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New Zealand Mail, Issue 752, 30 July 1886, Page 18

According to intelligence from St. Petersburg, published in the Londou papers, Russian influence has succeeded in completely supplanting that of every other European Power in Persia. The military instructors sent out from Austria a year or two ago, to drill and reform the entire Persian army, have now had to give .to Russians, or to support a Kussianising policy. Rvery branch of the Persian service is presided over by a special Russian Inspector. The Inspector of Cavalry is at the same time the Chief of a'l the Rassiau officers in Persia. He is a very clever man, a Colonel belonging to the Russian General Staff, who by birth and faith is a Mahometan, with a fluent mastery of the Persian tongue. His first assistant is Herr von Blomer, an exSaxon officer, who distinguished himself in the last war under the late General Skobeloff. Dr Chelfcsoff, chief of Professor Botkin’s clinic, thinks that extracts of the 30-called “ pure bitters,” which are usually prescribed with the view of stimulating the secretion of gastric juice and of aiding digestion, so far from having any beneficial effect of that kind are absolutely injurious, inasmuch as tbey retard the digestive functions. He has made a series of experiments, with extracts of aurantiuin, gentian, trifoliuin, absinthium, calumba, cascarilla, an 1 quassia oq gastric digestion, and the secretion of gastric juice ; (2) pancreatic digestion, and the secretion of pancreatic juice ; (3) the secretion of bile ; (4) fermentation ; and (5) nitrogenous metamorphosis. Tiie conclusions at which he arrived were that bitter extracts, even in small doses, interfere with artificial gastric digestioo, and also with the gastric digestion of anima s, but uot to so great an extent. Large doses of bitter extracts diminish the secretion of gastric juice, though small doses effect a slight and transitory increase of it, the digestive power of the fluid being, however, in all cases diminished. Bitter extracts have no effect on the secretion of pancreatic fluid, but they nevertheless retard hypogastric digestion. The action of bitter extrac s on the secretion of bile is various ; extract of absinthium, extract of trifolium, and large doses of extract of eetrario, slightly increase it, usually at least, but not invariably ; while extract of quassia, extract of calumba, and small does of extract of citrarin, have no effect at all. Bitter extracts have no anti-fermentative effect, and do not binder suppuration. Lastly, as imitation of nitrogenous substances is diminished by the use of these extracts.