January  1915™'}  The  British  Pharmacopoeia.  47 
Melaleuca  Smithii,  R.  T.  Baker,  the  oil  of  which  is  said  by  those 
authorities  to  show  "  no  resemblance  to  cajuput  oil." 
A  few  of  the  old  drugs  that  have  borne  the  test  of  centuries,  such 
as  galbanum,  saffron,  sarsaparilla,  ficus,  and  conium,  have  now  disap- 
peared, the  last-named  a  useful  but  in  these  days  not  well-understood 
remedy,  while  saffron  cannot  be  said  to  have  ever  been  regarded  seri- 
ously from  the  physiological  point  of  view.  Mylabris  and  coca  and 
jaborandi  leaves  are  perhaps  outside  the  domain  of  prescriptions, 
though  all  appear  regularly  in  commerce,  but  these  have  now  dis- 
appeared. 
Under  cascara  sagrada  and  ergot  the  curious  direction  is  given 
that  the  former  should  be  collected  at  least  one  year  before  being 
used,  and  the  latter  should  not  be  used  if  more  than  one  year  old, 
but  how  the  pharmacist  is  to  ascertain  when  the  bark  was  collected 
in  North  America  is  not  explained.  The  direction  that  ergot  should 
not  be  used  if  more  than  one  year  old  must  leave  the  pharmacist  in  a 
quandary,  since  he  cannot  possibly  tell  (if  the  drug  has  been  care- 
fully dried)  whether  it  was  more  than  a  year  old  when  he  received 
it.  Belladonnas  folia  consist  now  of  the  dried  leaves,  not  the  fresh 
leaves  and  branches,  as  in  the  last  edition.  This  opens  up  the  possi- 
bility of  adulterated  leaves  from  the  Continent  being  used,  the 
cheaper  price  of  which  will  probably  lead  to  a  cessation  of  cultiva- 
tion of  belladonna  in  this  country  when  the  war  is  over.  The  require- 
ment that  the  leaves  should  contain  "  0.30  per  cent,  of  alkaloids  "  is 
rather  indefinite.  That  belladonna-root  must  be  "  the  root  collected 
in  autumn  and  dried  "  indicates  that  probably  English  root  is  in- 
tended, but,  in  any  case,  the  description  given  of  the  root  would 
ensure  its  being  autumn-collected,  even  if  foreign  root,  since  the 
spring-collected  root  is  porous  and  almost  free  from  starch. 
Under  catechu  pallidum  and  catechu  nigrum  the  statement  is 
made  that  the  crude  drug  should  not  yield  more  than  5  per  cent,  of 
ash,  and  the  powder  not  more  than  8  per  cent. — a  new  official  idea. 
The  leaves  of  Digitalis  purpurea,  are  directed  to  be  thoroughly  dried 
at  a  "  low  temperature,"  but  there  is  no  explanation  of  what  is  meant 
by  the  word  low.  It  is  also  directed  that  when  powdered  no  portion 
should  be  rejected,  probably  so  as  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  pub- 
lished statement  that  the  midrib  is  as  active  as  the  lamina.  But  digi- 
talis leaves,  retaining,  as  dried  leaves  usually  do,  about  12  per  cent, 
of  moisture,  without  which  they  cease  to  be  pliable,  are  still  open  to 
the  deteriorating  action  of  their  own  enzymes,  even  if  kept  in  a  tight 
container.    A  tincture  properly  made  from  the  fresh  leaves,  with 
