82 
Aikalo ida I  A s saying. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Feb.,  1893. 
most  1-85  per  cent,  emetine,  caused  the  investigation  to  include  the 
assay  of  the  crude  drug.  The  process  used  in  the  just-quoted  analysis 
was  proposed  by  Kremel  (Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1892,  519);  in  it  the 
finely  powdered  drug  is  mixed  with  calcium  hydrate  and  water  and 
dried  in  a  steam-bath  before  extracting  with  chloroform  ;  after  6 
hours'  extraction  0-82  per  cent,  emetine,  after  4  hours'  further  extrac- 
tion o- 1 2  per  cent,  additional  was  obtained,  or  by  10  hours'  extraction 
0-94  per  cent,  emetine  ;  various  modifications  of  the  method  did  not 
give  more  favorable  results.  The  reason  for  the  small  yield  of  alka- 
loid is  no  doubt  due  to  the  gelatinizing  of  the  starch  and  in  the  sub- 
sequent drying  this  covers  the  cellular  tissue  so  that  the  cell  con- 
tents cannot  be  acted  upon  by  solvents.  As  a  result  of  the  experi- 
ments to  devise  a  practical  and  reliable  method  for  the 
Assay  of  ipecac  root,  the  following  is  offered  :  10  grams  of  the 
finely  powdered  and  dried  (at  ioo°  C.)  root  is  placed  in  a  dry 
bottle  of  150  cc.  capacity,  40  grams  chloroform  and  60  grams  ether 
added  and  thoroughly  mixed  by  agitation  for  several  minutes ;  by 
the  addition  of  10  grams  water  of  ammonia  the  suspended  powder 
separates  almost  immediately  while  the  emetine  is  dissolved ;  fre- 
quent agitation  during  one  hour  is  followed  by  a  further  addition  of 
5  grams  water  of  ammonia  which  upon  agitation  causes  the 
powder  to  agglutinate  into  a  lump,  while  the  liquid  becomes  per- 
fectly clear  and  if  necessary  could  be  almost  completely  poured  off. 
Fifty  grams  of  the  alkaloidal  solution,  representing  5  grams  of  the 
dried  root,  is  then  transferred  to  a  weighed  Erlenmeyer  flask  and 
the  process  completed  as  described  under  the  assay  of  the  fluid 
extract.  The  titration  in  this  case  is  a  little  more  difficult  because 
of  the  extraction  of  a  little  fat  from  the  root  (the  average  of  six 
determinations  of  fat  in  ipecac  gives  0-31  per  cent.);  an  improve- 
ment of  the  assay  process  consists  in  extracting  the  fat  from  the 
dried  powdered  root  before  submitting  it  to  the  assay.  For  this 
purpose  10  grams  of  the  powder  are  placed  in  a  small  glass  funnel 
closed  with  a  plug  of  cotton  and  percolated  with  ether  until  the 
latter  runs  through  colorless,  usually  1 5-20  cc.  suffice ;  then  with  a 
glass  rod  the  cotton  and  powder  are  pushed  through  the  funnel 
into  a  dry,  weighed  bottle  of  150  cc.  capacity  and  washed  with 
ether  until  the  weight  of  the  ether  in  the  bottle  equals  60  grams, 
then  add  40  grams  chloroform,  etc.,  as  before.  By  this  prelimi- 
nary treatment  the  alkaloid  solution  remains  almost  perfectly  clear 
