448  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  {Afe^ptJembe?,hiam' 
Ash  in  Drugs. 
By  C.  G.  Moor  and  M.  Priest. 
As  a  result  of  the  determination  of  the  ash  of  a  number  of  B.P. 
drugs,  the  authors  point  out  that  in  a  few  cases  there  should  be 
some  modification  in  the  official  limits—as,  for  instance,  in  carda- 
moms and  colocynth  pulp.  It  is  suggested  that  the  official  ash  limits 
might,  with  advantage,  be  considerably  extended  generally. 
Melting  Points. 
By  T.  Tyrer  and  A.  Levy. 
The  substances  recently  examined  by  the  authors  are :  salicylic 
acid,  salol,  carbolic  acid,  menthol  and  thymol.  Commercial  salicylic 
acid  and  thymol  stand  the  B.P.  test,  but  purified  salol  (recrystal- 
lized),  carbolic  acid  and  menthol  must  be  taken  if  the  official  require- 
ments are  to  be  met.  It  is  pointed  out  that  no  single  method  of 
determination  is  applicable  to  all  pharmaceutical  substances,  and  the 
authors  propose  to  ascertain  which  methods  are  most  applicable  in 
particular  instances. 
Berberine  Phosphate. 
By  F.  Shedden. 
The  author  gives  the  composition  of  this  salt  as  prepared  by 
interaction  of  berberine  acetone  and  an  excess  of  phosphoric  acid, 
and  the  interaction  of  mono-berberine  sulphate  and  acid  calcium 
phosphate  as  being  C20H17NO4.2H3PO4,  with  varying  amounts  of 
water  of  crystallization. 
Viscosity  of  Essential  Oils. 
By  E.  Dowzard. 
A  specimen  of  pure  lemon  oil  had  a  viscosity  of  139-6,  whilst  that 
of  citrene  was  found  to  be  105-8,  and  that  of  a  mixture  of  citrene  with 
7-5  per  cent,  of  citral  was  114-9.  Assuming  the  viscosity  of  lemon 
oil  to  be  fairly  constant,  such  a  test  may  be  of  some  value,  but 
examinations  of  authentic  samples  are  required.  The  author  there- 
fore concludes  that  useful  information  may  be  obtained  by  deter- 
mining the  viscosity  of  essential  oils. 
