456  Proposed  U.  S.  P.  IX  Limitations.    {Am0;tJ0°bl£;  g£" 
PROPOSED  U.  S.  P.  IX  LIMITATIONS  FOR  THE  ASH  CON- 
TENT OF  DRUGS. 
By  M.  I.  Wilbert,  Washington,  D.  C. 
The  figures  given  in  the  second  instalment  of  abstracts  of  pro- 
posed new  descriptions  and  standards  for  the  drugs  of  vegetable 
and  animal  origin  to  be  included  in  the  U.  S.  P.  IX  (/.  Am.  Pharm. 
Assoc.,  1914,  vol.  3,  pp.  359-416)  suggest  a  comparison  with  other 
available  data  as  a  basis  for  comment  and  criticism.  Among  the  newer 
pharmacopoeias  the  German,  Austrian,  Swiss,  and  Dutch  appear  to 
include  ash  limitations  more  frequently  than  do  any  of  the  cor- 
responding books  of  other  countries,  and  these  four  books  have  been 
selected  as  being  fairly  representative  of  the  general  requirements 
made  in  European  pharmacopoeias. 
The  quotations  designated  "  recent  literature  "  are  compilations 
of  the  maximum  and  minimum  figures  given  by  various  authors  re- 
ferred to  in  recent  numbers  of  the  Hygienic  Laboratory  Bulletins, 
embodying  the  Digest  of  Comments  on  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the 
United  States  of  America  and  on  the  National  Formulary,  for  the 
calendar  years  1909  to  191 2,  inclusive.  These  figures  suffice  to  in- 
dicate the  probable  extremes  of  the  ash  content  of  drugs  found  in 
commerce  at  the  present  time,  and  reflect  actual  conditions  so  far  as 
these  have  been  reported. 
A  casual  survey  of  the  figures  presented  in  the  appended  table 
suggests  that  a  few  of  the  root  drugs,  like  apocynum,  cimicifuga, 
pyrethrum,  and  spigelia,  are  not  sufficiently  well  known  abroad  to 
warrant  their  recognition.  Other  drugs,  like  sweet  almonds,  physo- 
stigma,  musk,  and  vanilla,  do  not  appear  to  vary  sufficiently  to  justify 
systematic  records  being  made  of  their  ash  content,  or,  as  in  the  case 
of  musk,  more  particularly,  are  so  expensive  that  the  determination 
of  the  ash  content  is  not  generally  adopted  as  a  means  of  determining 
the  purity  or  quality  of  the  drug. 
Among  the  figures  that  may  be  considered  as  being  comparatively 
low  are  those  for  asafoetida,  ipecac,  and  vanilla.  The  first  of  these 
drugs  frequently  contains  very  much  more  foreign  matter  than  would 
be  permissible  under  the  proposed  limitations.  This  foreign  matter 
is  present  to  a  considerable  extent,  at  least,  because  of  the  methods 
employed  in  collecting  asafoetida,  and  it  is  questionable,  indeed, 
