620 
Laboratory  Notes. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1   December,  1»97. 
acetic  acid,  as  formerly  used.  These  differences  indicate  that  it 
would  not  be  wise  to  conclude  that  a  preparation  made  by  the 
present  officinal  process  would  keep  as  well  as  the  one  recorded 
here. 
The  preparation  is  of  undoubted  authenticity,  and  was  obtained 
through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Frederick  Sher,  of  the  Smith,  Kline  & 
French  Company,  in  whose  possession  it  has  been  for  many  years. 
It  bears  a  label  stating  that  it  was  "prepared  at  the  U.  S.  A.  Labor- 
atory, Philadelphia,  Pa.,  1864."  The  bottle  has  the  words  : "  U.  S.  A. 
Hosp.  Dept.,"  blown  in  the  glass,  which  is  of  a  very  deep  blue 
color.  The  bottle  had  been  so  carefully  sealed  that  no  apparent 
evaporation  of  the  liquid  had  taken  place  when  it  was  received  by 
the  author.  It  has  a  pleasant  acetic  odor  and  strong  characteristic 
taste,  and  the  sides  of  the  bottle  are  covered  with  a  resinous  de- 
posit, the  quantity  of  which  could  not  be  determined. 
For  the  assay,  a  sample  was  carefully  decanted  so  as  to  avoid 
transferring  any  precipitate  which  might  contain  the  alkaloids.  The 
process  of  Keller  was  followed,  titrating  the  varnish-like  residue  by 
means  of  decinormal  sulphuric  acid  and  centinormal  potassium  hy- 
drate, using  haematoxylin  as  indicator.  The.  alkaloidal  strength 
was  2  76  per  cent.,  calculated  as  emetine.  As  2  00  per  cent,  is  the 
present  standard  adopted  by  manufacturers  who  assay  this  prepara- 
tion, it  has  lost  little  or  no  alkaloid  after  a  period  of  thirty-three 
years.  It  speaks  well  for  the  quality  of  the  drug,  and  the  thor- 
oughness of  the  manipulation  used,  and  would  compare  favorably 
with  our  present  day  products,  made  by  so-called  improved  appara- 
tus and  perfected  methods. 
Japan  Wax. — In  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  for  Janu- 
ary, 1897,  the  author  published  an  article  on  the  extensive  adultera- 
tion of  Japan  wax  with  starch.  Since  that  time  more  than  300 
cases  of  Japan  wax  (aggregating  60,000  pounds)  have  been  exam- 
ined, all  of  which  complied  with  the  requirements  of  a  normal  pro- 
duct. The  melting  point  ranged  from  500  to  540  C;  the  specific 
gravity  from  O  965  to  O  984;  the  acid  number  from  17  98  to  20  45, 
and  the  saponification  value  from  217  93  to  224-86. 
In  physical  characters  there  was  a  slight  variation;  some  of  the 
samples  seemed  to  be  more  greasy  than  others,  this  being  notice- 
able either  by  pressing  the  wax  between  the  fingers  or  by  masticat- 
ing a  small  portion.    Such  a  slight  difference,  however,  might  be 
