Am.  Jottr.  Pharm. 
October,  1910. 
|   Cardiac  Stimulants  and  Depressants.  453 
250  c.c.  florence  flask,  containing  the  1/10  normal  silver  nitrate 
V.S.  and  the  nitric  acid,  is  connected  with  the  extraction  tube  in 
place  of  the  usual  wide-mouth  extraction  flask.  A  water-bath  is 
placed  so  that  the  flask  is  immersed  in  the  water  as  described 
above.  Alcohol  is  then  poured  through  the  condenser  onto  the 
gauze  in  the  extraction  tube  until  it  siphons  into  the  flask.  Heat 
is  then  applied  to  the  water-bath  until  the  contents  of  the  flask 
boil  briskly.  The  extraction  is  continued  for  one  hour,  when  the 
flask  is  disconnected  and,  after  cooling,  the  titration  made  as 
described  above.  Experiments  were  made  in  which  a  known  weight 
of  iodoform  was  added  to  plain  gauze  and  treated  as  above  de- 
scribed.   The  results  follow : 
Iodoform  taken.  Iodoform  found.  Per  cent,  found. 
0.2III                      O.2117  IOO.29 
O.1953                      O.1952  99.95 
0.4336                      O.4355  IOO.45 
The  method  is,  of  course,  open  to  the  objection  that  in  com- 
mercial gauze  the  alcohol  might  extract  substances  other  than 
iodoform  which  will  consume  the  silver  nitrate  solution,  and  thus 
make  the  result  too  high.  The  absence  of  such  substances  would  have 
to  be  demonstrated  before  the  assay  is  made.  The  method  has 
given  perfect  satisfaction  in  a  large  number  of  determinations 
where  the  absence  of  interfering  substances  was  known. 
University  of  Illinois  School  of  Pharmacy. 
PHYSIOLOGIC  STANDARDIZATION  OF  CARDIAC 
STIMULANTS  AND  DEPRESSANTS. 
By  Thomas  S.  Githens,  M.D. 
TOGETHER  WITH  A  COMPARISON  OF  SUCH  STANDARDIZATION 
WITH  SOME  RESULTS  OBTAINED  BY  CHEMICAL  ASSAY. 
By  Charles  E.  Vanderkleed,  Phar.  D. 
In  spite  of  the  large  amount  of  physiologic  work  which  has 
been  done  with  the  vegetable  drugs  in  order  to  determine  the  method 
by  which  they  act  and  the  organs  and  processes  which  are  first 
and  most  markedly  affected,  we  find  very  little  in  the  literature  in 
regard  to  determination  of  the  strength  of  these  drugs  or  the 
