FUNK'S CREAM OF ROSES.

The National Druggist gives the following for Funk's Cream of Roses :

Digest one ounce of tragacanth in eight fluid ounces of water in the water bath; strain thru muslin while hot; add to this one ounce each of glycerine and triple extract of white rose; color with carmine to a light pink.

Mr. A. Hemenover, of Pipestone, Minn., writes regarding Funk's Cream of Roses that he thinks one dram, not one ounce, of tragacanth is. the amount wanted in the formula already given. We ourselves think that Mr. H. is about correct. One ounce of tragacanth in eight ounces of water will make a very stiff mixture.New Idea.

CHLORODYNE.

There is no preparation prescribed to such an extent, or that has such a variety of formulas, as chlorodyne or chloranodyne. Every druggist is acquainted with Brown's, the original. It is undoubtedly owing to the value of the preparation that so many analyses have been made, and consequently so many formulas exist, not in the number of the articles, but in the quantities used. There is no doubt that the original contains morphia, hydrocyanic acid, peppermint, chloroform and capsicum, combined with molasses. All the formulas that I have seen contain the above; others contain cannabis indica, which undoubtedly is a valuable addition, but that the original contains cannabis indica has never been proved; the original also contains licorice. The following is a mixture resembling Brown's, and I think fully as good:

contains molasses, which was an article much used when the preparation was first introduced, but which modern pharmacy has entirely discarded. As to the effectiveness, there is probably not much difference, for the amount of morphia, the principal ingredient, is about the same. The former might be used where chlorodyne has been prescribed, and the latter where chloranodyne is specified. Fred. Rohnert, in American Pharmacist.

Mix. The tincture of damiana is to be made by taking five ounces of the leaves and one pint diluted alcohol. Put into a wide-mouthed bottle and placing it in a water bath bring to a boil and boil for half an hour. Filter, and add sufficient diluted alcohol to filtered product to measure one pint. Prepare tincture of coca in same way.— Secret Nostrums and Systems.

BROWN'S MALE FERN VERMIFUGE.

Is offered in bottles containing 11 fluid drams of preparation. The following formula, tho not offered as strictly "the same" as that used in the manufacture of the secret article, makes a preparation sufficiently near for all ordinary purposes:

Take of

Fl. ext. male fern.. Oil wintergreen.. Simple syrup Mix.-New Idea.

.3 fl. oz. 1 minim.

.5 fl. oz.

Substitutes for the Cinchona Alkaloids in Malarial Diseases.

Considering the possibility of being suddenly and unexpectedly cut off from supplies of cinchona alkaloids-owing to inability to manufacture sufficiently rapidly or to accidents or exigencies of service--it has been deemed appropriate to present a résumé of the substances known to materia medica that have been employed, with any degree of success, as substitutes.

Ammonium Muriate is a remedy of great utility. It is especially valuable in those fevers that are of a highly-inflammatory type, but must be given in doses of from 15 to 20 grains.

Liquor ammonia has also been suggested, given in the cold stage to hasten its subsidence. Pereira says, however, that it is only available in fevers of a continued type where all violent action has subsided and the brain does not appear much disordered; here it is occasionally of great service, and its diaphoretic action should be promoted by diluents and warm clothing.

Apiol, the stereopten of the common parsley, is believed by Waring the best succedaneum for quinin that has yet been discovered. In pernicious fevers its effects are much more prompt and certain than those of the cinchona salts. Joret and Homolle discovered the foregoing fact more than fifty years ago; but the difficulty of securing a uniform preparationwhich is now obviated-caused the remedy to be little employed. Stockwell and Serré corroborate this view.

Arsenic is one of the oldest and best known of remedies in periodic maladies. It has maintained its character for centuries among Eastern nations, and its efficacy

has been well established in Great Britain, Europe and America. Adamson considers that its powers may be greatly enhanced by combining sesquicarbonate of ammonia (5 grains to 6 minims liquor ammonia to 1 ounce of water), repeated every two or three hours according to the frequency of the paroxysms. M. Boudin, formerly Physician-General to the French troops in Algeria, considers it important to administer the remedy five or six hours before an expected paroxysm, but does not give it if the fever is complicated with bilious or inflammatory disorders. Roth insists that in malarial fevers and cachexia, especially in inveterate cases, there is no remedy equal to Fowler's solution.

It must be remembered that one great advantage of arsenic, in small or normal therapeutic doses, is that it does not, in any way, interfere with the digestive system, but rather tends to promote digestion; it has no influence upon non-organized ferments, either vegetable or animal. In acute remittent or even acute intermittent it is frequently employed in the West Indies and South America.

Ricchi was able to test its effects on a large scale in Italian districts where malaria was particularly rife. Of 1963 men treated it appeared to be of little value in acute cases, but proved satisfactory in 1384 that were chronic. To 538 persons who did not suffer from the disease it appeared to be prophylactic, and in the few that subsequently contracted a malarial malady it was invariably of mild type. and easily cured by quinin.

Boneset. Another drug of considerably more than passing value is boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), which for more than a century has been a most potent domestic remedy. Goss remarks that it is a very positive antiperiodic, and that its direct action upon the secretory functions of the liver and its tonic and diaphoretic properties make it an important remedy. He has known Southern planters to use it in malarial fevers, both for their families and their slaves, with unqualified success.

Archie Stockwell corroborates this opinion of boneset, and has employed it where quinin and arsenic, in spite of all adjuncts, had failed flatly. He prefers the freshlymade infusion, taken either hot or iced, as best suits the palate of the patient, giving preference always to the recently-gathered plant, though the dried and compressed packages are very efficacious. Goss prefers the saturated tincture.

Calaya.-Maurage speaks highly of calaya (Anneslea febrifuga) in tropical fevers, as he employed it very extensively in both Tonquin and Madagascar, administering four doses of about 30 grains each of the extract, in syrup. He affirms that calaya is an absolute specific in malarial fevers.

Carbolic Acid.-Treulich states that obstinate intermittents which are not in any way benefited by quinin may be rapidly and permanently cured by carbolic acid; that the drug induces no disagreeable consequence, as is the case in health. He is sustained by Déclat, Treulich, Deplats and Ringer, who adds that the drug is inferior to many other antipyretics, and has a greater effect on the febrile than on the non-febrile temperature. Wood does not consider its use as justifiable, particularly as the preparations in the market are so unstable. The sulfocarbolates may be placed in the same category as the acid. Creasote might be tried; but there is little reason to believe that it is more efficacious than its coal-tar congener.

Chamomile (Roman) appears to still hold its own as a remedy for the malarial fevers of Europe and the West Indies, but requires to be given in doses of 2 drams. Morton found it most effectual when cinchona had failed; and Cawaigee, of Bombay, as late as 1891, corroborates this, and mentions the fact that it is most available in those forms of malaria accompanied by or developing biliary derangement. Ringer recommends it especially for malarial diarrheas.

Coffee Arabica.-Little is known medicinally of this agent-so highly esteemed as a beverage, after it has been roasted and boiled-yet its original introduction was as a therapeutic agent. A remarkable fact regarding its chemistry is that its alkaloid, caffein, with the addition of oxygen and the elements of water, yields taurin: the nitrogenized compound peculiar to the bile. In intermittent and other fevers, Gindel and Dorput long ago discovered that coffee acted as a powerful febrifuge. To-day, in Dutch Java, it is employed in strong infusion with lemon-juice in the virulent fevers of that island. From thence its use has passed to Holland, the Dutch and other West Indies, and even found a foothold in Jamaica. In the Dutch possessions Vander-Corput admits that this treatment is considered far superior to that by quinin. Martin-Solon recommends it in the adynamic forms of typhoid.

Cusparia, or angustura, for more than a century has been employed medicinally in tropical countries. It is the true Angosturu, or Angustura, and must not be confounded with the false form, which is the source of Angustura bitters and belongs to the strychnin group. So valuable is it in low fevers of all kinds that it has become a favorite in many parts of Europe and Great Britain, as well as in India; and, though it is not the least astringent, it is a sovereign remedy for dysentery in all climates. Its disrepute in the United States is due to the fact that, as imported, it is adulterated with false angustura.

Pereira states that cusparia is not only valuable in intermittents and remittents, but in the worst bilious forms of the latter, such as occur in the tropics. Williams and Wilkinson and Hancock corroborate this opinion; while Winterbottom is even more emphatic, and extols the drug in adynamic continued fever.

According to Waring, angustura (cusparia) may readily be employed as an infusion of 1 to 5, employing the water at 120° F., the dose being from 1 to 2 ounces. The powdered bark may be given in doses of from 10 to 40 grains. A convenient tincture may be made extemporaneously by macerating the dried bark in coarse powder in five times its weight of alcohol. It should be put in a well-stoppered bottle, allowed to stand eight days in a cool place, shaking twice daily, then poured off, strained and filtered. The infusion is incompatible with metallic sulphates, antimony, lead and mercurial salts, silver nitrate and infusions containing tannin.

Narcotin, or anarcotin, is a solid, white, inodorous, insipid, neutral alkaloid derived from opium, occurring in crystallized prisms. Its title is certainly a misnomer, for it is devoid of even a trace of narcotic properties, but, on the contrary, it is assertively tonic, febrifuge, diaphoretic and antiperiodic; it is absolutely, according to a large number of East-Indian authorities, the greatest rival of quinin muriate, and far superior to the sulfate. O'Shaughnessy states that his personal experiences, and those of many medical officers throughout India, lead to the conclusion that narcotin is, at most, only second to quinin; that it has, moreover, succeeded when the latter drug failed; and in malarias complicated with dysentery the opium alkaloid is incontestably superior. Garden, of the Bengal Medical Service, strongly advocates it as an anti

periodic, and considers the only objection that can be urged against it is a tendency to produce constipation. Biddle declares that the drug is inert as regards narcotic properties, but that it has been used in India as a stomachic and febrifuge in the treatment of malarial fevers. Murrell, of London, recognizes its total lack of narcotic properties, and reaffirms its wonderful antiperiodic powers; in this he also echoes Martindale and Westcott. Sir William Roberts has pointed out that in narcotin we possess an antiperiodic of great power, analogous to, but not identical with, quinin. In India it was for several years regularly supplied from Government factories at the rate of about one hundred weight per annum, and considerable quantities of the drug are still to be found in the medical depots of the country. In some cases it is but slightly inferior, and in others distinctly superior to quinin. The dose is 1 to 3 grains, altho our text-books state that the dose is to grain, and that it possesses oneeighth-some say one-third-the strength of morphin.

Nitrates.-Nitrate of potash is a very old remedy for fevers. Sawyer finds it successful even when quinin has failed. He gives it in 10-grain doses, with 4 drams of brandy or water; or, if agreeable to the patient, the powder may be placed on the tongue and allowed to dissolve slowly. He deems it a specific in all malarial fevers, and affirms that with its aid he has never failed to arrest the paroxysm, if uncomplicated. Hunter likewise insists upon the efficacy of the drug, which, he declares, cured 65 per cent. of cases, with the administration of a single dose-35 per cent.-that had remained uninfluenced by repeated doses. His best results were obtained when the nitrate was given during the premonitory stage in anticipation of the paroxysm. Sawyer, referring to the fact that he had anticipated Hunter, says that he was first induced to try the remedy after having been assured by an old backwoodsman that a large dose of gunpowder, at the beginning of the cold stage, would almost always abort or modify the malarial paroxysm. Gunpowder includes two remedies for charcoal has also been highly recommended as an antiperiodic.

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Salicin for a time threatened to be a rival of at least the lesser cinchona salts. It has been highly lauded by many observers, chiefly when quinin seems ill borne, when the patient is plethoric, prone

to vascular congestion of the head or to violent headaches. During the late civil war, when quinin was unobtainable, a very satisfactory substitute was had by making a tincture of willow-bark (1 to 2 of 60-percent. spirit), of which 30 to 60 drops were given at a dose; it was often combined with white poplar and Floridian dogwood.

Tartar Emetic.-In inflammatory, continued, and remittent fevers, says Waring, this is a most valuable remedy, fulfilling two important indications, viz.: subduing the morbidly-increased action of the heart and arterial system and determining freely to the skin. In the cerebral complications of any fever, says Graves, a very valuable formula which is often borne and productive of benefit when either remedy used singly either fails or is inadmissible, is tartar emetic and opium, About grain of the former and 10 drops tincture of opium should be given every two hours until copious discharges of yellow fecal matter take place, when the patient is greatly relieved, and generally falls into a profound sleep.

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In pure intermittents, Moore, of the Gwalior contingent, employed tartar emetic with unequivocal success. with unequivocal success. Surgeon-Major E. Lawrie, of Hyderabad - Commission fame, recently corroborated Graves, adding that in continued fever it cuts the disease short with such certainty that it almost appears doubtful whether the lesion, instead of being specific, is not rather incidental or adventitious." Ringer is also very partial to antimony in fevers.

Adhatoda.-The Malabar nut (Adhatoda vasica) is recommended not alone as a substitute for cinchona in malarial fevers, but as a prophylactic.-DR. C. E. DE M. SAJOUS, in Monthly Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine.

(To be continued.)

The Value of Quinin in Malaria. Dr. J. G. Van Marter, Jr. (Texas-Courier Record of Medicine for May), sums up an interesting paper on this subject as follows: 1. As a preventive quinin will not do for those who are compelled to live indefinitely in a severe malarial climate, since in time it acts as a vaso-motor: poison.

2. Quinin acts nearly as a specific in all malarial fevers characterized by intermissions or well-marked remissions, but fails in the continued fevers, those with typhoidlike symptoms, those malarias without

temperature, and the cachexias and anemias due to malaria.

3. It is thus proved that quinin is a poison to the plasmodium itself, but is useless against the toxin manufactured by it.

4. Warburg's tincture in the last condition has an action not yet understood on the toxin (or the eliminative system) by which the system is put in condition to benefit by quinin.

5. Quinin should never be used in hemoglobinuria, or given subsequently to one who has suffered from it, as it is liable to bring about a recurrence of the condition.

6. Only those living in regions of severe malarial diseases can become competent to settle these questions pro or con.-N. Y. Med. Jour.

Given every three or four hours. The next morning he found all the symptoms aggravated the bowel and febrile symptoms much more demonstrative. The dose of quinin was increased and a few drops of castor oil added. The following day the bowel irritation was greatly increased; the pulse was frequent and feeble; the tongue red, mouth dry, muscles tremulous, delirium persistent, etc. Typho-malarial fever was now diagnosed; the severity of the symptoms grew apace, and in a few days more he died.

Dr. Philosopher was called a week after

M. Sig. Thirty drops to be given every hour in gum mucilage while awake. Should the bowels not be composed, repeat the opium, and early in the morning give a tablespoonful of castor oil.

The medicine kept him quiet during the night; the oil brought away large bilious discharges and secured a perfect remission of fever. The niter mixture was continued every two hours during the day, with a jelly glass of thickened milk in the intervals. There was no return of fever, bowel trouble or pain."

The medicine, however, was continued for two days more, and on the fourth day he was discharged well.-The Southern

Clinic.

Peppermint Tea for Summer Diarrhea of

Children.

In

It is quite the fashion among medical men to look with contempt on "old women's remedies," and probably in a majority of instances the contempt is justified, but it not seldom happens that investigation will prove many household remedies to be based on good scientific principles, even though given empirically. this class of drugs peppermint may be placed. This herb, however, has a dual reputation, that is, it is both an "old woman's remedy" and a pharmacopeial, official drug, but is much oftener used in the former sense than in the latter, at least for its medicinal effect, for the official "aqua menthæ piperita," the form in which it is most frequently prescribed, does not represent all of its properties. As a household remedy it is in greatest de