AmAP°riir;imrm"}    Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  189 
instructed  to  furnish  experts;  and  if,  in  addition  to  the  chemists  of 
the  American  Chemical  Society  and  physicians  of  the  army  and 
navy,  the  pharmacists  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association 
are  invited  to  send  representatives.  There  is  no  question  but  that 
such  action — the  bringing  together  of  experts  in  the  different  depart- 
ments as  its  judges  of  standards — would  place  the  Congress  in  good 
faith  among  all  who  are  concerned  in  pure  food  and  drug  legisla- 
tion. This  part  of  the  subject  is  deserving  of  your  most  earnest 
consideration,  as,  to  my  mind,  it  is  the  keystone  of  all  food  and 
drug  legislation.  When  this  is  decided,  there  will  be  no  difficulty 
in  framing  a  law  that  is  at  least  rational,  and  which  may  be 
perfected  as  the  judges  of  standards  of  purity  are  enlightened  and 
manufacturer,  merchant  and  consumer  recognize  its  justice. 
RECENT  LITERATURE  RELATING  TO  PHARMACY. 
LIMED  ALTHAEA. 
It  is  well  known  that  considerable  althaea  is  limed  to  improve  its 
appearance,  and  the  test  for  its  detection  has  been  treatment  with 
diluted  hydrochloric  acid,  saturation  of  this  with  ammonia  and  addi- 
tion of  ammonium  oxalate  when  the  calcium  is  precipitated. 
Fromme  (Ph.  Rundschau,  1898,  63 1)  finds  all  althaea  naturally 
contains  some  lime,  and  that  the  above  test  will  invariably  give 
positive  results,  even  with  unsophisticated  specimens,  hence  is  a 
worthless  criterion.  He  recommends  the  following  test,  which 
affects  only  large  quantities  of  lime. 
Two  grammes  cut  althaea  in  a  small  plain  filter  is  washed  with 
5  c.c.  1  per  cent,  solution  of  hydrochloric  acid  and  the  filtrate  ren- 
dered alkaline  with  solution  of  soda.    No  precipitate  should  occur. 
H.  V.  Arny. 
SEPARATION  OF  THE  TARTARIC  ACIDS. 
According  to  A.  Hollemann  (Chein.  Zeit.,  1898,  134)  these  acids 
can  be  separated  by  the  fractional  crystallization  of  their  calcium 
salts,  racemic  acid  being  usually  the  first  to  crystallize  out.  The 
three  salts  can  be  readily  distinguished  under  the  microscope;  the 
dextrogyre  being  in  prisms  or  rectangular  plates ;  the  inactive  in 
quadratic  or  rhombic  crystals  ;  while  the  racemic  salt  appears  in 
elongated  rhombic  plates.  H.  V.  A. 
