167 
Leffman, Henry, commenting on the standards for purity, says: 
The editor of this part [of the pharmacopoeia] seems to have an idea 
that the nitrates, nitrites, and ammonium compounds often found 
in water are in themselves objectionable, whereas they are merely 
indexes of past impurity. In the case of distilled water, small 
amounts of the above compounds can have no significance. The 
application of difficult and delicate tests will produce nothing but 
confusion, and, perhaps, the rejection of a sample that is entirely 
suited to pharmaceutic purposes. It is certainly strange that those 
members of the Committee of Revision who have been for years in 
general analytic practices allowed such absurd rubrics to appear. 
He further comments on the defense of the water rubric by a member 
of the revision committee. — Am. J. Pharm., Phila., 1906, v. 78, p. 81. 
Coblentz, Yirgil, says that the tests for ammonia were omitted, 
owing to the readiness with which this gas is taken up by distilled 
water when handled about the store; traces (more or less) of ammonia 
would have no bearing on the purity of the distilled water anyhow. 
Because of the solubility of the glass of containers in distilled water, 
the presence of soluble matter must be permitted ; this was not recog- 
nized in the last revision and caused hardships in the enforcement of 
the pharmacy laws. * * * Ordinary water, containing 75 mgm. 
per liter, can scarcely pass the U. S. P. tests for distilled water, hence 
such a substitution is not probable. — Ibid ., v. 78, p. 393. 
Baird, J. W., reports that of nine samples of distilled water ex- 
amined in 1901, nine were found to be adulterated. — Proc. Massachu- 
setts Pharm. Ass., 1906, p. 58. 
An abstract describes and illustrates an apparatus for the economic 
production of distilled water. — Chem. Ztg., Cothen, 1906, v. 30, p. 
1302. 
AQUA AMMONIA. 
Ohliger, Willard, reports that ammonia water frequently contains 
excess of coal-tar impurities and of pyridine in particular. — Proc. 
Michigan Pharm. Ass., 1906, p. 16. 
Barnard, H. E., reports that of 75 samples of ammonia water, col- 
lected from varying sources, but 7 were up to the required strength ; 
90.8 per cent were weak, dilute solutions, ranging from 20 to 90 per 
cent of the U. S. P. VIII strength. — Rep. Indiana Bd. Health, 1906, 
pp. 365-367. 
Sayre, L. E., reports that of three samples of ammonia water ex- 
amined one contained 27.2 per cent of gas, one 5.08 per cent, and 
the third 6.8 per cent. — Bull. Kansas Bd. Health, 1906, v. 2, p. 173. 
Havenhill, L. D., reports two samples, one labeled 4 ‘Aqua am- 
monia ” the other “Ammonia,” which contained, respectively, 27.2 per 
cent and 5.8 per cent of gas. — Proc. Kansas Pharm. Ass., 1906, p. 35. 
