Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Dee.,  1891. 
Analysis  of  Pumpkin  Seeds. 
585 
ANALYSIS  OF  PUMPKIN  SEEDS. 
By  Wm.  E.  Miller,  Ph.G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay  presented  to  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
The  seeds  were  deprived  of  their  integuments,  and  these  and  the 
kernels  ground  separately  into  a  No.  40  powder. 
The  shells  yielded  to  benzin  2-8  per  cent,  of  extract,  from  which 
strong  alcohol  took  up  a  fixed  oil,  leaving  behind  a  dark  reddish- 
brown  mass.  By  means  of  ether  the  powder  now  gave  0  9  per 
cent,  of  extract,  a  small  portion  being  soluble  in  water,  yielding  a 
neutral  solution ;  and  a  resinous  substance  dissolving  in  alcohol 
with  a  greenish  fluorescence,  leaving  an  oily  residue.  The  alcoholic 
extract  from  the  powder,  exhausted  as  described,  amounted  to  0  5 
per  cent.,  and  was  a  greenish-brown  solid  of  a  bland  oily  taste  and 
liquefying  at  the  boiling  point  of  water.  The  powdered  shells 
yielded  2- 17  per  cent,  of  ash,  of  which  60  per  cent,  was  soluble  in 
water,  and  about  one-half  of  the  remainder  insoluble  hydrochloric  acid. 
The  ash  of  the  kernel  weighed  4-4  per  cent.  Petroleum  benzin 
extracted  from  the  powdered  kernels  33-6  per  cent,  of  fixed  oil, 
which  was  obtained  of  a  dark  reddish  color,  and  having  but  little 
odor,  but  a  rank  and  somewhat  bitter  taste.  The  oil  is  freely  solu- 
ble in  ether,  chloroform  and  in  hot  absolute  alcohol ;  but  in  95  per 
cent,  alcohol  it  is  almost  insoluble.  With  NaOH  a  soft  brownish 
soap  is  obtained. 
No  indications  could  be  obtained  of  the  presence  of  a  glucoside 
or  alkaloid. 
FERRIC  PHOSPHATE  U.  S.  P.  AND  FERRIC  PYRO- 
PHOSPHATE U.  S.  P. 
By  Julius  Stieglitz,  A.M.,  Ph.D. 
In  the  September  number  of  the  "  Pharmaceutische  Rundschau," 
Dr.  F.  B.  Power  proposes,  in  an  excellent  paper  on  the  official  iron 
salts,  to  change  the  official  method  for  the  quantitative  estimation 
of  the  iron  in  ferric  phosphate  U.  S.  P.  and  ferric  pyrophosphate 
U.  S.  P. 
On  having  a  large  number  of  preparations  of  these  salts  to 
examine  from  the  principal  manufacturing  houses  in  the  country,  I 
have  found  the  present  official  method  for  the  qualitative  examina- 
tion to  be  unsatisfactory  in  many  cases.  Therefore,  I  would  suggest 
that  a  change  also  in  the  qualitative  requirements  be  taken  into 
