408  Contributions  to  Pharmacy,      {A ^S^iSK"1, 
The  alkaloids,  almost  pure  white  in  color,  are  dissolved  in 
ammonia  and  boiled  almost  to  dryness  with  an  excess  of  titrated 
silver  nitrate  solution  of  about  5  per  cent,  strength,  the  precipitate 
(a  silver  substitution  compound  of  the  formula  C7H7AgN4<32) 
collected,  washed  and  the  excess  of  AgNOs  estimated  in  the  filtrate 
and  washings  with  a  standardized  solution  of  potassium  sulpho- 
cyanate;  one  molecule  silver  nitrate  is  the  equivalent  of  one  molecule 
theobromine,  the  quantity  of  total  alkaloids  less  the  ascertained 
quantity  of  theobromine  equals  the  quantity  of  caffeine.  Both 
alkaloids  may  be  recovered  and  weighed  as  such  ;  the  filtrate  and 
washings  in  which  the  excess  of  silver  nitrate  was  determined  are 
evaporated  to  dryness  and  the  caffeine  extracted  with  chloroform  ; 
the  theobromine  silver  is  dissolved  in  dilute  nitric  acid,  the  solution 
neutralized,  evaporated  to  dryness  and  also  extracted  with  chloro- 
form.— (Ztschr.  f.  anal.  Chemie)  Apotheker  Ztg.,  1894,  67. 
ASPHODEL  ROOT  AN  ADULTERANT  OF  WHITE  HELLEBORE. 
Henry  G.  Greenish,  (P/iar.  Jour.  Trans.  53,  873,)  has  called  atten- 
tion to  an  adulterated  bale  of  white  hellebore  recently  received  by 
a  London  firm  from  Genoa,  and  said  to  have  been  collected  in 
northern  Italy.  The  adulterant  is  a  rhizome,  about  one  and  a-half 
inches  in  length  and  half  an  inch  in  thickness  ;  it  is  erect,  or  nearly 
so,  and  often  crowned  with  the  brownish  remains  of  smooth  amplex- 
icaul  leaf  bases,  or  sometimes  with  the  fibres  left  after  their  decay. 
To  this  rhizome  numerous  roots,  varying  generally  from  three  to 
six  inches  in  length,  are  attached  ;  near  to  the  rhizome  they  exhibit 
a  fusiform  tuberous  enlargement  two  to  four  inches  long  and  three- 
eighths  to  three-fourths  of  an  inch  thick,  tapering  abruptly  to  about 
crow-quill  size,  and  then  assuming  the  shape  of  an  Indian  club. 
This  fusiform  enlargement  of  the  root  is  sufficient  to  distinguish  the 
root  from  white  hellebore.  The  drug  is  certainly  liliaceous.  Many 
plants  belonging  to  the  natural  order  Liliacece  are  characterized  by 
their  swollen  tuberous  roots;  the  drug  in  question  is  probably 
derived  from  Asphodelus  a/bus,  Willd.,  a  plant  enjoying  a  wide  dis- 
tribution over  Southern  Europe. 
As  this  drug  is  referred  to  by  Galen  both  as  a  medicine  and  as  a 
nutritious  root  used,  in  times  of  scarcity,  as  a  food  substitue  by  the 
peasants,  its  presence  in  white  hellebore  would  necessarily  reduce 
the  value  of  the  latter. 
