272  Descriptions  of  Cr7ide  Drugs.        { Am jun^'iS™' 
means  of  establishing  a  series  of  tests  that  are  easily  applied,  and 
are  at  least  as  reliable,  or  perhaps  even  more  so,  than  a  desultory 
examination  of  the  macroscopic  appearance  of  the  whole  drug. 
To  illustrate  this  point  more  fully,  let  us  consider  the  descrip- 
tions and  usual  appearance  of  half  a  dozen  of  the  more  popular 
drugs  as  they  occur  in  the  trade. 
Few  pharmacists  ever  buy  the  seeds  of  Strychnos  Nux-vomica,  as 
they  are  described  in  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  this  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  drug  miller,  with  steam-driven  machinery,  can  com- 
minute these  tough  horn-like  bodies  in  a  fraction  of  the  time  and 
at  infinitely  less  cost  than  could  the  pharmacist  with  his  historic 
but  mechanically  inefficient  pestle  and  mortar.  It  is  evident,  there- 
fore, that  the  only  portion  of  the  really  excellent  description  of 
nux  vomica  given  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  that  is  at  all  applicable  to 
the  drug,  as  usually  bought  by  the  pharmacist,  is  that  "  it  is 
inodorous  and  persistently  bitter."  While  it  is  true  that  under 
extract  of  nux  vomica  we  have  an  assay  process  that  is  applicable 
to  the  drug  itself,  this  process,  however,  does  not  give  any  method 
of  differentiating  strychnine  from  brucine  or  any  other  alkaloid  that 
may  be  present.  In  this  particular  case  it  would  appear  desirable, 
then,  that  the  Pharmacopoeia  include  a  definition  of  the  color  and 
microscopical  appearance  of  this  drug  in  the  comminuted  state,  and 
also  an  enumeration  of  the  kind  of  plant  hairs  and  cells  that  may  be 
recognized  by  means  of  the  microscope.  In  addition  to  this  it 
would  appear  desirable  to  introduce  a  test  for  definitely  estimating 
the  amount  of  strychnine  present,  and  of  differentiating  this  from 
any  probable  contaminating  alkaloid. 
Cinchona  is  another  one  of  the  drugs  that  are  seldom  bought  in 
the  whole  or  unground  condition.  This  fact  has  already  been  recog- 
nized by  the  Revision  Committee  of  the  last  Pharmacopoeia,  as 
under  cinchona  as  well  as  under  cinchona  rubra  we  find  a  definition 
of  the  proper  color  of  these  drugs  in  their  powdered  form.  We 
also  find  quite  a  reliable  method  of  recognizing  quinine  and  of  esti- 
mating it  apart  from  the  estimation  for  total  alkaloids. 
For  cinchona,  then,  it  would  only  be  necessary  to  add  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  kinds  of  cells  and  cell  contents  that  may  be  found,  and 
possibly  an  enumeration  of  the  kinds  of  cells  that  should  not  be 
present. 
The  chemistry  of  ipecac  has  been  inquired  into  so  thoroughly 
