48 
SYRUPUS  LACTUCARII,  U.  S.  P. 
Heated  to  destructive  distillation  in  the  bulb  of  an  arsenical 
tube,  there  was  found  a  waxy  substance  in  the  tube  soft  and 
sticky,  almost  free  from  odor,  having  an  empyreumatic  taste, 
but  free  from  the  warmth  of  oil  of  cloves. 
The  precipitate  boiled  in  solut.  carb.  soda  dissolved  but  slight- 
ly and  with  difficulty ;  it  would  not  dissolve  when  treated  in  the 
same  manner  with  water  of  ammonia. 
It  dissolved  but  little  in  cold  or  boiling  muriatic  or  nitric 
acids,  whether  concentrated  or  diluted.  Some  crystals  were  ob- 
tained from  the  muriatic  acid  solution  having  a  garlicky  taste, 
like  mustard  seed,  free  from  its  pungency.  These  crystals  deli- 
quesced in  a  few  minutes  after  being  dried  by  heat. 
The  deposit  itself  is  tasteless,  and  seems  to  have  no  medical 
value,  as  three  one  grain  doses,  taken  at  intervals  of  an  hour, 
and  followed  in  fifteen  minutes  by  one  dose  of  three  grains,  giv- 
ing thus  six  grains  in  two  hours  and  fifteen  minutes,  had  no  per- 
ceptible effect. 
As  my  experiments  seem  to  have  determined  that  this  deposit 
exists  in  the  drug  and  has  no  medical  value,  I  carried  the  in- 
vestigation no  farther. 
Louisville^  Ky.y  Se'pt.  2d.,  1868. 
— Froe.  Amer.  Pharm,  Assoc.,  1868. 
ON  SYRUPUS  LACTUCARII,  U.  S.  P. 
By  p.  W.  Bedford. 
Query  29. — Can  any  improvement  be  suggested  in  Syrupus  Lactucarii, 
U.  S.  P.  1860? 
The  syrup  of  lactucarium  prepared  by  the  officinal  process, 
while  a  good  remedy,  is  an  unsightly  preparation.  Can  the 
finished  syrup  be  as  efficacious,  and  yet  more  pleasing  to  the 
senses  ?  Before  speaking  of  the  syrup,  let  us  inquire  into  the 
article  itself.  The  variety  of  lactucarium  now  found  in  the 
stores  is  that  known  as  German ;  the  English  I  have  not  been 
able  to  find  whenever  I  have  inquired  for  it.  This  Grerman 
variety  is  now  worth  from  $9.00  to  $10.00  per  pound.  Accord- 
ing to  experiments  of  E.  Parrish  and  W.  C.  Bakes  (Am.  Journ. 
Pharm.  xxxii,  227),  this  variety  yields  36  per  cent,  of  extract 
when  exhausted  with  diluted  alcohol,  the  English  variety  yield- 
