448       Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  {^iS^S^x^' 
ether  for  a  second  time.1  This  brings  the  yield  of  purified  alkaloid  to 
about  o  i  per  cent,  (one-tenth). 
The  ergot  used  was  chiefly  of  Russian  origin.  [Ref.  used  once 
ergot  collected  in  Wisconsin,  of  good  quality.]  It  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  for  a  thorough  exhaustion  that  the  powdered  ergot  [B 
30  of  the  Dutch  Pharmacopoeia — 60  would  do  in  the  U  S. — Ref.]  is 
moistened  with  one-third  of  its  weight  of  the  alcohol  before  per- 
colation. 
A  slow  evaporation,  even  when  the  distillation  of  the  percolate  is 
conducted  in  vacuo,  is  objectionable.  It  involves  a  loss  of  alkaloid. 
[The  author  speaks  of  a  temperature  of  560  C.  This  is,  of  course, 
not  the  temperature  whereby  alcohol  can  be  distilled  in  vacuo. 
With  the  pressure  of  city  water  I  succeeded  always  to  distil  the  alco- 
hol from  a  percolate  at  or  near  180  C,  but  for  the  evaporation  of 
the  remaining  aqueous  fluid  I  would  recommend  the  introduction  in 
the  pharmaceutical  laboratory  of  vacuum  apparatus  combined  with 
stirring  apparatus,  which  are  common  elsewhere  (manufacturing  of 
sugar,  tannin,  glucosides  in  general).  E.  A.  Lenth,  Berlin,  Ger- 
many, shows  them  in  his  catalogue  on  page  26,  for  pharmaceutica 
purposes.  Ref.] 
Extract  of  ergot  deteriorates.  [I  have  no  figures  if  a  fluid  extract 
does.  But  are  not  the  therapeutic  effects  of  ergot  very  oscillating? 
Ref.]  J.  B.  N. 
THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  CANNABIS  INDICA. 
According  to  Humphrey  (Pharm.  Jour.,  May  3,  1902)  three 
products  are  obtained  in  India  from  the  female  plants  of  Cannabis 
sativa,  Linne.  The  dried  and  crushed  leaves  are  known  as  "  bhang,'' 
and  the  compressed  and  flowering  tops  as  "  ganja."  A  resinous 
secretion  exudes  from  the  leaves  and  bracts,  and  during  the  prepara- 
tion of  "  ganja  "  some  of  this  separates  in  the  form  of  a  grayish 
powder,  which,  when  mixed  with  an  extract  of  the  plant,  is  known 
as  "  charas,"  this  latter  product  being  used  for  smoking.  The  best 
charas,  however,  consists  of  resin  collected  from  the  flowering  tops. 
"  Ganja "  also  varies  in  quality.  The  best  grade  is  produced  in 
Bengal,  and  consists  of  the  dried  and  compressed  flowering  tops  of 
female  plants  which  have  not  been  fertilized,  as  it  has  been  found 
1  A  process  with  which  readers  of  "Lyons'  Manual"  for  pharmaceutical 
assaying  are  familiar  enough  to  save  the  translation  of  details  given  by  Meulen- 
hoff.  Ref. 
