DOG 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 11, 1872. 
members possess of reducing to a solid condition the 
horn, the flint and the lime of the waters they live in, 
is what constitutes their importance among rival entities, 
and gives them a certain influence over the phases of 
this ever-changing globe — an influence not to be 
underrated when we take into account their vast numbers 
and universal diffusion; their size in more genial seas ; 
and, above all, their unceasing operation in the waters, 
continued from age to age without a moment’s intermis¬ 
sion.” And this view, especially as regards the aggrega¬ 
tion of silex or flint, seems fully borne out by geological 
evidence. The large flint nodules found in the English 
chalk, and from which all the flint we have is derived, 
are supposed to be fossilized siliceous sponges whose 
presence in those ancient seas induced the deposit 
of silex around them; and thus it is that in very many 
flints we find a piece of fossil sponge in the centre, as a 
sort of nucleus for the surrounding layer of silex. It 
does, however, seem strange that to one of nature’s softest 
productions we should owe one of its hardest, that the 
sponge of the past should be the flint of the present. 
ON THE AMOUNT OF MOISTURE CONTAINED IN 
AIR-DRY DRUGS. 
BY GEO. W. KENNEDY. 
How many pharmacists would believe it if informed 
that the drugs which they are daily handling contain 
from 10 to 18 per cent, of moisture, which they lose in 
drying ? I myself could scarcely credit it when my first 
experiments were made, and thought I might have lost 
some of the drug between the repeated weighings, but 
repetition of the experiments always confirmed the results 
previously obtained. Even the powders, wdnch are sup- 
2 )osed to be dry or very nearly so, lose in some cases from 
8 to 10 per cent, of moisture. 
I have experimented with a large number of drugs, 
sufficient, I believe, to give the pharmacist a true idea of 
the amount of moisture contained in them, and the results 
show conclusively that such pharmaceutical preparations 
like syrups, tinctures, fluid extracts, etc., must be much 
weaker when prepared from merely air-dry material 
than when made from anhydrous drugs. 
The process of drying was conducted in a common 
cooking-stove oven, at a temperature of about 120° 
Fahrenheit, to which the drug was exposed until it ceased 
losing any more weight. By being exposed to a low 
but continuous heat, the loss in volatile oil may probably 
be greater than when the drug is dried at an elevated 
heat, but its normal amount is very small in most of the 
drugs experimented with, so that the deduction of the 
volatile oil expelled in drying would alter the figures 
below but little. 
The dried drugs were placed in a room for two weeks 
and then re-weighed, the increase of weight representing 
the amount of moisture reabsorbed in that time. While 
these experiments were made the weather was cold and 
dry, and this circumstance doubtless accounts for the 
smaller percentage absorbed again, while in a few cases 
the loss of volatile oil may explain a portion of the de¬ 
ficiency. 
The following tables show the loss sustained by the 
drugs mentioned, and the gain in weight of the dried 
articles under the circumstances mentioned above :— 
1. Roots, Rhizomes, etc. 
Loss. 
Gain. 
Yield by re¬ 
absorption. 
Lappa. 
..16-25 
83-75 
10-40 
Calumba. 
..16- 
84- 
11-50 
Taraxacum. 
84-75 
9-75 
Asclep. tuberosa.... 
Cypripedium. 
...15-25 
84-75 
10.75 
...14- 
86- 
5- 
Gentiana. 
..13- 
87- 
9- 
Panax . 
..12-75 
87-25 
4-75 
Krameria. 
..12-67 
87-33 
9-17 
Polygonatum.. , 
. .12-60 
87-40 
6-80 
Scilla. 
..12-50 
87-50 
8.50 
Althma. 
..12-50 
87-50 
8-50 
Gossypium. 
.. 12-40 
87-60 
6-40 
Helleborus niger.... 
..12- 
88- 
8-25 
Colchicum. 
..11-50 
88-50 
8- 
Inula. 
..11-40 
88-60 
6-40 
Rheum. 
..11-33 
88-67 
8-33 
Spigelia. 
..11-25 
88-75 
7-25 
Podophyllum. 
..10-33 
89-67 
6-73 
Serpentaria. 
..10-33 
89-67 
5-83 
Senega. 
..10-30 
89-70 
5-76 
Asarum canadensis . 
..10-25 
89-75 
3-85 
Valeriana. 
. .10-20 
89-80 
6- 
Sarsaparilla. 
..9- 
91- 
4*50 
2. Stems and Wood. 
Dulcamara. 
..12- 
88- 
6-33 
Quassia. 
..10- 
90- 
8- 
3. 
Barks. 
Rhus glabrum. 
..14-67 
85-33 
8.67 
Xanthoxylum. 
..14-50 
85-50 
8-50 
Cinnamomum. 
. .10-50 
89-50 
6-50 
Prunus Virg. 
. .10- 
90- 
5-25 
Cinch, calis. 
.. 9- 
91- 
2-80 
4. 
Herbs. 
Absinthium. 
..14- 
86- 
8-50 
Hedeoma. 
..12-25 
87-75 
8-25 
Lobelia... 
..11-60 
88-40 
5-60 
Leonurus. 
..10-80 
89-20 
5-20 
Glechoma. 
..10-33 
89-67 
6-33 
5. 
Leaves. 
Uvularia perfol. 
. .18- 
82- 
8- 
Conium. 
..16- 
84- 
6- 
Cataria. 
..14-50 
85*50 
11-50 
Aconitum. 
.. 14- 
86- 
9-25 
Belladonna. 
..13-75 
86-25 
5-75 
Hyoscyamus. 
. .12-25 
87-75 
5-85 
Senna Alexand.. 
. ..12-20 
87*80 
7*20 
Melissa. 
..11-75 
88-25 
7-80 
Matico. 
. .11- 
89- 
6- 
Tussilago. 
..10-50 
89-50 
4-67 
Salvia. 
..10-50 
89-50 
8- 
Stramonium. 
..10-33 
89-67 
7-83 
Rosmarinus. 
..10-25 
89-75 
6-65 
Uvaursi. 
..10- 
90- 
4- 
Buchu. 
.. 9-20 
90-80 
4-40 
6. 
Flowers. 
Lavandula . 
..14-25 
85-75 
7-75 
Arnica. 
..13-80 
86-20 
8-80 
Anthemis. 
.. 9-80 
90-20 
6-80 
7. 
Seeds. 
Stramonium. 
..10- 
90- 
7- 
8. Powdered Drugs. 
Rheum. 
.. 8-25 
91-75 
5'25 
Inula. 
.. 8-33 
91-67 
5-30 
Calumba. 
.. 8-50 
91-50 
7- 
Colchici Rad. 
.. 9- 
91- 
6- 
Sanguinaria. 
.. 9- 
91- 
7- 
Cimicifuga. 
Amer. Journ. Pharm. 
.. 9-80 
90-20 
4-80 
THE CALABAR BEAN.* 
BY DR. L. VINCENT. 
In a sojourn of nearly two years at the Gaboon, during 
which time he had opportunities of studying the nume¬ 
rous substances possessing medical properties produced 
in that part of equatorial Africa, Dr. Vincent’s attention 
* Journ. Pharm. et de Chimie [4], vol. xv. p. 109. 
