Am.  Jour.  Phartri.  | 
January.  1903.  j 
Theocin. 
27 
ides,  would  be  practically  doubled  in  strength.  This  is,  however, 
also  like  that  of  cantharides,  not  of  serious  moment,  as  it  is  not 
very  popular,  and  not  extensively  used,  probably  due  largely  to 
the  fact  that  little  really  first  class  seed  finds  its  way  to  this  market. 
In  the  matter  of  dosage,  the  increase  in  the  drug-strength  would 
bring  this  preparation  in  the  class  with  aconite,  belladonna  and  can- 
tharides. The  average  dose  would  be  from  o-io  to  0  50  instead  of 
from  o  20  to  o  80  c.c.  as  given  for  the  present  U.S. P.  tincture.  A 
good  quality  of  the  ground  drug  lost  4  per  cent,  on  drying,  while 
after  exhaustion  with  70  per  cent,  alcohol  and  subsequent  drying  it 
was  found  that  IOO  grammes  had  lost  a  total  of  32  grammes,  or  a 
net  loss  of  28  grammes  of  extractive;  1,000  grammes  of  the  tincture 
measured  1,108  cc,  while  1  litre,  at  250  C,  weighed  896  grammes. 
The  resulting  tincture,  without  any  previous  preparation  of  the 
seed,  is  of  a  golden  yellow  color  and  appears  to  be  quite  stable, 
remaining  clear  and  transparent. 
Altogether  it  may  be  said  that  the  proposed  international  stan- 
dard preparations  are  readily  made,  and  give  uniformly  satisfactory 
preparations.  With  the  possible  exception  of  the  tincture  of  ipecac, 
they  should  receive  the  consideration  and  recommendation  of 
members  of  the  medical  as  well  as  pharmaceutical  profession,  so 
as  to  have  them  properly  presented  before  the  members  of  the 
United  States  Pharmacopceial  Revision  Committee  for  their  consid- 
eration and  adoption. 
THEOCIN,  THE  FIRST  VEGETABLE  ALKALOID  MANU- 
FACTURED ON  A  LARGE  SCALE  BY  SIMPLE  SYN- 
THESIS.1 
By  Dr.  Hugo  Schweitzer,  New  York  City. 
In  1888  Kossel  found  in  the  extract  of  tea- leaves  a  new  alkaloid 
isomeric  with  theobromine,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  theophyl- 
line. It  was  present  in  such  exceedingly  small  quantities,  however, 
that  it  could  not  be  tested  even  for  its  pharmacological  properties. 
But  when  E.  Fischer  succeeded  in  synthesizing  the  bodies  belonging 
to  the  purin  class,  it  became  possible  to  study  theophylline  from  a 
therapeutic  standpoint.    It  was  found  that  it  was  the  most  power- 
xRead  before  the  New  York  Section  of  the  American  Chemical  Society, 
December  5,  1902. 
