Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
December.  1900.  J 
German  Pharmacopoeia. 
569 
cess  given  is  a  volumetric  one,  and  while  it  is  certainly  more  rapid, 
and  in  the  hands  of  an  experienced  operator  no  doubt  gives  uni- 
formly good  results,  still  much  more  depends  on  the  personal  equa- 
tion of  the  operator,  and  there  are  decidedly  more  possibilities  of 
error. 
It  is  not  generally  recognized  that  even  at  this  late  day  there 
should  be  considerable  doubt  as  to  the  botanical  source  of  some 
of  the  drugs  that  have  been  in  use  for  hundreds  of  years ;  still  this 
is  true  of  more  than  a  dozen  otherwise  well-known  vegetable  sub- 
stances. A  few  illustrations  show  how  carefully  the  revisers  of 
the  German  Pharmacopoeia  have  considered  the  evidence  in  these 
cases,  and  also  show  the  care  exercised  to  establish  standards 
that,  while  they  are  readily  met  by  a  good  quality  of  the  drug  as 
found  in  commerce,  are  still  high  enough  to  prevent  unscrupulous 
adulteration  or  sophistication,  the  appended  three  examples  illus- 
trating this  very  well. 
Per  Cent.  Per  Cent. 
Source  of  Soluble  in  Alcohol.  Ash. 
Asafcetida — 
G.P.    Various  species  of  Ferula,  chiefly  F. 
asafoetida  and  F.  Narthex   50  10 
B.P.    Ferula  fcetida   65  10 
U.S. P.    Ferula  fcetida   60 
Myrrh — 
G.P.  Commiphora  Abyssinica,  Commiphora 
Schimperi   30  6 
B.P.    Balsamodendron  myrrha. 
U.S. P.   Commiphora  myrrha. 
Benzoin — 
G.P.    Not  determined   95  2 
B.P.    Styrax  benzoin   90 
U.S. P.    Styrax  benzoin. 
Without  going  into  an  extensive  discussion  of  the  merits  of  the 
standards  established  here,  we  would  like  to  call  attention  to  asafoe- 
tida. It  will  readily  be  admitted  that  little  of  the  gum  in  the  Ameri- 
can market  would  meet  the  requirements  of  the  British  Pharma- 
copoeia, and  not  all  of  it,  or  perhaps  not  half  of  it,  comes  up  to  the 
requirements  of  our  own  standard.  The  addition  of  a  maximum 
amount  of  ash  would  seem  to  be  a  good  check  on  the  fraudulent 
admixture  of  clay  or  sand. 
The  chemical  portion  of  the  work  is,  of  course,  of  a  high  stand- 
