A^amwyPSm'}       Substitute  for  Ethyl  Alcohol.  3 
In  order  to  measure  with  a  fair  degree  of  accuracy  the  compara- 
tive capacity  of  alcohol  and  acetic  acid  for  extracting  the  active 
principles  of  drugs,  it  was  proposed  to  make  parallel  extractions  of 
the  same  drug  under  the  same  conditions  at  the  same  time.  In 
selecting  a  drug  for  the  first  trial,  that  is  most  difficult  to  extract 
to  complete  exhaustion,  nux  vomica  was  taken.  For  the  extraction 
of  this  important  drug  the  U.S.P.  has  an  excellent  formula  and  pro. 
cess  by  which  the  seed  is  reduced  to  a  powder  that  passes  through 
a  No.  60  sieve — 60  meshes  to  the  linear  inch — and  is  percolated  to 
practical  exhaustion  with  a  menstruum  of  about  64-5  percent,  alco- 
hol, to  the  first  part  of  which  a  small  ✓  proportion  of  acetic  acid  is 
added.  That  is,  500  grammes  of  No.  60  powder  is  moistened  with 
500  c.c.  of  the  alcohol  to  which  25  c.c.  of  36  per  cent,  acetic  acid  has 
been  previously  added,  and  it  is  then  percolated  to  exhaustion  with 
the  alcohol  without  further  addition  of  acetic  acid.  This  powder 
and  menstruum  were  used  on  one  series  of  percolations  in  competi- 
tion with  a  10  per  cent,  acetic  acid  on  a  very  coarse  powder  in  a 
corresponding  series  of  percolations.  The  weight  of  10b  c.c.  at 
about  23 0  C.  of  the  U.S.P.  menstruum  with  acetic  acid  was  88-70 
grammes — without  the  acid  88-00  grammes,  and  the  same  volume 
of  the  acetic  acid  menstruum  at  the  same  temperature  weighed 
101-43  grammes.  The  percolates  were  received  in  100  c.c.  fractions 
in  narrow-neck  flasks,  and  weighed  at  about  this  temperature,  and 
the  weights  of  the  menstrua  subtracted  from  the  weights  of  the 
percolates  gave  the  series  of  differences  that  are  shown  in  the  table 
to  indicate  the  rates  of  exhaustion. 
About  10  kilogrammes  of  good,  well-seasoned  nux  vomica  was 
taken  from  a  lot  of  2,300  pounds  and  very  coarsely  ground  so  that 
all  of  it  was  passed  through  a  No.  9  sieve.  Then  half  of  this  was 
powdered  and  all  passed  through  a  No.  60  sieve  for  the  U.S.P. 
percolations,  thus  maki  ng  sure  that  the  fine  and  coarse  were  as 
nearly  alike  as  practicable.  Then  each  portion,  fine  and  coarse, 
was  carefully  assayed,  the  powder  giving  2-80  per  cent,  of  mixed 
alkaloids,  and  the  ground  giving  2-93  per  cent,  of  mixed  alkaloids ; 
and  therefore  1,500  grammes  of  the  powder  would  contain  42-00 
grammes  of  alkaloids  and  the  same  quantity  of  ground  would  con- 
tain 43-95  grammes  of  mixed  alkaloids,  to  be  washed  out  by  the 
different  menstrua. 
