ACIDUM TARTARICUM. ACONITUM. 11 



Acidum Tartaricum (C^eOe). Usually obtained from argol. 

 Properties: 



Appearance 

 Color ... 



Solubility: 



H 2 O 



C 2 H 5 OH ... 



Odor 



Taste 



Dissolve 3 Gm. Tartaric Acid in 50 Gm. distilled water. Titrate with normal 

 KOH, V. S., using phenolthalein as indicator. Each mil of titer indicates 0.07503 

 Gm. C^eOe. 



Tartaric Acid is used in the preparation of the official Seidlitz Powder (Pulvis- 

 Effervescens Compositus). It has very little medicinal utility otherwise. 



Other official acids of less or no therapeutic importance are ; Acidum Aceticum, 

 A. Aceticum Glaciale, A. Gallicum, A. Hydriodicum Dilutum, A. Hydrochloricum, A. 

 Hydrocyanicum Dilutum, A. Hypophosphorosum, A. Hypophosphorosum Dilutum, A. 

 Lacticum, A. Nitricum, A. Nitrohydrochloricum, A. Nitrohydrochloricum Dilutum, 

 A. Oleicum, A. Phenylcinchoninicum, A. Phosphoricum, A. Phosphoricum Dilutum, 

 A. Stearicum, A. Sulphuricum, A. Sulphuricum Aromaticum, A. Sulphuricum 

 Dilutum, A. Trichloraceticum. 



ACONITUM. 



Aconite, or Monkshood, as it appears in commerce, is the dried, tuberous root of 

 Aconitns Napcllns (Earn. Rannncitlacca;), a perennial herb about i metre high, grow- 

 ing in mountainous regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. 



Properties: (a) Root: 

 Appearance 



Odor 



Taste (cautiously) 

 Cross-section 



Properties: (b) Powder: 

 Color Odor Taste 



Assay. Place 15 Gm. No. 40 Aconite Powder in a flask, add 150 mils ether, shake 

 well, then let it stand 10 minutes; add 5 mils NH 4 OH, agitate vigorously every 10 

 minutes for 2 hours. Next add 15 mils distilled H 2 O, shake well, let settle ; then decant 

 100 mils of the solution, filtering it through purified cotton into a separator. Rinse 

 funnel and cotton with a little ether. From this solution extract the alkaloid by 

 repeated shakings out with weak H 2 SO 4 , collecting the acid washings in another 

 separator; add NH 4 OH to decided alkalinity (litmus test), and continue extraction, 

 with repeated shakings out with ether. Evaporate the ether washings to dryness, dis- 

 solve the alkaloids in the residue in precisely 5 mils T ^ H 2 SO 4 , V. S., and titrate the 

 excess of acid with 1^ KOH, V. S., using T.S. cochineal as indicator. Each mil ** 

 H 2 SO 4 , V. S., consumed corresponds to 64.539 m S- f the ether-soluble alkaloids of 

 Aconite. 



What is. the alkaloidal strength of your sample? 



