xxviii 
Notes  and  News. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      August,  16£9. 
pressure,  with  the  thermometer  wholly  in  the  vapor.  For  the  residue  on  evapo- 
ration, 20  grammes  of  the  sample  are  weighed  into  a  100  c.c.  platinum  dish  and 
evaporated  not  above  2500  F.  (1210  C).  The  residue  should  not  exceed  2  per 
cent,  and  usually  does  not  exceed  1.  The  evaporation  should  take  place  at 
ioo°  C.  in  cases  of  dispute.  The  treatment  with  oil  of  vitriol  is  based  upon  the 
fact  that  pure  oil  of  turpentine  is  almost  wholly  polymerized  and  dissolved  by 
sulphuric  acid.  Six  c.c,  of  the  sample  are  placed  in  a  30  c.c.  tube,  graduated 
to  tenths,  held  under  a  cold-water  faucet  and  slowly  filled  with  CP.  sulphuric 
acid.  It  is  allowed  to  cool,  the  tube  corked  and  the  contents  mixed  five  or  six 
times,  cooling,  if  necessary.  The  tube  is  placed  vertically  and  allowed  to  stand 
half  an  hour.  The  material  unaffected  by  the  acid  is  the  adulterant  and  its 
volume  is  measured.    It  is  not  usually  more  than  3  per  cent. 
Powdered  Drugs. — The  following  table,  taken  from  the  Helfenberger  An- 
nalen,  1897  {Pharm.  Zeit.y  1898,  319),  gives  the  maximum  size  of  the  particles, 
in  microns,  and  the  amount  of  water  contained  in  the  same  : 
Substance.  Maxim 
um  Size  111  Microns. 
Per  Cent 
.  of  Water. 
.  243-00 
5-00-15-00 
•  255-00 
5'55- 
-13*95 
.  234-00 
9-20- 
-16-50 
Fol.  Sennse  (Tinevelli)  .  .  . 
.  164-OO 
4-20-14-50 
•  145*80 
6-50- 
■12*25 
•  133*65 
6'20- 
-I4-95 
■  I47-I5 
3-80-13-57 
•  148*50 
5*83- 
-10-45 
"  Meliloti  
•  I55-25 
6-25- 
-13*55 
.  162-00 
5-15- 
12-65 
"    Glycyrrhizse  (Sp. )  \ 
(Rus.)J 
.  229-50 
3-90- 
i3*5o 
"    Rhei  I) 
"  II/ 
•  275-40 
4*45- 
•I2'00 
•  184-95 
9*95- 
-13*55 
The  Structure  of  Protoplasm. — Dr.  E.  B.  Wilson  has  made  a  critical 
study  of  the  living  protoplasm  and  finds  (Science,  July  14,  1899)  that  in  the 
Echinoderm-eggs  it  is  a  mixture  of  liquids,  in  the  form  of  a  fine  emulsion  con- 
sisting of  a  continuous  substance  in  which  are  suspended  drops  of  two  general 
orders  of  magnitude  and  of  different  chemical  nature,  as  indicated  by  their 
staining  reactions.  He  further  considers  that  the  astral  rays  in  Echinoderms 
grow  by  progressive  differentiation  out  of  the  general  cytoplasmic  meshwork, 
and  that  there  is  no  ground,  in  the  Echinoderm-egg,  at  least,  for  the  recogni- 
tion of  a  specific  "archoplasm  "or  "  kynoplasm  "  from  which  they  arise.  The 
entire  coarser  alveolar  structure,  i.  e.,  the  foam  structure  of  Biitschli,  is  in  the 
eggs  of  secondary  origin.  He  agrees  with  Kolliker  that  no  universal  or  even 
general  formula  for  protoplasmic  structure  may  be  given. 
