Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
March,  1914.  J 
Sale  of  Bichloride  Tablets. 
121 
The  residue  after  incineration  which  is  chiefly  Zinc  Oxide  should 
be  about  13  per  cent.  It  is  certain  Zinc  Oxide  does  not  harm  in  a 
preparation  of  this  nature,  yet  it  is  advisable  to  determine  if  it  is 
really  Zinc  Oxide.   It  is  best  done  in  the  following  manner : 
Take  5  gm.  of  Zinc  Stearate,  add  10  c.c.  of  V2  N  HC1  and  warm 
gently  until  all  the  Zinc  Stearate  is  decomposed.  Then  with  y2  N 
NaOH  (Dimethyl  Orange)  titrate  back  the  hydrochloric  acid  not 
used.  Subtract  this  from  the  10  c.c.  taken,  multiply  it  by  the  factor 
of  Zinc  Oxide,  divide  by  the  weight  of  Zinc  Stearate  taken,  this  will 
give  the  amount  of  Zinc  Oxide  in  the  compound.  The  Stearic  acid 
could  also  be  liberated  and  determined  here,  by  simply  separating 
the  two  liquids  (warm),  rejecting  the  aqueous  portion,  using  phenol- 
phthalein  as  indicator  and  titrating  with  y2  N  NaOH. 
In  a  series  of  5  experiments  the  following  results  were  obtained : 
Melting  point 
Residue  after  incineration 
Zinc  found 
49—50° 
55-56° 
55—56° 
54—  55° 
55-  56° 
19.3  per  cent. 
13.6  per  cent. 
13  .8  per  cent. 
14 .6  per  cent. 
18  .7  per  cent. 
15  . 1  per  cent. 
10 .8  per  cent. 
10.9  per  cent. 
1 1  . 2  per  cent. 
14.8  per  cent. 
THE  SALE  OF  BICHLORIDE  TABLETS.1 
♦  A  Discussion  of  the  Need  for  Restriction  of  the  Sale  and 
Distribution  of  Bichloride  of  Mercury  Tablets. 
By  Martin  I.  Wilbert, 
Technical  Assistant,  Hygienic  Laboratory,  United  States  Public  Health  Service. 
Some  months  since  an  alleged  case  of  accidental  poisoning  by 
corrosive  mercuric  chloride,  in  Macon,  Ga.,  was  "  featured "  in 
practically  all  of  the  daily  papers  of  the  United  States  in  such  a  way 
as  to  lead  the  unknowing  to  infer  that  poisoning  by  this  substance 
guaranteed  not  alone  a  sure  but  also  a  painless  death. 
The  notoriety  given  this  case  was  followed  by  an  apparently  un- 
usual number  of  corrosive  sublimate  fatalities,  reported  from  the 
1  Reprint  from  the  Public  Health  Reports,  vol.  xxviii,  No.  46,  Nov.  14, 
1913. 
