ON  THE  NEW  GERMAN  SYSTEM  OF  WEIGHTL.  207 
dried  ;  the  yield  was  two  hundred  and  thirty-five  grains,  of  a  yel- 
lowish white  color,  of  scarcely  any  smell,  and  of  a  feebly  bitter, 
not  unpleasant  taste  :  it  was  found  to  be  quite  active  in  the  dose 
of  three  quarters  of  a  grain. 
A  portion  of  this  resin  was  repeatedly  treated  with  ether,  the 
ethereal  solutions  poured  off  and  allowed  to  evaporate  sponta- 
neously ;  a  greenish  yellow  resin  was  obtained,  which  was  found 
to  constitute  four-fifths  of  the  weight  of  the  original  resin.  This , 
through  the  kindness  of  one  of  the  Professors  of  the  College, 
was  repeatedly  tried  in  one  of  the  hospitals  in  this  city,  and 
found  to  be  very  active  in  the  dose  of  half  a  grain  ;  I  also  gave 
a  portion  of  it  to  two  other  physicians  whose  experiments  cor- 
roborated the  above  ;  so  I  think  that  there  is  no  doubt  but  that 
the  ethereal  resin  is  the  active  one.  The  resin  insoluble  in 
ether  was  of  a  reddish,  brown,  color  and  in  the  dose  of  two  grains 
it  produced  no  effect.  To  sum  up  the  result  of  my  experiments  ; 
the  etheral  resin,  as  obtained  by  exhausting  the  root  with  alco- 
hol, evaporating,  and  precipitating  with  water,  and  treating  with 
ether,  constitutes  four-fifths  of  the  resin  found  in  the  root ;  that 
it  is  the  active  one,  and  the  dose  to  begin  with  is  half  a  grain ; 
that  the  alcoholic  resin  is  comparatively,  if  not  entirely,  inert ; 
still,  as  it  exists  in  such  a  small  proportion,  it  can  scarcely  be 
considered  as  objectionable  if  the  resin  is  properly  prepared. 
For  the  sake  of  experiment  a  portion  of  podophyllin,  of  a 
light  brown  color,  manufactured  in  this  city,  was  treated  with 
ether;  only  three-fourths  of  it  was  soluble  in  that  menstruum  and 
strange  to  say,  it  had  to  be  given  in  the  dose  of  one  and  a  half 
grains  to  produce  any  effect ;  what  it  was  owing  to,  I  know  not. 
The  alcoholic  resin  was  not  tried. 
Of  a  sample  of  still  darker  color,  manufactured  in  Cincinnati, 
only  one  fourth  was  soluble  in  ether  ;  it  was  not  tried,  as  I 
think  the  ethereal  is  the  active  one,  no  matter  in  what  propor- 
tion it  may  exist  in  the  various  samples. 
Philadelphia,  February,  1859. 
ON  THE  NEW  GERMAN  SYSTEM  OF  WEIGHTS. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  : 
Dear  Sir, — The  "  Archiv  der  Pharmacie,"  May,  1858,  page 
257,  &c,  contains  tables  for  the  reduction  of  the  former  medi- 
