6. As the stigmata of maize are a very powerful, though at the same time entirely inoffensive diuretic, they have also been employed with the best results in cases of heart disease, albuminuria, and other affections requiring diuretics. Cases have been reported in which the urinary secretion was tripled and even quintupled in the first twenty-four hours, and others where the exhibition of the drug was continued for two or three months without the slightest untoward effect. (Though Dr. Dufan condemns the use of the remedy in gonorrhoea, other practitioners have commended it for that very purpose. Dr. Leo Bennett, _Therapeutic Gazette_, 1893, having had "unusual success" in the treatment of that disease with the _Stigmata maidis_.) SUCCINIC ACID. PREPARATION.--The pure chemical is triturated in the usual way. (The following is by Dr. Morris Weiner, of Baltimore, 1892:) About twelve years ago I decided to prove _Succinic acid_ (_Acidum succinicum_). _Agricola_ mentions this acid, 1546, as _Salt of amber_. _Boyle_, towards the close of the 17th century, was the first who pronounced it to be acid, and _Stecker de Neuform_ confirmed this statement, after repeated investigations, calling it a _true_ acid. _Berzelius_ published its elemental composition, C_{4}H_{2}O_{3}. This acid was long ago laid aside as obsolete, and not without good reason, because since the Puritans in chemistry commenced to rule over every laboratory of pharmacy, by trying to redistill this crude acid and changing its yellowish color to snowy whiteness, they drove out every trace of the _oily matter_ which alone constitutes its medical action. The whiter this acid becomes the larger doses can be taken without any action on the human system. Knowing that this _oil of amber_ is driven out totally by redistillation I was compelled to prepare the crude acid myself. The expense is considerable. One pound of amber yields about half an ounce of crude acid, and the glass retort, after dry distillation, must be broken to collect the acid. The fumes of _Acidum succinicum crudum_ are inflammable, producing asthma, cough, sneezing, weeping, dropping of watery mucus from the nostrils, pain in chest and headache. None of our remedies gives a truer picture of hay fever, and since the _oil of amber_ must be securely inclosed in the amber itself, it was but natural to conclude that by trituration I may receive all the virtue of the remedy. At the same time I remembered that necklaces and earrings of amber are considered a popular protection agent against neuralgia, colds, and even hay fever.