Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
May,  1911.  / 
Standardisation  of  Digitalis. 
201 
case.  Holocaine  gives  a  precipitate  soluble  in  hydrochloric  acid, 
but  no  crystals  form  and  the  solution  turns  green  on  standing. 
Acoine  gives  a  precipitate  soluble  in  hydrochloric  acid.  After  a 
short  time,  a  brown  precipitate  forms  and  the  supernatant  liquid 
becomes  brown,  slowly  changing  to  green.  Euphthalmine  gives  no 
precipitate  with  chromic  acid  test  solution. 
Cocaine  solutions  will  yield  crystals  with  chromic  acid  in 
dilutions  of  i :  looo. 
The  behavior  of  cocaine  with  the  chromic  acid  test  is  not 
duplicated  by  any  of  the  other  common  alkaloids.® 
In  addition  to  the  above  tests,  the  behavior  of  chlorine  water 
with  the  cocaine  substitutes  has  given  valuable  results  which  serve 
to  differentiate  between  these  and  cocaine.  To  i  c.c.  of  a  one 
per  cent,  solution  of  alkaloid  are  added  2  c.c.  of  saturated  chlorine 
water.  Cocaine  gives  no  precipitate;  alpha-eucaine,  a  milky  tur- 
bidity ;  beta-eucaine,  a  dense  white  turbidity ;  holocaine,  a  light 
yellow  turbidity ;  stovaine,  a  light  milky  turbidity ;  acoine,  a  maroon 
precipitate  and  claret  solution,  and  euphthalmine,  no  reaction. 
The  results  of  all  the  foregoing  tests  are  appended  in  tabular 
form  on  the  opposite  page. 
The  micrographs,  representing  a  magnification  of  100  diameters, 
were  kindly  made  for  us  by  Mr.  Carl  S.  Miner,  Ellsworth  Building, 
Chicago,  for  which  we  wish,  in  this  place,  to  express  our  ap- 
preciation. 
PHYSIOLOGICAL  METHODS  FOR  THE  STANDARD- 
IZATION OF  DIGITALIS. 
By  Charles  C.  Haskell,  A.B.,  M.D.,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 
It  seems  to  be  generally  admitted  that  there  is  no  satisfactory 
method  for  the  chemical  assay  of  the  drugs  of  the  digitalis  series. 
Reed  and  Vanderkleed  claim  to  have  found  an  agreement  between 
the  values  obtained  for  digitalis  preparations  through  physiological 
tests  and  those  obtained  through  determination  of  the  digitoxin  con- 
tent, but  their  experience  is  practically  unique,  other  investigators 
being  able  to  see  no  such  agreement.  Inspection  shows,  moreover, 
that  the  results  secured  even  by  Reed  and  Vanderkleed  are  not  at 
•Metzger,  loc.  cit. 
