Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
January,  1920.  ) 
Calcium  Creosote. 
47 
appears  to  have  absolutely  disappeared  en  route.  In  all  probability 
it  was  stolen,  and  the  lot  is  quite  possibly  still  in  existence  some- 
where. To  add  to  the  stringency  of  the  situation,  it  is  reported  that 
there  are  urgent  inquiries  for  santonin  on  the  market  from  the  United 
States,  and  if  these  had  led  to  business  the  present  quite  limited 
stock  in  the  hands  of  the  sole  importers  would  be  exhausted.  The 
sole  hope  in  the  situation  is  practically  confined  to  the  fact  that  the 
present  enormous  cost  will  quite  certainly  so  reduce  the  actual  con- 
suming demand  that  the  very  meagre  stock  available  may  at  a  pinch 
last  out  until  matters  change  and  fresh  supplies  come  in,  but  this  is 
indeed  a  vague  hope.  Also,  what  applies  to  the  importation  of  san- 
tonin also  equally  applies  to  the  importation  of  the  so-called  worm- 
seed,  in  view  of  the  enormously  large  bulk  of  such  wormseed.  The 
Eastern  and  Russian  Trading  Co.,  Ltd.,  state  that  they  have  also 
a  certain,  not  very  large  quantity  of  wormseed  in  stock,  but  they 
also  state  that  the  quality  is  not  quite  suited  to  the  manufacture  of 
santonin,  this  being  probably  due  to  the  comparatively  low  yield 
of  the  drug,  good  manufacturing  wormseed  yielding  about  2  per  cent, 
of  santonin.  Apart  from  this  fact,  the  difficulty  of  manufacture 
would  probably  arise,  it  being  open  to  question  whether  any  of  our 
fine  chemical  makers  would  be  prepared  to  undertake  the  production 
of  santonin  on  a  commercial  scale,  even  assuming  that  satisfactory 
raw  material  were  available.  Perhaps  some  French  manufacturer 
might  be  willing  to  oblige,  but  even  then  the  question  of  suitable  raw 
material  would  still  be  the  crux.  As  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the 
foregoing,  the  enormous  price  of  santonin  would  appear  likely  to  be 
maintained  for  the  present  and  in  the  near  future,  at  any  rate. 
CALCIUM  CREOSOTE.^ 
Under  the  name  of  Calcreose  has  been  introduced  a  dark  brown 
powder,  partially  soluble  in  water,  and  said  to  contain  in  loose 
chemical  combination  equal  weights  of  creosote  and  lime.  Its 
therapeutic  effect  is  similar  to  that  of  creosote,  while  it  does  not  pro- 
duce gastric  irritation.  Dose,  0.25  to  i.o  Gm.  (4  to  16  grains) 
every  two  to  four  hours  (see  The  Prescriher,  191 8,  p.  47). 
A  formula  for  the  preparation  of  a  similar  compound  in  liquid 
form  is  given  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal.    One  part  by  weight  of 
^  From  The  Prescriher,  December,  19 19.  , 
