178        Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy. 
is  then  cooked  with  100  c.c.  5  per  cent,  barium  hydrate  solution, 
with  upright  condenser  for  one-quarter  to  one-half  hour.  Carbon 
dioxide  is  passed  through  the  cooled  liquid,  until  it  is  acid,  when 
the  precipitated  barium  carbonate  is  removed  by  nitration,  the 
precipitate  being  washed  twice  with  20  c.c,  water.  The  filtrate  is 
then  condensed  to  20 c.c,  to  this  10  c.c.  12^  per  cent,  hydrochloric 
acid  is  added  and  the  mixture  heated  on  water-bath  for  two  min- 
utes only.  It  is  then  poured  into  a  separatory  funnel,  the  dish 
being  rinsed  with  20  c.c.  chloroform,  which  is  also  poured  into  the 
funnel  and  used  for  extraction.  This  chloroform  extraction  is  re- 
peated twice,  each  time  with  20  c.c,  the  chloroformic  extract  being 
filtered,  the  solvent  distilled  off  and  the  residue  cooked  (inverted 
condenser!)  with  50  c.c  15  per  cent,  alcohol  for  ten  minutes. 
The  alcoholic  solution  is  filtered  into  a  tared  flask  and  allowed  to 
stand  twenty-four  hours,  when  the  mother  liquid  is  separated  from 
the  santonin  crystals,  through  a  tared  filter.  The  flask  and  filter 
are  then  washed  with  1 5  per  cent,  alcohol  and  then  dried  and 
weighed.  To  the  figures  thus  obtained  must  be  added  about  o  006 
gramme  santonin  to  each  10  c.c  alcoholic  filtrate,  since  the  sub- 
stance is  that  soluble  in  15  per  cent,  alcohol.  The  article  closes 
with  modifications  of  the  process  applied  to  santonin  lozenges  and 
confections,  in  which  event  the  original  ether  extraction  is  unneces- 
sary, the  substance  being  immediately  treated  with  barium  hydrate 
solution.  H.  V.  Arny. 
A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  CATECHU. 
The  Swiss  Journal  of  Chemistry  and  Pharmacy  (1899,  p.  313) 
reports  that  a  dyestuff  of  French  Cochin-China — an  extract  of  the 
bark  of  a  mangrove  tree  (Brugniera  gymnorrhiza) — has  been  found 
to  answer  all  the  purposes  of  catechu,  the  yield  of  which  is  becom- 
ing insufficient  for  the  demand.  The  colonial  ministry  of  France 
has  taken  up  the  matter  and  is  inaugurating  the  cultivation  of  the 
tree  and  the  preparation  of  the  extract,  which  is  called  Cay-Da, 
H.  V.  A. 
NARCOTIC  EXTRACTS. 
A  brochure  by  M.  Altan  (abstract  in  Schw.  Wochsch.  fur  Chem. 
und  Pharm.,  1899,  333)  studies  the  narcotic  extracts  carefully  and 
thoroughly,  but  shows  the  usual  fault  of  continental  writers — total 
ignorance  or  studied  neglect  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  this  country. 
