C. U. C. P ALUMNI JOURNAL 



67 



Protective Varnish for "Movie" 

 Films. — A. R. A., New York, desires a 

 receipe for a varnish to be appHed as a 

 protective coating to moving picture 

 fihns. This is scarcely a pharmaceutical 

 question and while we suggest that our 

 querist experiment with a varnish made 

 by dissolving celluloid or else acetyl- 

 cellulose in an appropriate solvent, such 

 as "banana oil," we proffer the advice, 

 chiefly in hope that some of our readers 

 who know may come to our aid with a 

 tried recipe. 



Berthelot's Salt.— C. C, New York. 

 — According to Hager's "Handbuch," 

 Berthelot's salt is a synonym for potas- 

 sium chlorate. 



Ag-mel. — J. T. W., New York de- 

 sires information concerning Ag-mel. 

 According to Martindale's "Extra Phar- 

 macopoeia." this is a synonym for succus 

 agav^ concentratus, the concentrated 

 juice of the Mexican plant Agave Mex- 

 icana. This, states Martindale, is used 

 with considerable success in kidney 

 troubles in doses of one-half ounce three 

 or four times a day. From the account 

 given one judges that Martihdale has 

 in mind some English proprietary article, 

 our reference to price-lists shows noth- 

 ing listed under the synonym given 

 above. Donald McEwan (Chemist and 

 Druggist 76-1910-446) describes at 

 length pulque which is the fermented 

 sap of the maguey plant. Agave Mex- 

 icana. In the article he states the fresh 

 sap is called "agua miel" (honey water) ; 

 so the connection between that and Ag- 

 mel is plain. Perhaps some of our 

 readers can inform us as to where either 

 product can be obtained in this country 

 and thus oblige both us and J. T. W. 



Tests for Aspirin. — S. D. S., New 

 York. — The following tests for aspirin 

 are taken from the monograph on that 

 chemical found in "New and Non- 

 Ofhcial Remedies" ; that valuable and 

 authoritative handbook on new remedies 

 which is published by the American 

 Medical Association and which should 

 be found at every prescription counter. 



"It forms small colorless crystalline 



needless melting at 135° C 



It forms clear colorless solutions which 

 do not develop a violet color on the addi- 

 tion of ferric chloride, unless previously 

 hydrolyzed by boiling with sodium 

 hydroxide.. It gives no reaction with 

 silver nitrate and should leave no residue, 

 when heated on platinum foil." 



As to detecting the difference between 

 aspirin prepared for the American mar- 

 ket and that intended for the Canadian 

 trade — a condition that scarcely obtains 

 now that the war is on — it is claimed 

 that by crystallizing the batches from 

 different solvents, different and distinc- 

 tive crystal forms are obtained. For 

 details concerning the crystal structure 

 of aspirin and its substitutes, we refer 

 our querist to a paper by Dr. William 

 Mansfield {Pract. Drug., Dec. 1912 p. 



25)- 



Extract de Palo de Lima. — G. H. K., 



New York. — This Spanish name means 

 the extract of Lima wood, which is a 

 synonym for "hypernic" which is a 

 variety of Brazilwood or pernambuco 

 wood or red campeche wood. We pre- 

 sume that our querist can obtain a com- 

 mercial extract of hypernic from some 

 dealer in dye stuffs. 



