3  74 
Gleanings  from  the  Foreign  Jonrnals. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1877. 
grams.  The  amount  of  the  tinctures  necessary  to  impart  a  decidedly 
bitter  taste  to  IO'OOO  parts  of  water  varied  between  4  and  14  parts. 
This  difference  in  the  strength  is  mainly  attributed,  by  the  author,  to 
the  use  of  nux  vomica  in  powder  of  different  degrees  of  fineness  ;  for 
by  prolonging  the  maceration  from  two  to  six  days,  the  amount  of  extract 
was  not  materially  increased.  The  author  recommends  that,  in  pre- 
paring the  tincture,  pharmacists  should  use  the  very  finely  powdered 
seeds  only  ;  10  cc.  of  such  a  tincture  should  yield  not  less  than  '09 
grams  of  dry  extract  ;  one  fluid  drachm  of  it  should  impart  a  distinctly 
bitter  taste  to  two  gallons  of  water  ;  and  the  addition  of  ten  to  twenty 
volumes  of  water  to  one  volume  of  the  tincture  ought  to  produce  a 
marked  opalescence. — Phar.  four,  and  Trans.,  Sept.  30. 
Tincture  of  nux  vomica,  "  British  Pharmacopoeia,"  is  much  weaker 
than  that  of  "  United  States  Pharmacopoeia,"  being  made  of  two 
ounces  to  one  imperial  pint. 
A  simple  separatory  funnel  has  been  con- 
structed by  C.  Bulk  ;  it  consists  of  a  glass  globe  q 
having  two  tubulures  and  a  delivery  tube  r.  The 
latter  is  closed  by  the  conical  end  of  a  glass  rod, 
which  at  s  is  fastened  into  a  cork  and  can  be  raised 
and  lowered  by  means  of  a  glass  thread  fused  spirally 
upon  the  rod,  and  by  turning  the  handle  t.  The 
apparatus  has  been  frequently  employed  by  the  author 
and  works  quite  satisfactorily.— Ber.  Chem.  Ges., 
187-,  p.  1898. 
Santonate  of  sodium  is  prepared,  by  Lepage,  by 
dissolving  10  grams  of  santonin  in  100  grams  of 
diluted  alcohol,  kept  hot  by  means  of  a  water  bath, 
adding  80  grams  of  lime,  previously  slaked  and  sus- 
pended in  a  little  water,  and  stirring  frequently  until 
the  rose  color  produced  has  disappeared  and  calcium 
santonate  been  formed  ;  then  pour  in  a  solution  of  90 
grams  of  sodium  carbonate  in  180  grams  of  water, 
agitate  briskly,  set  aside  to  deposit,  and  filter.  Con- 
centrate the  filtrate  until  it  weighs  200  or  220  grams  ; 
after  twelve  hours  powder  the  mass,  suspend  it  in 
800  grams  of  90  per  cent,  alcohol,  agitate  frequently 
and  after  some  hours  decant  from  the  excess  of  sodium  carbonate, 
