VALERIANIC  ACID. 
33 
ON  YALERIANIO  ACID. 
•  By  Frederick  C.  Musgiller  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Query  24. — The  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  defines  valerianic  acid  as  having 
a  sp.  gr.  0-933.  Is  this  sufficiently  accurate  for  practical  purposes  ?  and  if 
not,  what  standard  should  be  adopted? 
The  acid  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  is  the  monohydrated,  or  that 
containing  1  eq.  water.  Wittstein  makes  the  specific  gravity  of 
this  acid  0-967,  Fowne's  0-937  and  Delffs'  0-935.  The  last 
mentioned  specific  gravity  was  readily  obtained  by  the  writer, 
and  was  found  to  answer  all  the  officinal  purposes  for  which  it 
is  required,  namely,  the  preparation  of  valerianate  of  ammonia, 
and  valerianate  of  quinia.  There  is  probably  some  error  in  the 
officinal  process.  The  Pharmacopoeia,  in  the  preparation  of  the 
acid,  rejects  the  distillate  so  long  as  it  has  a  specific  gravity 
above  0-940.  But  it  is  found  by  actual  experiment  that  the 
specific  gravity  of  the  acid  can  never  be  reduced  to  0-933  so 
long  as  that  of  0-940  is  retained,  and  the  writer,  in  a  series  of 
carefully  conducted  experiments,  never  succeeded  in  getting  the 
acid  lighter  than  0-935  by  the  officinal  process  and  with  ordinary 
sulphuric  acid.  He  would  therefore  suggest  that,  at  the  next  re- 
vision of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia,  the  s.  g.  0-935  be  adopted  as 
the  standard,  and  would  also  suggest  some  slight  modifications 
in  the  details  of  the  officinal  process.  That  successfully  followed 
by  the  writer  is  as  follows  : 
Acidum  valerianieum —  Valerianic  Acid, 
Take  of  valerianate  of  soda  in  coarse  powder,  eight  troyounces. 
Sulphuric  acid, 
Distilled  water,  each  a  sufficient  quantity. 
To  the  valerianate  of  soda  add,  first,  three  fluidounces  of  distilled 
water,  and  then  three  troyounces  and  a  half  of  sulphuric  acid.  Mix 
them  thoroughly,  and  from  the  mixture,  after  standing,  separate 
the  lighter  oily  liquid.  Pour  this  into  a  tall  narrow  glass  vessel 
and  drop  sulphuric  acid  into  it  without  agitation  until  its  specific 
gravity  is  reduced  to  0*945.  Separate  the  lighter  liquid  from 
the  sulphuric  acid,  introduce  into  a  retort,  and  distill  nearly  to 
dryness,  rejecting  all  the  distillate  which  comes  over  before  the 
temperature  in  the  retort  has  reached  342°.    The  rejected  por- 
3 
