490  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  {Atoc^r,^9oa2.m* 
R.  G.  Eccles,  and  contained  a  number  of  suggestions  tending  to 
improve  some  of  the  official  preparations.  It  referred  to  the 
awkward  position  the  Committee  found  itself  in  by  being  askecj  to 
make  a  report  too  late  for  use  in  the  1900  revision  and  too  early 
for  that  of  1 9 10.  Such  suggestions  as  might  be  made  may  have 
already  been  adopted.  The  plan  was  chosen  of  advising  changes, 
certain  not  to  be  made  now  but  that  exist  as  possibilities  for 
the  future,  and  adding  to  these  a  few  points  which  it  was  thought 
may  have  been  overlooked  by  the  present  revisers.  Physiological 
and  volumetric  or  gravimetric  standards  for  alkaloidal  and  glucosidal 
drugs  had  been  rejected.  The  Committee  thought  that  these  should, 
at  some  time  not  too  remote,  be  accepted,  as  by  fixing  such  stand- 
ards the  quality  of  the  goods  will  be  kept  up,  even  if  pharmacists 
are  not  able  to  apply  the  tests.  Commercial  competition  will  do  it. 
Since  most  of  the  plasters  sold  by  druggists  have  a  rubber  base,  the 
presence  of  this  rubber  in  plasters  should  be  acknowledged  in  order 
to  lessen  the  danger  of  conflict  between  pharmacists  and  drug- 
adulteration  laws.  Solid  extracts  made  with  acetic  acid  as  well  as 
those  made  with  alcohol  should  be  acknowledged.  For  external  use, 
in  plasters  and  the  like,  methyl  alcohol  extracts  should  be  permitted. 
Powdered  extracts  should  be  more  extensively  adopted  or  directions 
should  be  supplied  for  the  preservation  of  the  proper  consistence  of 
all  official  extracts.  Extract  of  belladonna-leaf  stains,  has  a  bad 
odor  and  is  of  very  variable  strength.  Extract  of  the  root  should 
take  its  place.  Belladonna  plaster  should  be  standardized  and  the 
British  and  American  standards  should  conform  to  each  other. 
Belladonna  liniment  should  be  replaced  by  a  solution  of  camphor 
and  atropine.  A  belladonna  and  capsicum  plaster  should  be  made 
official.  Compound  licorice  powder  should  get  rid  of  its  excess  of 
insoluble  lignin  by  substituting  powdered  extract  of  licorice  for 
powdered  licorice  root.  Commercial  licorice  should  have  a  test  that 
would  exclude  water-soluble  adulterants  like  sugar  and  dextrin.  As 
there  are  natural  wines  with  an  alcoholic  strength  of  15*5  per  cent, 
by  weight,  our  present  standard  should  be  raised  to  this  figure. 
Wine  of  ipecac  should  be  replaced  by  a  solution  of  emetine  hydro- 
chloride. In  making  aromatic  spirit  of  ammonia  twice  the  quantity 
of  alcohol  now  ordered  should  be  used.  This  would  make  a  10  per 
cent,  solution,  which  could  be  lowered  to  the  desired  standard  by 
dilution.    The  ignition  of  the  organic  alkalies  should  be  complete 
