Aro'ctober,Ji903.ni"}      British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  499 
that  it  is  never  safe  to  assume  that  all  extract  crystals  are  one  and 
the  same  substance. 
Hyoscyamus  Muticus. — F.  Ransom,  F.C.S.,  and  H.  John  Hender- 
son, Ph.C,  found  0*9  per  cent,  of  hyoscyamine  in  the  drug,  consist- 
ing mostly  of  the  leaf,  with  small  proportions  of  leaf  stalks  and  seed 
capsules.  A  sample  of  the  seed  capsule  contained  0-585,  and  a 
sample  of  the  light  brown  stalks,  with  some  leaves,  contained  0-498 
per  cent,  of  the  alkaloid. 
This  paper  also  included  a  note  by  Mr.  Ernest  Floyer,  member 
of  the  Egyptian  Institute,  who  stated  that  Hyoscyamus  muticus,  or 
"  sakran,"  "  the  drunken,"  when  grown  in  the  Nile  Valley,  makes 
large,  succulent  leaves,  but  has  few  seeds.  When  grown  in  coarse 
sand,  sometimes  as  many  as  5,000  seed  pods  will  ripen,  each  pod 
containing  about  100  seeds.  The  plant  in  the  Nile  Valley  is  an 
annual,  while  above  the  line  of  the  annual  floods,  it  will  live  from 
three  to  five  years,  giving  each  year  more  seeds  and  fewer  leaves. 
Quantitative  Separation  of  Strychnine  from  Qmnine. — E.  F.  Harri- 
son, B.Sc,  and  Mr.  D.  Gair,  gave  a  resume  of  various  methods, 
which  have  been  suggested  from  time  to  time,  to  estimate  the 
amount  of  the  alkaloids  in  such  preparations  as  Easton's  syrup. 
The  authors  give  their  preference  to  a  method  in  which  quinine, 
as  the  acid  sulphate,  is  treated  with  sodium  potassium  tartrate,  and 
separated  as  tartrate.  The  strychnine  is  separated  in  the  usual  way, 
by  treating  the  filtrate  with  ammonia  and  washing  with  chloroform. 
Volumetfic  Use  of  Fehling 's  Solution. — By  E.  F.  Harrison,  B.Sc, 
who  proposed  the  use  of  iodine  as  an  indicator.  The  necessary  solu- 
tion is  prepared  by  boiling  0-05  gramme  of  starch  with  a  few  c.c. 
of  water,  adding  10  grammes  of  potassium  iodide  and  diluting  to 
100  c.c. 
For  use,  0-5  or  1  c.c.  of  this  solution  is  taken,  acidified  with  from 
5  to  10  drops  of  acetic  acid  and  1  drop  or  more  of  the .  titration 
liquid  added  ;  as  long  as  unreduced  copper  is  present,  a  color  is  pro- 
duced, varying  from  red  to  blue,  depending  on  the  amount  of  cupric 
salt  still  unchanged.  The  absence  of  color  marks  the  end  of  the 
reaction. 
A  Comparison  of  Dietrich's  Process  for  the  Determination  of  Mor- 
phine in  Opium  with  that  of  the  British  Pharmacopoeia. — Mr. 
Harold  E.  Mathews,  after  recounting  a  number  of  comparative  tests 
that  he  had  made,  concludes  that  while  Dietrich's  method  is  not  so 
