pure active hemoglobin associated with most important salts and albuminous constituents of the blood. It is odorless, and it is claimed to be absolutely free from all decomposition products, and therefore can be kept for a long time unchanged. It dissolves in cold water, leaving a dark-red liquid. It is recommended for use in all forms of anemia.

LETTERS.

ARRANGEMENT FOR MELTING AND BOTTLING PETROLATUM.

To the Editors:

In the November issue of the BULLETIN OF PHARMACY (page 473) is a note telling about the construction of a convenient can to be used for melting petrolatum and drawing it off by a faucet. According to the note any large shipping can will do and can be roughly fitted with a faucet. Now this will make a rough, leaky joint at best. There is also great risk of overheating the soldered joints, making them spread, and allowing the petrolatum to spill and possibly catch fire and do great jacketed tank as follows: damage. This can be overcome by constructing a water

Take two cans of such size as will allow one to set inside the other, leaving an inch space all around. The inner can must not rest on the bottom of the outer can. Four V-shaped legs of extra heavy tin, soldered near the corners of the bottom of the inner can before the faucet

is permanently put in place, will support the weight and maintain a space between the bottoms of the two cans. Thus you will have a space all around the can. Pass a faucet from the inner can outward through the outer can and have a perfectly tight joint. The faucet will then be fastened in each can. Fill the intervening space with water; when this is heated to boiling the petrolatum will melt very rapidly. After melting, let it stand a few minutes to allow the dirt, which by unavoidable accident seems to be always present, to settle, and then you may draw off the liquid.

Hempstead, L. I., N. Y.

To the Editors:

FRANK B. STYLES.

WORM POWDERS.

BOOKS.

Students' Edition: A Practical Treatise of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. With Special Reference to the Clinical Application of Drugs. By John V. Shoemaker, M.D., LL.D., Professor of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, Therapeutics, and Clinical Medicine, and Clinical Professor of Diseases of the Skin, in the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia. Fifth Edition, Thoroughly Revised. 6 x 91⁄2 inches. Pages vii770. Extra cloth, $4.00, net; sheep, $4.75, net. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Co.

One feature of Shoemaker's Materia Medica and Therapeutics has always afforded much satisfaction to the writer, and that is its comprehensiveness. When looking for information upon some preparation, perhaps not in general use, it has frequently happened that a number of text-books were consulted, and in many instances without avail. Turning to "Shoemaker," however, it has just as frequently happened that the information sought would be found there, in its proper place.

The volume that lies before us, known as the Students' Edition, is one of two independent issues of the fifth edition of this well known work. The other-the Physicians' Edition-will shortly appear. The Students' Edition includes only the description of drugs and preparations official in the pharmacopoeias of the United States and Great Britain, with some of their chemical modifications. The doses in the text are given in the decimal system, with the English equivalent in parenthesis. A general index and a clinical index of liberal proportions are provided, and should facilitate ready reference. However, the use of full-face type to make the names of diseases more conspicuous would be an improvement in future editions.

The descriptions are clear, succinct, and well sustained by frequent references to standard authorities. The sections relating to the physiological action of drugs are not as formidable as they might appear; in fact, there is a noticeable absence of that confusion of statement and conflict of views which has proved a stumbling-block to many a student of therapeutics and materia medica. This book should prove a useful addition to the library of the student of either pharmacy or medicine.

Victor von Richter's Text-book of Inorganic Chemistry. Edited by Prof. H. Klinger, of the University of Koenigsberg; Authorized American Translation by Edgar F. Smith, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. Fifth American from the Tenth German Edition. With Sixty-eight Illustrations on Wood, and a Colored Lithographic Plate of Spectro. 429 pages; cloth; $1.75. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co.

The chemistries of the eminent Richter are so well known as scarcely to need mention, and much less

praise. The present work on inorganic chemistry, like that on the organic compounds which was reviewed in the BULLETIN for last January, is widely used on both sides of the Atlantic, and is known to every student of the science. As the above presentation of the contents of its title-page indicates, this is the fifth American from the tenth German edition. It has been brought carefully up to the present: additions have been made relating to the general properties and the measurement of gases, to the atmosphere and the interesting constituents lately observed in it, to the theory of dilute solutions and electrolytic dissociation, to the electrolysis of salts, etc., etc.

Preceding the separate consideration of the inorganic elements there are valuable short chapters on such things as are very necessary for the student to know and comprehend before passing on to the study proper of inorganic chemistry-i.e., "physics and chemistry," "physical and chemical phenomena," "chemical elements," "principle of the indestructibility of matter," "principle of conservation of energy," "constitution of matter," "the atomic theory," "chemical equations," "conditions of chemical action," etc., etc. These introductory chapters prepare the student for understanding the science by making him to comprehend the principles which underlie it. So far as the character of the teaching given in the book is concerned, it is worthy of especial note that the relations existing between fact and theory have been brought out prominently. As is well known, these, in most text-books, are considered apart, as if having but little in common; whereas the very opposite is the truth. To have experiments accurately described and carefully performed, with a view to drawing conclusions from them and proving the intimate connection between these results and the theories based upon them, is obviously preferable to their separate study; and the large and continued demand for Richter's book may be correctly considered, we believe, as evidence of a general approval of his inductive methods.

The annual diaries, respectively, of The Chemist and Druggist, and The British and Colonial Druggist, have again made their appearance. As usual, they contain, besides the diary proper, a large fund of miscellaneous information pertinent to the needs of British pharmacists; and both books will prove, as have their predecessors, of great practical usefulness to the readers of the two journals.

For a weekly journal which epitomizes everything of importance going on in the worlds of politics, literature, art, science, and religion, no journal excels The Literary Digest. It fills the whole field, and in a concise and interesting fashion,