56 
U.  S.  P.  ipoo  Menstrua. 
{Am.  Jour.  Piiarm. 
February,  1914. 
this  as  a  menstruum  and  follow  the  other  directions  as  given 
above  omitting  the  ammonia  water.  This  last  method  cannot 
always  be  used  on  account  of  the  alcohol  in  the  spirit  of  ammonia 
U.  S.  P.,  which  dissolves  more  substances  than  the  chloroform  would 
alone  and  so  the  residue  would  not  be  pure  quinine.  On  the  other 
hand  chloroform  alone  will  not  dissolve  anything  but  the  quinine  of 
the  substances  usually  found  in  quinine  tablets. 
In  order  to  obtain  sufficient  chloroformic  filtrate  from  tablets 
containing  an  unusual  large  quantity  of  other  material  and  only 
a  small  amount  of  quinine,  it  may  be  necessary  to  increase  the 
chloroformic  menstruum  from  50  c.c.  to  100  c.c.  or  more,  filtering 
off  one  half  the  quantity  used,  following  the  instructions  given 
above. 
Sutliff  and  Case  Co.,  Peoria,  111. 
U.  S.  P.  1900  MENSTRUA. 
By  H.  C.  Hamilton. 
It  seems  almost  superfluous  to  call  attention,  at  this  late  date,  to 
certain  points  in  the  8th  Revision  of  the  U.  S.  P.  which  need  correc- 
tion in  the  forthcoming  9th  Revision.  Particularly  does  it  seem 
unnecessary  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  objectionable  features  to 
which  this  article  alludes  have  been  pointed  out  before  and  by  several 
critics.  The  excuse  for  doing  so,  however,  if  any  is  necessary,  is 
that  the  data  here  published  may  be  of  value  to  those  who  have  under 
consideration  for  the  9th  Revision  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  the  menstrua 
for  the  extraction  of  the  digitalis  series  of  heart  tonics.  The  menstrua 
to  which  we  refer  are  for  the  preparation  of :  I.  F.  E.  Digitalis ; 
II.  F.  E.  Squill ;  III.  F.  E.  Convallaria. 
I.  The  first  two  of  these  were  referred  to  by  Houghton  and 
Hamilton  1  in  the  following  words : 
"  3.  Fluidextract  digitalis,  U.  S.  P.  8th  Rev.,  48  per  cent,  alcohol. 
"  Average  potency  of  eleven  samples  at  time  of  manufacture 
55  H.  T.  U.  per  c.c.  Three  and  a  half  years  later  35  H.  T.  U.  Aver- 
age loss  about  10  per  cent,  yearly. 
"  A  very  important  point  should  be  noted  in  this  connection ; 
namely,  the  menstruum  adopted  in  the  last  U.  S.  P.  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  fluidextract  digitalis  is  much  less  desirable  than  the  U.  S.  P. 
7th  Revision  in  at  least  two  respects.   Repeated  trials  show  that  it  is 
