— 126 — ( 



drug 1 ). In his view a good commercial storax should contain from 37,6 

 to 56 p. c. constituents soluble in light petroleum. The acid values of the 

 light petroleum extracts estimated by him ranged from 36,6 to 62,9, the 

 saponification values from 193,9 to 199,6. 



For estimating the percentage of water in storax the author recom- 

 mends the following indirect method, which is said to be more accurate 

 than the usual direct method of estimation: an exactly weighed quantity 

 (4 to 5 g.) of storax is rubbed up in a triturating dish with a little anhy- 

 drous sodium sulphate and ether; the ethereal solution is filtered through 

 a tared filter into a flask of 100 cc. capacity; the dish and the filter care- 

 fully washed out with ether and the filtrate made up to 100 cc. The 

 ethereal solution is then left to stand for several hours over a little anhy- 

 drous sodium sulphate; after which 50 cc. of it is evaporated in a tared 

 flask and the evaporation residue dried until there is no further loss in 

 weight. The filter mentioned above is then also dried, the sodium sulphate 

 having previously been removed by washing with water. The loss in 

 weight as compared with the original weight of the storax represents the 

 water-content of the drug. 



For detecting adulteration with olive or castor oil, a form of sophi- 

 stication which is also frequently practised, the iodine-value is said to 

 be useful. 



For the quantitative assay of cinnamic acid in storax balsam, C. A. 

 Hill and T. T. Cocking 2 ) saponify 2,5 grams balsam by boiling for one 

 hour with 25 cc. seminormal alcoholic potash and 20 cc. alcohol. The 

 alcohol is then evaporated and the saponified mass dissolved in 50 cc. 

 water. The aqueous solution is shaken with 20 cc. ether, allowed to 

 stand, the ethereal layer separated, washed with 5 cc. water and the 

 washings mixed with the remainder of the aqueous solution. The aqueous 

 solution is next acidified and shaken out with ether four times. The ethe- 

 real extract is washed with water, after which the ether is distilled off 

 and the residue boiled vigorously for 15 minutes on a reflux condenser 

 with 100 cc. water. The cinnamic acid is deposited in the cold from the 

 filtrate of the separated cinnamic acid and this treatment is repeated until 

 no more cinnamic acid goes into solution. The acid, collected upon a 

 filter, is pressed and either dried over sulphuric acid and weighed or 

 titrated in alcoholic solution with decinormal sodium hydroxide. As the 

 cinnamic acid is to some degree soluble in water, 0,03 g. is added to the 

 result obtained. By this method samples of good quality storax were 

 found to contain from 21,6 to 30,68 p. c. cinnamic acid. 



*) E. Dieterich found that from 15,0 to 19,4 p. c. of crude storax is soluble in light 

 petroleum. Comp. K. Dieterich, Analyse der Harze, Balsame und Gummiharze. Berlin 1900, p. 188. 

 2 ) Chemist and Druggist 80 (1912), 412. 



