132 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Eharm. 
\     March,  1910. 
International  Standards. — A.  Schamelhout  reports  the  Second 
International  Congress  for  the  Suppression  of  Fraud  and  comments 
at  some  length  on  the  agreement  reached  in  connection  with  the 
proposed  international  standards  for  drugs.  Among  these  several 
standards  are: 
Aconite. — Dried  aconite  root  should  have  a  minimum  of  0.5  per 
cent,  of  total  alkaloids. 
Aloes. — Good  quality  aloes  should  be  at  least  60  per  cent,  sol- 
uble in  water  and  not  yield  more  than  1.5  per  cent,  of  ash. 
Asafetida. — The  portion  of  this  drug  insoluble  in  boiling  alcohol, 
90  per  cent.,  should  not  exceed  more  than  50  per  cent,  of  the  total 
weight  and  the  drug  should  not  yield  more  than  20  per  cent,  of 
ash. 
Balsam  of  tolu  should  not  yield  more  than  1  per  cent,  of  ash. 
Benzoin. — Siam  benzoin  should  not  yield  more  than  2  per  cent,  of 
ash  and  not  more  than  10  per  cent,  of  material  insoluble  in  ether  or 
alcohol. 
Cantharides  should  not  yield  more  than  9  per  cent,  of  ash  and 
should  contain  at  least  0.5  per  cent,  of  cantharidine. 
Coca  leaves  should  contain  at  least  0.5  per  cent,  of  alkaloids. 
Digitalis  should  be  collected  from  wild  growing  plants. 
Ergot  should  not  yield  more  than  1.5  per  cent,  of  ash  and  should 
contain  at  least  0.1  per  cent,  of  alkaloids. 
Adeps  lance  should  not  contain  more  than  0.2  per  cent,  of  ash. 
Codliver  oil  should  have  a  specific  gravity  of  from  0.920  to 
0.930;  iodine  index,  after  four  hours  of  contact,  not  below  140  and 
not  above  170;  and  a  saponification  index  of  from  180  to  195. 
Hydrastis  should  contain  at  least  2  per  cent,  of  alkaloid. 
Lycopodium  should  not  yield  more  than  0.5  per  cent,  of  ash. 
Opium  should  contain  at  least  10  per  cent,  of  morphine.  When 
dried  to  a  constant  weight,  at  6o°  C,  should  not  lose  more  than 
10  per  cent,  of  weight.  It  should  yield  at  least  45  per  cent,  of 
extract  to  water,  equal  to  38  per  cent,  of  dry  extract,  and  should 
yield  not  more  than  6  per  cent,  of  ash. 
Rhatany  should  yield  at  least  12  per  cent,  of  extract  and  yield 
not  more  than  5  per  cent,  of  ash. 
Scammony,  Natural  and  Extracted. — Because  of  the  difficulty 
presented  by  the  selection  of  a  satisfactory  definition  for  scammony 
it  was  decided  to  postpone  this  for  a  future  congress. — Bull.  Soc. 
Roy.  de  Pharm.,  Bruxelles,  1909,  53,  pp.  321-340. 
