Are*bruaryT?«t9m*}    Extr  actum  Ipecacucmhce  Liquidum.  75 
water,  place  in  a  porcelain  dish  and  dissipate  the  alcohol  by  evapo- 
rating the  mixture  to  rather  less  than  half  its  bulk ;  allow  to  cool. 
Now  add  1  c.c.  dilute  sulphuric  acid  and  transfer  to  a  separator,  wash- 
ing the  dish  with  20  c.c.  water  and  adding  these  washings  to  the 
liquid  in  the  separator.  Add  10  c.c.  ether-chloroform  (ether  and 
chloroform  equal  volumes),  agitate,  warm  to  promote  separation ; 
run  off  and  reject  the  ether-chloroform  layer  and  twice  repeat  the 
treatment  with  the  same  quantity  of  ether-chloroform.  Add  now 
10  c.c.  ether-chloroform  and  excess  of  solution  of  ammonia,  agitate, 
warm  and  run  off  the  separated  ether-chloroform  layer  into  a  tared 
dish ;  agitate  with  two  more  similar  quantities  of  ether-chloroform, 
separate  as  before,  adding  these  solutions  to  that  in  the  tared  dish. 
Evaporate  the  mixed  solutions  and  dry  the  residue  below  8o°  C. 
until  of  constant  weight.  This  weight,  less  that  of  the  dish, 
will  give  the  weight  of  total  alkaloids  present  in  the  quantity  of 
liquid  extract  operated  on." 
It  was  determined  to  compare  the  values  of  the  official  and  sug- 
gested processes  by  assaying  the  same  sample  by  both  methods,  and 
to  ascertain  the  weight  of  alkaloid  yielded  as  well  as  the  amount  of 
decinormal  acid  such  weighed  residue  was  capable  of  neutralizing, 
thus  obtaining  a  check  on  the  relative  amounts  of  alkaloid  present. 
Two  assays  of  the  same  quantity  of  extract  were,  therefore,  made 
by  the  process  suggested  : 
No.  1  assay  yielded  '417  gramme  alkaloidal  residue. 
No.  2  assay  yielded  '426  gramme  alkaloidal  residue. 
The  foregoing  gravimetric  results  may  be  summarized  thus : 
Alkaloid 
Lost  in  Lead 
Extracted. 
Precipitate. 
Total. 
Official  Process— 
.   .  '386 
•031 
•417 
•  •  "393 
•028 
•421 
.  .  -389 
•029 
•419 
Suggested  Process — 
No.  1  
.  .  -417 
•417 
•426 
,  .  .  -421 
•421 
From  the  above  figures  it  will  be  seen  that  when  the  alkaloid  is 
recovered  from  the  lead  precipitate,  practically  the  same  quantity 
of  alkaloid  by  weight  is  obtained  by  each  process. 
The  relative  alkaloidal  value  of  these  residues  was  then  deter- 
