Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
November,  1900.  J 
Some  Notes  on  Jalap. 
533 
The  estimation  of  crystals  in  the  powdered  drug  was  conducted 
along  lines  recommended  by  Prof.  Henry  Kraemer  (Amer.  Jour. 
Pharm.,  October,  1897. 
The  crystal  masses  were  very  often  broken  up  and  scattered. 
The  number  of  masses,  whole  or  scattered,  in  each  milligramme 
of  the  different  lots  are  given  in  above  table. 
For  the  estimation  of  starch  the  drug  was  ground  to  No.  80  pow- 
der, and  the  examination  was  conducted  along  the  same  lines  as  the 
crystals,  with  some  modifications. 
After  the  chloral-glycerin  solution  was  added,  instead  of  heating, 
each  portion  was  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  edge  of  the  cover 
glass  before  it  was  laid  on. 
As  in  the  crystal  estimation,  ten  readings  were  made  on  each 
milligramme  of  powder,  but  in  this  instance  the  field  of  the  high- 
power  lens  was  taken  instead  of  that  of  the  low-power.  That  por- 
tion of  the  field  which  contained  the  greatest  number  of  starch 
grains  was  found  first  with  the  low-power  lens  and  then  that  point 
of  this  field  in  which  the  starch  grains  were  most  abundant  was 
taken  as  the  place  for  counting  the  grains  with  the  high-power. 
In  this  connection  the  author  wishes  to  state  that  in  the  field  were 
included  only  such  grains  as  were  loose,  or  imbedded  in  tissue  not 
more  than  two  layers  deep;  tissues  which  contained  such  large 
quantities  of  starch  as  to  make  counting  impossible  were  not  in- 
cluded ;  in  fact,  were  not  permitted  under  the  high-power  lens. 
The  results  of  the  readings  are  enumerated : 
No. 
A. 
B. 
Starchy. 
Resinous. 
1 
328 
108 
146 
2 
346 
127 
200 
3 
34i 
181 
185 
4 
43i 
149 
176 
5 
357 
150 
183 
6 
338 
129 
5)  890 
6^  2,141 
6)  844 
178  to  a  mg. 
356-8  to  a  rag, 
140  to  a  mg. 
