416 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
)  September,  1914. 
Effective  dilution  Coefficient. 
U-B   .1-50  2.5 
2  1-18  0.9 
3  1-12  0.6 
4  1-120  .  6.0 
5  ...1-150  7.5 
6  1-18  0.9 
7    1-120  6.0 
8  i— 100  5.0 
9  1-15  0.75 
10  1-12  0.6 
11  standard...:  1-20  1.0 
From  the  above  results  it  would  appear  that  it  is  the  oil  and  not 
the  alkaloid  to  which  larkspur  seed  owes  its  insecticidal  properties, 
and,  since  the  fluid  is  seldom  used  internally  but  almost  exclusively 
as  an  insecticide,  it  would  seem  that  the  menstruum  that  will  extract 
the  largest  amount  of  oil  is  the  proper  one  to  use.  It  should  be  noted, 
however,  that  the  alkaloid  has  a  slight  insecticidal  value,  as  the  sample 
containing  i  per  cent,  of  alkaloid  and  no  oil  was  one-tenth  as  active  as 
the  samples  containing  a  high  content  of  oil. 
Analytical  and  Experimental  Department, 
Parke,  Davis  &  Co..  Detroit,  Mich. 
PROGRESS  IN  PHARMACY. 
A  Quarterly  Review  of  Some  of  the  More  Interesting  Litera- 
ture Relating  to  Pharmacy  and  Materia  Medica. 
By  M.  I.  Wilbert,  Washington,  D.  C. 
The  European  war  has  precipitated  a  condition  unprecedented 
and  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  drug  trade  of  this  country, 
and  has  demonstrated  as  no  other  line  of  argument  possibly  could 
that  we  in  America  are  still  largely  dependent  on  European  countries 
for  our  supplies  of  drugs  and  chemicals.  More  than  50  per  cent, 
of  the  drugs  and  chemicals  used  in  pharmacy  and  allied  industries 
has  been  subjected  to  marked  advances  in  price.  The  available 
stocks  of  many  articles  of  a  staple  nature  appear  to  have  been 
at  a  rather  low  level,  and  some  of  the  chemicals  of  German  origin 
are  already  practically  exhausted. 
It  will  no  doubt  be  months  before  the  drug  market  can  adjust 
