1 54  Milk  Sugar  in  Headache  Powders.    {  Am*^Jg- 
senting  the  activity  of  this  variety.  It  represents  that  of  only  one 
sample  and  does  not  exceed  that  of  occasional  samples  of  Amer- 
ican grown  Digitalis  purpurea.  Further  work  and  a  number  of 
samples  would  be  required  to  determine  its  average  activity. 
That  this  drug  may  become  a  valuable  adjunct  to  the  repertoire 
of  heart  tonics  is  evident  from  its  similarity  in  action  both  to  the  offi- 
cial variety  of  digitalis  and  to  strophanthus,  which  latter  is  becom- 
ing more  and  more  generally  used  in  therapy. 
A  more  extended  pharmacologic  research  is  planned  for  the  near 
future. 
Departments  of  Botany  and 
Pharmacology,  Parke,  Davis  &  Co., 
Detroit,  Mich. 
RAPID    APPROXIMATE    DETERMINATION    OF  MILK 
SUGAR  IN  HEADACHE  POWDERS. 
By  Reginald  Miller. 
This  method  depends  upon  the  fact  that  milk  sugar  when  heated 
with  ammonium  hydroxide  gives  a  yellow  to  red  color1  the  intensity 
of  which  is  used  as  a  measure  of  the  amount  present. 
Take  a  weighed  portion  of  the  powder  (about  I  g.),  transfer  to  a 
small  beaker  and  extract2  repeatedly  with  a  mixture3  of  chloroform 
and  absolute  alcohol,  by  pouring  about  12  mils  of  the  mixture  upon 
the  powder,  stirring  with  a  glass  rod,  allowing  to  settle  and  then  de- 
canting the  solution  through  a  small  filter  paper,  after  the  extraction 
1  The  color  produced  is  yellow  when  about  .005  g.  is  present,  and  pinkish 
red  in  the  presence  of  about  .025  g.  of  milk  sugar.  On  the  addition  of  water 
(making  volume  up  to  50  mils)  the  pinkish  color  fades  to  yellow  after  stand- 
ing for  five  minutes. 
A  color  similar  to  that  obtained  from  .025  g.  of  milk  sugar  is  produced  by 
maltose,  while  dextrose  and  levulose  produce  a  dark  yellow,  mannose  a  light 
yellow,  and  with  cane  sugar  the  solution  remains  colorless.  Upon  dilution  to 
50  mils  with  water,  and  after  standing  five  minutes  the  depth  of  color  corre- 
sponding to  that  obtained  from  .005  g.  of  milk  sugar  is  produced  by  about 
.005  g.  of  maltose ;  .020  g.  of  dextrose  or  levulose  or  .050  g.  of  mannose. 
2  About  six  extractions  are  generally  sufficient;  in  many  cases  the  method 
may  be  applied  directly  by  treating  one  gram  of  the  powder  with  sufficient 
«  water  to  make  100  mils  and  then  making  the  determination.    Sodium  bicar- 
bonate does  not  interfere  with  the  determination. 
3  This  mixture  consists  of  two  volumes  of  chloroform  and  one  volume  of 
absolute  alcohol,  and  is  used  to  remove  acetanilid,  phenacetin,  salol,  etc. 
