of creasote, and by the addition of licorice powder a convenient pill-mass may be obtained which contains a large proportion of the active ingredient. When creasote is prescribed in pilular form, together with tannin and iodoform, Violé (Bull. de Pharm. de Bordeaux) absorbs the first by means of animal charcoal, then adds the other ingredients, and finally masses the whole with turpentine. The charcoal is said to mask the taste of the creasote to some extent, and by rolling the pills in magnesia, silvering, or coating with tolu varnish it may be still further covered.

Salicylic Esters of Monochlor Phenols. -Of the three isomeric forms of oxy. benzoic acid, the ortho compound or salicylic acid is known to have the most decided antiseptic properties, while among the cresols the meta compound is the most powerful, and it was to be expected that the monochlorinated phenols would show similar differences. Karpow has, however, ascertained that the para compound is the most powerful of them. The salicylic esters of two monochlor phenols have been examined, with the result that the orthochlor salol (m. p. 53) and parachlor salol (m. p. 71°) possess a much greater disinfecting power than salol. They are both colorless crystalline substances, insoluble in water but readily soluble in alcohol or ether. The solutions give with ferric chloride a reddish-violet coloration (Pharmaceut. Zeitung, xxxix, 81).

Simple Method of Sterilizing Water. -M Traube states that by mixing water with chloride of lime in the proportion of half a milligramme to 100 Cc, all microorganisms present are destroyed within the space of two hours. Water abounding in bacteria, after having been thus treated, will be found perfectly sterile when tested in suitable culture media. The amount of active chlorine present is reduced within the two hours by about 9.1 per cent., and the remainder may be neutralized by the addition of sodium sulphite in sufficient amount. The addition of an excess would not be detrimental, as it would be soon converted into sulphate by the oxygen dissolved in the water. After treatment in this manner, water has a pure taste. and a perfectly neutral reaction. Whether pathogenic bacteria are completely destroyed by such treatment has not been exactly ascertained (Zeitschr. Hygiene, etc., xvi, 149).

The

Aseptic Hypodermic Solutions. -At a recent meeting of the Société de Thérapeutique a communication was made by Drs. Berlioz and Duflocq, in which they described the methods adopted by them for administering medicines subcutaneously without risk of septic poisoning. The solutions are prepared under conditions of absolute asepsis and preserved in tubes of yellow glass, containing from two to four cubic centimeters each. neck of each tube is drawn out to a tapering point and, after filling, sterilization is effected before closing in an autoclave or a vacuum apparatus according to the volatility of the liquid When required for use the neck of the tube is broken off and the needle point of the previously sterilized syringe is immediately intro. duced into the opening thus made. Full working details, with illustrations of the apparatus employed, are given by the authors (Répertoire, [3], vi., 49).

Adulteration of Kousso.-Professor Arthur Meyer and Hendrik Sandlund have drawn attention to the difficulty that at present exists of procuring kousso in bundles, and point out the fact that an

adulteration with male flowers can be more easily effected when the flowers are loose than when the whole inflorescence is packed in hanks. From an examination of commercial loose kousso, they have found that such an adulteration actually takes place to the extent of as much as 12 per cent. These male flowers are unexpanded; the sepals of the outer calyx are distinguished from the corresponding organs of the female flowers by a thick covering of short unicellular hairs. Occasionally the female flowers develop stamens, in which, however, no pollen is formed. The presence, therefore, of sepals with dense short hairs of pollen, and of the tissue of the filament in more than very small proportion, are sufficient to distinguish the male flower, either in the loose or powdered kousso (Pharm Zeit., No. 99, 1893).

Influence of Solvents on Germicides.That the liquids employed as solvents of carbolic acid sometimes affect its properties as a germicide has been demonstrated by several writers since Koch alluded to the matter in 1881. Recent experiments by P. Lenti, of the University of Naples, have demonstrated that absolute alcohol completely neutralizes the germicidal action of both corrosive sublimate and carbolic acid with regard to anthrax spores, and that a considerable proportion of water must be added before any germicidal action can then take place. Glycerin impedes the action of sublimate when less than forty per cent. of water is present, and of ten per cent. solutions of carbolic acid when they consist of less than eighty per cent. of water Carbolic acid and lysol also lose their disinfecting property entirely when dissolved in olive oil. It would appear, therefore that alcohol, glycerin and fatty bodies are unsuitable ingredients of liquid disinfectants (Rev. d'hygiene, through L'union pharm., xxxv, 58).

Essence of Lemon -V. Oliveri has examined the essential oil of Citrus Limonum and describes it when freshly prepared as neutral in reaction not reducing ammoniated silver nitrate, of density 0.86 to 1.60, and having a specific rotatory power varying between [a] + 69°.75

and 72°.10 at 16° It oxidizes in air, becoming faintly acid, and distills entirely with the vapor of water. By fractional distillation the oil was separated into three portions The first (constituting one fifteenth of the whole) passed over at 170°-170°.5, and consisted of limonene, C10H16; density at 0° 0.8867; [a] = + 66 82 at 16. It formed a tetrabromide, C10H18Br4, C10H18C12.

16

=

and a dichlorhydrate. The second fraction (ninetenths of the total amount) distilled at 176-178°, and also consisted of limonene; density 0.899; [a] = + 76'.75 The third fraction distilled at 240° 242°, and is described as sesquilimonene. C15H24, a viscid liquid of density 0 9847, optically inactive. This constituted a very small proportion of the oil and formed an uncrystallizable oily tetrabromide and a similar dichlor. hydrate (Gagg. chim ital. through Bull. Soc. Chim. de Paris, [3], xii., 46)

Aconitum Septentironale -This plant closely resembles Aconitum Lycoctonum, but the flowers are blue or violet, sometimes white. It grows in Sweden and Norway. Northern Russia, and some parts of Austria H. V. Rosendahl has obtained from the rhizomes three bases: 1. Lappaconitine, C3,H,,N2O., in the form of hexagonal prisms, melting at 205°. A solution of the base in alcohol or ether has a reddish-violet fluorescence. When

heated with caustic alkalies lappaconitine yields to other bases and an acid. 2. Septentrionaline, C.,H,.N2O.. amorphous, melting at 128.9°, very soluble in alcohol or ether, and in 58 parts of water; has a bitter taste, and local anesthetic action. Alkalies convert it into two other bases and a crystallizable acid, which gives a bluish violet color with ferric chloride. 3. Cynoctonine. C36H55N2O13, amphorous, melting at 137, readily soluble in water or alcohol, but only in 1373 parts of ether. Mixed with fuming nitric acid and evaporated the residue becomes blood-red on adding alcoholic solution of caustic potash. Lappaconitine is colored yellowish-red by sulphovanadic acid, afterwards becoming green Septentrionaline gives a cherry-red with furfurol sulphuric acid (Apotheker Zeitung ix., 112).

Compounds of the Citral Series.-F. Tiemann and F W. Semmler describe the citral or geraniol obtained from lemon oil or lemon grass oil as an aldehyde having the composition C10H16O. It is nearly colorless, slightly soluble in water, but readily soluble in alcohol, ether or chloroform. It is optically inactive. The optically inactive geraniol, C10H18O,

is

the alcohol corresponding to citral. and it is convertible into citral by oxidation with chromic acid, while it can be reproduced from citral by reduction with sodium. Optically active alcohols of the formula CHO have been obtained by Eckart and Semmler-rhodinol, feebly lævo rotatory. from rose oil; coriandrol, a dextro-rotatory unsaturated alcohol. from coriander oil; linalool, aurantiol, and lavendol from bergamot, petitgrain, and lavender oils; also nerolool, the lævorotatory unsaturated alcohol, from neroli oil These optically active alcohols of the formula C.H.O all yield citral by careful oxidation. When citral is oxidized below 0° in acetic acid solution, with chromic acid it yields methyl heptylene ketone and a substituted glyceric acid, chiefly geranic acid. C1,H,6O2, in the form of a colorless oil, readily soluble in alcohol, ether, benzene or chloroform. By destructive distillation citral yields carbonic acid and a hydrocarbon, C,H1e, geraniolene, of 0.757 specific gravity at 20°, boiling at 142 143 Berichte, xxvi., 2708).

Kapok-oil Certain plants of the Malvacea resemble those classed under the title Gossypium (the true cotton plants) in possessing a filamentous covering on their seeds. Inferiority in mechanical properties, e.g., length and strength of fiber, prevents the use of this material for the same purposes as cotton. The best known of these plants is the Kapok (Eriodendron anfractosum, Dec., Bombax penundrum, L.), which grows in the Dutch East Indies; its cotton is used for stuffing beds and mattresses in place of horsehair. The seed itself is similar to cottonseed, in that oil can be expressed from it, such oil being used as a food, and for soap-making in Holland. As will be seen from the analytical constants obtained on the examination of the oil, it is of the same class as cottonseed-oil. The sample examined by the author possessed the following characteristics :

The oil was of greenish yellow color, and slight inoffensive smell and taste. It was viscous and turbid, becoming clear, however, on standing from the separation of stearin analogous to cottonseed stearin. When treated with sulphur chloride or sulphuric acid, Kapok oil evolves considerably more heat than cottonseed oil.-R. Henriques (Chem. Zeit., 1893, xvii., 1283).

Isoborneol.-By heating camphor with a mixture of acetic acid and a small quantity of mineral acid, J. Bertram and H. Walbaum have obtained an ester having the formula CH3COOC10H1, and by heating it with alcoholic potash they obtained a solid alcohol, C..HO. It closely resembles borneol, but is not identical with it. From solution in petroleum spirit it crystallizes in thin feathery laminæ, is readily soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, or benzene, and insoluble in water. It melts at 212°, and sublimes readily. It combines with chloral or bromal, forming well defined addition products similar to those obtained by Haller and Minguin with borneol. By treatment with dehydrating agents, such as zinc chloride isoborneol is readily convertible. with separation of water, into camphene. Boiled with nitric acid, or by the action of chromic acid, isoborneol is converted into a ketone, CHIO, which cannot be distinguished from ordinary laurel camphor. By reduction with sodium this camphor yields a mixture of borneol and isoborneol, just as laurel camphor does, and both these forms of borneol yield by oxidation the same camphor. The borneol of commerce was ascertained to be a mixture of borneol and isoborneol. The above described conversion of camphor into an acetic ester and then into isoborneol is turned to account for the detection of camphor in essential oils. In this way the authors have found camphor in citronella oil, ginger oil, kesso oil from Japanese valerian root, and oil of camphor. When pinene is present in large amount some difficulty arises in the application of this method from the hydration of this terpene to terpineol, which has about the same boiling point as isoborneol, and is capable of holding in solution a large proportion of isoborneol (Journ. prakt. Chem., 49, 15).

Guaiacol.

This constituent of beechwood creasote was formerly described as a liquid until Behal and Choay obtained it in a solid crystalline state (Pharmaceutical Journal, lii., 805). It is now prepared synthetically by the reaction of methyl iodide with pyrocatechin—

C&H

+CH2IC.H, =

+ HI

он OCH, OH OH Merck (Bericht, 1893) describes the product as melting at 33° C. and boiling at 205° C. A one per cent. alcoholic solution mixed with a few drops of two per cent. solution of ferric chloride and dilute hydrochloric acid becomes immediately blue, then green and yellow. The amount of guaiacol in the commercial article known by this name does not appear to be more than about 30 per cent.

PREPARATION OF GUAIACOL.

By fractional distillation of commercial guaiacol the portion passing over between 200° and 205 is a colorless refractive liquid which still contains an admixture of cresols. Guaiacol may, however, be obtained chemically pure by heating equal molecular proportions of pyrocatechin, the sodium salt of methyl sulphuric acid, and caustic soda. The reaction taking place is represented by the equation— ONa OCH, C.H.

OH CH,NaSO,

CeH = Na,SO,

OH

Thus prepared 'guaiacol is a white crystallizable substance, melting at 28°.5 and boiling at 205°.

Hitherto the production of pyrocatechin has been too costly for practical applica

Another method is that of Baum, who starts with metaoxybenzoic acid obtained from chlorinated toluene The mixture of benzal chloride and benzene trichloride is heated under pressure with lime, and thus the benzal chloride is converted into benzaldehyd, and the benzene trichloride into benzoic acid By treatment with sulphuric acid metasulphobenzoic acid is formed, and by melting that with alkali it is converted into metaoxybenzoic acid, the sul. pho group being replaced by a hydroxyl group. By dissolving the metaoxybenzoic acid in carbon tetrachloride and adding bromine, parabrom-metaoxybenzoic acid is formed, and by heating this under pressure with caustic soda the sodium salt of protocatechuic acid is formed, which by further heating passes into sodium pyrocatechin.

According to a third method of Baum's. alpha-phenol-disulphonic acid is melted with caustic soda. and the pyrocatechin sulphonic acid so produced is converted into pyrocatechin by heating with dilute mineral acids. Chemically pure guaiacol is described by Seifert as having a melting point of 32°. It retains the liquid condition at -2°, but immediately solidifies when a crystal is dropped in, the temperature rising to 27°. The specific gravity of guaiacol in a state of superfusion is 1.149 at 15°, and by the addition of a few drops of water or alcohol it retains the liquid state longer. The boiling point is 204-205o.

Liquid guaiacol mixed with twice its volume of pure sulphuric acid gives a colorless solution. Mixed with an equal volume of caustic soda (sp. gr. 1.3) it forms a clear solution, which rapidly solidifies to a crystalline mass. It mixes with twice its volume of glycerin (sp. gr. 1.19) without alteration of volume, and dissolves in eight times its volume of petroleum spirit, while ordinary commercial guaiacol requires only four times its volume for solution (Pharm. Centralh., XXXV., 97).

Aconitine.

Freund and Beck have arrived at results in reference to the constitution of this base which introduce fresh discrepancies. It is stated that the investigation was commenced by Freund in 1891, and afterward discontinued for a time in consequence of his learning that A. Ehrenberg was engaged upon the same inquiry. The chief points to which attention is directed are the formula of aconitine and the products of its alteration. The results obtained by the authors in the analysis of the base approximate to the values calculated from Wright's formula for apoaconitine. C3H4NO11, but they prefer to adopt a formula differing from those arrived at by Wright and by Dunstan chiefly in containing an additional atom of carbon, either C4H1NO11, or C4H4NO11, because it is more in accordance with the data obtained by analysis of the salts and with the products of alteration. By long continued boiling, Ehrenberg and Purfürst obtained from aconitine a crystalline product which they

and they refer to the formation of acetic acid as having been already indicated by Ehrenberg and Purfürst (J. p. Ch., xlv., 606).

From examination of the amorphous base thus formed, of its crystalline benzoate, hydrobromide, and hydrochloride, they infer that it is identical with the substance to which Dunstan gave the name ofisaconitine," but they state that its composition is not correctly represented by the formula C3H4NO12, and that it is not an isomer of aconitine, but probably the substance to which Wright assigned the formula C1H45NO10, under the name of " picroaconitine." As the identity of isaconitine with that base has been established, Freund and Beck consider that the base they have obtained from aconitine by elimination of acetyl is picroaconitine, and they propose to revert to that name, altering Wright's formula to C2H45NO10. The attempt to reproduce aconitine by acetylation of picroaconitine has hitherto been unsuccessful, the prod uct being a crystalline substance of a different nature. The benzoic acid in the salt resulting from the hydrolysis of aconitine is attributed to another simultaneous mode of alteration, represented by the equation

On an Imperial" British Pharmacopœia." *

BY PROFESSOR ATTFIELD, F.R.S.

The British Pharmacopoeia is produced under the medical acts of 1858 and 1862, the duty of providing for its compilation, and of deciding as to the necessity for, and the date of, any fresh edition being placed by the legislature on the general council of medical education and regis tration of the United Kingdom. For such initiation a medical body is, clearly, the most fit, especially when the actual compilation is carried out by pharmaceutical in addition to medical experts.

The current pharmacopoeia is a condensation of the prior pharmacopoeias of the three countries, namely, the London Pharmacopoeia (1618, 1650, 1677, 1721, 1746, 1788 1809, 1824, 1836, 1851), the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia (1699, 1722, 1736, 1756, 1774, 1792, 1803, 1807, 1809, 1813, 1817, 1839, 1841), and the Dublin Pharmacopoeia (1807, 1818, 1826, 1850)-possibly others, some, perhaps, reprints-together with additions made in the resulting conjoint pharmacopoeia, or British pharmacopoeia (1864, 1867. 1885, and addendum of 1890).

Now. my conception of a true British Pharmacopoeia has always been what, for convenience of description and discussion, may be termed an Imperial British Pharmacopoeia-as useful in the remotest corner of the Queen's dominions as in the center of London; a national medicine book of which, as of the empire, it might be said, but without boasting and as simply expressive of its silent, never-ending usefulness, the sun never sets on its might." In 1886 that conception ripened. The present pharmacopoeia had been published in the autumn of 1885, and one year after the editorial duties of myself and colleagues, Professors Redwood and Bentley, had ceased, I was requested by Pharmacopoeia Committee of the Medical Council to advise the council as to any procedure that might be desirable to secure satisfactory future revisions. The reply to this request, dated November 1, 1886, was printed and circulated among the members of the council, and, it may be added, has been acted on in its entirety by the council. It was two fold, and related (a) to the official recognition of pharmaceuti cal research; (b) to imperial extension. It is necessary to deal with the former of these two subjects before reverting to the latter.

The first (a) of the two suggestions whereby the due pharmaceutical efficiency of the next British Pharmacopoeia might reasonably be expected to be promoted was that annually there should be prepared for and presented to the Pharmacopoeia Committee of the Medical Council, a printed "Report on the Progress of Pharmacy in its Relation to the Future Revision of the British Pharmacopoeia of 1885," that is to say, a report on any and every original research, or published experiment, or suggestion relating to any one of the thousand or so articles, or sections, or monographs, of the pharmacopoeia-the number is now (1894) 1,003 if the articles of the appendix and the addendum be included-or on the arrangement or classification of the contents of the volume or on its nomenclature, systems of weights and measures, and so on; the report to include the reporters' own views, and his comments on suggested omissions, additions or alterations.

The

Condensed from a paper read at an evening meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.

writer had the honor of being appointed the reporter, and his seven annual reports have been accepted and printed by the Medical Council from year to year. The first for 1886 covered rather more than one year, namely, from the date of publication of the pharmacopoeia in September, 1885, to the end of December, 1896. The eighth, for 1893, will be presented at the approaching spring meeting of the council in May, 1894. The arrangement of the contents of the reports is alphabetical, like that of the pharmacopoeia itself, hence future reference will be easy, especially if, as may be hoped, there should be added, in due time, a single general index to all the reports issued during the life of the present edition of the pharmacopoeia. Each paragraph of each report has full reference to the volume and page of the weekly journal containing the original research. experiment, or suggestion. In many case subjects have not been reported at the year's end, but when the papers upon them or the correspondence respecting them have been more or less completed. A stock of these annual reports has been retained at the offices of Medical Council-sufficient in number for each member of future compiling committees, medical and pharmaceutical, to be supplied with an indexed, interleaved bound set but insufficient for any further distribution, A set so far is already in the library of the Pharmaceutical Society in London. A similar set as far as pub. lished is now presented to the library of the society in Edinburgh. By this "reporting" plan the labors of original workers will more readily be recognized and the duties of compilers pro tanto be facilitated.

* * *

To turn now to the discussion of the character of the next British Pharmacopoeia in its home editorial aspects, a discussion which it is intended that this paper shall initiate; all views, it may be stated once more, of course, being subject absolutely to the controlling voice of the Medical Council and the Pharmacopoeia Committee.

Clearly it would be unwise to alter the

nomenclature of the present pharmaccpoeia in any important respect. In the recently issued pharmacopoeia of the United States the Latin nomenclature of the previous edition is retained, while there is a half-and-half alteration of the English nomenclature. * For instance, Magnesii Sulphas and Tinctura Opii appear in that old dress which, let us hope they will long retain. While, however, under the leading title Tinctura Opii there appears the leading English title Tincture of Opium, which also is a translation, under the leading Latin title Magnesii Sulphas, there appears, not the translation of those words, namely, Sulphate of Magnesium, but, in a single line in type of Egyptian blackness, Magnesium Sulphate, and so on with the galenical and the chemical nomenclature. Here is a sacrifice of the advantages of translation and of literary elegance to mere "up-to-date "chemistry and its willo'-the-wisp nomenclature. Scientific chemists claim the right to alter their views of the chemical constitution of matter as often as may be desirable; to substitute one crutch, or rather hatpeg, of hypothesis or theory for another whenever the advancing strides of their science may render such a course expedient; to change notation in accordance with their views wherever the conjoint wisdom of the fol

* See Professor Attfield's letter in the October 26 number of THE AMERICAN DRUGGIST AND PHARMACEUTICAL RECORD.

46

lowers of chemistry erects a guide post; and to give new consistent names to formulæ. But the pharmacist and the medical practitioner, and the writer as a professed ifanxious guide of both,should place in the front rank of the qualifications for a name not supposed constitution, which is here to day and gone to-morrow, but permanence a name which shall, if possible, be unambiguous, contain no numeral syllables, be recognized throughout the empire, and possess the very minimum of instability. Chemistry is unfortunately splitting off from pharmacy. Chemists have arisen other than chemists and druggists, and chemists and druggists" are growing up who are not the former, or scientific chemists," but "pharmacists" alone. Better, perhaps, accept what appears to be the inevitable and be content with the name "pharmacist," but therewith let us take as our motto, "Pharmacy for the Pharmacists." Pharmacists should have their own nomenclature, which while not inharmonious with the frequently-changing nomenclature of chemistry shall have the prime virtue of all possible permanence. Few British medical practitioners or pharmacists will sympathize with this recent action of the compilers of the otherwise highly improved Pharmacopoeia of the United States. Let us trust that we shall retain in our next British Pharmacopoeia both the Latin and English leading chemical names of the present edition as a rule, with perhaps no so-called indeclinable substantives.

The writer's views respecting official synonyms, more especially those which tend to remove difficulties and uncertainties respecting the composition of what may be termed household remedies, have been set forth in the pharmaceutical press, and so far have been strongly supported. The Pharmaceutical Pharmacopoeia Committee may be trusted to give a practical outcome to the matter. The subject is

wide in itself and in its bearings, but is, perhaps, fairly focussed in the Reports for 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1890.

66

Respecting official weights and measures pharmacists would much help by discussing the question of the substitution of grains by measure-that is "fluid grains" or grain-measures" for minims. We use ounces (ozs.) and fluid ounces (fl. ozs.); why not grains (grs.) and fluid grains (fl. grs.), the minim gradually, in the course of years, dropping out of use? Viewed in the light of variation in doses, the subject has not apparently much therapeutical importance, and its legal bearings are not insuperable; but its pharmaceutical importance is considerable in its relation to the question of accuracy in compounding solutions and in dispensing, and as promoting simplicity of relationIn the ship of weights to measures. "Year Book of Pharmacy," 1889, p. 498, will be found a series of formulæ for official liquores, in which 1 part by weight of active principle is contained in 100 similar parts by ineasure-for example, 1 ounce of arsenic in 100 fluid ounces of solution, or 1 grain in 100 fluid grains. In the technical language of pharmacy these are true 1 per cent. solutions" because of the implied practice which never need be abandoned-namely, solids by weight, liquids by measure." Where the words "one per cent." are not qualified by something expressed, something understood, or an implied practice then, of course, the words one and "per cent." must. by the ordinary laws of language and logic, apply to the same thing or condition and not to dissimilar things or condi. tions. A solution containing 1 grain in 100 minims is scarcely an equally techni

cally true one per cent. solution and certainly not an equally simple technical one per cent. solution. An editor must not yet express a decided opinion on the question of the abolition of the minim.

But a still more important question relating to official weights and measures is the growing demands on our attention of the metric decimal system. This is now practically the sole system in the United States Pharmacopoeia. Our colonists in Canada must largely use that pharmacopoeia; and it may be expedient to give them official formulæ on the metric system. We must, of course, assume that the medical practitioners and pharmacists of the old country, at least, would not at present accept a pharmacopoeia on the metric system alone. Cannot those monographs of our current pharmacopoeia, which include weights and measures on the imperial system, be followed in every case by formulæ on the metric system? Sometimes it will only be necessary to repeat the lines containing the quantities, the directions applying to either system; sometimes the directions will admit of adaptation to either system; sometimes the paragraphs of directions in terms of the imperial system will also have to be repeated in terms of the metric system. The book need not be increased materially in size by such an extension of matter, for the spacing, "at least, might be less liberal than at present. It is not at present desirable further to enter on this question, for necessarily it must be fully discussed in the colonies and India, as well as at home.

Colonial and Indian additions to the pharmacopoeia have been mentioned. Considering the activity exhibited in the search for and in the making public of new drugs during the past 20 years, additions of many really new drugs cannot be expected. The question of home additions is important for medical consideration, but is one on which pharmacists may be able to supply some information to medical authorities in regard to the frequency or infrequency with which the more firmly established "new remedies" are prescribed. Here attention may be drawn to the following paragraph in the preface of the new pharmacopoeia of the United States: "In accordance with the positive instructions of the convention those of the new synthetic remedies which cannot be produced otherwise than under patented processes, or which are protected by proprietary rights, were not admitted into the pharmacopæia."

The younger workers at original pharmaceutical investigation will not accuse the writer of merging editor in professor, nor the older of merging editor in reporter, if he ventures to beg them to con tinue to experiment-experiment-experiment. There is dignity as well as definiteness in the words "pharmaceutical research;" and it is on accurate pharmaceutical research, properly so called, from a simple observation to an elaborate investigation, far more than on strictly chemical, physical, or botanical research, that the position which pharmacists have won for themselves in the production of the pharmaceutical portion of our pharmacopoeia can be main ained; it is on published accurate pharmaceutical research, in the main, that the pharmaceutical basis of future Imperial British pharmacopoeias can be constructed satisfactorily.

PRACTICAL PHARMACY.

The following notes on incompatibilities are selected from a series of papers read before the Edinburgh Chemists', Assistants', and Apprentices' Association on January 31, 1894.

BY W. F. MARTIN.

was

The author had recently dispensed an ointment consisting of equal parts of citrine ointment and liniment of lime. In twenty-four hours the ointment distinctly darkened in color. With some ointments the change took place very rapidly. The object was to find out the cause of this blackening. It was thought it might be due to the presence of mercurous salt in the ointment and precipitation of mercurous oxide by the calcium hydrate. The solution of mer cury in nitric acid for the ointment was made in strict accordance with the official directions, and on being tested there was no evidence of mercurous salt. With this the ointment was made very carefully as officially directed. The product, when tested, indicated a small proportion of mercurous salt, showing that reduction had taken place. It was found that olive oil did not reduce the mercuric salt, but lard, both in the fresh and rancid state, did so distinctly. The finest lard was employed. Although there is excess of olive oil in the liniment of lime. complete saponification does seem to take place, and there is a small quantity of free calcium hydrate present. The blackening of the ointment is therefore due to the precipitation of black mercurous oxide by the free calcium hydrate.

As soon as the ingredients are rubbed together in a mortar the mixture begins to darken, and if water is added the powder instantly becomes grayish black. It was found that if the potassium bromide was powdered and then dried so as to remove interstitial moisture before being mixed with the calomel, there was no darkening, but the same change took place instantly on the addition of moisture. It was thought that the presence of carbonate or free alkali in the bromide might cause formation of black mercurous oxide, but on testing with phenolphthalein and litmus it was found that the salt was quite neutral. After adding water to a quantity of the mixed powders it was sublimed, and the sublimate contained distinct globules of metallic mercury. The mixed powders were shaken up with water and filtered. On acidifying the filtrate and warming with copper foil metallic mercury was deposited, indicating a soluble salt of mercury. On shaking up with ether and evaporating the ether, mercury was found in the residue indicating a mercuric salt. On adding solution of strychnine hydrochlorate to the aqueous solution a dense white precipitate separated. indicating the double salt, HgBr,2KBr. analogous to Meyer's reagent, HgI22KI. The darkening is therefore due

This curious prescription had been ordered and directed to be painted on a glandular swelling on the neck. What the prescriber desired seemed difficult to understand. On adding the calomel to the tincture of iodine the latter was nearly decolorized, and the calomel became of a bright red color. The decomposition was investigated and explained as follows. The calomel and potassium iodide react thus:

2HgCl+4KI=Hg1,2KI+Hg+ KCl.

The free mercury was seen to separate and change to green iodide, and ultimately red iodide. One fluid ounce of tincture contains eleven grains potassium iodide, and this reaction therefore uses up 7.8 grains of the calomel, leaving 12.2 grains to react with the free iodine, thus:

2HgC1+I2=HgCl2+HgI2.

One fluid ounce of tincture contains eleven grains of iodine. 12 2 grains calomel contain 0.4 grains of mercury. One-half is 5.2, and requires 6.6 grains iodine to form HgI2, leaving 4.4 grains of iodine still free.

In the first reaction 3.3 grains of mercury are set free. This requires 4.2 grains of iodine produce to form HgI, leaving 0.2 grains iodine still free. When the reaction was completed the free iodine was determined volumetrically with the result that one fluid ounce contained 0.24 grain, thus confirming the above expla nation. The bottle then contained a solution of mercuric chloride and mercuric iodide with a little free iodine and a precipitate of mercuric iodide. It has been found that on standing a further decoloration ensued, and probably the following equation explained how this came about:

HgCl2+I, HgIC1+ IC1.

On adding iodine to solution of mercuric chloride a yellow precipitate formed and gradually changed into a crystalline red precipitate. There was no evidence of free chlorine, and the above equation showing the formation of iodochloride of mercury known to occur in yellow rhombic crystals which change to tetragonal red crystals, and monochloride of iodine, may explain the further decoloration, but this was not proved. He had been assisted and guided by Mr. Hill in carrying out the experimental work for this paper and the previous one.

A New Salol Reaction.-To a small quantity of salol contained in a porcelain dish add concentrated sulphuric acid. It will turn yellow, brown and finally green. Now add water and stir and the mixture will turn red, but will again become greenish if ammonia is added. When resorcin is so treated a dark blue color first appears which on addition of water turns red, to again become blue on the addition of water.

Observations

on Some British Pharmacopoeial Preparations. BY E. W. LUCAS, PH.G.

The following suggestions for additional tests and descriptions, which the author is of opinion might be usefully included in the next British Pharmacopoeia were communicated to the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain at an evening meeting on Wednesday, February 14.

Aloes.-No chemical test is official for distinguishing between the two varieties of aloes. Cold nitric acid produces a fugi. tive red color when added to powdered Barbados aloes, while Socotrine aloes, when so treated, gives no coloration until warmed, when it turns reddish brown. Also-it might be added-the surface of hepatic aloes is invariably covered with minute wrinkles, and the odor of either variety becomes much more marked if gently breathed upon.

Balsam of Tolu is occasionally mixed with common turpentine, but its presence may be readily demostrated if, after adding strong sulphuric acid to the suspected sample, sulphur dioxide is given off, accompanied by blackening-whereas pure balsam only turns cherry red.

Buchu -Although it is mentioned that buchu leaves are marked on their margins with oil glands, yet stress might be laid on the fact that one gland is situated on each serrature, and especially one at the Empleurum serrulatum, which apex. somewhat resembles Barosma serratifolia, has no gland at the actual apex.

Catechu and Scammony.-The percentage of ash yielded by these substances is not specified. Catechu is required to be entirely soluble in boiling water. This it rarely, if ever, is, a more or less turbid mixture being generally produced. Some impurity is invariably present, and it would be well to limit the ash to 6 per cent., as is now done by the German Pharmaocpoeia. Scammony is notoriously adulterated; even the prefix "virgin" is not always a guaranty of its purity, and the limit of ash would be an additional safeguard, 3 per cent. being looked upon as the maximum.

Poppy Capsules.-When poppy capsules are used for extract and for syrup they are directed to be freed from the seeds. Should not this direction be extended to the decoction? As it stands the capsules are ordered to be bruised, which implies that the seeds are to be used as well. It is, I know, urged by some that a little of the oil is removed from the seeds and remains suspended in the mucilaginous liquid. This may be so to a small extent, but I think it must be a very small one, and it seems doubtful if any special therapeutic value can be accredited to it. Moreover, poppy capsules are so often broken in storage and transit that most of the seeds escape, and frequently the decoction is prepared with anything but the fair percentage that belong to a capsule.

Digitalis.-Everyone knows the difficulty experienced at times in distinguishing broken specimens of dried leaves. Digitalis, for instance, is common in certain parts of the country, and many pharmacists no doubt have the leaves collected and dried under their own supervision. This is as it should be, but unfortunately it cannot always be done; and then one has to fall back on dried material, obtained as a rule in a more or less broken and crumpled condition. Under such circumstances, a detailed acquaintance with the leaf is desirable, and it might usefully be noted that in foxglove leaves the veins run well down into the petiole, thus distinguishing them at once from numerous

possible substitutes, including the not uncommon one of Inula Conyza.

are

Plasters. In several of the official plasters curd soap has been substituted for hard soap, and I have to strongly advocate a return to the latter. According to Dr Paul, powdered curd soap contains from twice to three times as much water as most other soaps, and whether it is due to this fact or not, certain plasters made with it are not as easy to roll into sticks as they were formerly. Emplastrum plumbi and emplastrum resinæ notable examples of this alteration for the worse. I also have to suggest the addition of a little rubber to the prin cipal bases, to counteract the tendency to crack when kept spread. A process involving little trouble is to dissolve the rub. ber in chloroform and anhydrous wool-fat, in a wide mouthed bottle, fitted with a long upright condenser, applying just suffi. cient heat to keep the mixture gently boiling; one part of rubber and two parts of wool-fat are good proportions. The semifluid mixture should not be added to the other ingredients until nearly cool, when if well stirred, the chloroform is soon dissipated. A little extra care has perhaps to be taken in the manipulation, as if a heat much exceeding 200° F. is used to melt the plaster, the rubber has a slight tendency to come out in lumps. This, however, is no disadvantage. as every practical plaster spreader is much too wise to use a greater heat than that afforded by a waterbath. I have here emplastrum ferri and emplastrum picis, to which only half per cent. rubber and one of wool-fat were added, and yet they are at this length of time still sufficiently pliable to admit of being rolled up and sent out in a cylindrical case without cracking, an operation to which few, if any, pharmacopoeial plasters would submit to half an hour after solidification had taken place. Rubber is now so extensively employed by large plaster spreaders that no serious objection is likely to be lodged against its introduction, particularly as the quantity would be so small.

Extracts.-The solid extracts are mostly ordered to be evaporated to a suitable consistence for forming pills, or else to the consistence of a soft extract. This leaves a good deal to the discretion of the operator. If an extract is to be really of a consistence for pill making it must be hard indeed; as a fact very few extracts could be made into pills without the aid of some addition, and they are very rarely so prescribed. Would it not be better to order all the solid extracts to be evaporated to a soft consistence, say that of fresh honey, for it is obvious that both requirements cannot be complied with. With regard to those intended for pill making. it has been my own experience that the official ones are better evaporated fairly low down, and while still warm sufficient finely sifted althea or sugar of milk stirred in, to bring thewhole up to pillular consistence when cold. An ordinary extract requires about 10 per cent. of moisture to be driven off, and replaced with an equivalent quantity of some inert powder to effect this. There are however three-the extracts of colocynth, rhubarb, and cascara-which even if treated as described are a constant source of trouble to the dispenser. These, it is suggested, should be evaporated at a proper temperature to dryness, and either be brought up to weight or kept as species," the equivalent of which is to be used instead of the soft extract.

Extract of Nux Vomica and Opium.These are both adjusted to definite strengths, the finished product varying considerably in consistence, which alters

still further on prolonged keeping. This renders the standardizing abortive, and it is suggested that these two also should be evaporated to complete dryness, and adjusted with sugar of milk.

Extractum Bela Liquidum already contains about 20 per cent. of rectified spirit, but it is insufficient to prevent the tendency to decomposition during very warm weather. In hot climates it is a common practice to add a little chloroform or salicylic acid to preparations whose keeping properties are not of the best, but I doubt if such a procedure is admissible in England, although on some of our summer days the thermometer may register an almost tropical tempera

ture.

Extractum Cinchonce Liquidum.-Our present process for this liquid extract is undoubtedly a vast improvement over the old method of exhaustion with distilled water, but even now the alkaloids are only partially removed, and serious loss, with consequent increase in the cost of production, is the result. After several trials I have found that the best results are obtained by percolating at an elevated temperature. The apparatus employed is simply an ordinary percolator provided with a hot water jacket, and can easily be fitted up in any laboratory. The coarsely pow dered drug is moistened and packed in the percolator, the hot menstruum being poured on until the liquid begins to drop, when the orifice is closed and the whole allowed to macerate at a temperature of about 150° F. for twenty-four hours, when percolation is allowed to proceed (still maintaining the temperature) until solution of soda ceases to cause a precipitate with the droppings. The percolate is afterward evaporated on a water bath and standardized in the usual way. Working on small quantities I have found that each pound of bark requires about four pounds of the B. P. menstruum for exhaustion, although operating on a large scale this quantity could probably be reduced. The comparative value of the two processes will be seen by the following: Two pounds of powdered red cinchona bark, practically containing five per cent. of total alkaloids, was divided into two equal portions. One half was exhausted by hot percolation, the second by the B.P. process. In the first instance the standardized product was as nearly as possible sixteen ounces, in the second only a little over thirteen ounces, although it had been percolated by the full amount of liquid ordered, followed by an additional four or five pints of wa ter. These facts appear to indicate a temperature of about 150° F. as the most suitable for complete extraction, with a reduction in the volume of menstruum and consequent shortening in the time of evaporation and exposure.

Liquorice Root (Dried). This may be used in either the peeled or unpeeled condition. Would it not be well to insist on its being peeled, as if the cortical portion which contains an acrid principle is inIcluded the sweetness is somewhat impaired?

Rhamnus Frangula bark is ordered to be kept for at least one year before being used. Should not this direction be extended to cascara sagrada? It has been stated that extract made from seasoned bark is not only less bitter, but is less liable to disagree with the patient.

Glycerin of Starch was, I believe, introduced by Mr. Schacht some thirty years ago under the the name of Plasma." His original formula, which was practically adopted by the 1867 pharmacopoeia, produced a fairly stiff translucent jelly. but now that one-third of water is sub