NOTE  ON  WINE  COLCHICUM  SEED  (ENG.) 
509 
the  label  of  the  English  manufacturers,  and  having  the  seal  over 
the  cork  unbroken,  one  fluidounce  was  taken,  placed  in  a  porce- 
lain capsule,  about  one  grain  of  oxalic  acid  added,  and  the  wine 
allowed  to  evaporate  spontaneously  to  the  consistence  of  a  soft 
extract. 
This  extract  was  exhausted  with  two  drachms  of  distilled 
water,  and  filtered,  the  filtrate  slightly  supersaturated  with 
liquor  potassa,  and  two  fluidrachms  of  pure  chloroform  were  then 
added  in  a  test  tube,  and  the  mixture  thoroughly  agitated  several 
times. 
The  chloroform  was  allowed  to  settle,  and  then  the  contents  of 
the  test  tube  poured  slowly  into  a  small  separating  funnel.  When 
the  chloroform  had  become  clear,  it  was  run  ofi°  into  a  small  cap- 
sule and  spontaneously  evaporated,  leaving  a  small  amount  of 
yellowish-green  residue. 
This  was  treated  with  one  drachm  of  distilled  water,  to  which 
had  been  added  two  drops  of  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  then  filtered, 
to  filtrate  added  one  drop  of  Mayer's  test, — the  normal  solu- 
tion of  iodohydrargyrate  of  potassium, — but  obtained  not  the 
slightest  reaction  or  trace  of  a  precipitate,  showing  the  wine  to 
contain  little  or  none  of  the  colchicia.  To  prove  that  this 
method  would  determine  the  presence  of  the  active  principle, 
one  fluidounce  of  some  wine  of  colchicum  that  we  made  from  a 
fair  lot  of  seeds  according  to  the  U.  S.  P.  was  treated  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  manner  as  above  described,  and,  on  the  addition 
of  one  drop  of  the  test  liquor,  a  copious  canary-colored  precipi- 
tate was  obtained. 
Four  drops  of  the  test  solution  were  required  to  precipitate  all 
of  the  alkaloid. 
Physicians  report  this  wine  as  efficient  and  active,  corroborat- 
ing the  chemical  test. 
Middletown,  N.  Y.,  Sept.,  1868. 
v   
NOTE  ON  THE  CLEANSING  OF  COD-LIVER  OIL  BOTTLES. 
By  William  Procter,  Jr. 
It  is  not  unusual  with  the  pharmaceutist  to  take  back  the 
empty  bottles  from  consumers  of  cod-liver  oil,  and  the  corks  be- 
