C. U. C. p. ALUMNI JOURNAL 



63 



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Conducted by Prof. George C. Diekman. 



Valuation of Rhamnus Barks. 



O. Tuntfiann, in Apoth. Ztg. , igij, 

 495i proposes the following: 1.60 gtns. 

 of the finely powdered and well dried 

 drug are extracted in an Erlenmeyer 

 flask with loo grammes of solution 

 of sodium hydroxide (for rhamnus 

 purshiana 4 per cent, and for rhamnus 

 cathartica 3 per cent, strong). The 

 mixture in the flask is heated to 

 boiling and then shaken for at least 

 10 minutes. After the drug particles 

 have settled, the liquid is passed 

 through a double plaited filter into sepa- 

 rator. The drug residue is agai;i thor- 

 oughly shaken for a period of at least 

 10 minutes with 60 grammes of the 

 alkaline solution. This liquid is added 

 by filtration to that already in the 

 separator, and the drug residue washed 

 with another portion of 10 grammes 

 of the alkaline liquid, together with 

 an equal weight of water, and the wash- 

 through a double plaited filter into a sepa- 

 rator. The combined filtrates are 

 acidulated and 160 grammes of chloro- 

 form added and the whole shaken vigor- 

 ously for a period of not less than 30 

 minutes. Set aside for two hours and 

 then collect most of the chloroform in a 

 suitable vessel. 



One hundred and twenty grammes of 

 this chloroformic solution (equal to 1.2 

 gramme of drug) are then shaken for 

 several minutes with 120 grammes of the 



alkaline solution. After the liquids have 

 separated, the now colorless chloroformic 

 layer, together with a very small amount 

 of the colored, aqueous layer, is drawn 

 ofif. Subsequently, 100 grammes of the 

 alkaline liquid are collected, passing 

 through a filter (equal to i gm. of drug), 

 and then acidulated with diluted hydro- 

 chloric acid. The mixture is allowed to 

 stand for a number of hours, and the 

 precipitate is collected on a plainly folded 

 tared filter, washing thoroughly with 

 water containing a little hydrochloric acid 

 (i : 100). After drying carefully at 

 about 60° C, the precipitate is weighed. 

 This weight multiplied by 100 equals the 

 amount of anthrachinon derivatives con- 

 tained in 100 grammes of the sample 

 >inder observation. 



The Detection of Minute Quantities of 

 Oxalic Acid in Wines. 



H. Kries and W. J. Baragiola {Szi'iss 

 Phar. Jour., 53-1915-399) recommend 

 the following described procedures: 



(a) 50 cc. of wine are heated to 

 boiling, and then decomposed with 3 

 cc. of a 5% solution of calcium 

 chloride, and enough ammonia water, to 

 produce a decided alkaline reaction. 

 Boiling is continued and the mixture 

 acidulated with 50% acetic acid, avoid- 

 ing excess. The mixture is then al- 

 lowed to cool, and is centrifuged. In 

 the presence of oxalic acid characteris- 



