The

After distilling off the spirit an oily-looking substance was observed floating upon the surface of the liquid. It was separated by filtration, and dissolved in ether; the latter having evaporated, there remained a semi-solid, tasteless, greenish, oily substance. liquid extract upon further evaporation yielded a golden-coloured, bitter, solid extract, so very hygroscopic as to defy all efforts to reduce it to powder.

In all these experiments upon taraxacum root with spirit, albumen and inulin are necessarily separated; it is clear that No. 1 gives the best result, presuming bitterness and brilliancy to be the standard of efficiency.

Commercially, Nos. 2 and 3 show the most satisfactory results, the waste of spirit being reduced almost to nil, and the yield satisfactory.

No. 4 shows that cold water does not separate the bitter principle of taraxacum. These results all clearly point to the conclusion that an alcoholic extract of taraxacum root is superior to the extract of the Pharmacopoeia.

A tincture made by percolating the dried root with rectified spirit, so as to obtain it of the strength of one in two, would, the author thinks, be an improvement on the preserved juice; it resembles tincture of nux vomica in colour, and has a very bitter taste.

When water is added to this tincture it becomes opaque, and after the addition of dilute hydrochloric acid, in a few hours a pale brown precipitate soluble in ether, chloroform, and petroleum spirit is formed, upon the evaporation of which there remains the greenish oily substance above described.

Pharmaceutical Preparations of Coca. G. W. Kennedy. (Abstracted from the Proceedings of the American Pharmaceuticol Association.) The author recommends a fluid extract and an elixir prepared according to the following formula:

Moisten the powdered leaves with the above menstruum, pack it carefully into a conical percolator, cover the surface of the powder with a disk of paper, and add the remainder of the menstruum; when the liquid begins to drop from the percolator close the lower orifice with a cork, cover the percolator closely, so as to prevent evaporation, and allow it to remain in this condition forty-eight hours. The cork is then to be removed and percolation allowed to

proceed, dropping not faster than at the rate of forty drops per minute, as quick percolation will not furnish good results, and should be discountenanced, more especially in the manufacture of concentrated preparations. When the drug to be operated upon is small and the menstruum large, as in most of the tinctures, percolation can be allowed to proceed at the rate of sixty drops per minute with excellent results. The first twelve ounces of the percolate should be reserved, and percolation continued with the same menstruum until the drug is thoroughly exhausted; evaporate the last portion at a temperature not higher than 130° F., until reduced to four fluid ounces, and mix this with the reserved portion. The fluid extract prepared in accordance with this formula will be found of a dark greenish brown colour, and to contain in the highest degree the odour and taste characteristic of the drug.

The

He first operated upon conium. 10 kilograms of leaves yielded 210 grams of extract of defecated juice. He exhausted the residue from this operation with boiling water, by means of two successive infusions, and obtained thus 500 grams of solid extract. conia was estimated in 10 grams of each of these extracts. The extract was dissolved in 30 grams of distilled water, and 2 grams of bicarbonate of soda were added to the solution. When the reaction had terminated the liquid was shaken with 100 c.c. of rectified ether every ten minutes during two hours; the ethereal liquid was then separated and the agitation was repeated with a fresh quantity of ether. The united ethereal liquids were shaken with 60 grams of water acidulated with sulphuric acid, during half an hour, after which the acid liquid was treated with Mayer's reagent (iodide of mercury and potassium) in considerable excess. After twenty-four hours of contact at a temperature of about 30° C., the liquid was filtered, the residue dissolved in 93 per cent. alcohol, and this solution evaporated in a previously weighed capsule,-first in a water-bath, and then in a stove at 100° C.,-until the weight was constant.

The residue left by the extract of the defecated juice weighed 0.074 gram.

The residue of the infusion extract weighed 0·105 gram.

The double iodide of mercury and conicine contains 17.69 per cent. of alkaloid. It results from the foregoing experiment that

10 gr. of extract prepared from defecated juice of conium contained 0.01309 gr. of conicine; and—

10 gr. of extract prepared by infusion from the same plant, after being deprived of juice, contained 0.01857 gr. of conicine.

In another comparative experiment made with an extract prepared from the juice and one prepared by direct infusion of the fresh plant,

10

10

gr. of extract from juice contained 0·0159 gr. of conicine. gr. of aqueous extract contained 00329 gr. of conicine. These figures-which, while differing considerably from the former, show results tending in the same direction-were obtained by the same process.

This process is imperfect in itself when applied to conium, because the salt of conicine is rather soluble in water; therefore the preceding figures are given only as terms of comparison, and as such they have their value, because the manipulation was the same in the smallest details in all the operations.

For plants containing fixed alkaloids,-belladonna and datura,— the author completely modified the analytical method. 10 grams

of extract are dissolved in 15 grams of water, and 2 grams of bicarbonate of soda added to the solution. When the evolution of gas has terminated the liquid is mixed with 10 grams of well-washed wood sawdust, and dried completely in a water-bath; the powder is then introduced still warm into a displacement apparatus, and chloroform poured upon it. After twelve hours' contact, the lixiviation is continued with 250 grams of chloroform, and the last portions driven through with water. The chloroform solution is received in a flask containing a titrated solution of sulphuric acid corresponding to a determined volume of an alkaline solution. The chloroform being distilled, the cooled acid liquor is thrown upon a small moistened filter, the flask and the filter being rinsed with water until the united liquids measure 60 c.c. A solution of alkaloids is thus obtained, in which the acid in excess is neutralized by a titrated solution of potash, the volume used giving, by difference, the quantity of alkaloid.

When operating upon alcoholic extracts, it is necessary to modify this process still further, otherwise it gives figures much above the reality and differing among themselves for the same extract. In estimating these extracts, the author does not distil off the chlororoform, but agitates in the cold with the acid solution, which is afterwards separated by means of a separating funnel. The chloroform, retaining the chlorophyll, is again shaken with distilled water, which is afterwards added to the first solution. The titration is then made as in the other extracts.

Having analysed by this method a certain number of extracts of belladonna and datura from various sources, the following experiments were made :

Two stalks of belladonna yielded 1,550 grams of stripped leaves these were divided into two equal parts, one of which was dried and yielded 122 grams of extremely dry leaves.

The 775 grams of fresh leaves were bruised and the juice was removed by strong pressure and clarified in the ordinary manner. The coagulum (A) produced by the clarification of the juice was collected carefully. While moist it weighed 20 grams; after drying in a stove its weight remained at 4 grams. It was put aside for the estimation of the atropine.

The clarified juice gave 23 grams of extract of pilular consistence (B).

The leaves from which the juice had been removed were exhausted with boiling water and gave 12 grams of very firm extract (c).

The dried leaves were pounded and gave 104 grams of semi-fine powder. 52 grams of this powder, exhausted with boiling water, yielded 18 grams of aqueous extract (D). 52 grams, exhausted with 60 per cent. alcohol yielded 16 grams of alcoholic extract (E.)

The four extracts were titrated by the process just described. As to the coagulum, 2 grams of bicarbonate of soda were dissolved in 10 grams of water, the coagulum was suspended in this liquid, and then the whole was dried in a water-bath. The powder resulting from this operation was introduced into a displacement apparatus, and treated similarly to the extracts.

The alkaline solution employed to saturate the acid contained 1.75 gram of pure and perfectly dry potash per 100 c.c.; consequently each tenth of a cubic centimetre represented 0.00175 gram of potash. The equivalent of this base being 56·11, and that of atropine 289, each division of the alkaline liquor corresponded to 0.00175 × 289 0009013 of atropine or daturine, the elementary

56.11

=

composition of these alkaloids being the same.

10 c.c. of acid liquor-that is to say, the quantity employed for each operation-were neutralized by ninety divisions of the alkaline liquid.

The liquid from the coagulum (A) required only eighty-five divisions.

The liquid from the extract of the juice (B) required only eightysix divisions.

The liquid from the extract (c) required only eighty-two divisions.

The liquid from the aqueous extract (D) required only eighty-two divisions.

The liquid from the alcoholic extract (E) required only seventyfive divisions.