66 
Bismuth  Salicylate,  Basic. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
X    February,  1900. 
according  to  the  locality  from  which  they  come.  The  work  of 
collecting  the  material  for  this  paper  has  been  of  great  interest,  and 
photographs  and  specimens  were  obtained,  which  are  herewith 
submitted. 
35  Poplar  Street,  Philadelphia. 
BISMUTH  SALICYLATE,  BASIC. 
By  Lyman  F.  Kebler. 
Research  Committee  E,  Pharmacopoeia  Revision. 
Since  the  introduction  of  bismuth  salicylate,  by  Dr.  Desplat,1  as 
a  remedy  for  the  treatment  of  typhoid  fever,  continued  efforts  have 
been  made  to  bring  this  remedy  prominently  before  the  medical 
profession.  And  these  efforts  have  met  with  some  success,  in  that 
several  of  the  later  editions  of  the  various  pharmacopoeias  have  re- 
cognized the  basic  salt  and  considerable  quantities  of  it  are  being 
used  at  present. 
Salicylic  acid  being  both  acid  and  phenolic  in  character,  it  is  pos- 
sible to  prepare  two  series  of  salts,  the  most  important  having  the 
following  composition: 
Bi(C6H4.OH.C02)3  BiOC6H4.OH.C02 
Br2(C6H4.O.C02)3  Bi02C6H4.O.C02 
The  product,  however,  commonly  employed  is  the  basic  salt,  in 
which  the  phenolic  function  of  the  salicylic  acid  remains  intact. 
This  article,  theoretically,  contains  62-15  per  cent,  of  BiO  or  64-356 
per  cent,  of  Bi203,  after  ignition. 
A  number  of  workers  have,  on  several  occasions,  shown  that  the 
article  of  commerce  varies  very  materially.  To  what  extent  this  is 
true  at  present  can  readily  be  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  table  below. 
That  bismuth  subsalicylate  varies  somewhat  in  composition  is 
naturally  to  be  expected,  and  the  various  pharmacopoeias  have  re- 
cognized this  fact  by  allowing  a  reasonable  variation  in  the  per- 
centage content  of  bismuth  oxide. 
The  variation  in  composition  of  bismuth  subsalicylate  is  due  to 
the  proneness  of  the  compound  to  decompose,  in  the  course  of  its 
manufacture,  which  seems  to  be  a  common  property  of  many  of 
the  basic  bismuth  salts.    The  United  States  Pharmacopoeial  Com- 
1i883,  Medical  Record,  Aug.,  11. 
