Am.  J  our.  Pharm.  \ 
December,  1897.  J 
Laboratory  Notes. 
619 
LABORATORY  NOTES. 
By  Charxes  H.  I/aWau,. 
The  question  of  stability  in  pharmaceutical  preparations  is  one 
which  has  received  comparatively  little  consideration.  A  process 
for  making  a  tincture  or  a  fluid  extract  is  considered  satisfactory 
when  little  or  no  precipitation  takes  place  after  standing  for  some 
time. 
The  methods  for  alkaloidal  assaying,  which  are  in  use  at  the 
present  time,  are  of  such  recent  origin  that  very  few  data  have  been 
recorded  as  to  the  stability  of  such  preparations  as  may  be  assayed. 
In  a  few  years  such  facts  as  these  will  have  been  published  and  a 
better  knowledge  will  have  been  obtained  regarding  the  character 
of  the  precipitate  which  forms  in  many  fluid  extracts  and  tinctures. 
In  the  case  of  fluid  extract  of  ipecac,  the  author  has  an  op- 
portunity of  recording  the  alkaloidal  assay  of  a  sample  which  was 
made  by  the  late  Prof.  John  M.  Maisch  while  he  was  in  charge 
of  the  Government  hospital  laboratories  during  the  Rebellion. 
No  knowledge  can  be  obtained  as  to  the  alkaloidal  strength  of 
the  preparation  as  originally  made,  or  the  quality  of  the  drug  which 
was  used  in  manufacturing  it;  but,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  assays 
considerably  above  the  standard  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  thirty 
years,  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  fluid  extract  of  ipecac,  as  made  by 
the  process  in  use  at  that  time,  is  a  stable  preparation. 
The  process  described  in  the  i860  Pharmacopoeia,  by  which  this 
preparation  was  no  doubt  made,  is  essentially  as  follows  : 
Sixteen  troy  ounces  of  powdered  ipecac  are  exhausted  by  percola- 
tion with  alcohol,  and  the  alcohol  is  distilled  off  until  a  syrupy  liquid 
remains  ;  this  is  mixed  with  1  fluid  ounce  of  acetic  acid  and  10 
fluid  ounces  of  water,  and  boiled  gently  until  it  is  reduced  to  8  fluid 
ounces  (this  separates  resinous  matter) ;  the  liquid  is  then  filtered 
and  made  up  to  8  fluid  ounces  in  volume  by  the  addition  of  water, 
after  which  it  is  mixed  with  8  fluid  ounces  of  alcohol. 
In  the  1890  Pharmacopoeia  the  process  is  very  different. 
1,000  grammes  of  powdered  ipecac  are  percolated  with  a  men- 
struum consisting  of  3  parts  of  alcohol  to  1  part  of  water;  1,000 
c.c.  of  fluid  extract  are  made.  This  is  a  different  drug  strength  in 
the  finished  preparation.  The  i860  preparation  has  about  1,055 
grammes  of  drug  to  each  1,000  c.c,  the  alcoholic  strengths  of  the 
menstrua  differ,  and  the  present  official  process  dispenses  with  the 
