Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
Feb.,  1884.  { 
Tincture  Deposits. 
107 
was  obtained  was  not  prepared  according  to  the  official  directions,  but 
the  quinine  was  dissolved  in  the  tincture  of  orange  by  the  aid  of  a 
small  quantity  of  acid.  It  was  white  and  soluble  in  water ;  on  exami- 
nation it  proved  to  be  sulphate  of  calcium. 
Mr.  Hustwick  has  shown  (Pharm.  Journ.,  [3],  iii.,  p.  722),  that  this 
deposit  is  formed  during  three  days  used  in  its  preparation  by  the 
pharmacopoeial  method,  and  that  another  deposit  is  formed  subsequently 
at  low  temperatures,  consisting  of  tannate  of  quinine.  I  have  not 
been  able  to  obtain  any  of  this  latter  deposit. 
Tinctura  Rhei. — The  deposit,  which  was  of  a  greyish-brown  color, 
was  washed  with  proof-spirit  as  before,  until  the  washings  ran  through 
only  slightly  colored,  then  dried  and  extracted  by  benzol,  first  in  the 
extraction  apparatus,  and  then  by  boiling.  A  yellow  solution  was 
formed  which  on  evaporation  left  a  reside  too  small  for  further  puri- 
fication and  was,  therefore,  weighed  as  slightly  impure  chrysophanic 
acid.  1*485  of  a  gram  yielded  *018  of  a  gram  of  chrysophanic  acid 
=  1*2  per  cent.  This  residue  was  shown  to  consist  of  chrysophanic 
acid  by  yielding  a  fine  rose-colored  solution  with  dilute  ammonia, 
which  solution  gave  a  lilac  to  rose-colored  precipitate  with  acetate  of  lead. 
The  remaining  portion  of  the  deposit  was  boiled  with  water,  and,  as 
it  still  gave  evidence  of  the  presence  of  chroysophanic  acid,  was  boiled 
with  very  dilute  ammonia  until  exhausted ;  the  ammoniacal  solution 
filtered,  washed,  and  shaken  with  chloroform  after  acidulating  with 
acetic  acid.  The  chloroformic  solution  was  evaporated  to  dryness  and 
the  residue  weight  *0142  of  a  gram  =  *96  per  cent,  which,  with  that 
already  obtained,  equalled  2*17  per  cent,  of  chrysophanic  acid  in  the 
deposit. 
The  residue  after  the  above  treatment  was  now  washed  with  dilute 
hydrochloric  acid,  and  the  solution  gave  evidence  of  oxalate  of  calcium 
in  considerable  quantity.  Another  portion  of  the  deposit,  "5634  of  a 
gram,  was  therefore  taken  and  the  ash  estimated  by  ignition,  it  cor- 
responded to  29  per  cent,  of  the  deposit,  and  consisted  chiefly  of  car- 
bonate of  calcium,  due  to  the  decomposition  of  the  oxalate,  also  a  small 
quantity  of  magnesium,  but  no  potassium.  The  deposit  in  tinct.  rhei. 
therefore  contains  2*17  per  cent,  of  chrysophanic  acid  and  about  37 
per  cent,  of  oxalate  of  calcium.  I  had  not  enough  of  the  deposit  to 
test  it  for  cathartic  acid,  which  is  the  purgative  principle  of  the  drug. 
The  remainder,  apparently,  consisted  of  gummy  matters. 
Note. — It  will  be  observed  that  no  reference  is  made  to  the  amount 
