344        Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  {Am-jS\y;imMm' 
digitalis  preparation,  the  difference  between  the  life  and  death  of  a 
patient.  No  especial  difference  in  the  time  of  absorption  between 
hypodermic  injections  and  mouth- administrations  was  observable, 
but  when  the  tincture  was  given  hypodermically  the  pulse-reduction 
seems  to  have  been  greater  with  the  fat-free  tincture,  though  not 
extending  over  any  greater  length  of  time. 
It  would  be  unwise  to  draw  too  far-reaching  conclusions  from 
these  results.  Based,  as  they  are,  upon  clinical  conditions,  and  vary- 
ing, as  these  do,  with  the  personal  factor  in  each  case,  they  should 
be  considered  as  approximate  for  the  present,  until  supplemented 
by  more  extended  work  with  the  sphygmograph.  At  the  same  time, 
the  remarkably  concordant  results  gotten  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
both  with  the  fat-free  tincture  and  the  official,  would  seem  to  be 
fairly  indicative  of  a  number  of  conclusions. 
RECENT  LITERATURE  RELATING  TO  PHARMACY. 
ASSAY  OF  FLUID  EXTRACT  OF  HYDRASTIS. 
A  new  method  of  assay  is  suggested  by  N.  Rusting  (Ph.  Cent.,  1898, 
788).  It  consists  of  cooking  10  grammes  of  the  fluid  extract  with 
20  grammes  water  until  the  liquid  is  evaporated  to  20  grammes,  and 
filtration  of  the  residue  through  infusorial  earth  or  talc.  Ten 
grammes  of  the  filtrate  is  mixed  with  25  c.c.  ether  and  3  c.c.  am- 
monia water,  and  after  shaking,  25  c.c.  petroleum  ether  and  2 
grammes  tragacanth  are  added.  Forty  c.c.  of  the  ethereal  layer  is 
then  withdrawn  and  evaporated  to  15  c.c,  when  thehydrastin  crys- 
tallizes out,  and  is  weighed.  The  tragacanth  aids  in  the  separation 
of  the  ethereal  layer  and  the  evaporation  of  25  of  the  40  c.c.  of  the 
ethereal  liquid  removed  all  the  ether,  leaving  the  petroleum  ether, 
in  which  hydrastin  is  scarcely  soluble.  In  fact,  when  the  petroleum 
ether  is  separated  from  the  crystals  and  evaporated,  the  residue  is 
found  to  contain  only  canadine.  Comparison  of  this  method  of 
assay  with  that  of  Linde  (Ph.  Cent.,  1895,  353),  shows  the  two 
methods  agree  well  with  advantage  in  simplicity  and  quickness  in 
favor  of  Rusting's  process.  H.  V.  Arny. 
A  NEW  METHOD  FOR  THE  DETERMINATION  OF  THE  MELTING- 
POINTS  OF  FATS. 
Messrs.  H.  R.  Le  Sueur  and  A.  W,  Crossley,  having  experienced 
some  difficulty  in  securing  uniform  results  by  the  usual  methods, 
