Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1904. 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
289 
fact  that  too  much  reliance  should  not  be  placed  on  the  physical 
appearance  or  on  the  residual  ash,  and  suggests  that  the  microscope 
offers  the  most  reliable  means  for  determining  the  genuineness  or 
otherwise  of  powdered  drugs. 
False  Ipecacuanha. — W.  Brandt  (Apothek.  Zeitg.,  1904,  page 
102)  describes  several  roots  that  have  been  offered  in  Germany  in 
place  of  true  ipecac.  The  roots  are  said  to  be  quite  distinctive  and 
not  readily  to  be  mistaken  for  Rio  ipecac.  The  starch  grains  are 
comparatively  large,  and  in  many  of  the  cells  raphides  of  calcium 
oxalate  are  not  only  more  numerous,  but  the  needle-like  crystals 
appear  to  be  larger  than  in  true  ipecac. 
A  False  Scammony  Root. — Harold  Dean  (Phar.  Jour.,  1904,  page 
327)  says  that  the  root  of  Ipomoea  Orizabensis  (Ledan),also  known 
as  "  woody  jalap  "  or  "  male  jalap,"  has  recently  appeared  on  the 
market  in  considerable  quantities.  It  is  said  to  yield  from  12  to  18 
per  cent,  of  a  resin  closely  resembling,  if  not  identical  with,  the 
resin  of  scammony. 
This  root  is  supposed  to  be  the  source  of  much  of  the  "  commer- 
cial scammony  resin  "  that  is  being  sold  in  England  at  the  present 
time.  As  true  scammony  root  only  yields  from  5  to  6  per  cent,  of 
resin,  the  preference  of  manufacturers  for  the  root  of  Ipomoea  Oriza- 
bensis is  readily  explained. 
Spurious  Virginia  Prune  Bark. — At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Phar- 
maceutical Society,  London  {Phar.  Jour.,  1904,  page  360),  Horace 
Finnemore,  pharmacist  to  Guy's  Hospital,  London,  called  attention 
to  a  sample  of  wild  cherry  bark  that  had  come  to  the  pharmacy  of 
the  hospital  in  the  ordinary  course  of  business,  which  when 
moistened  with  water  did  not  develop  the  odor  of  benzaldehyde. 
Examination  under  the  microscope  showed  it  to  be  devoid  of  the 
characteristic  stone  cells  found  in  Prunus  Serotina,  but  to  have  nu- 
merous crystals  of  calcium  oxalate,  in  stellate  masses,  and  scleren- 
chymatous  fibres. 
These  fibres  appear  to  be  characteristic  of  the  bark.  Mr.  Finne- 
more, while  not  able  to  definitely  decide  on  the  botanical  origin  of 
the  spurious  bark,  suggests  that  it  has  many  points  in  common  with 
that  obtained  from  Prunus  Avium. 
The  present  status  of  our  knowledge  of  strophanthus  seeds  was 
carefully  reviewed  by  several  writers  in  a  recent  number  of  the 
"  Berichte  der  Deutschen    Pharmaceutischen    Gesellschaft."  E. 
