Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
January,  1899.  1 
Results  of  Plant  Analysis. 
25 
cent,  at  1 1 5  0  C.  These  data  are  sufficient  to  show  that  the  article 
of  commerce  varies  materially. 
The  remaining  results  will  be  given  in  condensed  form. 
Soluble  in—  Constituents.  Per  Cent. 
{Wax,  saponifiable  ...  ..... 
Fat,  chlorophyl,  etc  
M.  P.  of  mixture  6o°  C   072 
f  Wax,  saponifiable  
Ether  U.S.P.,  1890  .  .  \  ^  chlorophylj  etc   roo 
(  Tannin   2*92 
Alcohol,  alsolute  .  .  .  \  Extractive   T-90 
f  Sodium  chloride   i7'42 
Water "  I  Extractive   20-00 
Sodium  hydroxide,  o'2  per  cent,  solution,  removed   471 
Hydrochloric  acid,  1  per  cent  solution,  removed   3*66 
Ash  in  extracted  plant  residue   5*03 
Cellulose,  lignin  and  allied  substances   34'93 
Loss  and  unestimated   8*43 
Total  10000 
The  medicinal  value  of  this  plant  lies  in  the  salt  and  tannin  it 
contains. 
35  Poplar  Street. 
v  
A  COMMON  ERROR  IN  RECORDED  RESULTS  OF 
PROXIMATE  PLANT  ANALYSIS. 
BV  I/YMAN  F.  KKBTvER. 
I  wish  to  call  attention,  in  this  connection,  to  an  error  frequently 
made  in  recording  results  of  proximate  plant  analysis.  In  summing 
up  the  results,  the  percentage  of  ash  is  usually  added  to  the  per 
cent,  of  the  other  constituents  to  make  up  100  per  cent.  Some  of 
the  ash  constituents  are  soluble  in  the  solvents  employed  in  the 
course  of  an  analysis.  If  these  soluble  constituents  are  added  as 
ash,  they  must  necessarily  be  recorded  as  soluble  in  certain  solvents 
employed  in  the  analysis,  and  thus  the  same  substances  are  recorded 
twice. 
Suppose  we  take  the  above  analysis  of  Yerba  Reuma  and  add  the 
ash  to  the  other  constituents,  and  what  do  we  obtain?  Not  100 
per  cent.,  but  126-41  per  cent.  An  impossibility.  This  does  not 
allow  for  any  loss  of  any  sort.  It  is  seldom  that  the  error  is  so 
much  in  evidence,  yet  it  is  smaller  or  greater  in  all  plant  analysis 
where  the  usual  method  of  recording  results  is  adopted. 
