244  Method  of  Cleaning  Digitalis.      {Am'^S '  1^8™ 
should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  commercial  samples  have  been  re- 
ported upon  which  run  over  25  per  cent,  of  ash.  Such  samples  of 
course  would  not  come  within  the  present  U.  S.  P.  IX  limits.  In 
case  the  foreign  inorganic  material  adsorbs  the  therapeutically  ac- 
tive constituents  it  would  then  seem  especially  important  that  all 
such  extraneous  matter  be  discarded. 
A  study  of  Table  I  clearly  shows  that  by  a  process  of  screening, 
digitalis  containing  over  11  per  cent,  of  ash  may  be  separated  into 
two  portions,  one  yielding  an  ash  content  of  9.284  per  cent.,  and  the 
other  passing  through  a  screen  of  fourteen  meshes  to  the  linear 
inch,  yielding  26.24  per  cent.  The  second  portion  represented  ap- 
proximately 20  per  cent,  of  the  entire  quantity,  to  discard  all  of 
which  seemed  an  unnecessary  waste,  especially  as  its  ash  content 
indicated  that  it  was  about  four  fifths  digitalis. 
The  second  table  shows  that  a  further  process  of  separation  may 
be  employed  to  almost  completely  separate  the  foreign  inorganic 
material.  The  fine  siftings  yielded  over  56  per  cent,  of  ash,  while 
the  coarser  portions  were  approximately  9  and  10  per  cent.,  respec- 
tively. The  total  weight  of  fine  siftings  was  5.805  Kg.  or  approxi- 
mately 7  per  cent,  loss  from  the  original  drug.  This  may  seem  like 
a  considerable  loss,  especially  to  those  who  handle  digitalis  in  large 
quantities.  The  actual  loss  of  digitalis,  however,  is  less  than  3^ 
per  cent.,  the  remaining  portion  being  foreign  matter. 
In  view  of  the  unquestionable  wide  variation  in  the  chemical 
nature  of  the  foreign  material  which  may  be  present,  it  would  seem 
desirable  to  carry  the  process  of  elimination  of  foreign  matter  just 
as  far  as  possible,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  may  increase  the 
cost  of  the  drug.  The  U.  S.  P.  IX  definition  for  digitalis  permits 
not  more  than  two  per  cent,  of  foreign  matter.  The  requirement  is 
also  made  that  the  ash  of  digitalis  shall  not  exceed  fifteen  per  cent. 
In  other  words,  there  is  an  allowance  for  variation  in  the  normal 
ash  of  digitalis  up  to  thirteen  per  cent.  While  some  may  question 
the  advisability  of  requiring  digitalis  to  be  98  per  cent,  pure,  never- 
theless by  the  application  of  methods  as  outlined  in  this  paper  such 
requirement  is  apparently  met  with  even  when  the  foreign  matter 
consists  chiefly  of  microscopic  material. 
Special  Digitoxin  Tests. — Qualitative  chemical  tests  for  the 
presence  of  digitoxin  were  made  on  the  portions  separated  in  the 
cleaning  process.    The  method  employed  in  conducting  these  tests 
