120 
Notes  on  Practical  Pharmacy. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharna. 
I      March.  1891. 
half.  As  the  mixture  is  most  largely  used  for  diarrhoea  or 
intestinal  relaxation,  accompanied  with  acidity,  often  the  result  of 
food  fermentation,  the  use  of  any  sugar  would  seem  to  be  thera- 
peutically objectionable,  as  it  merely  increases  the  fermentation. 
A  much  better  plan  would  be  to  replace  all  the  sugar  with 
powdered  acacia.  Further,  in  view  of  the  mild  astringent  influ- 
ence of  cinnamon  water,  it  is  better  to  make  the  mixture  up 
with  all  cinnamon  water  instead  of  equal  parts  of  it  and  water,  as 
directed  by  the  U.  S.  P.,  '90.  Save  the  use  of  a  small  quantity  of 
syrup  (Jg-),  the  British  Ph.  recommends  the  former. 
The  officinal  mixture  contains  100  grains  of  powder  to  the  fluid 
ounce.  It  is  too  weak  and  should  be,  at  least,  2  drachms  to  the 
fluid  ounce. 
Some  physicians  use  chalk,  powdered  cinnamon,  acacia  and  water. 
This  does  not  make  as  elegant  a  preparation  as  the  officinal,  but  the 
tannic  acid  in  the  powdered  cinnamon  adds  greatly  to  its  therapeu- 
tical value. 
Weighing  Iodine. — It  is,  of  course,  inadmissible  to  weigh  iodine 
directly  upon  metallic  pans,  and  paper  decomposes  so  quickly  on 
contact  with  it,  that  the  pans  underneath  are  also  attacked.  In  the 
absence  of  glass  or  horn  pans,  the  best  substitute  is  paraffin 
paper. 
Sodium  Bromide. — Through  a  prominent  firm  of  manufacturing 
chemists,  I  have  learned  of  an  apparent  inconsistency  in  the  per- 
centage of  sodium  chloride  permitted  by  the  present  Pharmacopoeia 
in  this  compound.  Under  bromine  the  officinal  maximal  limit 
of  free  chlorine  is"  3  per  cent.,  while  under  sodium  bromide  the 
maximal  limit  of  sodium  chloride  is  also  3  per  cent.,  which,  of 
course,  is  inconsistent.  The  error  probably  arose  in  following  too 
closely  the  German  Pharmacopoeia,  which  makes  the  maximal  limit 
of  chloride  in  NaBr  3  per  cent.  But  no  notice  was  taken  of  the  fact 
that  American  bromine  always  contains  more  free  chlorine  than 
German  bromine,  and,  since  the  manufacturers  have  no  practicable 
method  of  separating  the  chlorine  in  its  entirety,  the  maximal 
limit  of  chloride  in  sodium  bromide  should  be  made  not  less  than 
5  per  cent. 
Wine  of  Antimony. — Physicians  complain  that  the  officinal  wine 
of  antimony  is  entirely  too  weak  in  tartar  emetic.  The  first  editions 
of  the  Pharmacopoeia  made  it  4  grains  to  the  fluidounce.  The 
