Anoctobera902!m"}    American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  493 
the  alkaloids  had  taken  place  is  washed  three  or  four  times  with 
very  small  amounts  of  water.  The  liquid  in  the  separator  will  now 
be  very  turbid  from  the  separation  of  strychnine.  If  this  is  not  the 
case,  there  is  not  enough  alkali,  and  a  further  addition  of  1  or  2  ex. 
alkali  must  be  made.  After  the  addition  of  sufficient  alkali  the 
liquid  is  shaken  out  three  times,  with  chloroform,  using  20  c.c.  for 
the  first  shaking  out  and  10  c.c.  each  time  for  the  two  subsequent 
ones.  The  chloroformic  solution  is  filtered  through  a  small  plain 
double  filter  arranged  so  that  there  are  four  folds  of  paper  on  each 
side  into  a  light  tared  flask,  taking  care  to  wash  the  stem  of  the 
separator  with  a  little  chloroform  ;  the  filter  and  stem  of  the  funnel 
are  also  washed  a  few  times  with  small  amounts  of  chloroform,  and 
to  the  perfectly  colorless  solution  of  strychnine  thus  obtained  are 
added  2  or  3  c.c.  of  pure  amyl  alcohol  which  distills  between  128 
and  1320  C,  and  leaves  no  residue  on  evaporation.1  The  chloroform 
is  now  distilled  off  completely  and  the  small  amount  of  amyl  alcohol 
left  behind  removed  by  keeping  the  vessel  on  the  water-bath  and 
blowing  air  over  its  opening,  but  so  as  not  to  blow  out  some  alka- 
loid by  the  air  current.  The  vessel  is  now  dried  for  about  two 
hours  at  a  temperature  cf  1350  to  1400  C,  and  when  cold  weighed. 
Tincture  of  Aconite. 
By  M.  I.  Wilbert. 
The  author  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  official  tincture  of 
aconite  is  dangerously  potent  and  that  it  is  much  stronger  than  the 
same  preparations  in  other  Pharmacopoeias.  The  U.S.P.  preparation 
is  seven  times  stronger  than  that  of  the  British,  three  and  a  half 
times  stronger  than  the  German,  and  nearly  double  the  strength  of 
that  in  the  French  Pharmacopoeia.  The  author  further  says  that  at 
the  present  time  there  appears  to  be  no  tangible  reason  why  this 
tincture  should  not  be  materially  reduced  in  drug  content,  so  as  to 
bring  it  more  in  harmony  with  the  same  tincture  official  in  foreign 
pharmacopoeias,  and  also  to  make  it  conform  with  other  tinctures 
of  narcotic  or  active  drugs  in  our  own  Pharmacopoeia.  He  recom- 
mends that  the  strength  be  reduced  to  1 5  per  cent. 
1  The  amyl  alcohol  prevents  very  effectively  the  decrepitation  of  strychnine 
which  unavoidably  occurs  on  the  removal  of  the  last  traces  of  chloroform  by 
heat.    See  F.  C.  J.  Bird,  Pkarm.  J.  Tr  ,  September  8,  1900,  286. 
