Am.  Jour.  Pharm.\ 
June,  1896.  j 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
349 
highly  esteemed  as  a  therapeutic  agent  for  more  than  two  centuries,  but  also 
gave  an  interesting  biographical  sketch  of  its  originator,  Dr.  Thomas  Dover, 
who  at  one  time  during  his  career  was  engaged  as  a  buccaneer. 
In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  reading  of  the  paper,  Mr.  Thompson 
stated  that  potassium  sulphate  is  probably  to  be  preferred  to  sugar  of  milk  as  a 
diluent  for  Dover's  powder  on  account  of  the  trituration  required  to  reduce  it  to 
a  fine  state  of  division.  Mr.*E.  M.  Boring  referred  to  Squibb's  process  for  this 
preparation,  which  consists  in  reducing  to  powder  crystals  of  sugar  of  milk, 
opium  and  ipecac  roots  by  grinding  them  together. 
Mr.  Charles  H.  I,aWall  read  the  second  paper,  the  subject  of  which  was  "  A 
Method  of  Assay  for  Sanguinaria  and  Its  Preparations."  (See  page  305.)  Four 
modifications  of  the  general  assay  processes  now  coming  into  use  were 
employed  by  the  author,  with  the  conclusion  that,  working  upon  a  practical 
scale,  the  benzin  process  gives  uniform  results  with  a  given  sample  of  the  drug, 
and  may  be  used  for  standardization.  The  process  formulated  by  him  is  as 
follows  : 
Macerate  for  four  hours  with  frequent  agitation  ;  then  add  5  grammes 
additional  of  aqua  ammonise  ;  shake  well  and  separate  the  quantity  required 
for  assay,  the  final  extraction  of  the  alkaloid  being  effected  by  the  use  of  heavy 
chloroform  ether  (chloroform  3  volumes,  ether  1  volume).  The  conclusion  was 
also  reached  that  1  '50  may  be  considered  the  average  alkaloidal  per  cent,  of  the 
commercial  drug.  Samples  of  the  chloride  of  the  alkaloids  of  sanguinaria 
prepared  by  the  author  were  shown. 
A  paper,  entitled  "  The  Pharmacopceial  Standard,"  was  contributed  by  Prof. 
J.  U.  Lloyd,  of  Cincinnati,  O.    (See  page  297.) 
The  author  is  of  the  opinion  that  a  large  number  of  the  exacting  pharmaco- 
pceial descriptions  should  be  modified,  and  considered  a  number  of  official 
compounds,  dividing  them  into  three  classes  : 
In  the  first  class  he  placed  those  substances  which  rapidly  deteriorate,  and 
showed  how  they  might  be  fully  up  to  the  standard  when  freshly  prepared,  but 
fall  below  it  within  a  short  time.  The  second  class  embraced  such  substances  as 
are  demanded  of  a  strength  by  the  Pharmacopoeia  that  renders  their  production 
impractical  or  unnecessarily  expensive.  In  the  third  class  were  included  such 
substances  as  are  used  largely  in  the  arts  and  the  demands  of  commerce,  and 
which  the  necessities  of  manufacture  or  custom  have  established  of  a  different 
quality  from  the  official  standard. 
The  writer  concludes  with  the  belief  that  a  scale  of  reasonable  variations 
should  be  affixed  to  every  official  preparation. 
This  paper  elicited  considerable  discussion. 
Mr.  Thompson  remarked  that  those  entrusted  with  the  administration  of  the 
laws  are  filled  with  zeal,  and  construe  them  too  literally  and  rigidly,  but  that 
the  final  outcome  of  the  difficulties  will  be  the  establishment  of  more  rational 
standards,  and  that  interest  will  be  centered  upon  this  work  and  not  upon  liti- 
gation as  at  the  present  time. 
Grammes. 
Drug  (No.  50  powder) 
Petroleum  benzin  .  . 
Aqua  ammonite  .  .  . 
100 
10 
10 
