Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1894. 
Pharmaceutical  Notes. 
353 
Mustard  Plasters. — The  mustard  plaster  is  one  of  the  most 
important  remedies  kept  in  our  pharmacies,  and  yet  as  far  as  I 
know  none  of  the  manufacturers  have  included  in  their  directions 
that  of  wetting  the  plasters  before  using  with  only  tepid  water. 
The  acrid  or  volatile  oils  of  mustard  do  not  pre-exist  as  such  in 
the  seed,  but  are  produced  by  the  splitting  up  of  the  glucosides 
sinalbin  or  sinigrin,  by  the  action  upon  them  in  the  presence  of 
moisture  of  the  ferment  called  myrosin. 
It  is  a  fact  that  should  be  better  known  that  myrosin  is  coagu- 
lated by  water  of  a  temperature  of  1400  F.,  and  rendered  incapable 
of  action. 
I  have  found  that  many  people  are  under  the  impression  that  the 
plaster  will  be  made  the  more  active  by  dipping  it  into  hot  water, 
but  the  reverse  is  the  case. 
Syrup  of  Acacia. — It  seems  strange  that  the  Pharmacopoeia  should 
have  continued  unchanged  the  formula  for  Syrup  of  Acacia. 
In  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  1870  the  syrup  was  made  directly  from 
the  gum,  and  we  had  a  fairly  stable  preparation. 
In  the  last  two  Pharmacopoeias  it  is  ordered  to  be  prepared  from 
the  mucilage,  which  spoils  quickly,  and  the  syrup  thus  made  would 
ferment  in  a  few  hours,  unless  the  mucilage  was  freshly  prepared. 
The  formula  of  Mucilage  of  Acacia  can  be  improved  upon  by 
the  use  of  chloroform  water  of  the  strength  given  in  the  British 
Pharmacopoeia. 
If  the  chloroform  is  objectionable  from  a  therapeutical  standpoint, 
a  few  minutes'  exposure  to  heat  will  thoroughly  dissipate  it. 
The  most  convenient  way  of  dissolving  the  gum  is  by  means  of  a 
dialyser. 
Adulteration  of  Belladonna  Root. — This  last  winter,  on  examining 
some  belladonna  root,  I  was  surprised  to  find  present  a  number  of 
large  pieces  of  poke  root. 
As  the  former  root  is  indigenous  to  Europe  and  the  latter  to  the 
United  States,  and  as  the  structure  of  them  is  entirely  different,  it 
could  hardly  have  been  an  accidental  adulteration. 
The  cork  layer  of  the  belladonna  is  of  a  very  light  brown  gray 
color,  while  that  of  the  poke  root  is  of  a  yellowish  brown  gray  and 
marked  by  very  characteristic  transversely  elongated  corky  warts  of 
a  lighter  color. 
The  transverse  section  of  the  former  shows  a  fine  black  cambium 
