Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Dec,  1887. 
Laboratory  Notes. 
609 
LABORATORY  NOTES. 
Abstracts  from  Theses. 
Reduced  Iron. — Ten  commercial  samples  of  ferrum  reductum  were 
examined  as  to  their  purity  by  Orville  S.  Creighton,  Ph.G.  Nos.  3 
and  4  were  of  American,  No.  7  of  German,  and  No.  8  of  French 
manufacture;  the  remaining  samples  were  obtained  from  retail  and 
wholesale  stores,  but  the  names  of  the  manufacturers  were  not  ascer- 
tained. In  each  case  the  color  was  noted ;  the  pharmacopoeial  test 
with  iodine  and  starch  paste  was  applied  ;  the  samples  were  treated 
with  dilute  sulphuric  acid  to  ascertain  their  solubility  and  examine  the 
odor  of  the  gas  evolved ;  the  gas  resulting  from  treatment  with  dilute 
hydrochloric  acid  was  passed  through  solutions  of  cadmium  sulphate 
and  silver  nitrate ;  and  the  solution  of  each  sample  in  excess  of  hydro- 
chloric acid  was  tested  for  arsenic  by  boiling  with  bright  copper  foil 
(Reinsch's  test).    The  results  tabulated  are  as  follows : 
Iodine  test. 
Dilute  H2SO4. 
Dilute  HC1. 
Color. 
Filtrate. 
Starch 
paste. 
Sol'bty 
Gas. 
Cd.  sol. 
Ag.  sol. 
Reinsch's 
test. 
1 
black 
red 
blue 
residue 
nearly 
odorless. 
clear 
darkened 
decided 
t  trace 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
greyish- 
black 
black 
greyish- 
black 
black 
and  red 
greyish- 
black 
pale  red 
red 
pale  red 
light  blue 
blue 
light  blue 
odorless 
n.  odorless 
odorless 
slight 
clear 
darkened 
clear 
slight 
trace 
none 
strong 
reaction 
none 
7 
8 
9 
10 
tinted 
dark  red 
tinted 
red 
not  blue 
blue 
not  blue 
blue 
n.  odorless 
odorless 
n.  odorless 
trace  of  S. 
clear 
darkened 
clear 
darkened 
decided 
trace 
none 
decided 
trace 
Adonidin  has  been  prepared  by  Wm.  D.  Porter,  Ph.G.,  by  a  slight 
modification  of  Cervello's  process  (see  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  1882,  p. 
497).  The  herb  of  Adonis  vernalis,  Lin.,  yielded  on  distillation  a 
minute  quantity  of  greenish  volatile  oil,  having  a  faint  acid  reaction ; 
by  treatment  of  the  drug  with  ether  the  amount  of  volatile  oil  was 
estimated  at  about  0.05  per  cent.  The  glucoside  was  prepared  from 
the  tincture  made  with  diluted  alcohol  by  precipitating  with  basic  lead 
acetate,  then  with  sodium  carbonate,  and  the  filtrate  with  tannin ;  this 
last  precipitate  was  mixed  with  oxide  of  lead,  the  mixture  dried, 
exhausted  with  alcohol,  and  this  solution  concentrated  and  precipitated 
