Am.  Jour.  Pharm.* 
March,  1910.  f 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
by  W.  Gartside  in  a  short  paper  in  which  he  makes  several  practical 
suggestions.  He  concludes  that  for  alkaline  liquids  carmine  is  a 
satisfactory  red  color,  while  for  acids  tincture  of  cudbear  is  to  be 
preferred.  For  percolating  cudbear  he  suggests  the  admixture 
of  50  per  cent,  of  pine  sawdust.  For  a  brown  color  a  solution  of 
ordinary  caramel  is  used,  and  for  yellow  he  proposes  a  4  per  cent, 
tincture  of  saffron  or  a  hydro-alcoholic  solution  of  annatto.  For 
blue  a  solution  of  indigo  carmine  is  suggested,  and  for  green  a 
blending  of  the  yellow  with  the  blue.  The  suggestions  for  odors  and 
flavors  are  also  quite  practical. — Pharm.  J.,  Lond.,  1909,  83,  pp. 
757-75%- 
Syrup  of  Wild  Cherry. — Robert  R.  Hallaway  reviews  some  of 
the  recent  literature  relating  to  syrup  of  wild  cherry,  outlines  a 
method  for  determining  the  hydrocyanic  acid  content  of  the  bark 
and  the  resulting  syrup,  and  concludes  that  not  any  of  the  recently 
described  methods  for  making  syrup  of  wild  cherry  extracts  all 
of  the  available  hydrocyanic  acid. — Ibid.,  83,  p.  798. 
Syrup  of  Wild  Cherry. — J.  C.  Umney  discusses  the  uses  of  syrup 
of  wild  cherry  and  points  out  that  this  preparation  is  largely  em- 
ployed as  a  vehicle  for  alkaloids  such  as  heroin  and  codeine,  and  that 
these  substances  are  naturally  precipitated  by  the  astringent  syrup. 
He  suggests  that  this  difficulty  might  be  overcome  by  a  proper 
selection  of  the  bark,  and  proposes  that  the  Pharmacopoeia  include 
tannin  limitation  tests. — Ibid.,  83,  p.  800. 
Opium  Alkaloids  in  Preparations  of  Opium. — Van  de  Kreke  and 
Swart  report  a  comprehensive  study  to  determine  the  degree  of 
completeness  with  which  morphine,  narcotine  and  codeine  are  dis- 
solved in  making  the  several  official  galenical  preparations.  The 
opium  used  contained  14.7  per  cent,  of  morphine,  3.83  per  cent,  of 
narcotine  and  0.75  per  cent,  of  codeine.  Their  results  indicate  that 
morphine  readily  goes  into  solution,  either  in  an  aqueous  or  an 
alcoholic  menstruum,  but  that  narcotine  and  codeine  are  but  im- 
perfectly dissolved  by  the  former,  while  they  are  readily  dissolved  by 
an  alcoholic  menstruum. — Pharm.  Weekbl.,  1909,  pp.  1338-1342. 
Ointments  in  Collapsible  Tubes. — A  rather  ingenious  contrivance 
for  dispensing  ointments  in  collapsible  tubes  is  described  and  figured 
in  a  recent  number  of  the  Pharmazeutische  Zentralhalle  (1909,  50, 
pp.  981-982).  The  essential  feature  of  the  scheme  is  to  encase  the 
ointment  in  impervious  paper  and  to  slide  the  ointment  thus  encased 
into  the  desired  tube. 
