A June" rig^7arm'  )    Pharmacy  of  Calcium  Glycerophosphate.  251 
less  stable  than  the  neutral  salts.  All  the  proposed  formulas  employ 
some  acid :  Dunning5  used  hypophosphorous  acid,  later  changing  to 
lactic ;  the  Australian  Pharmaceutical  formulary,6  Griffiths,7  British 
Pharmacopoeia,8  all  use  phosphoric  acid. 
In  addition  to  the  objection  which  arises  from  the  hydrolysis  of 
the  compound  another,  and  more  serious,  danger  bids  us  hesitate  to 
add  weak  organic  acids  to  such  elixirs.  The  compound  elixirs  of 
the  glycerophosphates  all  contain  a  quinine  salt.  It  has  been  shown 
that  weak  organic  acids  cause  an  intramolecular  rearrangement  in 
quinine  which  results  in  the  formation  of  quinotoxine,9  a  highly 
poisonous  ketone  to  which  fatal  consequences  have  been  attributed. 
No  undesirable  results  from  this  cause  have  as  yet  been  reported 
in  the  case  of  the  glycerophosphate  elixirs. 
In  view  of  these  facts  it  would  probably  be  best  to  eliminate 
liquid  preparations  of  the  glycerophosphates  and  to  supply  the  small 
demand  with  tablets  or  powders.  Whatever  the  therapeutic  value  of 
the  glycerophosphates  may  be10  their  efficacy  cannot  be  demonstrated 
to  advantage  by  a  liquid  full  of  their  hydrolytic  products. 
A  discrepancy  will  be  observed  in  the  results  for  the  solubility  of 
the  calcium  glycerophosphate  as  observed  in  the  compound  elixir  and 
in  experiment  6A.  The  first  shows  a  solubility  of  1  185  while  the 
latter  gives  1 :  168.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  the  case  of  the 
elixir  an  excess  of  solute  was  present  so  that  a  larger  proportion  of 
the  more  soluble  isomer  entered  solution  than  in  experiment  6A. 
AN  INTERESTING  PRESCRIPTION.1 
By  L.  F.  Kebler,  Ph.C,  M.D. 
I  desire  to  call  attention  to  what  appears  to  me  a  unique  combi- 
nation of  drugs  and  some  incidents  connected  therewith.  A  patient 
was  suddenly  taken  seriously  ill  after  taking  some  medicine  put  up 
5  Proc.  A.  Ph.  A.,  54,  616  (1906). 
6  Druggists'  Circular  formula  book,  p.  6  (1915). 
7  "  Non-Secret  Formulas,"  p.  321  (1910). 
8  Quoted  in  Hiss  and  Eberts's  "  Pharmaceutical  Preparations,"  p.  409 
(1908). 
9v.  Miller  and  Rhode,  Ber.,  28,  1056;  Scoville,  Jour.  A.  Ph.  A.,  May, 
1916,  p.  590. 
10  Jour.  A.  Med.  A.,  LXVII,  No.  14.  p.  1033  (September  30,  1916). 
1  Read  at  the  Kansas  City  meeting  of  the  American  Chemical  Society, 
1917. 
