432 
United  States  Phannacopceia. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1  September,  1908. 
ject  of  food  and  drugs  require  the  alcohol  content  to  be  stated  on  the 
label,  even  of  official  preparations.  This  necessitates  that  the  phar- 
macists determine  the  alcohol  content  in  each  lot  of  preparation 
made,  entailing  in  the  aggregate  an  enormous  amount  of  useless 
labor.  It  is  recommended  that  the  Committee  of  Revision  have 
determinations  made  of  alcohol  content  of  official  preparations  and 
in  each  state  the  "  average  alcohol  "  contained  in  the  finished  pro- 
duct. As  an  official  statement  this  would  become  part  of  the  legal 
requirement  and  save  the  pharmacist  an  enormous  amount  of  time. 
Alkaloidal  Assays. — The  alkaloidal  assay  processes  need  revision, 
but  only  after  critical  review  and  research,  and  these  reviews  and 
investigations  should  be  made  by  competent  experts  not  associated 
with  the  present  accepted  methods.  The  processes  for  colchicum 
and  conium  are  far  from  satisfactory  and  must  be  improved.  In  the 
assay  of  aconite  and  preparations  of  same,  ether  is  directed  as  the 
solvent,  although  it  is  well  known  that  chloroform  is  the  better  sol- 
vent for  the  alkaloids  of  aconite,  and  the  writer  suggests  that  in 
place  of  ether,  chloroform  be  substituted  or  a  mixture  of  chloroform 
and  ether  as  directed  in  the  German  Pharmacopoeia. 
The  writer  will,  at  the  present  time,  merely  call  attention  to 
several  basic  errors  that  pervade  these  official  assay  processes.  The 
one  is  illustrated  in  the  direction  for  assaying  extract  of  belladonna, 
which  advises  the  introduction  of  5  grammes  of  the  extract  into  a 
small  beaker  and  its  solution  in  a  mixture  consisting  of  alcohol  5 
c.c.,  distilled  water  10  c.c.,  ammonia  water  2  c.c,  and  chloroform  20 
c.c.  The  attempt  to  dissolve  the  extract  in  the  beaker  in  these 
immiscible  fluids  is  impractical  and  destructive  of  accuracy.  The 
better  method  is  to  mix  the  alcohol  and  water  and  dissolve  the 
extract  in  a  portion  of  this  mixture  and  transfer  to  a  separator, 
reserving  a  small  portion  of  this  mixture  to  rinse  the  beaker.  The 
chloroform  should  then  be  added  to  the  separator  and  then  the 
ammonia.  By  this  method  of  manipulation,  the  alkaloid  is  subjected 
to  the  solvent  action  of  the  chloroform  as  soon  as  liberated  and  the 
loss  of  solvent  and  likewise  of  active  ingredients  is  thus  prevented. 
Another  error  is  the  use  of  N/ 10  sulphuric  acid  V.  S.  standard- 
ized with  methylene  orange  as  an  indicator  and  N/50  potassium 
hydroxide  V.  S.  standardized  with  phenolpthalein  as  an  indicator  and 
with  these  a  final  titration  of  the  alkaloid  with  cochineal  T.  S.  as 
an  indicator.    N/50  volumetric  solutions  of  both  acid  and  alkali 
