536    .  Valuation  of  Drugs  and  Foods.  {tvSffi" 
were  reduced  to  their  utmost  simplicity,  and  that  if  the  difficulties 
surrounding  this  subject  from  an  economical  standpoint  were  re- 
moved, few  pharmacists  would  be  unable  to  determine  the  value  of 
their  purchases. 
It  ought  to  be  said,  too,  that  this  line  of  work  suggested  itself 
after  several  years  of  labor  in  endeavoring  to  secure  results  by 
micro-chemical  methods  upon  the  drugs  themselves.  This  latter 
procedure  I  reluctantly  give  up  for  practical  reasons  for  the  present. 
There  are  so  many  other  substances  in  the  drug  foreign  to  the  prin- 
ciple or  principles,  the  reactions  of  which  are  to  be  studied ;  and  these, 
with  microscopic  conditions  of  heat,  moisture,  etc.,  cause  an  unsatisfac- 
tory condition  of  affairs,  in  that  we  have  the  appearance  and  disap- 
pearance of  things,  regarding  the  interpretation  of  which  we  can- 
not say  anything  definite  as  yet. 
The  object  sought  with  the  class  of  drugs  here  considered  has 
been  to  ascertain  the  least  quantity  of  drug  which  could  be  employed 
in  making  solutions  which,  with  characteristic  reagents,  would  give 
reactions  that  might  have  a  commercial  quantitative  significance,  and 
give  methods  which  might  be  readily  applied  by  the  pharmacist. 
Before  the  matter  is  finally  solved  and  put  upon  a  satisfactory  basis, 
a  great  amount  of  work  must  be  done  by  different  experimenters 
and  observers  upon  each  of  the  drugs  where  procedures  as  given  are 
possible. 
The  following  are  the  drugs  that  have  been  experimented  upon: 
(a)  Nux  Vomica  (assaying  2-25  per  cent,  of  total  alkaloids). — 
O-ioo  gramme  of  the  powdered  drug  is  mixed  with  10  c.c.  of  a 
modified  Prollius  fluid1  and  allowed  to  stand,  with  frequent  agitation, 
from  four  to  twenty-four  hours.  The  solution  is  then  filtered  into 
a  small  separatory  funnel  and  5  c.c.  of  a  dilute  sulphuric  acid  (0-5  per 
cent.)  added,  and  after  separation  of  the  aqueous  solution  the  latter 
is  diluted  with  5  c.c.  of  water.  This  solution  of  10  c.c.  contains 
0-00225  gramme  of  the  alkaloids  of  nux  vomica.  Calculating 
20  drops  as  being  equivalent  to  1  c.c,  we  have  20  X  10  c.c.  ==  200 
drops.  Then  200  drops  of  liquid  contain  approximately  -00225 
gramme  of  alkaloids  and  I  drop  contains  X  -00225  =  00001 125 
gramme. 
1  Ether,  60  c.c;  alcohol,  7-5  c.c;  chloroform,  30  c.c;  ammonia,  2*5  c.c.  It 
should  be  borne  in  mind  in  this  connection  that  probably  the  modified  Prollius 
solution  does  not  extract  all  the  alkaloids  in  the  various  drugs  equally  well. 
