line, carbolized, 1⁄2 lb., lead and opium wash, 1⁄2 lb., carron oil, for burns, 1⁄2 lb., anti-pyro powder, for burns, 1⁄2 lb. (bi-carbonate of soda), Sun Cholera Mixture, 1⁄2 oz., solution sub-sulphate of iron, 1 oz., aromatic spirit of ammonia 2 oz., carbolized oil, 1⁄2 lb.

Any improvised box will answer to contain the same. I have adopted the ordinary No. 3 tin bread box, which dimensions are 104x14x10 inches, as per illustrated cut, and serves the purpose very well.

All parcels, packages, jars and bottles should be plainly and properly labeled, with instructions for use, and the box should contain a book on "What to do in Accident cases."

THE MANUFACTURE OF ANTISEPTIC MATERIAL.

Query 32.-Surgeons require aseptic as well as antiseptic materials. Should not the pharmacist satisfy the demand?

BY JOHN T. DAVISON, PH. G., M. D.

Presuming that the query relates to the supplying of materials for the surgeon, aseptic and antiseptic in character, I reply by saying, Yes; immediately qualifying this answer, however, by adding, Provided the pharmacist is willing to assume certain obligations and responsibilities as to the character of the goods furnished.

Division of labor applies to the work of the surgeon, as to that of other occupations. It is a decided advantage to a busy man to be relieved from the labor and care of preparing the numerous dressings, solutions, etc., that go to make up a large part of the articles required for an operation of moment. There is a decided practical advantage to the surgeon in being enabled, as far as possible, to keep the hands out of such astringent solutions as the much-used and indispensable mercuric chloride, carbolic acid, and the like. The fingers of a surgeon have been called the "surgical eyes," and anything tending to keep them soft, so that their tactile sensibility is not destroyed, will be hailed with delight. While a division of labor of this kind does not relieve the surgeon from his responsibility as to the character of the materials to be used for dressings, the time saved is enough in amount to be otherwise turned to practical account.

The particular advantage to the surgeon in being enabled to obtain freshly prepared material, antiseptic and aseptic in character, will be most appreciated by those whose work lies hundreds of miles from centres of supply for those articles made on the large scale by the manufacturer. The different gauzes, cottons, drainage tubes, in fact the hundreds of articles that may be needed in an operation, are put up neatly, and for the most part are of good quality. Especially is the latter true of the articles as they leave the factory. A practical disadvantage relates to the moist dressings, the iodoform and bi-chloride gauzes, which are moist in name only, at least in this part of the United States. This disadvantage could be obviated

if they were prepared freshly by some competent pharmacist, in proportion to his local demand. It is not likely that the pharmacist could compete with the large manufacturer as to price and style; but he could, by conscientious attention to details, produce an every way superior article to those usually supplied. Every surgeon aims to produce "union by first intention" in wounds, whether accidentally or purposely made. Next to the operation procedure itself, a dressing, antiseptic and aseptic in character, conduces most to a favorable result; hence, the pharmacist who gives sufficiently of his time and conscience toward producing a satisfactory class of material of this kind, deserves no little credit for the successful outcome of an operation. Asepsis, broadly speaking, means cleanliness. Asepsis and antisepsis go together. No pharmacist should undertake the preparation of surgical dressings unless he is prepared to comply faithfully with the exactions understood by a careful interpretation of these words. The work is such that undivided attention should be given it from beginning to end. It implies clean rooms, clean material, and clean hands; and the one who cannot supply these had better leave the work to those who can, unless he be so callous that he is unmindful of the thought that possibly an unfortunate, if not fatal result after operative procedure, may be, and is undoubtedly, to be traced to improperly prepared aseptic and antiseptic material.

I have endeavoured to show the needs of the surgeon for good freshly prepared materials for dressings, and to indicate a few of the underlying principles involved in their manufacture, so that virtually each individual. pharmacist may be prepared to answer the question as he sees best.

Sophris, Col., March 1, 1891.

METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE VALUE OF MUSTARD.

BY L. E. SAYRE, PH. G.

School of Pharmacy, University of Kansas.

It need scarcely be said that any method of assay which has the merit of being simple and capable of being quickly performed, is a desirable one for the busy pharmacist. To judge quickly between the adulterated. and genuine article is one operation certainly above all others the pharmacist should be able to perform, and I may add, should be induced to perform very frequently.

The simple and easy processes of assay of the pharmacist may not suit the critical eye of the analyst; but pharmaceutical chemistry is distinctive, and its value cannot be weighed or judged by the critical balances of the analyst. The analytical chemist may totally ignore many of the processes of assay of the pharmacist, but these entirely serve the purposes of medicine and pharmacy.

The process for the ready estimation of mustard which I desire here

with to present, does not attempt to satisfy the exactions of an analyst, nor does it fulfill exactly the above requirements of the busy pharmacist ; yet it aims to quickly arrive at a definite result with regard to the quality of a medicinal substance whose analysis is complicated and unsatisfactory for the average physician and pharmacist.

The important constituents of mustard, it may be known, are sinigrin (myronate of potassium), from the black, and sinalbin from the white mustard. Besides these, myrosin, or an albuminous ferment, is present. When powdered mustard is moistened this ferment acts upon the glucosides, forming volatile oil, sulphate of potassium, and glucose, as products of decomposition, or fermentation.

The elaborate processes by which the various proximate principles of mustard are isolated and weighed take a considerable time, to say the least, and are unfit for the ordinary purposes of the pharmacist. It seems that for this purpose a process which would quickly arrive at the percentage of volatile oil producible from a given sample would be quite sufficient for qualitative results. Hassell's method of estimating the volatile oil, by receiving a distillate from an aqueous mixture of mustard in ammonia, evaporating and weighing the crystals of thiosinamin is a good one, but in spite of the greatest care on the part of the operator some uncondensed volatile oil escapes through the ammonia.

A favorite method of estimating mustard by some chemists has been to convert the whole of the sulphur contained in the mustard into sulphates by the action of nitric acid, and to estimate the sulphates thus produced by barium chloride. From the total sulphates thus estimated deduct the inorganic sulphates which remain, after incineration, in the ash. Either of these two methods above mentioned, it seems to me, is quite sufficient for the purpose of quickly arriving at the quality of a given sample of mustard. It does not seem to me to be at all necessary for even a comparatively exact estimation of the value of mustard to estimate the glucosides, ferments, fixed oil, etc.

It has occured to me that there might be some means employed by which mustard may be estimated which is more easily worked, and which overcomes many of the objections of the two above mentioned. My plan has been to distill the volatile oil into some solution containing a substance which would at once unite with the sulphur compounds, so that it could be retained and none escape. The substance with which I have experimented is nitrate of silver.

As I have not fully completed my experiments with this substance, I can, at the present time, give only a preliminary report, promising to continue. the work until I have done what I am aiming to do; namely, to establish a definite relation between the quantity of the black silver precipitate (which is produced when an aqueous mixture of mustard is distilled into a solution of nitrate of silver), and the quantity of the mustard employed.

If I am able, by repeated trials, to establish a definite ratio between these two factors, I shall have here a method, I think, that will serve the purposes of the pharmacist admirably.

The apparatus I have decided upon, after a number of trials, consists of a small Florence flask of two or three ounces capacity, which serves as a retort, and a graduated receiver. The graduated receiver is about two inches in diameter and contains 20 c.c. of solution of nitrate of silver;

N

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to the lower end of the condenser is attached a glass tube which will just fit loosely in the receiver and extend to the bottom of the receiver containing the silver solution. The appearance of this tube is like a narrow test-tube having the bottom elongated into a narrow tube which is joined to the condenser as described. All joints are made perfectly tight by the use of perforated rubber corks, and a moderate heat is applied to the Florence flask which contains the aqueous mixture of the mustard. The distillation is continued until a vacuum is found in the condenser; now, the flame is removed and the silver solution is drawn up in the tube at the mouth of the condenser. Repeat the application and withdrawal of heat until all of the volatile oil is absorbed by the silver solution. When this operation is completed, the silver solution is titrated with sodium chloride. Suppose, after distillation, our receiver contains 40 c.c., or if not, it is very convenient to make it up to that quantity by distilled water. Now, suppose it required 10.7 c.c. of this solution to neutralize 5 c.c. of sodium chloride, then by proportion we find the amount of undecomposed silver nitrate. Subtracting this from the 20 c.c. with which we started, we find the amount precipitative by the volatile oil:

N

N

The sodium chloride and silver solution being equal in value, it follows that 18.691 expresses the amount of nitrate of silver solution unprecipitated. Then, the following would be the calculation:

precipitated from the volatile oil from 0.5 gm. of pure mustard.

As I have before stated, if there can be a ratio established between a given quantity of mustard and silver precipitate, we have here a very ready means of testing mustard. I have not yet proven that five decigrams of mustard correspond to 1.309 silver nitrate; it requires, as before stated, a great many trials. These I propose to make, and would gladly have others of the Association perform the same experiments and prove or disprove the utility of the method.

Lawrence, Kans., March 10, 1891.

The following two papers were read by Mr. Lloyd, and the process described was illustrated by separating the alkaloids from the fluid extracts of guarana and of nux vomica.

REMARKS CONCERNING A SCHEME TO ESTABLISH A COMPARATIVE STANDARD FOR ALKALOIDAL GALENICALS.*

BY J. U. LLOYD.

This subject is introduced in accordance with the desire of the Cincinnati Chemical Society, before which, at the request of the President, Prof. T. H. Norton, who was acqainted with my laboratory methods of assay, the subject was presented experimentally at the February meeting.† Acknowledging the necessity at this time for contributions to the subject of assay determinations, I cheerfully comply, and hope that the scheme introduced herewith may (either as I use it or as it may be modified) assist those who seek speedy and simple methods for approximate standardization of galenical preparations. The paper is contributed directly to this Society by suggestion and request of some of the members of the Chicago College of Pharmacy, before whom it was my pleasure recently to perform a few experiments of a kindred nature.

When the assay experiments aforenamed were introduced I stated that neither the use of small amounts of bicarbonate of sodium as an antacid or neutralizer nor the washing methods of the subsequent steps were claimed by me as new, but that in other respects the general process was such a marked innovation on all others known to me as to probably make it an original one.

In considering assay methods, corrections must I believe be made for varying conditions seemingly of apparent unimportance, as for example (a point that many perhaps overlook) the time consumed in some portions of the process. If, for example, ipecac, aconite, lobelia, belladonna and other drugs possessed of delicate alkaloids are permitted to linger during certain stages of the manipulation, especially in water, acid, and alkali contact, the operation, in my opinion, is in itself more or less disastrous to accuracy, and the result may be questionable. If heat is applied to some of the organic bases while in process, especially in the presence of mixtures of water and acid, or alkali, the alkaloids may be more or less split or disintegrated, and may materially vanish. Hence, to arrive at fair comparative assay determinations the operator must in many cases avoid

* I recognize the fact that objections may be offered to all methods of assay. This is not proposed as a perfect process, but as one that is worthy of consideration and within reach of most apothecaries.

+ The Society then requested me to send the detail process to the Revision Committee of the United States Pharmacopoeia.