104 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1072 



DIVISION OP PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMISTRY 



F. E. Eldred, chairman 



A. P. Sy, secretary 



Wilbur L. Scoville : The Stability of Nitroglycerin 



Tablets. 



Of 22 different lots of nitroglycerin tablets kept 

 under observation 2J to 3* years, those made vpitb 

 a nitroglycerin paste (20 per cent, nitroglycerin 

 absorbed in 80 per cent, sugar of milk) maintained 

 their strength except the %5o gr. and l^oo gr. tab- 

 lets. All tablets made with an alcoholic solution 

 of nitroglycerin deteriorated. 



Deterioration may be due to one or both of two 

 conditions; i. e., a finer attenuation of the nitro- 

 glycerin when tablets are made from an alcoholic 

 solution, or a more desirable isomeric form of the 

 nitroglycerin as obtained in the paste form. 

 Further experiments will be made to determine 

 which factor may be the more important. 



James H. Beal: Some Seasons for the Variation 



Clause of the Food and Drugs Act. 



The United States Pharmacopceia appropriates 

 titles devised and used in the arts and industries 

 and attaches to them special meanings and stand- 

 ards which, though sufficient for pharmaceutical 

 purposes, are not applicable to the arts and indus- 

 tries in which the greater proportion of chemical 

 products are consumed. Only by virtue of the 

 variation clause can these products be lawfully 

 dealt in under their own names when they comply 

 with other than pharmaeopffiial standards. 



The variation clause is necessary to permit im- 

 provement of medicinal products in accordance 

 with progress in pharmaceutical knowledge. Im- 

 provements are made in these products constantly. 

 Without the existence of the variation clause such 

 products could not be offered under their appropri- 

 ate titles until after the improvements had been 

 recognized by a revised pharmacopoeia, which 

 might be ten years distant. 



The continuance of the variation clause as a 

 part of the food and drug law is essential to rea- 

 sonable freedom in industrial and pharmaceutical 

 chemistry, and the demand for its unconditional 

 repeal should be resisted. 



Francis D. Dodge and Alfred E. Sherndal : The 



Composition of Oil of Cassia. 



The authors have observed that oil of cassia eon- 

 tains a small amount of substances soluble in alka- 

 line hydroxide solutions, and among these have 

 identified salicylic aldehyde, coumarin, einnamic 

 acid, salicylic acid, benzoic acid, and an acid, not 

 yet identified, apparently an unsaturated one, pos- 

 sibly of the acrylic series. 



Though small in amount, salicylic aldehyde and 

 coumarin undoubtedly participate in the composite 

 aroma of the oil, and it is remarkable that their 

 presence has not been previously observed. 



H. A. Langenhan : The Chemistry of the Daturas. 



II. The Alkaloidal Content of Datura Leaves. 



The study of the Daturas having been assigned 

 by the Bureau of Plant Industry to its northern 

 station at Madison as a special subject for investi- 

 gation, the garden at Madison has in recent years 

 raised, under the direction of G. A. Eussell, the 

 government expert, as many as fifteen to twenty 

 species and varieties of Daturas. Much of the ma- 

 terial thus produced has been assayed by the 

 writer, and the results of the assays have recently 

 been published as a Bulletin (No. 192) of the Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin. 



The collected results of all assays published by 

 different experimenters seemed to show that little 

 or nothing could be expected by working along old 

 lines. Hence the cooperation of Professor Leon .J. 

 Cole, professor of experimental breeding in the Col- 

 lege of Agriculture, and his assistant, Mr. C. M. 

 Woodworth has been secured for a series of breed- 

 ing experiments. As a result of last summer's 

 work Messrs. Cole and Woodworth have germi- 

 nated the collected seeds and are studying the re- 

 sults in the greenhouse. As in previous years, the 

 writer has determined the alkaloidal content of the 

 leaves of the plant studied by the breeders. The 

 results thus obtained in greenhouse and laboratory 

 will determine the selection of the seeds to be 

 planted in the experimental garden this coming 

 spring. 



N. E. Mueller: A Possible Explanation of the 

 Seduction Phenomena Observed in Elixir of 

 Phosphates of Iron, Quinine and Strychnine 

 when Exposed to Light. 



By process of elimination the study of at least 

 one of the basal problems has resolved itself to an 

 investigation of the action of ferric iron in the 

 form of hydroxide on citric acid under the influ- 

 ence of sunlight. Under these conditions the ferric 

 iron is reduced to ferrous iron, at least in part, and 

 goes into solution ; a very small amount of the iron 

 appears to be reduced to metaUio iron, whicli is 

 deposited in a very fine state of division. While 

 the iron is reduced, the citric acid is oxidized in 

 part with the formation of carbon dioxide. The 

 colorless solution of iron salt or salts which thus re- 

 sults under the absolute exclusion of atmospheric 

 o^gen becomes colored at once when exposed to 

 the atmosphere, the solution turning greenish. 



Charles L. Parsons Secretary 



